April in numbers: month three
We’ve been writing fairly often about how the business is going, but mostly in words rather than numbers. This is a brief, honest look at how April actually went — month three of operations — in figures.
We’re not going to make this a regular feature with vanity dashboards. But occasionally publishing the actual numbers feels right, both because it keeps us honest and because clients evaluating us deserve to see them.
Engagements
We started April with seven active engagements and ended with nine. Two new pieces of work started during the month; none closed early or were lost. Of the nine active engagements at month-end, six are CMB Insight, two are CMB Core, and one is CMB Amplify.
Average engagement value sits in the mid-five figures, with one significantly larger piece of CMB Core work that we expect to run into the autumn. Total contracted backlog at the end of April was higher than we’d expected at this point — comfortably enough work to keep the team fully utilised through to August even without further new sales.
Proposals
Twelve proposals went out in April. Of those, three have already converted to engagements, two have been declined or paused on the client side, and seven are still being considered. The proposal-to-engagement conversion rate to date is sitting at around 55 percent, which we’re treating as a starting baseline rather than a target.
One thing the numbers don’t show: we declined to bid on three opportunities in April because we either didn’t have capacity or didn’t think we were the right fit. We expect that pattern to continue.
Pipeline shape
The pipeline is more diverse by sector than it was in February. We started heavily weighted towards professional services and B2B tech. April added meaningful conversations in retail, hospitality, and one charity sector engagement that we’re particularly looking forward to.
Geographically, the pipeline is still UK-dominant but with Australian work starting to appear now that the Sydney office is live, and some early North American conversations as previously noted.
Team and operations
Two hires in April — Operations Lead and research analyst. The team is now six people. Average billable utilisation across consultants ran at 71 percent for the month, which is on the higher end of what we’d consider healthy. We’d rather it sat closer to 65 percent to leave room for thinking, internal work, and the inevitable spike weeks.
Operating costs ran roughly as forecast, with some over-spend on travel (more client meetings than expected) and modest under-spend elsewhere.
What this means
Three months in, the business is busier than we’d planned for at this stage and structurally healthier than we’d dared hope. The challenges are now about sustaining quality at a slightly higher pace than we’d modelled, not about generating work. That’s a much better problem to have than the alternative.
We’ll write something similar at the end of Q2.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you publish revenue figures?
Not at this stage. We’ll publish annual figures via Companies House like any UK private company. For now we’re focused on the operational metrics that actually tell us how the business is running.
What’s a healthy utilisation rate?
For a consulting business at our stage, anywhere between 60 and 75 percent is sustainable. Below that and you’re under-selling; above that and quality starts to suffer. We monitor it weekly.
Are you taking on new clients?
Yes, but selectively. Engagements that start in May will mostly run from June or July given current capacity. Reach out if you’d like to start a conversation.
