Who we are
We help leaders and investors build organisations that can deliver strategy, improve performance and create value.
As businesses grow and change, the demands on their organisations increase. Strategy, leadership, culture and operating effectiveness all matter - but the critical question is whether the organisation can deliver what is expected of it.
Our founders have worked with hundreds of leaders and organisations through growth and change. We combine operating experience with organisational and leadership expertise to help businesses perform better as demands increase.
We work with investors and management teams to strengthen execution, improve organisational performance and make change happen.
We’re here to help companies Scalewell.
Thanks for another excellent workshop! It was clearly extremely effective at giving [our Board] a safe space to raise some very important issues, and align on them. The energy for the rest of the day definitely showed how effective it had been.
— Ivan Mazour, CEO, Ometria
Our Values
Recognition
We appreciate the value people bring
Simplicity
We are not afraid to go deep and tackle the complex, but we strive to simplify
Openness
We ensure everybody speaks up
Diversity
We believe anyone with the right mindset can lead, and we share our knowledge freely to make this a reality
Visionary development
We constantly push the boundaries
of learning and development
Commercial outperformance
We create lasting value for our clients
The Team
Nick Watling, Founder and CEO
Having read Law at Oxford University and qualifying as a solicitor, Nick quickly realised his heart didn’t lie in corporate finance law, and that his real passion was developing leaders and businesses. He worked for leading organisational consultancies including Oliver Wyman Delta and Heidrick & Struggles on many projects, including cultural development at NASA following the Columbia disaster.
Since 2012 Nick has worked in-house and as an adviser to dozens of leaders and scaling businesses across Europe and the US. His work focuses on leadership, organisational effectiveness and helping businesses build the capability needed to deliver strategy through growth and change.
Nick likes to think he can surf (despite once almost meeting his maker in a wipe out) and is slowly becoming a half decent chef. He is also trying to get to grips with non-dualism and quantum mechanics and as a result is an infrequent guest at dinner parties.
Phil Makinson, Co-Founder and COO
With an MA in Industrial Economics and Management from Cambridge University, Phil began his career creating digital products and services for global leaders and challenger brands. As well as working on five continents for consultancies now part of Deloitte and EY, he was part of the launch team at 3, worked for Robbie Williams (on his website, not as a backing singer) and co-founded a pre-Spotify mobile music service.
Since 2011 Phil has focused on scale ups, initially as co-founder of Kabbee (until Uber spoiled the party) and then, after a stint launching Facebook’s first incubator, as CCO and Board Member for the UK’s favourite car sharing service, hiyacar.
Working with Nick to combine operating experience with leadership and organisational expertise was a long-held ambition, finally realised when Scalewell was born.
Phil aims to develop a fraction of Jurgen Klopp’s genius in strategy and people leadership before retiring one day to a life by the sea - ideally in the Caribbean, but more likely in North Wales.