Navigating Competitive Markets

Five years ago I would not have believed this. The biggest names in CPG are quietly taking food out of the center of the plate. Unilever is carving out an $8B ice cream portfolio to focus on beauty and wellness. Nestlé is leaning harder into health science. The categories with pricing power are not pantry staples. They are skincare, supplements, functional hydration, and performance nutrition. Why the shift is rational, not trendy: Food margins are getting squeezed. Trade down is real, private label is sharper, and price elasticity in core staples is hitting its ceiling. Health and wellness carry willingness to pay. Consumers accept a premium for outcomes, routines, and performance. They do not reward cost plus in pasta sauce. Loyalty is drifting in food. Promotions move share week to week. Self care and efficacy-led categories hold repeat. You can already see where momentum lives. L'Oréal skincare growth outpaced many classic food portfolios last year. The Coca-Cola Company is pushing deeper into functional and non-carbonated. PepsiCo’s most defensible engine is Gatorade’s ecosystem of hydration, not soda. These are not side bets. They are where pricing power and repeat accrue. What I am advising leadership teams to do now: • Reweight the portfolio. Map pricing power, repeat, and trade down risk by category. If the math says wellness and self care carry the margin story, allocate accordingly. • Build credibility before you buy it. If you are a food-first house moving into health, you need scientific muscle, regulatory fluency, and communities that care. Partnerships, acqui-hires, and advisory benches matter. • Treat personalization as a revenue lever. Recommendations, routines, and subscription logic are table stakes in self care. Own the data and make it useful. • Keep the core honest. Food will not disappear, but it must earn its space with cleaner RGM, fewer zombie SKUs, and real reasons to stick around outside of price. I am not declaring the death of food. I am pointing at where the next decade of pricing power is likely to sit. The winners will rebalance now, not after a third year of elasticities telling the same story. If you are leading a CPG portfolio, are you future proofing around outcomes and routines, or are you managing a slow decline in categories that no longer set the pace? #FMCG #CPG #ConsumerTrends #GrowthStrategy #Beauty #Wellness #RevenueShift #BrandEvolution

A market map with 10,000 companies is impossible to prioritize. These are the 300 to know. I was a VP of Product in sales tech. And I was frustrated with the maps I found. So I've been studying the space and speaking with experts. Here's the players you need to know: — ONE - Core: Revenue Operating System This is your CRM, your system of record - where your sales operation begins. I break this into 3 segments: Enterprise Platforms → Built for large organizations with complex workflows and high-volume deals → Salesforce, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics 365, SAP Growth-Stage Solutions → Designed for growing businesses that need scalable tools but with flexibility to adapt → HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, SugarCRM Modern CRMs → Startups and fast-scaling companies looking to move fast without rigid systems rely on modern CRMs. → Attio, Affinity, Close.io, Copper, Freshsales. — LAYER TWO - Engagement & Intelligence These tools power outbound outreach, automate sequences, and provide real-time data on prospects: → Outreach, Salesloft, VanillaSoft, Groove Engagement tools ensure your team hits the right prospect at the right time. — LAYER THREE - Revenue Acceleration These platforms shorten deal cycles: → Gong, Salesloft, Chorus.ai, Ebsta With real-time feedback and actionable insights... — LAYER FOUR - Data & Enrichment Your outreach is only as good as the data backing it. These platforms ensure you’re reaching out to right prospects. → ZoomInfo, Apollo.io, Clearbit, Lusha, Hunter io, Cognism — SATELLITE CLUSTERS - Modern GTM Stack These tools enhance parts of the GTM journey. AI-Enhanced Tools → Automate and personalize content creation at scale. → Writer, Grammarly, CopyAI, Jasper Product-Led Motion → Identify sales-ready leads through product engagement. → Pocus, Intercom, Breyta Sales Enablement → Equip sales teams with training, resources, and playbooks to perform at their best. → Seismic, Spekit, Allego Conversational GTM → Convert prospects directly through real-time chat. → Drift (now part of Salesloft) — SATELLITE CLUSTERS- Emerging Categories These are adjacent categories sales teams often still use. Product Analytics → Track user behaviors post-sale for better upsell and retention opportunities. → Amplitude, Mixpanel Customer Success → Ensure long-term customer retention and success beyond the initial sale. → Gainsight, Catalyst, Totango Workspace Integration → Enable seamless collaboration across sales and operations. → Notion, Slack, Airtable, monday.com Revenue Orchestration → Connect workflows across different systems to streamline revenue operations. → NektarAI, Tray.io, Workato, Boomi — This took a lot of time. Reshare ♻️ if you loved this post. What tools would you add?

