Meet the Founders
Built by business leaders who understand what growth demands
Growth Board was founded by Peter Nicol and Chris Hodson to give ambitious Essex business owners something that is often difficult to find.
A trusted group of experienced peers. A place where important decisions can be tested. A structured environment that turns ambition into action.
Peter and Chris have spent their careers helping businesses grow, strengthening leadership teams and turning ideas into measurable results. They also understand the reality of leading a growing organisation.
The most important decisions often sit with the owner. There may be no board to provide perspective, no independent voice to challenge the assumptions and no reliable structure for maintaining momentum.
Growth Board was created to fill that gap.
It is not another networking group. It is not passive business coaching. It is a working board for owners who want to make better decisions, grow faster and be held accountable for acting on their ambitions.
Peter Nicol
Peter is an experienced revenue and commercial leader with more than 30 years of experience helping early-stage and scale-up businesses grow.
His career has included developing go-to-market strategies, building international sales teams and leading commercial growth across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. He has worked extensively with technology and SaaS businesses, where clear positioning, disciplined execution and predictable revenue are essential.
Today, Peter works alongside business owners and leadership teams to strengthen their sales strategy, routes to market, pipelines, commercial processes and account development.
Peter brings a direct commercial perspective to Growth Board.
He helps owners examine the fundamentals behind their ambitions. Who is the ideal customer? Why will they choose this business? Where will future revenue come from? What is preventing the sales operation from scaling? Which activities will produce the greatest return?
His focus is not simply on generating more sales. It is on building the commercial clarity, capability and discipline required for sustainable growth.
Commercial growth, revenue and execution
Chris Hodson
Chris is an entrepreneur, business strategist and founder with extensive experience in business development, skills, workforce transformation and organisational growth.
He has founded businesses delivering a broad range of education, recruitment and business transformation activities. These include Pitman Training centres across London, Essex and Suffolk, the Melius recruitment brand and HoSoMoTo, which helps organisations strengthen their leadership, digital and artificial intelligence capabilities.
Chris has spent much of his career helping individuals and organisations respond to change. His work focuses on the relationship between business strategy, people, skills, technology and execution.
He brings a broad organisational perspective to Growth Board.
Chris helps owners step back from immediate operational pressures and examine the wider business. Is the strategy clear? Does the organisation have the right capabilities? Are people focused on the right priorities? Are systems and technology enabling growth or obstructing it? Can the business grow without becoming increasingly dependent on its owner?
His focus is on helping leaders make confident decisions and build organisations capable of delivering their ambitions.
Strategy, capability and organisational growthTwo Perspectives. One Purpose.
Peter and Chris bring different but complementary perspectives to Growth Board.
Peter brings commercial focus, revenue strategy and experience of turning market opportunities into sales.
Chris brings strategic perspective, organisational development and experience of building the people, skills and systems required to support growth.
Together, they understand that sustainable growth depends on more than one good idea.
It requires a clear proposition, strong leadership, commercial discipline, capable people, effective systems and consistent execution.
It also requires the owner to have the confidence to make difficult decisions, the humility to accept challenge and the discipline to follow through.
Why we created Growth Board
We believe ambitious business owners deserve access to the kind of challenge, perspective and accountability that an effective board can provide.
Not when the business is already large enough to appoint one.
Now, while the most important decisions are still being made.
Growth Board brings together a carefully selected group of Essex business owners who are committed to growth and willing to contribute to the success of others.
Every member brings experience. Every member brings a different perspective. Every member is expected to participate, challenge and act.
Peter and Chris remain actively involved in the Board. They shape each session, facilitate meaningful discussion, introduce relevant expertise and ensure that good conversations lead to clear decisions and measurable action.
This is a founder-led community with a clear purpose.
To help ambitious Essex business owners make better decisions and turn those decisions into sustained growth.
The Board Your Business Doesn’t Have
Bring your biggest business challenge.
Test it with people who understand the responsibility of leading a business.
Leave with greater clarity, a stronger plan and a commitment to act.