Over the past decade DefProc has grown from a two-person startup to an award-winning research and development business with a portfolio of national clients including Northern Gas Networks and the Environment Agency.

Where they were at

Jen and her DefProc co-founder first approached Gather for one-to-one advice when they were looking to rebuild the business after weathering the pandemic, and quickly realised they could benefit from wider support.

The team had grown, they were working on lots of innovative projects, but they knew there were opportunities to develop the business and work with larger organisations.

Why Gather?

"We’d had a challenging year, but it helped us to plan what we wanted the future to look like and how to get there."

As co-founders with no previous experience of growing a business, DefProc were looking for advice and support to make sure their future growth was sustainable.

They wanted to secure more long-term projects, build enduring relationships with clients, and extend their network.

How Gather helped

“The one-to-one sessions just gave us so many different routes to support. I could talk through our challenges with someone with real world experience and get advice on how to move forward.”

Jen worked with Gather consultant Jon to take a step back and work through the foundations of DefProc’s offer. Considering who they wanted to be working with, where they might connect with them, and how to start driving that change.

To look at their specific business needs in depth they took the opportunity to join the Beyond programme.

Beyond consultant Freia worked with the DefProc leadership team to identify key challenges around hiring, operations, new business, and client retention. She supported them to develop internal processes and a long-term growth strategy to scale the company faster and more consistently.

Recognising the need to invest in their talent they also enrolled a member of the team on the Emerging Leaders programme. It empowered engineer Bridget to lead and support colleagues with confidence.

Results and the future

“So much progress came from that first six months that we’re continuing to work with Freia to really anchor these processes and ideas into the business.”

Since completing Beyond the team hired an experienced engineer to support their Head of Engineering and have grown to a team of six.

The clarity around their mission has enabled DefProc to explore new opportunities to become a long-term innovation partner for bigger businesses.

And with some exciting partnerships on the horizon, watch this space!