Practical Ambition · Simon Bird
Turning ambition into commercial progress.
Senior commercial experience to help ambitious businesses see what matters, decide what to do and make it happen.
- Judgement
- The judgement to know what matters.
- Experience
- The experience to know what works.
- Practicality
- The practicality to make things happen.
Advice is easy. Progress is harder.
I’ve spent my career building and growing businesses: launching propositions, finding customers, building teams, developing partnerships, expanding internationally, raising investment and dealing with the problems that come with all of it.
That experience helps me get to the important questions quickly. What is really happening? What matters most? What should we do next? And how do we actually make it happen?
Practical Ambition is how I bring that experience to a small number of ambitious businesses.
Breadth
Experience changes the questions you ask.
- B2C
- B2B
- SaaS
- E-commerce
- Search
- SEO
- Paid search
- Affiliate
- Sales
- Partnerships
- International growth
- Investment
- Leadership
- Go-to-market
When I can help
Different businesses. Familiar challenges.
- 01
Growth has become harder.
You know there is more opportunity in the business, but it is increasingly difficult to decide where to focus.
- 02
Something isn’t working commercially.
The proposition, acquisition model, sales approach, partnerships, pricing or execution needs another pair of experienced eyes.
- 03
You’re at an inflection point.
A new product, market, strategy, investment, leadership change or commercial decision needs thinking through properly.
- 04
You need clarity.
There is plenty happening, but activity and progress are not the same thing.
- 05
An important project needs owning.
Sometimes the answer is not another presentation. Somebody senior needs to help make the thing happen.
- 06
You need experience without another permanent executive.
Use me as an adviser, sounding board, fractional commercial leader or focused project resource.
Approach
See clearly. Choose deliberately. Make it happen.
01
See clearly
Understand what is actually happening rather than what is supposed to be happening. Ask the uncomfortable questions. Get to the real commercial issue.
02
Decide what matters
Separate the important from the merely urgent. Focus resources on the few things capable of making a meaningful commercial difference.
03
Make progress
Turn the decision into practical action. Help execute where useful. Measure what happens. Adjust.
“I don’t arrive with a framework looking for a problem. I start with the business, work out what matters, and go from there.”
Experience
A career spent at the sharp end of growth.
Earlier career
Digital, search and commercial roles. Where the fundamentals of customer acquisition were learned.
Savoo
Building and scaling a consumer proposition. B2C, e-commerce, affiliate, search and international expansion.
RevLifter
An entrepreneurial B2B chapter. SaaS, technology, enterprise commercial work, partnerships, teams and investment.
Practical Ambition
Bringing that experience to a small number of ambitious businesses.
Working together
Sometimes you need advice. Sometimes you need another pair of hands.
Advisory
Experienced perspective, challenge and guidance on important commercial decisions.
Ongoing support
Regular senior commercial involvement for businesses that want continuity without another full-time executive.
Focused projects
Hands-on help with an important commercial opportunity or problem that needs moving forward.
About Simon
I’ve spent most of my career figuring out how businesses grow.
I’m Simon Bird.
Across my career I’ve built businesses, led teams, launched propositions, worked across B2C and B2B, expanded internationally, raised investment and spent a lot of time around digital acquisition, search, e-commerce, partnerships and sales.
The useful part isn’t simply having done those things. It’s the pattern recognition that comes from having lived through the decisions, mistakes, successes and unexpected problems behind them.
Today I work with a small number of businesses where I believe that experience can make a meaningful difference.
What’s the problem you’re trying to solve?
If there’s something commercially important that you’re wrestling with, tell me a little about it. If I think I can help, we’ll have a conversation.