I stopped obsessing over publishing… and that’s when my research career took off. (Here’s what I discovered) Four years ago, I believed publishing was the only path to academic success. My inbox? Empty. My collaborations? Stagnant. My impact? Limited to footnotes in other people’s papers. Then, I did something radical: I shared my work outside journals. A blog post about the LCA work I did for a partner. A LinkedIn post breaking down techno-economic assessment and process design methods. A webinar sharing my research outputs. Crickets. For weeks. Until a founder DM’ed: "Liked the recording of your webinar. Can you do something like this for us to verify our TEA?" A week later, an academic mentor slid into my DMs: "Saw your recent work on carbon capture. Can we co-write a research bid?" I wasn't sure what to do. This wasn’t “real” academic work. I’d been pre-conditioned to share my work only in scholarly journals and conferences. But suddenly, my research was solving problems, not merely gathering dust. So I leaned in. I built a simple system:  1. Every paper made available as PDF with posts on problem, method, outputs  2. Conference slides became PDFs shared with key takeaways  3. Complex science converted into trade magazines and blog posts The response? A FTSE 250 energy company invited me to perform a market study for their new direct air capture business strategy. Learned societies invited me as a keynote speaker for their events. And yes, citations keep coming, but now tied to real-world impact. Here’s what academia won’t tell you: Visibility isn’t vanity. It’s the bridge between your work and the problems it can solve. You don’t need 100 papers to make a difference. You need the right people to see your work. Now? I teach researchers to build this bridge. Because your career shouldn’t hinge on how many journals you’ve cracked. It should hinge on how many minds you’ve changed. Start there. Let the papers follow. P.S. What is the most significant challenge that pre ents you getting your research seen by others? #science #scientist #research #publishing #phd #postdoctoral #professor #academia #highereducation

Strategy is a Hypothesis. Not a Guarantee. Too often, we see leaders treat strategy like a master plan—set it, cascade it, execute it. But here’s the hard truth: Strategy isn’t a blueprint. It’s a bet. You’re betting on: ✔️ Where to play ✔️ How to win ✔️ What capabilities will drive outcomes But none of it is proven until you execute. That’s why execution ≠ just doing. Execution = learning. A great strategy isn’t about having all the answers— It’s about asking the right questions… and having the courage to test your assumptions. At the heart of agile strategy is a continuous loop: 🔁 Plan → Execute → Learn → Adapt Frameworks like Palladium’s Execution Premium Process (XPP) build this loop into the DNA of strategy. Tools like strategy maps and Balanced Scorecards aren’t just for alignment—they’re strategic learning systems. They help you ask: 🔍 Are customers reacting the way we expected? 🔍 Are we actually creating a competitive advantage? 🔍 Are our efforts driving meaningful, measurable impact? Roger Martin said it best: “A plan is not a strategy.” Planning is comforting. Strategy is risky. Because strategy is a set of choices you make without certainty. That’s why strategic execution isn’t about flawless delivery—it’s about rapid discovery. You don’t execute to confirm your genius—you execute to find out what’s true. So, at your next strategy meeting, try this: Ask: 👉 What assumptions are we making? 👉 How will we know if they’re true? Because the real value of strategy doesn’t lie in the elegance of the plan—it lies in the speed and humility of your learning. Strategy is not static. It's a discovery process.

Product-market fit (PMF) isn't a binary. The reality is that there are *shades* of PMF and you need an *action plan* to get there. Maja Voje — better known as the GTM Strategist — has worked with 350+ startups to help them achieve & expand on PMF. She's now sharing her tested frameworks with the rest of us. Here's the TL;DR: 1️⃣ Proof of concept: Get 10 testers - These tend to come from your personal network, advisors or warm outreach (from a founder) with a hook - Show "problem-solution fit" by starting to document "can we even solve this problem?" metrics with case studies 2️⃣ Proof of monetization: Get 5 paying customers - These come from retained PoC testers, cold outreach to adjacent segments, case studies sent as warm outreach with a hook, or via influential people in your network - Pro tip: you need an early customer profile before you can get to an ideal customer profile (ICP) 3️⃣ Proof of 1+ scalable GTM motion: Reach 20+ paying customers - Your GTM options: inbound (content), outbound (cold outreach), paid digital, community, partners, ABX and/or PLG - Pro tip: you need differentiated positioning to unlock this GTM motion; Maja's recommendation is to always position in relation to *something* (a service, DIY process, doing nothing or direct competitors) 4️⃣ Proof of a sustainable business model: Reach 50+ paying customers - If you were to only use this 1+ scalable GTM motion, would you be able to become break-even / profitable? - Look at: retention/churn, acquisition costs, customer referenceability 5️⃣ Proof of market expansion: Reach 100+ paying customers in 2+ markets - There's now clear evidence that you're ready to win on more fronts: opening new markets, launching new products, selling to new personas --- Read the full piece in Growth Unhinged: https://lnkd.in/guUFj-5H My favorite quote: "I like to think of PMF as a cycle... Every time I fail to validate something, I remember that Nokia started with toilet paper, Lamborghini with tractors, and McDonald’s with hot dogs." Can't wait to hear what you think 🙏 #pmf #startup #gtm

