Main route
Growth and scale advisory
Ongoing advisory to focus the business, strengthen leadership rhythm and build the habits that make scale easier.
01
Founder-led business advisory
Build a business that buyers value beyond you.
Arcstone helps founder-led businesses grow with focus, reduce reliance on the founder and prepare for a sale where the value is clear, credible and transferable.
8-figure exit
Founder experience through growth, scale and sale
£2m ARR
Scaled a B2B advisory and analytics business
95+ clients
Enterprise experience across complex sectors
Build the value, leadership and resilience buyers look for.
Growth
Focus on the decisions that create value.
Leadership
Build a team that can carry more.
Exit
Prepare the story, evidence and founder.
What has to change
Turn founder-led success into transferable business value.
Most good founder-led businesses reach a point where growth and exit value depend on the same thing: turning what works through the founder into what works through the business.
- Important decisions become clearer and more consistent.
- Key clients trust the team and operating model, not just the founder.
- A buyer can see the business will keep performing after a sale.
The advisory model
Founder growth-to-sale advisory for businesses ready to become more valuable.
Arcstone helps founders focus growth, strengthen leadership, reduce reliance on the founder and prepare for a sale process with clear evidence and calm support.
During sale
Founder-side sale advisor
Support with the Information Memorandum, buyer story, negotiation preparation, adviser coordination and founder-side decisions.
02
When the business is ready
Non-exec or founder coaching
Board-level challenge or personal coaching when your leadership needs to evolve with the business.
03
Sale process support
Prepare for a sale with a stronger story, better evidence and someone in your corner.
Arcstone helps the founder prepare, communicate, negotiate and stay clear while accountants, lawyers and other advisers do their specialist work.
01
Shape the story and IM
Help pull together the Information Memorandum and turn the business story into something clear, credible and buyer-ready.
02
Prepare for negotiation
Think through options, trade-offs, questions, deal terms and red lines before the pressure peaks.
03
Work with advisers
Coordinate with accountants, lawyers and other deal advisers so the founder has an independent commercial voice.
04
Keep the founder clear
Stay grounded, prepared and commercially focused through the emotional and technical weight of the process.
Arcstone does not find buyers or act as a broker. The role is independent support to the founder during the sale process.
Value created
Build the value, leadership and resilience buyers look for.
The work makes a good company easier to understand, easier to lead and easier to trust in a sale process.
A sharper story
The business becomes easier to explain to the team, advisers and buyers.
The team carries more
Decisions and accountability do not rely on the founder alone.
The value is easier to trust
The story, numbers and operating model support the sale case.
The founder is not alone
You have an independent adviser when the stakes get high.
The plan
A practical advisory rhythm for growth, scale and sale.
A simple structure for turning ambition into clearer decisions and a stronger, more valuable business.
Focus the value
Choose the commercial priorities most likely to improve growth, resilience and sale readiness.
Build beyond you
Strengthen leadership, accountability and operating rhythm so the business can carry more.
Prepare for sale
Build the story, evidence and founder readiness needed for the next stage.
Why Matt
Advice from someone who has built, scaled and sold.
Matt Stephens founded and scaled Inpulse to around £2m ARR before completing an 8-figure exit to private equity. Arcstone applies that experience to the practical decisions that shape growth, value and sale readiness.
Founder and former CEO, Inpulse
Built a B2B SaaS and workforce analytics business serving enterprise clients across transport, healthcare, construction, manufacturing and technology.
Sale, board and advisory experience
Practical experience around founder-side sale support, PE-backed environments, board challenge and consequential decisions.
Enterprise leadership background
Former senior roles at Aviva UK and RSA, with deep experience in culture, communication, leadership and change.
Selected feedback
Sharper thinking. Calmer decisions. Stronger founder confidence.
The common thread is simple: founders leave with clearer thinking, more confidence and better decisions under pressure.
Jay Richards
Founder, Imagen Insights
“He challenged me in the right way, helped me sharpen my thinking as we scaled, and was a real support through the sale of the business.”
Paula Leach
Founder, Vantage Points Consulting
“I came away with more confidence, more focus and a much better sense of where to put my energy.”
David Allen
Former CEO, Wates
“He combines challenge with judgement very well. He helped me think better, communicate more effectively, and become more intentional.”
About Matt Stephens
A founder adviser with operating, sale and leadership experience.
Arcstone is built for founders who want practical advice from someone who has carried the founder role, built a team, served demanding clients and completed an 8-figure exit.
Built and sold
Founded and exited Inpulse after scaling it into a respected B2B advisory and analytics business.
Understands the founder layer
The personal, leadership and commercial pressures of growth and sale are treated as business issues.
Low theatre, high signal
A small, confidential advisory footprint for founders running real businesses.
Fit
Best fit for founder-led businesses ready to grow, scale or prepare for sale.
This is for founders who have built something real and want to make it more valuable, easier to lead and better prepared for sale.
Arcstone is likely useful when...
- You are the founder of a small business with traction and ambition.
- Growth has created complexity or too much reliance on you.
- You want the business to become more valuable, resilient and sale-ready.
- You are preparing for, or already inside, a sale process.
Arcstone is probably not right when...
- You are pre-revenue or idea-only.
- You need a broker to find buyers.
- You want a large consultancy implementation team.
- You are looking for reassurance rather than sharper thinking.
Start here
Book a founder advisory call.
Send the short version of the business, the growth or sale ambition, and where you feel the company is getting stuck. If you are already in a sale process, include what stage you are at and which advisers are involved.
Location
Harpenden, United Kingdom
LinkedIn
Matt Stephens