Portfolio Leadership Accelerator

    Land Your First Advisory Engagement. In 90 Days.

    Most senior executives have 20+ years of expertise and zero commercial assets. We fix that in 90 days.

    A clear advisory positioning you can speak to confidently in any room
    A fully built advisory identity. LinkedIn, case studies, pricing, ready to deploy.
    Build your own pipeline of opportunities and land a deal in 90 days.

    "We sharpened the pitch and moved from passive to promotion. I launched and had 5 really quick prospects and have secured a role."

    John Hancock, Former Group COO, Wolseley

    The Problem

    Deep expertise. No commercial assets.

    You've spent 20 years being excellent inside someone else's organisation. Now you're trying to figure out how to package and sell that to the world.

    Your expertise isn't packaged, positioned, or priced to win. Most operators waste 12 to 24 months figuring this out alone. We collapse that into 90 days.

    In Their Words

    Senior leaders who made the move.

    Two clients, in their own words. Both went through the Audit and the Sprint with Dave and Malcolm in 2026.

    "He does what he says he will do."

    "Like many experienced executives, I have done a lot during my career and have much to offer. However I struggled to turn that breadth of experience into a clear message for potential clients. Through our conversations, Dave has been instrumental in helping me focus and gain clarity. His structured process, from the Audit and Sprint, to a strong CV and LinkedIn profile, have helped me identify where I could add the most value and articulate it clearly. Dave is easy to work with and practical. Most importantly, he does what he says he will do."

    Jesse Shearin

    Interim and Fractional COO, former COO, Tozaro

    "We sharpened the pitch and moved from passive to promotion."

    "Having recently left a C Suite role, I was intrigued and open to interim roles. I had no idea how to market myself, who to, and where to start. Then I met Dave. This process helped change my thinking and encouraged me to learn to sell again, something you rarely do in a C Suite role. Over the weeks, we refined the CV, built some case studies and honed the clear brand message around certainty of results for potential new clients. If I had to sum it up, we sharpened the pitch and moved from passive to promotion. I launched and had 5 really quick prospects and have secured a role. I would recommend to other executives to take the plunge."

    John Hancock

    Former Group COO, Wolseley

    The standard we hold ourselves to

    We are an early programme with a small number of named clients. We would rather show you two real ones than twenty thin ones. Ask us for a conversation with either.

    Who This Is For

    Built for Senior Operators at a Turning Point

    Recently exited (or planning to)

    You've left a senior role (or the exit is coming) and you want to build something that's yours.

    Deep expertise, no commercial product

    You know your value. You just don't know how to package, price, or sell it independently.

    Done selling your time

    Day rates and retainers keep you dependent. You want outcome-based, high-value engagements.

    People already ask for your advice

    Informally. For free. You want to formalise that into something that actually pays.

    What We Do Not Do

    We are not a recruiter, and we do not find you a job. Not a CV-writing service or a LinkedIn ghostwriter, although both get rebuilt along the way. No theory, no scripts. And not for someone still hoping the next corporate role turns up. We work with leaders who are done waiting for permission.

    The Belief

    Most executives fail at advisory because they're still thinking like employees.

    They try to sell their time. A day rate, a retainer, availability. But buyers don't pay for availability. They pay for outcomes.

    The moment you stop selling access to yourself and start selling a defined result at a defined price, everything changes. That's what we build.

    The Three Stages

    Diagnose. Build. Activate.

    Three stages. One programme. One investment.

    Stage 1

    The Advisory Audit

    Outcome

    Know exactly what to sell, to whom, and for how much, confirmed by someone who has bought it.

    A diagnostic engagement. We assess where you stand, audit your existing assets, and deliver clear strategic direction in a 1:1 debrief with Dave.

    What's Included

    Onboarding Assessment

    Structured questionnaire to shape your portfolio goals and identify your highest-leverage IP.

    LinkedIn & CV Audit

    Forensic review of your digital presence and resume. What's signalling authority, what's signalling availability.

    Short Strategy Interview

    A focused session to surface your operator IP and the commercial moments worth packaging.

    1:1 Strategy Debrief with Dave

    A direct, candid session where Dave walks you through your diagnosis and the path forward.

    Positioning Pressure-Test with Malcolm

    Before you build anything, Malcolm reviews your direction from the buyer's seat and tells you, plainly, what the market will and will not pay for.

