Cooper Parry

Leading our Digital Transformation business across Salesforce, NetSuite, Data & Analytics and Cybersecurity.

Managing Director - Cooper Parry Digital

Leading all firm market activity across the venture capital ecosystem.

CP's Tech & High Growth platform is the UK's #1 accounting & advisory team for start-ups and scale-ups.

Partner - Head of Early Stage, Tech & High Growth

Middlesex Cricket

Board Observer

HM Revenue & Customs

Appointed to the board.

The Administrative Burdens Advisory Board (ABAB) is an independent board comprising members from a range of business backgrounds and professions who represent the small business community. The Administrative Burdens Advisory Board's goal is to make a noticeable difference for small business by supporting HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to help make tax easier, quicker and simpler.

ABAB - Advisory Board Member

Labrys

Part of founding team.

Responsible for all finance implementation, structuring, corporate treasury, HR & incentives. Successfully raised and completed multi £m Seed Round before rolling off and handing over to full time CFO.

Now - Advisor to the Board.

Group CFO

Acclivity Advisors

Acclivity is a boutique advisory firm specialising in providing accountancy, taxation and consultancy services to entrepreneurs and high growth, early stage businesses both nationally and internationally.

Founder & Managing Director

HM Treasury

Consultative Committee member tasked with reviewing the current taxation system and providing meaningful insights that can result in a simplification of the regime.

Office of Tax Simplificiation -  Consultative Committee

Richmond Gatehouse LLP

1. Co-founder with a specific focus on early stage startups & High growth SME's.

- Full stack advisory, consisting of: structuring, accounting, (Corporate/Personal) direct/indirect taxes & systems. As well as strategic development, fund raising and founder matters.
- Particularly aim to build relationships and demystify accounting and taxation to non-finance professionals

2. Managing multi-office accountancy firm, business/brand development & strategic partnerships

3. Advising & mentoring both hopeful and established entrepreneurs on wide ranging matters including finance & strategy. In particular making meaningful introductions where beneficial.

Partner

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

I engaged with various governmental departments, discussing frontline business matters and opportunities for innovation, in a forum facilitated by Vince Cable.

Member of Entrepreneur Forum led by the Secretary of State for Business

PricewaterhouseCoopers

- Private Equity, M&A (London)
- Tax (Jersey, Channel Islands)

Senior Associate

Managing Director, Cooper Parry Digital | Head of Early Stage, Tech & High Growth |

I lead our Digital business that supports clients across their Salesforce, NetSuite, Analytics & Cybersecurity needs.

I also lead market activity for CP in the Venture Capital ecosystem. 

Our specialist team works with Founders, CFOs and Boards of early stage, scale-up and high growth businesses, navigating challenges spanning finance, strategy, technology, and deal support. We are highly active in the scale-up ecosystem and have worked as the accounting partner for leading organisations and communities and have built community platforms such as TechCFO and VentureCEO.

I started my career at PwC, then established and ran successful early stage focussed firms such as Acclivity Advisors. Following the successful exit of Acclivity to Cooper Parry, where I am now a Managing Director.

I wrote the best selling book 'The Finance Playbook for Entrepreneurs', so that entrepreneurs of ALL backgrounds could benefit from the very best teachings. 

Thinking back, I can see how my family-business beginnings have influenced where I am today, teaching me primarily how to spin multiple plates at the same time, but more importantly the significance of being surrounded by the right people.  

This unique skillset has afforded me a number of Board positions across industries within public & private sectors. At present, these include:

1. Middlesex County Cricket Club (Board Observer, Chair of Growth Committee)
2. Queen Elizabeth's Global Schools (Chair, International Schools project)
3. Labrys (Advisor to the Board)
4. HM Revenue & Customs - ABAB (Board Member)

As well as the above, I advise Government on how to innovate for SMEs & entrepreneurs through consultative committees and forums.

All of these roles have shown me the value of sharing what I know beyond my own sector;

And so, I enjoy speaking at universities, schools, accelerators and incubators on a wide variety of relevant entrepreneurship related topics.

Asif Ahmed

Profitability isn't the ultimate validation.

That's a lesson you only learn the hard way.

After working with 500+ venture-backed start-ups, here's the uncomfortable truth:

The most dangerous position to get into? 

When your P&L looks perfect but your fundamentals are weak.

Here's why being cash-focused ultimately builds stronger businesses:

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘀𝗸𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀. 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.

Companies obsessing over profitability develop lazy habits:

→ They don't know their unit economics deeply
→ They avoid hard decisions about efficiency  
→ They confuse "not losing money" with "building value"
→ They miss the difference between margin and runway

Meanwhile, cash-burning companies (done strategically) are forced to develop critical skills:

𝟭) 𝗥𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
Every pound spent requires justification. No budget bloat. No vanity projects.

𝟮) 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆  
They know CAC, LTV, payback period, and burn multiple empirically. These aren't just spreadsheet exercises, they're critical to survival.

