Best Startup
At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top Reading based Founder operating in the Consulting space. If you think a Founder is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Andrew Yeoman
Co-Founder and CEO of Concirrus
Andy is the founding CEO of Concirrus and since then has led the company’s strategy to solve a problem in the insurance industry – how to harness the power of big data and artificial intelligence to improve loss ratios. Andy has driven the vision and product roadmap of the company built a solid customer base and reputation for the business. In 2019 Andy was voted the second most influential person Worldwide in Marine Insurance. Prior to Concirrus Andy had extensive experience in telematics, big data, and insurance in start-ups, turnarounds, and M&A. He’s passionate about discovering new business models that technology can unlock for the insurance market and their customers.
Follow Andrew Yeoman:
About Concirrus: Concirrus support digital transformation of the specialty insurance industry using the latest developments in technology.
Simon Schnieders
Founder and CEO of Blue Array Ltd
Simon Schnieders is a search marketing expert focused on the discipline of SEO primarily. His background includes affiliate marketing, SEM, social media and monetizing sites. Schnieders is the founder of the UK’s largest pure-play SEO agency, Blue Array. Previously he was Head of SEO for Zoopla.co.uk, (0-7 years £1billion IPO) driving the websites largest traffic source into double digit million numbers. Between 2009-11 he worked at European Directories, a pan-European IYP and lead generation company & between 2008-9 is recognized for driving the growth surge in search engine traffic for the UK’s number one newspaper website, Mail Online, (dailymail.co.uk) in 2009. Other sites he’s worked on for SEO include, thisismoney.co.uk, metro.co.uk, www.localpeople.co.uk and yell.com.
Follow Simon Schnieders:
About Blue Array Ltd: Blue Array Ltd provides SEO consulgency (consultancy & agency hybrid) services
Ian Ormerod
Strategic Advisor/ Founder of Transformation Advice
Follow Ian Ormerod:
About Transformation Advice: Transformation Advice helps businesses in the financial services sector to create clear strategic plans.
Bob Apollo
Founder and Chief Outcomes Officer of Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners
Bob Apollo is the founder and managing partner of UK-based Inflexion-Point. Bob advises a wide range of B2B sales organisations on how to systematically target, attract, engage, and close more of the right sort of sales opportunities, with typical outcomes that include shorter sales cycles, higher deal values, increased win rates, and improved sales forecast accuracy. Bob has enjoyed a distinguished corporate career spanning sales organisations of all sizes, from promising new start-ups to established market leaders such as Protege, XcelleNet and Sybase/iAnywhere.
Follow Bob Apollo:
About Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners: Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners are UK-based experts in systematic sales performance improvement for complex B2B sales environments.
Joseph McCool
Founder & Principal of The McCool Group
Joe’s global perspective and commitment to drive better results through executive search and succession best practices has helped employers in many industries find the right search partners, improve executive hiring effectiveness, reduce global search spend, improve management diversity, create CEO and ‘C-Suite’ succession plans, and make their Search Committees better prepared and more effective. He’s been quoted regularly in The Wall Street Journal as well as in The Financial Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Shanghai Daily, CEO Update and The Economist. Joe has also appeared on the BBC World News, CNBC, CBC Radio and CNN Radio, among other global media. BusinessWeek calls him “the authority” on executive recruiters. Fast Company calls him the “guru” on getting the most from executive search. ExecuNet calls him an “expert on management succession.” Joe has become a trusted advisor to companies, venture capital firms, universities and not-for-profit organizations. His book, Deciding Who Leads, was recognized as one of the best business books of the year by SoundView, getAbstract and Business Book Review. It was also a Foreword Business Book of the year finalist, an 800 CEO Read award nominee, and a strategy + business magazine ‘Human Capital Best Book’ of the year nominee. Joe’s book has been translated in Brazilian-Portuguese under the title Escolhendo Líderes. He holds a master’s degree in organizational leadership with a certificate in servant leadership from Gonzaga University, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Plymouth State College of the University System of New Hampshire. He was twice elected President of the Plymouth State College Alumni Association and received its Alumni Achievement Award in 2001 and its Distinguished Alumni Service Award in 2004. Joe has been a member of The Human Resources Leadership Forum, National Association of Corporate Directors, The Society of Corporate Secretaries & Governance Professionals, and the National Eagle Scout Association.
Follow Joseph McCool:
About The McCool Group: The McCool Group is an advisory and consulting firm.
Joseph Zidik
Founder of CMC
Follow Joseph Zidik:
About CMC: CMC is a supplier of media mills, mixers and dispersion equipment, and a full service toll processor.
