Board Advisory & Fractional GTM

You've built something
the world needs.
Now you need
help selling it.

Fractional GTM leadership and board advisory for AI and technology founders navigating the gap between breakthrough product and commercial scale.

Decades
of Experience
Multiple
Technology Waves
Tier 1
Institutional Deals
Global
UK, US & EMEA
Our Mission

Bridging innovation
and the market

At BlazingRed, we specialise in helping founders leverage decades of experience to transform cutting edge innovations into market leaders.

Our expertise lies in bridging the "Complexity Gap": that dangerous space between advanced technology and market understanding, where brilliant ideas stall, sales cycles stretch, and burn rate outpaces belief.

We have spent decades on the front lines of the world's most significant technology shifts, from Mainframe AI and Expert Systems to the GUI wars, Digital Twins, and real time compliance surveillance. We don't start with generic playbooks. We start with experience.

"You've built something brilliant. We make it indispensable."
The BlazingRed Commitment
The Blazing Red Roadmap

Your roadmap for
scaling revenue

We support founders from pre seed through to exit. Every journey is unique, we join at any stage, in an advisory or fractional capacity.

Pre Seed

The Validation Lab

Founding the Narrative & Testing the Gap

  • Narrative refinement for cynical early adopters
  • Pricing hypotheses reflecting value, not cost
  • Founder led sales coaching & muscle memory
Seed

The Repeatability Engine

Building the Playbook from the Trenches

  • Real world sales architecture & process
  • First "impossible" deals at Tier 1 institutions
  • Identifying & hiring Pathfinder sales talent
  • CRM infrastructure for predictable revenue
Series A

The Scaling Architecture

Industrialising the Motion

  • Org design to avoid narrative dilution
  • International expansion, US & EMEA
  • Full time CRO headhunting & onboarding
  • Data driven forecasting precision
Series B+

The Specialist Edge

Defending and Expanding the Category

  • Category creation & narrative ownership
  • Channel & partnership ecosystem strategy
  • Exit readiness: IPO & acquisition preparation
The Complexity Gap

Complexity is the enemy.
Momentum is the mission.

Most startups don't lose momentum because of their technology. They lose it in the handoff, when the sales baton is passed and the original vision fades.

The Complexity Gap is that dangerous space where brilliant, bleeding edge innovation meets a market that is either too cynical to believe it, or too uneducated to use it.

Sales cycles stall. "Wait and see" becomes the default. Burn rate outpaces belief.

The gap widens because most sales teams lack the muscle memory required to sell innovation without a predefined playbook. They are trained to follow a map. We are trained to navigate the wilderness.

We have landed "seemingly impossible" first deals at global institutions, Barclays, HSBC, HMRC, and BT, and helped guide startups from early adopters to category creation and beyond.

Commercial Architecture

We don't just consult, we build. Real sales processes, real closing, real pipeline.

Founder Led Selling

We coach founders to carry the narrative with conviction before any baton is passed.

ICP Discovery in Motion

We develop your Ideal Customer Profile as we sell, not in a workshop before we start.

Legacy & Track Record

Technology we've pioneered is still sold today by IBM, FICO, and Broadcom.

The Team

The people
behind BlazingRed

Decades of frontline experience across the world's most significant technology shifts.

Steve Kelly
Steve Kelly
Director

I am a commercial navigator with decades of go to market experience spanning every seat at the table: founder, director, shareholder, advisor, and individual sales contributor. My background ranges from first boots on the ground at early stage startups to some of the most recognised software vendors in the world, including Salesforce and Cisco.

My career has been defined by the Complexity Gap: that dangerous space where brilliant innovation meets a market that is either too cynical to believe it or too uneducated to use it. I have not only navigated that gap, I have built the narratives that transform sophisticated technology into market dominant categories.

I have landed landmark deals at Tier 1 institutions including Barclays, HMRC, and British Steel, and built commercial strategies that led to acquisitions by industry titans whose technology is still sold today by IBM, FICO, and Broadcom.

Today I serve as Board Advisor to a number of early stage AI SaaS startups, bringing that foundational experience directly to founders navigating the transition from founder led selling to scalable, exit ready growth.

Profile Coming Soon
New Team Member
Partnership & Go to Market Advisor

I bring decades of experience helping technology companies design and execute high impact B2B partnership and go to market strategies. I have worked across startups, scale ups, and global enterprises, tailoring partnership models to each business's needs and consistently delivering measurable value and recurring revenue.

I help companies use relationships to drive sustainable revenue growth while improving sales efficiency, productivity, and repeatability. My experience spans strategy definition and execution, structuring commercial and legal partner engagement models, and aligning sales and marketing teams internally and with partners to ensure successful collaboration and results.

Full profile coming soon.

The Red Paper Series

Red Papers

Our take on the thinking, strategy, and hard won experience behind building commercial momentum in AI and technology startups. Red Papers are our answer to the white paper, sharper, more direct, and written for founders who are short on time and long on ambition.

Founders Red Paper Series
No. 2

Coming Soon

The next Red Paper is in preparation. If you have a topic you'd like us to tackle, get in touch.

Suggest a Topic
Case Studies & Current Projects

Current project examples
& case studies

Real outcomes from real engagements. Names anonymised for confidentiality.

cxoready.com
AI Governance Platform
GTM Board Advisor

Board advisory for a bootstrapped AI governance startup. Helping shape go to market strategy, commercial narrative, and sales architecture from the ground up.

cxoready.com ↗
akheon.com
Collective Intelligence Infrastructure
GTM Advisor

Helping define a brand new category of AI and land first customers. Category creation, narrative design, and early commercial motion for a collective intelligence platform.

akheon.com ↗
dokifi.ai
AI Bid Management Tool
GTM Advisor

Helping build the outbound engine for an AI powered bid management tool, including pipeline strategy, ICP definition, and early sales motion design.

dokifi.ai ↗
Consulting Firm
Services to Software Pivot
Fractional Engagement

Operational fractional work supporting a strategic pivot from professional services to software products, including GTM repositioning and commercial model redesign.

Ready for ignition?

Whether you're pre seed and building your narrative, or Series A and scaling the engine, we'd like to hear about your company. Send us a message, call directly, or book a meeting.

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