- Fenton Capital (Founder, Managing Director - Lazard (Vice President, Media M&A) - Credit Suisse (Vice President, TMT M&A and Capital Raising) - McKinsey & Company (Business Analyst)
A former McKinsey consultant and investment banker (Credit Suisse, Lazard), I have been working as an independent advisor over the last 8 years. My areas of expertise include: 1. Capital raising (debt and equity) for companies in the TMT and other sectors. I worked on this with large and midmarket corporates while in investment banking (Credit Suisse, Lazard) and with small and medium size businesses (SMBs), as well as lenders to SMBs, while working independently. 2. Go-to-market strategy development and implementation: I advised several UK-based SMB lenders on making their client origination strategies truly scalable. This included both direct client origination and partnership-based strategies. (In the latter context, I identified, approached and developed commercial relationships with most relevant partner organisations). 3. M&A / corporate development: while in investment banking, I advised companies in North America, the UK and Europe on buy-side and sell-side engagements as well as their broader corporate development strategies. I am happy to work on projects involving either of these three areas (capital raising, GTM strategy, M&A). Based in London, I can work with clients located anywhere in the world.
- Harvard Business School: MBA
Via my expertise (GTM strategy, capital raising and M&A), my current interest in all things AI, and my network of contacts
Flow of projects where I can add value
My first job was an interpreter on the Paramount Pictures movie set in Moscow
I taught my three children (two girls and a boy aged 13, 12 and 10) to finish each day reflecting on a question which I found to be very powerful: "What have you done today with what you had been given?"
The art of listening, as it is taught and practiced by hostage and crisis negotiators. Most, if not all, of business training on communication skills is focused on speaking, and the art of listening is completely overlooked. Yet it is real listening that helps us uncover true values, beliefs, needs and motivations of clients, partners, co-workers and others around us, which in turn allows us to influence them to our and their mutual advantage. Back in 2015, I read an article about and then met with Richard Mullender, a top hostage and crisis negotiator in the UK. I have been a student and a practitioner of his craft ever since.
Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie (1981)
Fenton Capital Ltd.
Happy to explore how my London presence and contacts in the UK / Europe could be helpful to the community. Also, I've started to explore AI (in a very pragmatic sense of which business applications can generate tangible value today, as opposed to showing a lot of promise in the future) - will be glad to connect with others in the community who are interested in this topic.