Monthly review meeting. Sales Director walked in smiling. “We closed a big order. It would increase our usual monthly volume several times.” The room felt proud. Applause across the table. Machines would run full. People imagined higher profit. Next monthly review meeting. Finance Manager walked into the same room. “Margins dropped drastically.” Everyone looked confused. Volume had grown fourfold. But three things had quietly changed on the shopfloor: • Two machines crossed safe capacity → overtime and breakdown maintenance increased. • Raw material had to be bought from a secondary supplier at a higher price. • Dispatch shifted to partial truckloads to meet the customer’s schedule. The factory was busy. But each unit was now more expensive to produce. Same product. Higher volume. Lower margin. That day the team learnt something uncomfortable. Volume doesn’t guarantee profit. Only contribution margin does. Factories don’t fail because they are idle. Many fail because they are busy in the wrong way. Before celebrating a large order, run a simple 3-Gate Factory Check. 1️⃣ Capacity Gate - Will the factory behave differently at this volume? Check whether the order pushes any resource beyond its stable operating range. • Will machines move into overtime or weekend shifts? • Will maintenance intervals shorten? • Will temporary labour or subcontracting be required? If yes, the cost structure has already changed. 2️⃣ Supply Gate - Will input economics remain stable? Higher volume often breaks normal sourcing patterns. • Can the same supplier support the increased volume? • Will alternate suppliers or spot purchases be required? • Will raw material price tiers change? Material economics must remain stable for margin to hold. 3️⃣ Logistics Gate - Will delivery behaviour change? Large orders often distort dispatch patterns. • Will shipment sizes reduce? • Will dispatch frequency increase? • Will premium freight or additional handling be required? Logistics deviations quietly erode contribution margin. Before celebrating volume, ask one question: After these three gates, does the unit contribution remain intact? If the answer is no, the order is not growth. It is a busy factory producing negative economics. #ManufacturingLeadership #FactoryOperations #OperationalExcellence #ContributionMargin #IndustrialLeadership

If I were a CTO in a digital health company right now…after reading the NHS 10-Year Plan? I’d focus the next 6 months doing these 7 things 👇🏼 1. Translate our product into the new care model. Hospital → Community. Analogue → Digital. Sickness → Prevention. If your tech only works in hospitals, only runs on desktops, or only reacts to problems - rewrite the roadmap. Fast. 2. Build for the NHS App. It’s not just an app anymore - it’s the front door. Appointment booking, virtual consults, long-term condition management, health data, even digital formularies - it’s all going there. If your product doesn’t plug into that ecosystem, you’ll be on the outside looking in. 3. Invest in interoperability as a feature, not a phase. The NHS is moving to a single patient record + national APIs + SNFs. Integration won’t be a nice-to-have - it’ll be the thing that gets you past procurement. 4. Map your product to actual value-based outcomes. Not “more engagement”. Not “workflow improvement”. I’d ask: Does this improve QALYs, reduce readmissions, or bend the cost curve? Can we price against those results? 5. Prepare to localise - at scale. One version won’t fit every ICS/IHO. You’ll need config frameworks, modular design, and ops playbooks that assume every rollout is a partial rebuild. 6. Prioritise trust-by-design. If you’re using AI, the bar just got higher. Transparency, explainability, and clinician control are now table stakes. Because in this system, invisible > innovative. 7. Rewrite your go-to-market for an ecosystem. You're not selling to one buyer. You’re building relationships across integrated systems, community providers, regulators, and patients - at once. This isn’t SaaS. It’s coalition-building. The NHS just handed us a map. It’s ambitious, probably flawed at this stage, and politically complex - but it’s a map. If you're building digital health in the UK today? Now is the time to align.