𝟯) 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿-𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴
They must articulate value creation constantly. This clarity drives better decision-making at every level.

𝟰) 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱-𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲
Cash management is predictive. Profit analysis is historical. One protects your future, the other reviews your past.

- - - -

The counterintuitive truth:

A company burning £100k/month with 24 months runway and crystal-clear metrics is stronger than a profitable company that doesn't know why it's profitable.

The difference is control.

Cash-focused founders know exactly:
→ How long they have to hit milestones
→ What drives their economics  
→ Where to deploy capital for maximum impact
→ When to accelerate or conserve

Profit-focused founders often know:
→ That they made money last month
→ (And hope it continues)

✅ One is building a machine. 
❌ The other is hoping the machine keeps running.

💡 What financial metric do you think founders obsess over that actually limits long-term success?

♻️ Repost to help others in your network ♻️

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📌 Follow me, Asif Ahmed for more insights
📌 Accounting, Audit, Tax, Salesforce, NetSuite & Cybersecurity
✒️ Specifically for: Fast Scaling venture-backed founders & CFOs

keshty

Clients we've partnered with as Fractional COO (done for you):

- Wealthbrite: 2/24 - 3/25
- MindsetShift: 5/24 - present
- Rampart GTM: 3/25 - 9/25
- Diverse Futures: 6/25 - 9/25
- Earlybird AI: 10/25 - present

Clients we've partnered with as Scale Advisor (done with you):

- DOHE: 2/24 - present
- RORA: 10/24 - 7/25

Fractional COO + Scale Advisor

I've had the pleasure of sitting on a number of panels, fireside chats, roundtables and workshops for the global / UK tech scene:

⚖️ SCALING TEAMS:

- "Building your Founding Team" with Bae HQ
- "KAOS-Free Biz Ops: A Practical Founder's Guide to Scaling Sustainably" with GuessWorks x FinTech Wales
- "KAOS-Free Teams: A Practical Founder’s Guide to Scaling People" with CODE Tech Founders x Imperial Enterprise Lab x GuessWorks
- "Scaling Team & Ops Fireside Chat" with CODE Tech Founders x Imperial Enterprise Lab x GuessWorks

🧠 FOUNDER DEVELOPMENT:
 
- "KAOS to Calm: A Practical Founder's Guide to Making their Biz Work for them" with OPUS
- "KAOS to Clarity: A Practical Founder's Guide to Goal-Setting" with LSE Generate
- "Pitch Perfect: 60 Seconds to Win an Angel Investor" with Sifted 
- "Strategic Insights: Mastering Board Level Challenges" with Connectd x Techspace

🚀 FUTURE OF WORK: 

- "International Woman's Day Panel" with Female Founders Rise x Bae HQ
- "The Power of Generalists in a World That Won't Sit Still" with Generalist World 🌀
- "The Workforce Revolution: People Leaders Panel" with ditto x Techspace
- "Perception vs. Reality: What's the True Value of Ops?" with Operations Nation

🥧 THE FRACTIONAL MOVEMENT:

- "From Full-time to Fractional: A Story of 100 Real Convos" with Generalist World 🌀
- "From Full-time to Fractional: cONference Roundtable" with Operations Nation

If you'd like me to support your org through a speaking arrangement, please get in touch directly via DM or through keshty's enquiry form on our website.

Panel + Workshop Speaker

Alma Angels

Alma is creating a world where ambitious women founders raising early stage have access to a diverse pool of angel investors who believe in them. 

I'm a Founding Alma with 3x investments made so far: Niya, Wealthbrite, blok

Please note my *personal* thesis is minority-led Tech for Good (EdTech, Future of Work, etc), with a focus on improving social mobility @ scale.

Angel Investor

OPUS

Founding Member

Multiverse

In this Director level role, I moved back to head up the Data Programmes at a critical period of scale and revenue generation. The team were 3 cross-discipline departments serving 4k apprentices that needed to be downsized and scaled again. Morale and retention were at an all time low (-5 team NPS, 25% attrition rate, losing revenue).

Through a strategy I called Operation Thrive, I took the team from 72 to 55 and back up to 110,  increased employee engagement NPS by 68 points and reduced attrition to <2% within 6 months. 

This offered me enough team health to deliver on our first £20m quarter and sponsor a project testing workload at scale, increasing operational efficiency by 38% in its first iteration. I also drove a new strategy for diverse talent, increasing Black & Asian minority hires by 5x, female/non-binary by 3x and confirmed neurodiversity by 4x.

After 5 years and 6 funding rounds, I left to take a sabbatical and start a new journey.

Head of Data Programmes

Interim independent contributor role between Series C and D. Partnered with Delivery leaders to grow + scale their teams.

Growth: 8 teams & 200 people to 11 teams & 400 people.

Scale: Went from 36% headcount utilisation to 98% for existing employees - meaning no coaches on the bench. Where other parts of the business were underserved, we implemented temporary secondments and redeployments while others onboarded for highest sales quarters to come.