    Deliverable: A clear diagnosis of where you stand, what to fix first, and whether progressing to Stage 2 makes sense for you.

    Stage 2

    The Advisory Asset Sprint

    Outcome

    Walk away with a deployable advisory identity, ready to go to market and sharpened by someone who has guided a hundred senior leaders through the same move.

    A focused build engagement. Not a plan. Every asset you need to go to market as an independent authority, constructed with you.

    What We Build

    Full LinkedIn Rewrite

    Complete rebuild of headline, about, and every experience entry, engineered to position you as an authority, not a candidate.

    Case Study Extraction

    We mine your operator history and package the strongest commercial moments into structured, sales-ready case studies.

    The CV, Rebuilt with Malcolm

    Your CV rebuilt using the method Malcolm has used with more than a hundred senior leaders.

    Engagement Approach

    A clear methodology for how you engage clients. The diagnostic, the deliverable cadence, the outcome promise.

    Pricing Structure

    Outcome-based pricing that reflects the value you deliver, with tiered options designed to anchor at the right level.

    Capability Brochure

    A polished, branded document you can share in sales conversations. Your offer, proof, and pricing in one asset.

    Asset Review with Malcolm

    He reads your finished positioning, case studies and pitch the way a board or a recruiter would, and we sharpen anything that would not survive that room.

    Deliverable: A complete, deployment-ready advisory identity. You own everything we create, even if you stop here.

    Most clients complete Stage 2 and are having real advisory conversations within 6 to 8 weeks.

    Stage 3

    The Portfolio Accelerator (Activation)

    90-day activation programme. Lifetime access to updates.

    Outcome

    Land your first paid engagement, with Malcolm's network opening the doors.

    Stages 1 and 2 build the asset. Stage 3 puts it to work. This is the activation phase, and it is where the partnership earns its place.

    How It Works

    Warm Introductions from Malcolm's Network

    Real doors into recruiters, CIOs and boards, not generic leads.

    A Go-to-Market Plan Built with Dave

    Your outreach rhythm, your target list, your pitch, run and optimised with you.

    Your Own Pipeline System

    A CRM and booking calendar, set up for you and yours to keep.

    Run and Optimisation Support

    We work alongside you until the first engagement lands.

    Lifetime Access to Programme Updates

    Every future improvement to the methodology, frameworks, and tooling is yours, for life.

    Price: You pay for Stage 3 only when it works. A success fee of 10% of the revenue you commit in your first six months, from £2,000 up to a maximum of £4,000. No retainer, no day rate, nothing upfront. We are paid out of revenue you have already earned.

    Who You Work With

    Two people in your corner. One who built the method. One who made the move himself and has guided a hundred others through it.

    Fortune 100

    organisations where Dave has coached C-suite executives

    30 years

    in senior technology leadership (Malcolm)

    100+

    senior technology leaders Malcolm has mentored into the interim and portfolio market

    £500m

    of technology cost savings in Malcolm's role at RBS

    Dave Ray, Founder of Dave Ray Advisory

    Executive Coach and C-Level Advisor

    Dave Ray

    Founder, Dave Ray Advisory.

    I coach senior leaders through exactly this transition. Thousands of hours with C-suite executives and senior operators across Fortune 100 organisations in Europe, the US, the Middle East and Asia, and the founder of the Portfolio Leadership Accelerator. I built the method, the assessment, the positioning work and the pipeline system that this programme runs on. I work best with leaders who are done waiting for permission.

    Malcolm Lambell

    Mentor and Programme Partner

    Malcolm Lambell

    CIO and technology leader, now mentor and partner on the programme.

    Malcolm made this move himself at the end of a long permanent career: thirty years in senior technology leadership, as CIO at TSB, Prudential, Axa, Woolwich, Lloyds, HBOS and RBS, then an interim at Vertex, Bupa and XL Catlin, with four investing non-executive seats alongside. He has since mentored more than a hundred senior technology leaders into the interim and portfolio market. In the programme he pressure-tests your positioning before you build, reads your finished identity the way a board would, and opens doors into a network most people spend a decade building.

    What You Are Working Towards

    Your first engagement, in plain terms.

    "A paid engagement" can take a few shapes, and part of the work is choosing the right one for you. The figures below are 2025 UK market ranges.

