Stephen Adams | Growth, Sales and AI Advisor for Founders and Boards

Trusted by

Founders, boards and national programmes

Most names are withheld under NDA. The profiles and the outcomes are real.

Series B AI start-up£400K to £2.8M ARRNon-executive director

SaaS scale-up42% shorter deal cycleAI sales automation

£8M established SME128% of annual quotaSales leadership coaching

National childhood kidney programme13 UK centresFundraising strategy

DX Communications£50M saleCommercial leadership

BT£12.5B acquisitionM&A outcome

Pharmaceutical companyBoard seatNon-executive director

UK universitiesCommercialisationRevenue advisory

Global fintech leaderFinancial servicesCommercial advisory

How I help

Four ways I help you grow

One advisor across the problems that usually sit with several different people. We start with what is costing you most right now, shape the plan together, and work it through until it delivers.

Start here if revenue still depends on you closing the big deals

Scale revenue and win bigger deals

Growth intent is not a growth plan. I build the commercial strategy, the sales structure and the discipline that let revenue grow without you closing every deal yourself.

Commercial and go-to-market strategy
A sales team that does not depend on you
Forecasting and pipeline you can actually trust
Winning seven-figure deals: map the room, hold your price
Turning a lost deal into the next contract

Talk this through Proof: £400K to £2.8M ARR in 18 months

Start here if you are being sold AI and cannot tell what it will return

AI without the guesswork

Most AI advice is either a sales pitch or a science project. I help you find where AI removes cost or wins revenue, decide whether it is worth doing at all, and prove whether it worked.

Where AI actually pays, and where it does not
Practical adoption tied to a number, not a slide deck
Telling a real platform from a wrapper before you buy
ROI measured in hours and pounds, not adjectives
Roadmaps and training your team will actually use

Take the AI scorecard Proof: 42% shorter deal cycle

Start here if the team is good but the leadership is holding it back

Strengthen leadership and the board

The oversight and coaching that turns a good operation into a high-performing one. Non-executive director work and sales leadership development, from the person who has run both.

Non-executive director and board governance
Sales leadership coaching, 1:1 and team
STEPHEN ADAMS SALES SYSTEM™ implementation
Recruitment and team development
M&A advisory and due diligence

Talk this through Proof: attrition down from 40% to 12%

Start here if you are brilliant at the work but living on referrals

Turn deep expertise into revenue

The best pharmacist cannot always sell the medicine. The best engineer cannot always win the contract. I help experts and founders who are brilliant at what they do, but were never taught to take it to market.

Go-to-market strategy for expert-led businesses
Selling into mid-market and enterprise buyers
A lead generation engine, so you are not living on referrals
Scaling past the founder closing every deal
Pharmacy and professional services commercialisation

Talk this through Proof: national programme fundraising strategy

Impact stories

What changed, in numbers

Real engagements across AI, SaaS, telco and a national health programme. The figures are the outcomes delivered.

Strategic advisory

13

UK children's kidney centres in the programme the strategy supports

National Childhood Kidney Programme: fundraising strategy

Challenge: World-class science, stalled momentum. A Phase 2 clinical trials accelerator needed its own charitable capital to begin, building on the funded £10.4M LifeArc-Kidney Research UK Translational Centre for Rare Kidney Diseases. Every month of delay kept children on dialysis.
Approach: Strategic advisor on the fundraising and go-to-market strategy. Take the committed capital rather than wait for the perfect structure, use an established charity as a financial conduit so trials start sooner, open the major donor networks already in place, and run the raise like a business with one owner and a real timeline.
Result: A fundraising strategy built on the cost of not acting, aimed at the people who can commit at scale. The programme spans all 13 UK children's kidney centres across the University of Liverpool, UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital, with the stated goal of a trial that could reduce kidney failure in children by up to a third.

AI implementation

42%

shorter deal cycle for a SaaS scale-up with a 15-person sales team

Deal cycle before6 months

Deal cycle after3.5 months

SaaS scale-up: AI-powered sales automation

Challenge: A mid-sized SaaS company with a 15-person sales team, stuck on manual prospecting, inconsistent follow-up and poor pipeline visibility. Average deal cycle: 6 months.
Approach: Implemented AI-powered sales automation: intelligent lead scoring, automated outreach sequencing and predictive analytics. Delivered team training and a new sales playbook.
Result: Deal cycle cut from 6 months to 3.5 months. The team closed £2.4M in new ARR within 6 months of implementation.