Head of Delivery Growth

Built the Coaching Academy to solve a fundamental gap in MV's talent pipeline. I believed we could train A-players to coach-readiness through an operationally-sound, high-calibre training programme. 

After testing, I made the Academy programme-agnostic (adopted by all programmes), global (adopted by the US) and cross-functional (adopted by GTM). It's since trained 200+ employees in-house and significantly improved the diversity of their talent pipeline.

Senior Manager, Multiverse Academy

Moved to scale the Data Programmes, which became the highest-revenue generating department in the business. I simultaneously started building the brainchild that was the "Multiverse Academy" to expand and diversify the team.

Manager, Multiverse Academy & Data Programme

Expanded the team from 3 to 12 while maintaining the highest performance business-wide. Scaled the programme while achieving highest apprentice NPS and apprentice Pass / Distinction rate.

Manager, Business Programme

I was one of Multiverse's earliest joiners in its pre-seed era. 

In this role, I directly coached 80 apprentices to achieve their Business Administration qualification with a 100% Pass and 80% Distinction rate. 

My incredible apprentices were school-leavers aged 16-24 and have since gone on to manage their own teams, start independent ventures and even begin real estate portfolios.

Business Coach

21st Century Fox

Helped grow the EMEA region to 400-strong and a $70B Disney acquisition.

Specialty areas: regional org design, end to end recruitment and retention / progression.

Channels I worked on that were taken in-house by the mouse include Fox Networks Group, BabyTV, National Geographic International Channels, NatGeo Partners, NatGeo Society and YourTV.

Talent and Resourcing Manager, EMEA

First Step Consulting

Got my first taste of tech by leading a European micro VC to its global expansion in Silicon Valley 🌎 

PS: They're still thriving out there.

Project Manager

Start-Up Swiss Army Knife | Perpetual Team Builder | IO Psychologist | ex-Multiverse, FOX + NatGeo 🚀

I'm obsessed with building and scaling healthy, happy and high-performing workplaces through their most valuable asset: their people. 

Over the last decade, I've helped 3 companies get this right:
 
1. A European Venture Capital firm to the US and investing their first $10M
2. FOX/NatGeo EMEA through the $70B Disney acquisition 
3. The UK’s first EdTech unicorn, Multiverse, from pre-seed to Series D and past a $1B valuation

I've designed mega structures post-fundraise, hired 500+ people globally and hold a consistent retention rate of 98% and 50% gender and ethnic diversity in every team I've built.

But in 2023, I "left" tech disillusioned by stats like 70% of startups fail in years 2-5 and minority founders only having access to 2% of VC funding. 

I started keshty as an experienced I/O Psychologist, Senior Ops Leader and serial scaler to help others - particularly underrepresented founders - nail it the first time. 

🚢 Check out keshty to learn more about our Fractional COO and Scale Advisory services, and join us in reshaping tech.

Neda Sahebelm

We're hiring TWO mission-critical roles in our founding team at Earlybird!!!

🔊 AND UK NETWORK: I need y'all to do your thing + help me fill them with the best, brightest and all-around good humans you know.

*by network I mean NETWORK - please no agencies, job boards or recruiters!

1- 🤖 Senior Full-Stack Engineer (working closely with Boris Bambo!)

We’re looking for a founding Senior FS Engineer comfortable with the early-stage + keen to put their skills to use for *GOOD.* You'll be excited by the opportunity to refine, deploy + scale our product across a larger scale of influence. 

Skills-wise, think along the lines of:
- React / Next.js (frontend) 
- Python / Node.js or similar (backend)
- with a sprinkle of cloud knowledge (e.g. AWS)

If you have some of these AND you're a good human who thrives in early-stage, holler at me.

Imagine! The code you'll write will literally help make the world a better place at scale. If that isn't one heck of a career move, idk what is.

2- 💰 a truly legendary SDR (working closely with Claudine Adeyemi-Adams FIEP, Louise Russ and Ryan McGee MIEP!)

We’re scaling fast (wooo) and demand is growing! To meet it, we need a legendary SDR who can generate conversations with orgs shaping citizen services in the UK + beyond.

As a founding SDR, you’ll be the engine fuelling our growth: reaching out to leaders across employment support providers, local authorities, housing associations and other citizen-facing services. 

Your work will open doors to opportunities that ultimately help THOUSANDS of people get the support they need. We love sales-for-good over here.

🫶🏼 What makes our culture unique:

- lived experiences of the problem we're trying to solve
- we have REAL traction nailing the balance between mission + profit
- remote first, a 4-day work week + salary transparency plastered everywhere on our JDs

>>> If you know someone who could be a great fit (or you yourself could!) please reach out / intro via DM. 

>>> If you don't know anyone but want to support, please still like, comment or share this widely so we can find our person!

Thanks UK network, do your thing x

Fractional COO | Scale Advisor | IO Psychologist | Helping purpose-driven startups scale high-performing teams @ keshty

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