Independent Consultancy · Board-Level Expertise
Most businesses reach a point where the decisions get harder. As a former CEO and CFO I work with businesses at critical junctures — whether that's preparing for a future sale, navigating a transaction, restructuring for growth, or bringing experienced leadership in on an advisory basis.
Services
The businesses that achieve the best outcomes don't suddenly "prepare for sale" — they are built, governed, and grown well. Board-level decisions made long before a transaction determine value, resilience, and options.
Having personally led multiple acquisitions as CEO and CFO, I know exactly what buyers scrutinise and where value is created or lost. That perspective is most useful not at the point of transaction, but in the years of decisions that lead up to it.
Discuss Your SituationOngoing business understanding
A deep, evolving understanding of the business — financials, operations, team, governance, and commercial position — built over time, not under transaction pressure.
Shaping decisions and closing gaps
Identifying where decisions, structures, or capabilities are limiting value, and addressing them on your timetable, not under external pressure.
Strengthening the story the business tells
Ensuring the business has a clear, credible narrative, built into how it operates and grows, long before that story is ever tested externally.
Continuity when a transaction arises
Providing continuity and experienced judgement if and when a transaction occurs, when familiarity with the business and context matters most.
Whether you're acquiring or looking to grow through transaction, the process is complex and the stakes are high. You need someone who has run these processes end to end, across the UK, US, and Australia, and knows where they go wrong.
When the numbers aren't working — whether it's the cost base, the structure, or the commercial model — the most important thing is a clear-eyed view of the problem and a practical path forward. Not a report. A plan you can act on.
Sometimes you need senior experience without a full-time hire — whether that's a board adviser on an ongoing basis, cover during a gap, or strategic oversight while something bigger is resolved. The engagement is shaped around what the situation actually requires.
Boards are increasingly having to form a view on AI, particularly in regulated environments. Using my experience as an investor in and board adviser to an AI platform purpose-built for regulated professional services, I help boards understand what is genuinely viable, where the risks sit, and how to move forward without being sold solutions that don't survive real-world scrutiny.
Engagements range from ongoing board advisory relationships through to discrete project work — structured around what the situation requires.
Approach
Someone who has sat in your chair
Having run businesses, managed boards, and made the decisions that kept people up at night, the advice comes from that place, not from a framework or a methodology. You get someone who understands what it actually feels like to be accountable for the outcome.
Your outcome is the only measure
There are no conflicting mandates here, no junior staff absorbing fees, and no incentive to extend an engagement beyond what's needed. The advice you get is the advice that's right for your situation, not shaped by what's easiest to sell or most profitable to deliver.
A relationship, not a transaction
The best outcomes come from an adviser who understands your business over time, not one parachuted in at the point of crisis. Whether the engagement is a discrete project or an ongoing advisory relationship, the goal is to work as an extension of your thinking, not deliver a report and move on.
About
I'm a PwC-trained Chartered Accountant who has worked in PE-backed turnarounds and went on to lead Thomas Miller's Professional Services division as CEO.
In that time I executed multiple acquisitions from initial target through to post-merger integration, turned loss-making businesses profitable, held regulated roles with the SRA and FCA and sat on the Group Executive Committee alongside leadership of a £200m+ organisation. The deals I've led range from sub-£1m acquisitions through to £10m+ transactions in the UK and USA — as the principal, not the adviser. I know what it feels like to be the one signing the deal.
I set up Capriem in 2025 to work directly with owners and boards at the moments that matter most. I focus on owner-managed businesses and SMEs, typically in professional services, financial services, or regulated environments, where the right senior counsel can make a material difference to the outcome.
Testimonials
Nicky is among the most capable professionals I have ever met. The growth and success of the business over recent years would not have taken place without his leadership.Senior PartnerInternational Forensic Investigators
Nicky is one of those rare people — equally comfortable at the strategic level, whilst continuing to command the detail when required. His decision making is excellent.Managing DirectorUK-wide Wealth Manager
He had excellent foresight on how the company can progress. I would thoroughly recommend his services.Chief ExecutiveLondon Market TPA
Contact
The first conversation is always informal. Just a chance to understand where you are, where you want to get to, and whether I'm the right person to help. No obligation, no pitch.
Based in the UK · Operating across UK, USA & Australia
You can also find me on LinkedIn.