Strategy Consulting for Growth-Stage Leaders

Your business deserves
more than it's earning.

We work with ambitious CEOs to unlock revenue, raise institutional capital, and build governance that lets your business scale — without breaking.

Book a Strategy Call → See How We Help EXCESS EDGE EXPERTS.
20+
Years of international advisory experience
4
Global markets: UAE · UK · Singapore · India
3×
Average revenue multiple for clients post-engagement
Tier-1
Institutional capital network access

We Recognise Your Challenges

Three problems holding
your business back

Revenue has plateaued

Your early-stage tactics worked once. But mid-market growth demands a different playbook — one built on predictable pipelines, pricing power, and profit architecture.

Capital is harder to raise than expected

Institutional investors see hundreds of decks. Without airtight governance, a clean cap table, and a credible growth narrative, you never make it past first diligence.

Operations can't keep up with ambition

Scaling fast without scalable systems creates chaos. One bad hire, one broken process, or one compliance gap can derail years of momentum.

Our Engagement Model

From first conversation
to measurable results

A structured process that removes uncertainty and moves fast. Most clients receive a proposal within 5 business days of first contact.

1

Discovery Call

30-minute conversation to understand your goals and diagnose fit.

2

Business Diagnostic

Deep-dive into financials, operations, governance, and opportunity.

3

Proposal

Clear scope, measurable outcomes, and timeline — no vague promises.

4

Execution

Hands-on advisory. We work alongside your team, not in isolation.

5

Retainer

Ongoing strategic partnership as your business continues to scale.

What We Do

Five ways we create
measurable impact

📈

Grow Revenue

Pricing, pipelines, and market expansion strategies that compound.

💼

Raise Capital

Institutional-grade capital readiness, deck preparation, and investor introductions.

🏛️

Build Governance

Board structures, compliance frameworks, and post-funding operational architecture.

🧭

Build Strategy

Multi-year strategic plans grounded in data and market reality.

🔄

Transform Operations

Process redesign, digital adoption, and team capability building.

Explore All Solutions →

Client Results

What changes when
strategy is right

"We'd been stuck at the same revenue ceiling for three years. Within eight months of engaging Excess Edge, we'd broken through it and were tracking toward our first ₹100Cr year."

Managing Director

Manufacturing Group, India · Revenue growth 40%+

"Our Series B fell apart twice before we worked with Dr. Joshi. He rebuilt our cap table, strengthened our board, and we closed $18M within 6 months."

CEO & Co-Founder

FinTech Venture, Singapore · $18M Series B closed

"The governance overhaul was uncomfortable but necessary. We now operate at a level that institutional partners actually respect — and it shows in every conversation."

Chairman

Family Business, UAE · Institutional partnership secured

"I've worked with big-4 consultants before. The difference is Vivek actually cares about your outcome. He's in the room with you, not just sending slide decks."

Founder & Director

Professional Services, UK · Retainer client, 2 years

Ready to grow?

Book your Strategy Call.
No obligation. No pitch.

30 minutes to understand your situation. We'll tell you honestly whether we can help — and how.

Book a Strategy Call → Read Client Stories

We Help Businesses

Five disciplines. One firm. Measurable results.

Every engagement begins with understanding your business, not selling a service. Here is what we do — and how we do it.

Grow Revenue

You're leaving money on the table. We find it.

The Problem

Most mid-market firms hit a growth ceiling at 20–30% not because the market has dried up, but because their pricing, positioning, and pipeline infrastructure weren't built to scale.

Our Approach

We conduct a full revenue diagnostic — examining pricing models, customer concentration risk, channel strategy, and conversion bottlenecks — then build a 90-day sprint plan to unlock the nearest revenue levers.

What Changes

Clients typically see 25–45% revenue growth within 12 months of engagement, alongside improved margin quality and a more diversified customer base.

Raise Capital

Ready for institutional money? We'll make sure they agree.

The Problem

Tier-1 PE and Series B funds scrutinise governance, cap tables, and management quality before anything else. Most companies fail at pre-diligence — not because the business is bad, but because the paperwork tells a messy story.

Our Approach

We conduct forensic pre-diligence audits, clean equity architecture, prepare institutional-grade decks, and make targeted introductions to our global capital network.

What Changes

Clients go into fundraising conversations with confidence — and credibility. Our clients have collectively raised over $120M in institutional capital in the past five years.

Improve Governance

Strong governance is how you earn the right to scale.

The Problem

Sixty percent of companies falter within 24 months of a major liquidity event. The failure point is rarely the product — it's the collapse of organisational architecture under unmanaged scaling velocity.

