Start-up to Support Scale-ups Launched by Leading Welsh Business Figures

Business News Wales

21-05-2025

Pic (C) HUW JOHN, CARDIFF
A new start-up dedicated to supporting scale-ups has been launched by three Welsh business figures.
Nigel Griffiths, Angharad Neagle, and Matthew Tossell have partnered to form Tailwind, a specialist growth enablement consultancy designed to help business leaders achieve scale.
The trio has assembled a diverse team of entrepreneurs and C-suite executives who have all experienced the highs and lows of leading companies and navigating the challenges of growth.
Nigel, Angharad and Matthew first discovered their shared views on the need for experienced, practical peer support for business leaders eager to scale effectively while serving on the Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) Business Council, where Nigel was chair between 2021 and 2024.
While a wide range of business advice exists across the public and private sectors, the group identified a gap: comprehensive support to help businesses scale up, led exclusively by people who have founded or run businesses themselves.
The three are particularly passionate about supporting Wales's indigenous businesses across all sectors to scale, citing that medium-sized enterprises often foster innovation, create jobs, strengthen local supply chains, and invest in their communities.
Tailwind is currently in the process of onboarding its first clients and so far, has brought together 14 growth partners with diverse business experience. Although Tailwind is, by definition, a start-up, the team collectively brings hundreds of years of experience and has helped generate millions of pounds in growth across hundreds of businesses. (C) HUW JOHN, CARDIFF
Tailwind co-founder and lead growth architect Nigel Griffiths co-founded and scaled FD Systems to £16 million before its sale to K3 plc. He later grew Certus from £1 million to £10 million turnover, before exiting to SysGroup plc. In 2020, he invested in Lexington Corporate Finance, tripling its run-rate fee income before its acquisition by FRP Advisory in 2024, where he remains a consultant.
Nigel said:
'We want to support ambitious leaders to scale their businesses and unlock all the benefits that brings to stakeholders, local communities, and the economy.
'We're looking for clients who have already achieved some success but are eager to elevate their business to the next level. Often, leadership teams are consumed by the day-to-day running of the business, leaving little executive bandwidth to focus on growth. We understand how frustrating that can be — that's why we created Tailwind.'
Each new client engagement begins with Tailwind's proprietary TRANSFORM audit, based on decades of collective experience in driving business growth. The audit identifies growth inhibitors and enablers, allowing Tailwind to develop and execute a targeted growth plan in partnership with clients. The outcomes of the audit drive the priority actions, but common areas include sales and marketing solutions and optimising technology for growth.
Tailwind will also provide pre- and post-deal services to investors and lenders, including commercial due diligence, post-investment value creation, and exit-readiness planning and execution.
Co-founder and chairman Matthew Tossell takes up a non-executive role alongside his position as senior partner at Hugh James. As managing partner between 1999 and 2011, he led the firm into the UK's Top 100 law firms having more than quadrupled its revenue. He also founded the firm's first volume legal services unit for the banking industry, later consolidating this and other volume units, into Involegal LLP, where he served as CEO and grew the business to a £30 million valuation within three years.
Matthew said:
'Tailwind complements the existing business support ecosystem but importantly fills a significant gap by offering specialist growth support through our TRANSFORM methodology and hands-on guidance from experienced growth partners who have all led businesses themselves.
'Wales is our home, and we are passionate about helping Welsh businesses scale. However, we'll also be working with clients across the UK to deliver targeted, specialist support for growth.'
Co-founder and chief executive Angharad Neagle, previously CEO of Freshwater, has been supporting business leaders to achieve growth for more than 20 years and will lead the day-to-day operations at Tailwind.
Angharad said:
'We've assembled an experienced and talented group of entrepreneurs and executives who offer practical solutions and empathy for CEOs and founders.
'We believe that working with our partners who have already helped create millions of pounds of growth across hundreds of other businesses will give our clients the confidence to innovate and execute change quickly so they can scale up effectively.'
Tailwind's growth partners — all entrepreneurs and C-suite executives — include Jim Henderson, who is the architect of the TRANSFORM methodology, David Watts, Simon Thomas, Geoff Hancock, Nick Fluck, Sean Farrington, Darryl Morton and Warren Lewis.
Tailwind is in discussions with more experts to keep expanding its team of growth partners.
For more information visit www.wearetailwind.co.uk