What happens when you step into the CEO seat of a small consultancy in a niche market, with big ambitions, PE backing, and a bold growth target?

In this episode of Climb in Consulting, Nick Synnott chats to Stu Packham, Group CEO of Alchemist, about how he led the business from a modest $2M learning consultancy to a $20M global challenger brand.

Before stepping into consulting, Stu spent years in the world of recruitment - building teams, scaling businesses, and getting under the skin of what makes people tick. It was that deep experience, paired with a well-timed chat with a close friend, that led to him being put forward for the CEO role at Alchemist in 2019.

What followed was nothing short of a whirlwind. Stu stepped into a six-person business without meeting any of the team beforehand, not exactly your textbook onboarding. From that uncertain start came a high-speed journey of transformation: expanding into the US, building out UK operations, and laying the groundwork for a global presence. Stu didn’t just steer the ship, he helped it grow new engines mid-flight.

This episode is a behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to lead a PE-backed consultancy through rapid growth. Stu shares:
- How fractional leadership became a secret weapon for scale
- What a People function looks like when growth is the goal
- How to prepare (mentally and practically) for due diligence
- The biggest lessons he’s taking into Alchemist’s next chapter

Whether you're running a consultancy, thinking about working with private equity, or just love a gritty transformation story, this one’s worth your time.

Enjoy the show!

Episode 155: From $2M to $20M - The Alchemist Growth Formula with Stu Packham

As a management consultant myself I’ve always been lucky to have mentors who have guided me through my career. 

When I was in house I regularly had quality time with Senior Partners that helped me rapidly accelerate my career and has continued to help since I’ve gone out on my own. 

While I had this great resource and knowledge bank to draw on I know many friends in Consulting aren’t as lucky with some only speaking with senior partners on a monthly or quarterly basis. 

That’s why I created this podcast. 

I wanted to help people like you who want to accelerate their careers in consulting by interviewing leaders in the field to share the advice, tips and strategies that they used to get to the top so that you can to so that you can too.

In each Episode I’ll be interviewing a senior figure in the industry so that you can learn from them. We’ll be going deep in to their background, how they succeeded and what their advice would be for you.

This podcast is brought to you by Create Engage the Digital Marketing agency for the disruptive Management Consultancy.

Digital Marketing has moved forward, but most consulting firms haven’t. Many Consulting firms still see their corporate blog as their sole Digital Marketing channel and find themselves frustrated when these blogs yield little if any results.

To help those of you who want to harness the power of Digital Marketing to grow your Consulting Business but don’t have the knowledge, capacity or in-house capability to do so I launched Create Engage, the first Digital Marketing agency for the Management Consulting Industry.

If you’d like to find out more about how Create Engage can help you use Digital Marketing to take your business to the next level then drop me an email at Nick@CreateEngage.co.uk or go to our website 

www.createengage.co.uk where you can download our free case study that breaks down down the Digital Marketing strategies used by one successful Consulting firm to help them grow over 400% in just 3 years and gives you the secrets they used, so that you can apply them in your own firm.

Episode 155: From $2M to $20M - The Alchemist Growth Formula with Stu Packham

Climb In Consulting