Our Approach

We design and implement governance frameworks: independent board structures, risk management protocols, compliance infrastructure, and succession planning tailored to your growth stage.

What Changes

Institutional-grade governance that attracts the right partners, de-risks the business, and gives the CEO genuine leverage at the board table.

Build Strategy

A strategy that actually gets executed.

The Problem

Most strategy documents sit in a drawer. They're too academic, too vague, or completely disconnected from resource reality. A plan no one executes is a very expensive PowerPoint.

Our Approach

We build data-led, scenario-tested multi-year strategic plans with clear accountability, measurable milestones, and quarterly review rhythms baked in from day one.

What Changes

A leadership team aligned on priorities, a board that understands the plan, and a business that actually moves in one direction.

Transform Operations

When your systems can't scale, nothing else can either.

The Problem

Rapid growth without operational infrastructure creates dependency on key people, unpredictable margins, and brittle customer delivery. One resignation or one client loss becomes a crisis.

Our Approach

Process redesign, digital capability roadmapping, team structure optimisation, and KPI frameworks that turn operational chaos into a competitive advantage.

What Changes

Predictable, scalable operations that reduce owner dependency, improve margins, and make the business attractive to institutional investors and strategic acquirers alike.

Not sure which solution you need?
Start with a conversation.

We'll diagnose your biggest constraint and tell you exactly where to focus first.

Book a Strategy Call →

Why Excess Edge

The difference between advice and impact is 20 years of doing.

Why Image
🌐 UAE · UK · Singapore · India
🎓 Doctorate — Quantitative Finance & Strategy
📚 3 published academic works (Springer, 2025)

Dr. Vivek Joshi

Director & Executive CEO, Excess Edge Experts

Dr. Vivek Joshi is not a conventional consultant. With over two decades of hands-on experience shaping strategic planning, capital structures, and enterprise transformation across four continents, he brings a rare combination of academic rigour and commercial hard-headedness to every engagement.

His work integrates predictive behavioural finance with deep structural corporate diagnostics — grounded in real board rooms, real due diligence processes, and real capital markets. He has advised family businesses, VC-backed ventures, and mid-market groups at pivotal inflection points, and he stays in the room until the result is real.

Empaneled with the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs and connected to banking and private equity networks globally, Dr. Joshi brings institutional credibility alongside genuine operating insight.

Experience

20+ years international advisory

Network

Global PE, banking & VC relationships

Research

Published academic & applied research

Selected publications

The Synergistic Effect of Sustainable Practices on Corporate Performance — Springer, 2025. Frameworks mapping multi-year operational risk and compliance against EBITDA resilience across mid-market firms.

Artificial Intelligence in the Financial Sector & Decision-Making Realities — Systematic evaluation of data automation, algorithmic asset verification, and risk profiling within mid-market lending ecosystems.

Changing the Face of Banking & Structured Post-Crisis Risk Frameworks — Mitigating institutional financial shock and designing robust alternative corporate liquidity pipelines.

Why Clients Choose Us

Built for the CEO, not the boardroom report

Global exposure, local understanding

Strategies shaped by experience across UAE, UK, Singapore, and India. We understand how institutional standards differ across markets — and how to meet all of them.

Research-led, not opinion-driven

Our frameworks are backed by published academic research and tested in real-world capital markets. Recommendations are grounded, not guesswork.

In the room, not just on the deck

We work alongside your team rather than handing off a slide deck. Execution support is built into every engagement, not sold as an add-on.

Network access that opens doors

Tier-1 PE relationships, global banking connections, and cross-border advisory partnerships. We introduce clients into rooms they couldn't access alone.

Let's see if we're the right fit.

A 30-minute conversation costs nothing. The right strategy is worth everything.

Book a Strategy Call →

Success Stories

Real businesses. Real outcomes. Shared anonymously to protect client confidentiality.

Manufacturing group breaks through ₹100Cr revenue ceiling

+42%
Revenue growth
Revenue Growth · India · Manufacturing

Challenge

A third-generation manufacturing business with strong products but weak commercial infrastructure. Revenue had plateaued at ₹70Cr for three consecutive years despite a buoyant market. Pricing was under-confident, the sales team was relationship-dependent, and the leadership team had no shared strategy.

Intervention

Conducted a full revenue and pricing audit. Rebuilt the go-to-market strategy with new market segmentation, pricing tiers, and a key account programme. Introduced a pipeline discipline and quarterly business review rhythm for the sales team. Ran a strategic planning workshop to align leadership.

Results

Revenue grew 42% to ₹99.4Cr within 14 months. Gross margin improved by 8 percentage points as discounting discipline improved. The business is now tracking toward ₹140Cr in year two, with two new market segments contributing 22% of revenue.

