Alastair Cook
- Specialism: I deliver commercial strategy, business model evaluation, and performance-led growth for SMEs. I align product solutions with market opportunity, refine go-to-market routes and build frameworks for revenue determination and impact measurement.
- Track Record: I have held corporate commercial and marketing leadership roles with GE, Domestic & General and Allianz. I have worked with high growth pioneers in digital and offline distribution and I have worked on numerous business start-up projects including pharmacy, media and consumer goods.
- Offer: I operate at the intersect of business and marketing strategy and I work with founders and leadership teams to deliver commercial solutions that address the fundamental catalysts for business change: broken revenue streams; rising cost of operation; and deliberate scale or expansion. I bring clarity, challenge and momentum without adding complexity.
- Alastair says: “Every growth initiative has a revenue requirement. My role is to make sure that requirement is measured, planned, resourced and delivered.”
- Try me: www.revenueworks.co.uk
It is my natural tendency to see the ‘bigger picture,’ and throughout my career I have been drawn towards solving strategic problems. I soon discovered I was quite good at this, but it left me with the dilemma of what to do when there was no challenge to be resolved. Then I discovered that a portfolio workstyle would allow me to go where the problems were – and an aspiration was born.
I got started shortly before the outbreak of COVID, when I was in the process of setting up my own business. Unfortunately, the enterprise became a casualty of the virus. The experience made me determined to remain independent, and I began working in commercial projects, including support for three pre-funding start-up ventures. Having added a number of charity trustee directorships to my portfolio, I have since extended my approach to formal commercial contracts with ambitious and mobile business owners.
One of my first successes came with an early project in the acquisition of a listed African retail pharmacy. The brief was to present a commercialisation perspective that would satisfy the growth opportunity for investors. The project escalated, and I was invited to chair the board of advisors with a view to developing extended pharmacy services across the continent. While the funding project has not yet closed, I personally recruited a wide range of innovative and motivated collaborators to provide a compelling customer proposition and keep the project moving forwards.
Along the way, I’ve learned some important lessons in the transition from permanent to fractional work:
Leaders often don’t know what they’re doing
Leaders are deluged by offers of support
Unless you get to the pain point quickly, there can be no working relationship
I’ve adapted to work like a consultant but think like an employee.
It’s working for me now because portfolio work allows me to avoid situations that dilute my strengths and focus on where I’m most effective – solving strategic problems, shaping commercial outcomes and building value. I’ve built enough experience to trust my judgement and enough structure to make it repeatable. Portfolio work allows me to go where the challenge is real and the impact is measurable.
Looking forward, I hope the work stays interesting, the relationships stay mutual, and the value I bring continues to be relevant to the people I work with.