ChadSan Scale-Up Suppers

Run by ChadSan, a local firm of growth specialist accountants and tax advisors, Scale-Up Suppers are a series of private dining events at The County Club - an exclusive members club in the heart of Guildford.

Who will be there

This is an invite only event and will be attended by owners of established but ambitous local SME's with annual turnover of over £3m or an employed team in excess of 15.

What will happen

The evening will begin with pre-dinner drinks offering a relaxed opportunity to network with your peers. Following this will be a three-course meal during which a speaker specially selected for their relevance to entrepreneurs looking to scale up their businesses will lead the conversation in a Q&A format.

Our speaker for this event - Bridie Cunningham

Bridie has spent her career building, leading and finding high-performing teams.

She began with Marks & Spencer, holding a number of leadership roles in the UK and overseas over the course of 15 years. She later joined Carphone Warehouse as Head of Retail Productivity, where she was part of the team that helped take the rapidly growing business into the FTSE 100.

After subsequently running her own fashion business, Bridie became fascinated by the role that people – and particularly the right leadership team – play in the success of a scaling business. In 2012, she co-founded executive search firm Portman Scott.

Today, Bridie works with founders and leadership teams in privately owned and PE/VC-backed businesses, helping them identify and recruit the people they need for the next stage of growth.

Over dinner and drinks, Bridie will lead a conversation around the challenges of building a world-class team as your business scales including when to strengthen your leadership team, how to identify the roles you really need, attracting people who can take you to the next level, and why getting the cultural fit right matters just as much as finding the right CV.

Our sponsor for this event - Portman Scott

Portman Scott is a boutique executive search firm specialising in leadership hires for privately owned, family-owned and PE/VC-backed businesses.

At some point, almost every growing business faces the same challenge: the leadership team that got the business to where it is today may not be the team it needs for the next stage of growth.

Portman Scott helps businesses navigate that transition, recruiting at Director, Head of and C-Suite level across roles including CEO, MD, COO, Sales, Marketing, Commercial, Finance and HR.

Their approach goes beyond simply filling a vacancy. Where required, they work with founders and management teams to determine the structure, responsibilities and type of leader the business actually needs before beginning the search.

A particular focus is finding leaders who combine the right experience with the right cultural fit. Portman Scott's eight-step search process is designed to align stakeholders, identify the ideal candidate profile and find people who can genuinely flourish within the business.