FinTech venture closes $18M Series B after two failed rounds

$18M
Capital raised
Capital Raising · Singapore · FinTech

Challenge

A Singapore-based FinTech had failed to close two consecutive funding rounds despite strong product metrics. The cap table was messy, the board lacked independence, and the growth narrative couldn't survive serious diligence questions. Institutional investors kept walking away at term sheet stage.

Intervention

Performed a forensic pre-diligence audit of financial hygiene and equity architecture. Restructured the cap table, negotiated the exit of a conflicted early investor, and introduced two independent board directors. Rebuilt the investor narrative with a clear revenue model and 36-month financial forecast.

Results

Closed $18M Series B from a Singapore-based institutional fund within six months of engagement. The company used the capital to expand into two new markets. Still a retainer client two years on.

UAE family business restructures for institutional-grade governance

3 yr
Retainer partnership
Governance · UAE · Diversified Group

Challenge

A diversified UAE family conglomerate with revenues of AED 280M was preparing for a succession event and a potential private equity partnership. Governance was informal, financial reporting lacked institutional standards, and there was no independent board oversight.

Intervention

Designed and implemented a governance framework including an independent board with three external directors, audit and remuneration committees, a family charter, and reporting standards aligned to institutional PE expectations. Ran board induction and ongoing advisory support for 12 months.

Results

The business successfully secured a strategic PE partnership at a valuation 35% above the chairman's original expectation. The succession process was executed without disruption. Excess Edge retained on an ongoing advisory basis for governance oversight.

UK professional services firm doubles EBITDA in 18 months

2×
EBITDA growth
Operations & Strategy · UK · Professional Services

Challenge

A UK professional services firm with £12M revenue and consistently thin margins. The business was founder-dependent, had no scalable service delivery model, and was losing bids to larger firms that could articulate more credible quality standards.

Intervention

Operational redesign focusing on service standardisation and knowledge management. Introduced a tiered delivery model that reduced founder dependency by 60%. Built a BD capability and pitch process that improved win rates on competitive tenders.

Results

EBITDA doubled from £900K to £1.8M within 18 months. Revenue grew 28%. The founder stepped back from day-to-day delivery for the first time in 11 years — and the business outperformed without them.

Indian healthtech secures empanelment and government contract

₹22Cr
Contract value
Strategy & Governance · India · HealthTech

Challenge

A HealthTech startup with strong technology and clinical validation wanted to win government contracts but lacked the governance credentials, compliance documentation, and institutional relationships needed to compete in public procurement.

Intervention

Advised on empanelment process, built compliance and risk documentation, and shaped the company's institutional positioning. Facilitated introductions to relevant government bodies and provided support through the procurement process.

Results

Won first government contract worth ₹22Cr. Successfully empaneled . Now positioned to bid on contracts ten times the original target size — with the governance infrastructure to deliver them.

Your story could be next.

These results were not accidental. They followed a process. Let's talk about what that looks like for your business.

Book a Strategy Call →

Insights

Thinking that earns its place in a busy CEO's week.

Practical perspectives on growth, governance, and capital — updated regularly on LinkedIn.

Latest thinking

View all on LinkedIn →

Governance

Why your board is costing you money (and how to fix it in 90 days)

Most mid-market boards are advisory in name only. Here's the governance shift that transforms them into genuine strategic assets — and what it's worth in valuation terms.

Read on LinkedIn

Capital Raising

The pre-diligence mistakes that kill funding rounds — and how to avoid them

After sitting on both sides of the table in over 40 institutional transactions, these are the four most common deal-killers — and none of them are about the business itself.

Read on LinkedIn

Revenue Growth

Pricing power is not a product decision. It's a strategy decision.

The companies that compound revenue fastest aren't the ones with the best products. They're the ones with the clearest positioning and the confidence to price accordingly.

Read on LinkedIn

Operations

The hidden cost of founder dependency (and the path out)

When everything runs through the founder, the business has a single point of failure. Here's the practical playbook for building a business that outperforms without you in the room.

Read on LinkedIn

Strategy

Three strategic mistakes CEOs make when crossing the ₹50Cr threshold

The tactics that got you to ₹50Cr are precisely the ones that will prevent you from reaching ₹150Cr. Here's what needs to change — and when to change it.

Read on LinkedIn

AI & Finance

AI in financial decision-making: what's real and what's still hype for mid-market leaders

Based on our published research at Springer, a grounded look at where AI genuinely creates competitive advantage for growth-stage businesses — and where it doesn't yet.

