Danny Bluestone
Founder & Digital Transformation
- Founded Cyber-Duck in 2004
- Built around UX, Service Design and Laravel Web Technology
- Grew through an ISO-accredited process
- Sold to CACI, a NYSE listed and Fortune 500 business, in 2023
Value acceleration by operators
Between us we have built, bought and sold agencies and platforms. Now we help you do it better in the era of AI.
CobaltLions is a premium, operator-led growth and enterprise value consultancy founded by Danny Bluestone and James Goldhill. We help ambitious businesses sharpen proposition, improve commercial performance, scale operations, embed AI-enabled capability and become more valuable.
Talk to CobaltLions→Send us the business challenge, not the polished brief.
01 — Who we are
Operators, not career consultants.
We have lived the founder, CEO and exit journey. We know how businesses get stuck: unclear proposition, fragile delivery, underused data, weak go-to-market, founder dependency and inconsistent commercial rhythm.
- Founder-led businesses
- PE-backed leadership
- Acquisition & integration
- Business exit experience
We turn that experience into practical acceleration delivering sharper choices, stronger performance and AI-enabled capability that compounds enterprise value.
James Goldhill
Operating Partner & Value Creation
- Former CEO of Paragon DCX, a £20m+ investor-backed transformation group
- Integrated seven businesses into common operating model
- Delivered double-digit EBITDA growth
- Led exits including Web Technology Group and Ebsta
02 — What we do
What we do
If any of these are keeping you up, we should talk.
We work on the real problems — not the symptoms you've been treating.
01
Growth
Revenues have stalled
You've hit a ceiling and cannot see a clear route through. More effort is not the answer; a sharper growth system is.
02
Strategy
No clear plan for the next stage
Every quarter feels reactive. The leadership team is working hard, but not always towards the same destination.
03
Operations
The business has outgrown its model
Structure, capability and delivery have not kept pace with growth. Complexity and founder dependency are costing you.
04
Commercial
Plenty of activity, not enough profit
The team is busy, but pricing, proposition, pipeline, utilisation or sales discipline are not translating into margin.
05
Technology & AI
You know you should be doing more
AI and technology could improve your services and economics, but it is unclear where to start or what will create real value.
06
Exit
Not sure it would survive diligence
The business performs, but the story, the numbers and the operating model aren't buyer-ready yet. Doubt is expensive.
Four practices, one outcome: a more valuable business.
Prepare the business before the buyer asks.
Capabilities
- Value levers
- KPI narrative
- Founder dependency
What this unlocks
A cleaner path to valuation, diligence and confidence.
Prepare the business before the buyer asks.
- Value levers
- KPI narrative
- Founder dependency
Unlocks
A cleaner path to valuation, diligence and confidence.
03 — Who we work with
Founders and CEOs running £2m-£20m revenue businesses with real ambition.
SaaS & Scale-Ups
Platform businesses with product-market fit that need to build commercial infrastructure and scale sustainably.
Mid-Market Agencies
Creative, digital and tech agencies navigating growth, restructure, or exit - often all three at once.
Professional Services
Law firms, accountancies and consultancies that need to modernise how they operate, price, and win business.
Traditional Businesses
Established companies that know they need to be more customer-centred and digitally capable - and don't know where to start.
04 — How we work
Diagnostic first. Decisions next. Delivery that compounds.
01
Diagnose
We scrutinise service model, operating gaps and growth pain points — fast and without theatre.
02
Decide
We translate the diagnostic into a small number of high-conviction moves with clear commercial outcomes.
03
Deliver
We work alongside leadership to land the moves, measure the lift and protect enterprise value.
05 — Track record
Selected outcomes from our combined career work experience.
Across our combined careers we have spent 47 combined years running businesses and advising boards, and we have noticed the same few things usually get in the way.
Plans are the easy part; it's the doing that trips people up. We have seen mergers that look perfect on a spreadsheet fall apart because the cultures didn't click, and growth stall because operating rhythm and data clarity weren't in place.
That experience has taught us to spot these roadblocks early, and to fix them with common sense and a steady hand before the pressure mounts.
Exit Success
SaaS Platform Transformation
Reshaped the transformation strategy for a B2B SaaS platform and aligned leadership to secure a successful multi-million GBP exit.
+40% Margins
Digital Agency Restructuring
Restructured operations and strategy for a digital and data agency, improving margins by 40% and establishing a scalable growth framework.
95% Synergies
Post-Merger Integration
Successfully integrated two complementary businesses, achieving 95% of projected synergies within 12 months of closing.
£2M+ Value
Value Creation Programme
Identified and captured over £2m in hidden value through operational improvements and strategic repositioning initiatives.
+150% Revenue
Growth Strategy Development
Developed and implemented a comprehensive growth strategy, resulting in a 150% revenue increase over a 24-month period.
Strategic Sale
Exit Preparation & Execution
Prepared digital agency for strategic exit, optimising valuation and delivering a 3X return through a successful sale to Private Equity.
06 — Contact
Ready to make the business work harder?
Send us the challenge, not the brief. We will reply personally, usually within a working day.
hello@cobaltlions.com→London · United Kingdom