Introducing Blackdown Advisory
Blackdown Advisory - battle-tested business advice
We - Blackdown founders Charles and Rhianne - have between us accumulated thirty years of commercial experience. We’ve worked for (and with) foreign and domestic governments, companies large and small - and started more than our fair share of side hustles and start-up businesses.
Like many of our fellow founders the majority of our ventures haven’t succeeded. But like most of the other battle-scarred entrepreneurs we’ve come across over the years, every time we’ve started a business we’ve learned more than we ever thought possible.
Every failure leaves scar tissue. Every mistake, rejection and misstep is a lesson learned. And when your own money, reputation and livelihood are on the line - believe us when we say; lessons learned the hard way are the ones that leave a lasting impression.
Don’t just take our word for it. NVIDIA Founder and CEO Jensen Huang put his finger on the business value of such hard won resilience in an interview last year:
“Unfortunately resilience matters in success. I don’t know how to teach it to you except for I hope suffering happens to you.”
Learn from our mistakes
Starting a business is not glamorous. The highs are drowned out by the lows. The stress and uncertainty are not for everyone. Resilience is what sees you through the tough times. We’ve built businesses from the ground up, with our own money. And as a result our approach to business is as atypical as our experience.
Through Blackdown we seek to help others learn from our mistakes, because we’ve personally paid to learn every single one of them.
If startups are so great - why consulting? A fair question. Two principle reasons:
We are fed up of seeing mediocre consultants - who’ve never run a company - charge businesses the Earth for bad advice
It’s rewarding and interesting work that makes good use of our varied experience and Swiss Army knife arsenal of abilities
Our experience
You can read more about client projects we’ve worked on, and our own ventures here. From running communications within ecology, conservation and rewilding to building out business models for AI data centres - it’s truly broad and varied. From renewable energy supply chain work at the Foreign Office to madcap vintage aviation ventures at family offices, we’ve a proven ability to turn our hand to many a challenge.
Our own ventures range from online marketplaces and vertically-integrated e-commerce to SaaS startups in Silicon Valley and launching our own tonic water.
Get in touch today to talk about what Blackdown can do for your business, or book a consultation with us directly here.