    The one we aim for

    Fractional Leadership

    You hold a real senior seat, CTO, CFO, COO, for part of your week, usually two or three days, and own the outcome. UK day rates run £600 to £1,600, so three days a week is meaningful income from the start. This is the outcome we point most people at first, because it pays well, it puts you back in the engine room, and it builds the track record everything else hangs off.

    Full time, fixed term

    Interim Management

    A full time, fixed term assignment, typically four to nine months, to lead a specific transformation or turnaround. The 2025 average day rate is about £894, with senior specialists well above. Intense while it lasts, then it ends by design.

    Easiest to start

    Advisory

    Lighter touch, a call a fortnight or a session a month, usually on a retainer of a few hundred to a few thousand pounds a month. The easiest strand to start while still employed.

    Compounds credibility

    Board or Non-Executive Seat

    A governance role paid per year, from around £15,000 in a private company up to £45,000 plus on a listed board. Rarely your main income, but it compounds credibility and opens doors.

    Most people start with one and add the others over time. That mix, with no single client as your single point of failure, is the portfolio.

    Earnings figures are indicative UK 2025 market ranges, not guarantees.

    The Investment

    Build first. Activate when you are ready.

    Step One: Build Your Advisory Identity

    £3,500

    The Advisory Audit and the Advisory Asset Sprint, with Malcolm's direct input in both.

    You finish with a positioned, market-ready advisory practice you own. Clear on what you sell, to whom, and for how much, with the assets built to take it to market.

    Step Two: Activate It (Only When You Are Ready)

    Once you love what we have built in Step One, we take it to market together.

    Stage 3 is success-based. We open Malcolm's network, run your outreach with you, and keep going until you land your first paid engagement. You pay a success fee only at that point: 10% of the revenue you commit in your first six months, from a minimum of £2,000 up to a maximum of £4,000. Nothing before, and always out of money you have already won.

    Build first. Activate when you are ready. Up to £7,500 in total, and you only ever pay the second half once it is already paying you.

    A single year of Malcolm Lambell's private mentoring costs £7,500 on its own. This is the same total, with his input built in and a complete advisory practice built and activated around it.

    How the success fee works

    Four indicative 2025 UK examples:

    • Fractional three days a week at about £1,000 a day (about £72,000 over six months) pays the £4,000 cap.
    • Interim full time at about £894 a day (about £108,000 over six months) pays the £4,000 cap.
    • Advisory retainer £2,500 a month (£15,000 over six months) pays the £2,000 floor.
    • A first private company board seat around £15,000 a year pays the £2,000 floor.

    The guarantee

    If you have not landed your first paid engagement by the end of the 90 days, we keep working with you at no further cost until you do. The people who do the work land, and we stay in your corner until the engagement is signed.

    Common Questions

    Straight Answers for Senior Leaders

    I'm currently in a full-time role. Is this a conflict?

    No. The whole point is to package your corporate IP into a productised advisory asset while you're still employed. You're building a personal commercial bridge, not breaking any contractual obligations. Stage 1 is purely diagnostic, Stage 2 is asset construction, and Stage 3 only activates when you choose.

    How does payment work?

    The programme is £3,500 to build your advisory identity, paid up front. After that, a success fee of 10% of the revenue you commit in your first six months, from £2,000 up to £4,000, payable only once you have landed a paid engagement. Nothing else, and nothing before you are earning.

    What does the Advisory Audit actually deliver?

    A short structured assessment, a forensic audit of your LinkedIn and CV, a strategy interview to surface your operator IP, and a 1:1 debrief session with Dave where you walk away with a clear diagnosis and recommended next step. It's the cheapest, fastest way to get senior, candid input.

    What if I don't have a 'product' to sell yet?

    That's exactly why Stage 2 exists. Most operators have decades of expertise but no clear path to monetise it outside of a salary. The Sprint extracts the frameworks you've already used to scale teams or transform P&Ls, and turns them into raw material for your asset.

    What result can I realistically expect in the near term?

    Most clients come out of Stage 2 with a fully built advisory identity and are having real advisory conversations within 6 to 8 weeks. The near-term goal isn't a big monthly figure. It's a clear positioning, a defined offer, and your first real advisory conversation. That's the moment everything shifts. Stage 3 is where you scale it.

    Where We Start

    Book a Discovery Call

    A focused 30-minute conversation to understand where you are, where you want to be, and which stage makes sense as your starting point. No pitch, no pressure.

    Dave Ray · Portfolio Leadership Accelerator · me@daveray.coach