The Fractional Commercial Director for brands diversifying beyond D2C
Your own website got you this far. The next stage of growth is in the channels you haven't opened yet - and I help founders open them.
Scale
Smarter
Select a channel
Annual new channel revenue created for brands
- Brands scaled globally on Amazon
- European sales opened through Zalando
- 8-figure marketplace channel launched in 2 years
Consumer brands supported
- Coral Eyewear: 4x sales in 3 years
- 3 global brand licensing programmes launched
- Loss-making brand to healthy profit in 2 years
Years as a founder & operator
- Distribution into Next, John Lewis & Fenwick
- Secured £5.3m of investment
- £18m+ revenue built across founded businesses
Brands I have worked with across 20+ years as a founder & operator
Sound familiar?
Most D2C founders hit the same walls when they try to grow beyond their own website.
Stuck on one channel
Your D2C business is doing well, but you know there’s a ceiling. You’ve thought about wholesale, marketplaces, or retail — but every option feels like a leap into the unknown.
Overwhelmed by options
Should you go wholesale first? Try Amazon? Explore licensing? Get into retail? The advice online is generic, and you don’t have time to figure it out through trial and error.
Growing revenue, shrinking time
You’re the founder, the MD, the sales team, and the ops manager. Adding a new channel sounds great in theory — but who’s actually going to run it?
Built by a founder who's been there
I started my first brand at 21 - selling rugby socks from a university garage. Over the next decade, I scaled it into a nationally distributed casualwear brand stocked in House of Fraser, Next, John Lewis, and Fenwick, secured investment from Joules, and learned every hard lesson about margin, cash flow, and wholesale the painful way.
After that, I co-founded Rich Insight, a multi-channel consultancy that helped 30+ brands generate over £100M in new marketplace and channel revenue.
Now, through Catalyst Commerce, I combine that operator experience with AI-powered tools I've built myself - to help the next generation of consumer brand founders scale smarter.
Colin Porter
Former CEO, Joules
"As CEO at Joules I was Richard's mentor - and I saw first-hand how he steers a complex, multi-channel brand with clarity."
How to work with me
FREE · 20 QUESTIONS
Channel Readiness Assessment
Not sure where to start? Find out which channel your brand is most ready for.
- Personalised 8-channel readiness score
- Your top opportunity and biggest risk
- Three actions for the next 90 days
- Instant - no waiting, no spam
5 minutes · Instant report · No credit card
Take the assessmentFIXED-FEE · ~6 WEEKS
Channel Launch Blueprint
For founders ready to launch a specific channel - with the commercial plan to back it up.
- Channel P&L model (built in Vantage)
- Pricing and margin analysis (Compass)
- Competitor and market intelligence
- 12-month launch roadmap
6-week sprint · AI-accelerated · Workspace handover
Book a scoping callONGOING PARTNERSHIP · 4-6 DAYS / MONTH
Fractional Commercial Direction
Embedded commercial leadership for D2C brands building a multi-channel future.
- Board-level commercial leadership
- Channel strategy and execution
- Buyer and partner relationships
- Shared-success fee model
Retainer · 2-4 concurrent clients · We grow together
Book a discovery callMost founders start with the free assessment and work up as commitment grows.
Find out which channels are right for your brand
Take the free Channel Readiness Assessment. 20 questions. Instant personalised report. No spam.
Start the Assessment - It's FreeTakes 5 minutes. No credit card. Your data stays private.
The commercial operating system I've built for every engagement.
These tools aren't products you buy. They're how I deliver work no other fractional Commercial Director can match - channel P&Ls in days, pricing analysis across thousands of SKUs, strategic plans that compound from session to session.
Orbit
See your 3-year growth roadmap in one view
Channel P&L
| Channel | Revenue | COGS | GM% |
|---|---|---|---|
| D2C | £0k | £0k | 0% |
| Wholesale | £0k | £0k | 0% |
| Amazon | £0k | £0k | 0% |
Vantage
Know exactly what each channel costs and returns
Margin Health
Compass
Understand your true margin by product, channel, and customer
Momentum
Focus your limited founder bandwidth on what moves the needle
Capture
Every insight from our sessions, structured and actionable
What brands say about me
Colin Porter
Former CEO, Joules
"You want Richard in the room."
"Richard is that rare blend: commercially fluent across brand, sales and finance, with a deep grasp of how the economics work across channels. As CEO at Joules I was his mentor when he was growing the brand Rampant Sporting as MD, and I saw first-hand how he steers a complex, multi-channel brand with clarity. If you need a steady, commercially minded hand to drive your B2B growth, you want Richard in the room."
George Bailey
Co-Founder, Coral Eyewear
"Created an effective go-to-market plan."
"Richard joined the team in order to assess Coral's sales channels and identify new opportunities for growth. Within a few months Richard helped create an effective go to market plan, then he utilised his extensive contacts across retail to open entirely new, repeat-revenue, sales channels and built partnerships spanning sport, licensed brands and high-street retail."
Tricia Cusden
Founder, Look Fabulous Forever
"A fantastic resource."
"Richard worked with us at a critical juncture for our business. We needed to take a more strategic approach to ensure that we continued to be successful. Richard facilitated the process whereby we explored all elements of the business and then set realistic but demanding targets. One of the best decisions we made at Richard's suggestion was to seek extra investment and form a Super Advisory Board which has been a fantastic resource."
David Ramirez
CEO & Co-Founder, Venture Blue
"Practical, direct, and genuinely invested."
"Richard came in as fractional commercial support across two of our businesses - a health and beauty distribution company and a suncare e-commerce retailer. Both needed refocusing and fresh energy. He quickly identified the commercial priorities, restructured how we thought about our channels, and gave us a clear path forward. Practical, direct, and genuinely invested in the outcome."
What I bring to every engagement
A vetted network of specialists I've worked with across 20 years in consumer brands. When your engagement needs specialist depth, I bring them in.
B2B Wholesale
Trade account setup, buyer introductions, sell-in strategy
Shows & Events
Event selection, stand design, sales team management
Retail & Pop-ups
Store strategy, concessions, visual merchandising
International
Market entry, distribution partners, regulatory navigation
Licensing
Deal structuring, partner identification, brand protection
Concessions
Department store placement, margin modelling, stock management
Third-Party Marketplaces
Amazon, Zalando, Debenhams and 100’s more
Social Commerce
TikTok Shop, Instagram Shopping, live selling strategy
Ready to find your next growth channel?
Or email richard@catalystcommerce.co.uk - I reply to every message.