Read on LinkedIn

New insights published weekly

Follow Dr. Vivek Joshi on LinkedIn to get fresh thinking before it appears anywhere else.

Follow on LinkedIn →
Turnaround Insights

What separates a recoverable business
from a terminal one is rarely strategy.
It's timing, liquidity, and readiness.

Four engagements where Excess Edge Experts Consulting applied our proprietary diagnostic frameworks — the DTRAP Matrix, the Turnaround Matrix, and the Scalability Index — to find the gap between what a business looked like and what it actually was.

3
Proprietary frameworks
4
Engagements profiled
45
Days to cash stability*
5
Geographies served
Diagnostic 01
DTRAP Matrix

Toys "R" Us: the brand that mistook shelf space for market position

Retail · Post-mortem diagnostic

DTRAP would have flagged the pivot years before the cash crisis — timing, not brand strength, was the leading indicator.

The Situation

Toys "R" Us did not fail because toys stopped mattering. It failed because the company was slow to align its resources, technology, and timing with the shift to e-commerce and omnichannel retail. Strong brand recognition and physical retail scale sat alongside heavy debt, operational constraints, and growing exposure to Amazon and online-first shopping behavior. The shift toward convenience, price comparison, and home delivery was not a passing trend — it was a structural change in how people bought toys.

The Diagnostic

DTRAP structural read 44 / 100
Human Nature
10/20
Finance
8/20
Market Opportunity
6/20
Economic Conditions
12/20
Technology
8/20
Timing score (amplifier)30 / 100

What DTRAP Would Have Flagged

This was never a "fix it later" situation. The low timing score would have acted as a brake — signaling that even a strong brand could not out-run weak market alignment and delayed digital execution. Structural readiness alone could not clear the 150-point stage-gate once timing was already working against the business.

Recommended Pivot

  • Omnichannel first. Build a genuine online-to-store model, not a bolted-on web store.
  • Faster fulfillment buildout. Move e-commerce and logistics capability ahead of the market, not behind it.
  • Earlier footprint reduction. Right-size stores before cash stress forces the decision.
  • Curated discovery, not just inventory. A marketplace or partnership model built around toy discovery rather than shelf presence.
Diagnostic 02
DTRAP Matrix

Blockbuster: enough strength to delay, not enough timing to survive it

Media & entertainment · Post-mortem diagnostic

The right play at the wrong time is still the wrong play — timing acted as a multiplier, not a variable, across the whole matrix.

The Situation

Blockbuster still had a recognizable consumer base, but the business model was built around physical rentals, late fees, and store traffic. As broadband, digital delivery, and on-demand habits accelerated, the company defended an old model instead of pivoting decisively into the new one.

The Diagnostic

DTRAP structural read 50 / 100
Human Nature
8/20
Finance
12/20
Market Opportunity
8/20
Economic Conditions
12/20
Technology
10/20
Timing score (amplifier)40 / 100

What DTRAP Would Have Flagged

Blockbuster's late entry into streaming would have read as a red flag well before the numbers turned, because timing amplifies every other score in the framework rather than sitting beside them. Decent structural readiness cannot rescue a move that arrives after a faster competitor has already claimed the category.

Recommended Pivot

  • Streaming as its own growth engine. Launched earlier, funded independently of the store network.
  • Capital reallocation, sooner. Shift spend from stores to digital infrastructure ahead of the demand curve.
  • A hybrid subscription model. Introduced before late fees became a strategic liability rather than a revenue line.
  • Treat the shift as a timing emergency. Not a side project run alongside the core business.
Engagement 03
Turnaround Matrix

Overcoming the cash crunch: a solar developer starved of liquidity, not demand

Renewable energy & project development · Active engagement

Cash flow stabilized in 45 days, followed by a PPA financing package and dedicated working capital facility.

The Challenge

A rapidly growing commercial solar developer hit a critical bottleneck. The company maintained a strong project pipeline and a healthy asset base, but severe cash flow delays — caused by extended project timelines and delayed milestone payments — left it struggling to cover immediate operational costs. It wasn't insolvent. It was dangerously starved of liquidity.

The Strategy

01
Working capital optimization
Renegotiated supplier payment terms and accelerated client billing cycles to immediately free up trapped capital.
02
Milestone acceleration
Restructured project management workflows to fast-track near-complete solar installations, triggering immediate cash inflows.
03
Cost alignment
Temporarily paused non-critical capital expenditures to prioritize daily operational liquidity.

The Outcome

The matrix stabilized the company's cash flow within 45 days. With a predictable operational runway restored, Excess Edge Experts positioned the developer for long-term growth by securing a comprehensive funding package — Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) financing to fund future project construction, and dedicated working capital financing to keep daily operations running smoothly.

