I help founders and execution leaders fix the systems that make execution fail - then build the infrastructure to keep it working under pressure.
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I'm David Excell, founder of ExcellGrowth.
I've spent 20+ years diagnosing execution breakdowns in organisations ranging from £5M scale-ups to multi-billion dollar global enterprises - and I've learned that execution problems are rarely about effort or motivation.
They're system problems: unstable priorities, revisited decisions, missing cadence, and drift that compounds until nothing ships cleanly.
How I work
I work directly with founders and senior leaders on all client engagements - diagnostics, embedding, and follow-on support. This isn't delegated to junior consultants. You get someone who's diagnosed execution friction at scale and is currently solving these problems in my own business.
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My approach combines three things most consultants don't offer together:
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Diagnosis-led methodology: I isolate the 3-5 failure points creating most execution drag - not a generic framework applied to everyone. Your diagnosis tells us exactly where decisions soften, where priorities drift, and where cadence breaks down.
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Embedded capability transfer: I don't hand you a deck and disappear. If you want implementation support, I form client teams, coach them through embedding, and transfer the skills so the system holds after I'm gone. Many clients implement the diagnostic recommendations internally - others bring me in for the embedding phase.On one programme, I designed a capability transfer model that enabled operational excellence practices to be embedded with 24,000 people over 18 months.
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Software infrastructure: I've built execution apps (Transform AI and Achieve Results) that I use daily to run my own business. They operationalize the same principles I help clients implement: forced priorities, locked decisions, maintained cadence. Most consultants deliver frameworks in PowerPoint. I deliver frameworks plus the software infrastructure to keep them alive. The apps are available to all clients - some use them as their primary execution system, others integrate them alongside existing tools, some implement the methodology without the apps. The flexibility is intentional.
Background
I started my career in technology product development & marketing (e.g. SONY), spent a decade in strategy consulting (Andersen Business Consulting, Arthur D. Little, Sagentia), then shifted to transformation and operational excellence work across a range of sectors - where I could see execution problems up close and figure out how to help clients make change happen & sustain.
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Over the past 2 decades, I've led execution diagnostics and embedding programmes as a consulting leader on large transformation initiatives - the kind of work where you see exactly how execution breaks at scale and what actually fixes it:
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Utilities: Diagnosed end-to-end waste water treatment process, identified 20% / £5M p.a. efficiency improvement potential, coached cross-functional teams to deliver £1M+ benefits in first few months
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Retail: One of the founding consulting team on an award-winning transformation programme with a multi-million dollar business case for one of the world's largest retailers, working across executive leadership and regional teams in 4 US states
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Other sectors including construction, materials science, consumer electronics, FMCG: Led projects on strategy, innovation. planning & scheduling optimisation, commercial process improvement, and operational excellence
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I've worked with CEOs & their Executive teams, regional leadership teams in large organisations and founders who own execution decisions and need systems that hold when pressure rises.
Why I built ExcellGrowth
Most execution consulting delivers advice in documents. I wanted to build the operating system that makes execution advice stick - daily and weekly infrastructure that prevents the plan from going stale.
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I'm a bootstrapped founder, so I understand execution constraints firsthand. The apps I built aren't enterprise platforms (yet) - they're practical single-user tools (Apple platforms, multi-user / multi-platform in development) that I use to run my own execution. When clients implement diagnostic recommendations, these tools are available to them to maintain discipline.
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The methodology is proven across complex organisations. The apps are the innovation that differentiates from traditional consulting. Together, they create execution systems that compound rather than drift.
What clients say
"David helped train staff to deliver a new network of visual management KPIs, improved processes, problem solving skills and implementation tools to enable the change to be sustainable. He also helped to shape and implement a 'paradigm changing' way we look at [our end to end process]. This is reaping great rewards... use David with confidence!"
— Field Operations Manager, Utility Company​
"David's style created enough space for the teams he worked with to find their own way through each challenge, whilst ensuring they were supported with the tools and techniques needed to deliver results. David's reflective and personable style quickly enabled him to be part of the team, thereby enabling him to highlight real opportunities for performance improvement quickly."
— Product Logistics & Recycling Manager, Utility Company​
"David did an excellent job of delivering the business requirements through translating key strategic goals into a well structured programme of activity. David did a great job of motivating and managing the various parties involved to deliver a successful outcome to the programme."
— Transformation Director, Telecoms Operator​
"I worked with David intensively on a high-pressure multi-country project where we needed to analyse a large food company's R&D and innovation operations. He demonstrated an excellent capacity to absorb and process information about the client under pressure and move quickly to rational conclusions. His knowledge of business thinking and practice is both deep and current and his experience also stands him in good stead. He also has great commitment to his work."
— Vice President, Innovation Consultancy​
"David and his team worked side by side with the leadership team to creatively explore all the potential strategic development routes for our consumer electronics business, and then analysed the preferred options in considerable financial depth. David's recommendations on how to maximize value creation potential and manage risks were presented very clearly and met with complete support."
— VP, Corporate Business Development, Consumer Electronics Company​
"David's approach to leadership development challenged me to achieve more than I ever thought because it centred on me being more of an authentic leader. I highly recommend David and his team if you are looking to drive cultural change throughout your organisation."
— Director of Pharmacy & Retail Operations, Pharmacy Retailer
Ready to fix execution drift?
If you're a founder or execution leader in a £5M-£50M company struggling with too many priorities, decisions that get revisited, or execution that doesn't compound - let's talk.
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