+65% qualified pipeline80% less admin time£2.4M new ARR in 6 months

Non-executive director

7x

ARR growth in 18 months, Series A to Series B

ARR at start£400K

ARR 18 months later£2.8M

AI start-up: Series A to Series B

Challenge: An early-stage AI start-up after a £3.5M Series A, needing commercial strategy, sales infrastructure and investor-ready growth metrics to secure Series B.
Approach: Joined the board as NED with commercial oversight. Built the go-to-market strategy, established the sales function from zero, put performance frameworks in place, and supported Series B preparation and investor presentations.
Result: Scaled from £400K to £2.8M ARR in 18 months, built an 8-person sales team, and closed a £12M Series B at 3x the Series A valuation.

£12M Series B3x Series A valuation95% gross retention

Coaching and development

128%

of annual quota, the first year above target in 3 years

Team attrition before40%

Team attrition after12%

Sales leadership transformation

Challenge: A new Sales Director at an established £8M SME, promoted from within and struggling to move from individual contributor to leader. Morale low, attrition high.
Approach: A 6-month executive coaching engagement using the STEPHEN ADAMS SALES SYSTEM™. Weekly 1:1 sessions, leadership assessment, situational leadership training and team restructuring support.
Result: The Sales Director grew into the role. Attrition fell from 40% to 12% a year and the team delivered 128% of annual quota.

40% to 12% attrition+35% employee satisfaction

These are real engagements. Most client names are withheld under NDA, and those figures are the outcomes delivered. Where the programme is public, it is named.

The framework

The STEPHEN ADAMS SALES SYSTEM™

Eight steps, built from 25 years of real deals, not a textbook. Deliberately simple, because under pressure complexity is the enemy. Explore each step, or filter by the three pillars.

PrecisionStep 1 of 8

Target

The tool

In practice

Free chapter

Read Step 3, Engage, free

The step most deals skip. How to find the real problem and put a £ figure on it, with the SPIN questions and live prompts I use. 9 pages from the Core Playbook, yours to keep.

Get the free chapter

Free. Enter your email, download it straight away, and get a copy in your inbox. Delivered securely by Gumroad.

Not ready for a call?

Where can AI move the needle for you?

Six questions, two minutes, no email needed. Then, if you want it, a free AI Readiness Review from me personally, with where AI can drive the most value and whether it is worth doing at all.

AI readiness scorecard

Answer honestly. Nothing is sent until you ask for the review.

1. Can you name the one process where time or cost hurts most?

2. Do you know what that process costs you each month, in hours or £?

3. Is your customer and sales data in one place you trust?

4. Does one person own AI decisions, with a budget?

5. Could you tell a real AI platform from a wrapper before you buy?

6. Would you judge success in hours and £ saved, not in logins?

0

Answer all six to see your result

Your score is out of 12.

Get my free review

Free AI Readiness Review

Tell me where you are now. I will come back to you personally within one working day.

Thanks, your details are in. I will be in touch personally within one working day. If it is urgent, book a call at calendly.com/stephen-adams2-dbsw.

"I turn commercial intent into results. The strategy and the execution."

About Stephen

A partner in the room, not a report on the shelf

I'm a commercial leader, investor and non-executive director. I have spent 25+ years scaling businesses from start-ups to enterprises across AI, telco and SaaS.

That means contributing to over £100M in investment, securing multi-million-pound contracts, and helping drive major M&A outcomes, including a £12.5B acquisition by BT.

I work as an extension of your board and leadership team. We shape the change together, and I stay with it until the numbers move.

01

Numbers firstEvery engagement starts with the cost of the problem, in hours and £. If it is not worth doing, I will tell you.

02

Board level, hands onStrategy in the boardroom, execution with your team. I have run both, and I have carried a number.

03

Built to last without meThe goal is a commercial engine that delivers without you, or me, in every deal.

MBAStrathclyde Business School

NEDNon-executive director and board advisor

£12.5BBT acquisition among the M&A outcomes

4 booksOn sales, leadership, AI and hope

Books

The frameworks, written down

Proven frameworks and personal insights from 25+ years in business and life.

Flagship playbook

STEPHEN ADAMS SALES SYSTEM™ Core Playbook

The 8-step sales framework used to close multi-million-pound B2B deals. From prospecting to closing, this is the system forged in real deals, from £100M raises to seven-figure closes.

Enterprise sales, B2B strategy, deal qualification, objection handling, closing.

View on Amazon Read Step 3 free Explore the 8 steps