Engagement 04
Scalability Index

De-risking the leap to Series B: proving maturity the pitch deck couldn't show

Technology & SaaS · Institutional fundraising

A shortened fundraising timeline, stronger valuation leverage, and total confidence entering hyper-growth.

The Challenge

A fast-growing tech startup had a visionary product and undeniable momentum. But as leadership prepared for institutional fundraising, they hit an invisible wall: surface-level metrics looked strong, yet nothing in the data room could prove the operational maturity that tier-1 investors demand.

The Diagnostic

01
Leadership dynamics
Identifying execution bottlenecks before due diligence could find them first.
02
Unit economics
Stress-testing the numbers under pressure, not just presenting them at rest.
03
Execution systems
Finding the operational cracks before investors did — and closing them.

The Turning Point

Instead of polishing the pitch deck, the Scalability Index ran a deep-diagnostic audit that uncovered hidden operational vulnerabilities — the kind that would have derailed institutional due diligence mid-process. Armed with precise, actionable data, the founders didn't guess their way forward. They systematically closed the gaps and aligned their infrastructure with institutional standards.

The Outcome

  • Shortened fundraising timeline. Diligence moved faster with no operational surprises left to surface.
  • Stronger valuation leverage. Readiness became negotiating power, not a disclosure risk.
  • Total confidence entering hyper-growth. The next phase began on a foundation that had already been stress-tested.

The takeaway: growth gets you noticed, but operational maturity gets you funded. Don't let hidden inefficiencies stall your next round.

Know where your business sits on the matrix before the market decides for you.

Every engagement starts with the same question: is this a timing problem, a liquidity problem, or a readiness problem? The diagnostic tells us which — and what to do next.

Book a Strategy Call

Podcasts & Media

Dr. Joshi on air — featured conversations on strategy, capital, and growth.

Featured Episode

"Why governance is the most underrated growth lever in mid-market businesses"

Dr. Vivek Joshi joins the Growth Leaders Podcast to discuss why the companies that scale fastest prioritise governance before growth — and the governance framework he uses with clients across the UAE, India, and Singapore.

Growth Leaders Podcast · Episode 84 · 52 min

🎧 Audio embed placeholder — replace with actual player

▶
52:14
🎙️

All appearances

CEO Conversations

Raising institutional capital in cross-border markets: what really matters

A practical breakdown of what Tier-1 PE funds actually look for in mid-market pitches — and what consistently kills deals before they start.

▶ Listen (48 min)

Capital Decoded

AI and the future of financial decision-making for mid-market CEOs

Drawing from published research, Dr. Joshi separates AI hype from genuine competitive advantage for growth-stage companies in financial services and beyond.

▶ Listen (41 min)

Scale Up India

From ₹50Cr to ₹200Cr: the strategic playbook that actually works

The growth inflection points that change what a business needs from its leadership — and the governance infrastructure required to support each stage of scale.

▶ Listen (55 min)

Boardroom Unlocked

Building an independent board that adds real value — not just credibility

A candid conversation on the difference between a governance framework built for optics and one built for outcomes — and how CEOs can tell the difference.

▶ Listen (38 min)

Global Business Leaders

Operating across UAE, UK, Singapore, and India: what cross-border strategy looks like in practice

Dr. Joshi on the regulatory, cultural, and capital market differences that make cross-border strategy genuinely complex — and how to navigate them without expensive mistakes.

▶ Listen (44 min)

Founder to CEO

The transition most founders never make — and why it costs them everything

The mindset, governance, and operational shifts required to move from founder-led to institution-ready — told through real client stories and hard-won insight.

▶ Listen (61 min)

Want Dr. Joshi on your podcast or panel?

We accept a small number of speaking and podcast engagements each quarter.

Get in touch →

Let's Talk

Let's discuss your biggest challenge.

A 30-minute strategy call with no pitch and no pressure. We'll tell you honestly whether — and how — we can help.

Book a Strategy Call

We respond within one business day.

Your information is confidential and will never be shared. We respond within one business day.

"Most CEOs know something is wrong before they can name it. That's exactly where we're most useful — helping you identify the right constraint, and then removing it."

— Dr. Vivek Joshi, Director

Global offices

Singapore · India

Response time

Within one business day

Who we work with

  • ✓ CEOs and founders of mid-market businesses (₹30Cr–₹500Cr)
  • ✓ Businesses preparing for institutional fundraising
  • ✓ Family-owned businesses navigating succession or PE partnership
  • ✓ High-growth ventures entering cross-border markets