Happy New Year from the Coulter Partners team!

When the going gets tough – and 2022 was certainly tough for a lot of our clients – how does it affect decisions and culture for small and large businesses at the intersection of science and tech innovation? Is there de-prioritisation of focus on culture, sustainability, ESG, and values that aren't seen as short-term business critical?

Certainly, many or the businesses with which we work had to pivot to conserve cash, but we also saw clients weather the storms with vigour and creativity. Our US colleagues navigated a volatile market but worked with many exciting seed, small cap and growth companies, as well as large MNCs on their reshaping. In the UK/Europe it felt as if small caps were being drip fed-financing and many leaders shared with us that they were experiencing extreme stress especially on raising capital. Accentuating the positive, however, we saw some phenomenal science and technology successes, some stellar fund raises, and robust PE activity in the mid cap and growth segments that we serve.

Our business brings us exceptional insights into how leaders and investors are feeling – through over 200,000 interactions with them globally each year, we have become a key sounding board. Last year we saw leaders' pain levels rising but were impressed by the creativity of those who dug deep to ensure that aspirations didn’t crumble, good culture wasn’t de-prioritised and best practices not eroded. Covid had opened our minds to so many new possibilities and approaches to how we work and collaborate. Despite some terrible world events in the last 12 months, we worked with many who continued to develop the learning that came out of the crisis, while delivering value from innovation.

On our side, we made it a key priority to continue to learn, enrich our knowledge, and enhance our proprietary data and intelligence utilising AI and bespoke systems. New team members joined us from a range of industries and hit the ground running, adding to our global reach and fuelling our growth. We have partnered with experts to help train us and reinforce our understanding of the value of diversity and inclusion to raise our own bar and better serve our clients.

I am excited about the next few years. We have a huge opportunity to grow alongside and help the innovation and sustainability-focused industries we work with. As Coulter Partners celebrates its 20th Birthday in 2023, we are going to toast our two decades of leadership consulting with companies and investors who have inspiring missions. It is great getting out of bed each morning to help craft the leadership teams that push forward the boundaries of science and technology!