Modern Trade (MT) vs. General Trade (GT): Two Different Games, Two Winning Strategies 1- Winning in MT: Success in MT is about planogram excellence, offering the right formats and prices as per brand value proposition, securing prime shelf and off shelf space, and in-store activations. Promo bursts (BOGO, % discounts, Giraffes, Premiums, Bundling), seasonal offers and loyalty programs drive shopper engagement. Strong JBPs, ability to negotiate rebates, trade spend and credit terms are critical as MT retailers will push to squeeze out margins, maximize spend and ask for extended credit. Stock management with JIT replenishment & sell-through analytics ensures efficiency, preventing expiries and returns. 2- Winning in GT: GT success is built on maximizing coverage, ensuring availability and visibility—because what is available and visible sells! a- Optimized Reach: Balancing Direct Reach through a distributor (van sales & pre-sell for high-weighted retailers) and Indirect Reach through wholesale (for lower-tier penetration) is key to achieve the targeted weighted coverage with the optimal cost-to-serve. Wholesalers focus on SKUs with high rotation and ensure reach to lower end of the trade if given the right incentives (trade deals, margins, loyalty programs, etc). Direct reach pushes a wider range of SKUs scaling growth through trade incentives, margins, volume based deals and product education drives. b- Strategic Distributor Partnerships: Choosing the right distributor with strong capabilities and one with a portfolio that complements your portfolio is key to success. A good GT distributor requires a portfolio that encompasses a mix of fast-moving Hero SKUs (to drive volume and upselling) and high-margin SKUs (to cover distribution costs). Having exclusive distributors in GT for your business does not guarantee success and can limit penetration especially if your portfolio does not combine a mix of high volume hero SKUs and high margin SKUs. c- Disciplined Execution & Performance Tracking: Setting clear KPIs on volumes, reach, availability, and execution to drive distributor accountability is key. Regular business reviews focused on growth plans is a must. Two channels, two different approaches—but both require precision, execution excellence, and strategic management to win. The right channel strategy must be supported with differentiated format offerings for each channel, supported by the right tools (POSM, Chillers, Trays, etc) and coupled with strong brand building plans driving demand generation and salience on the path to purchase. #Nestlé #ModernGeneralTrade #RouteToMarket #ExecutionMatters #RetailStrategy

Everyone’s racing to build AI tools in Consulting. But few are asking the harder question: who do clients actually want to pay? It’s not the tool. It’s the expert who knows how to use it. Clients aren’t buying dashboards or data pipelines, they’re buying outcomes, clarity, and conviction. AI can synthesize information, but it can’t persuade a CFO, navigate a boardroom, or drive organizational change. That still takes someone with credibility and judgment. What clients are really paying for is permission. Confidence. The assurance that the person sitting across from them understands their world and can move it forward. AI can churn out insights, but it can’t deliver advice that sticks or change the trajectory of a business. You see this in the market dynamic, salaries for Senior Partners are exploding, whilst junior talent floods the landscape. The findings of our most recent study are clear: AI isn’t replacing consultants, it’s exposing them. The middle layer is getting squeezed. Firms built on large delivery teams and low-value workstreams are struggling to justify their fees. Meanwhile, elite, high-impact senior advisors using AI to sharpen their delivery are winning faster and more often. Everyone has access to the same tools. The difference is how effectively you apply them. The firms pulling ahead aren’t those with the flashiest proprietary tech, they’re the ones with the clearest communication style, the strongest operators, and the discipline to package their IP around real outcomes. The future of consulting won’t be AI-led or human-led. It’ll be judgment-led with AI as the accelerator. The real differentiator isn’t who builds the best tool. It’s who clients trust to use it and deliver results that matter. AI will make the best consultants 10x better. Everyone else? Exposed.

The market for financial services executives (those earning between $200K and $600K), has become notably "patchy." In this context, "patchy" refers to an uneven or inconsistent market in which specific areas lack opportunities.   Executives are finding it increasingly challenging to secure new roles, often taking over 12 months to land meaningful positions. This prolonged search period is primarily due to an oversupply of highly qualified candidates. Restructures and redundancies across the industry have compounded the issue, leading to fewer available positions and stronger competition.   In the past three months, we have successfully placed several executives across various roles, including 🔹 Chief Financial Officer 🔹 Head of Finance 🔹 Chief Member Officer 🔹 Chief of Staff 🔹 Head of Distribution 🔹 General Manager of Investments The overwhelming quality and quantity of candidates seeking opportunities was noticeable. For instance, we closed the application process early during a recent executive search process due to the overwhelming volume of interest.   However, despite this oversupply, there hasn't been significant downward pressure on salaries. Executives are finding it more difficult to negotiate higher salary packages, often prioritising securing a role over pushing for superior compensation. Furthermore, work flexibility—once a important negotiating point—has become less of a priority, with most executives now willing to trade it for job security and a stable position at a reputable organisation.   An important observation is the increasing importance of your personal brand and reputation. Strong professional networks and executive relationships have proven crucial, as most CEOs have relied heavily on peer and trusted adviser recommendations to identify preferred candidates.   In summary, the current market offers clients a broader selection of executive talent. For candidates, the journey to securing a new role has become more challenging and competitive than ever.