Brutally Honest.
Unusually Effective.
We started Ugly Baby to fix how SMEs get advice: clear answers, no fluff, and help that actually moves the needle.
Why we exist
Traditional consulting hides the mess, sells retainers, and drags projects out. Founders pay a lot, learn a little, and still don’t know what to do next. We’re the opposite: we show you the truth, what’s working, what’s broken, and the smallest set of changes that will make the biggest difference. Then you decide what the work was worth. 20% of every pound we earn goes to Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice.
What we do
We find and fix the breaks in how you attract, convert, and retain customers through a 360° assessment of strategy, process, tools, data, and enablement, with a clear plan and optional hands-on help to implement it.
A word from our CEO
Affordable, experience-driven advice for UK SMEs.
We’re called Ugly Baby for a reason. We won’t flatter you. We’ll help you fix what’s slowing growth.
For too long, small businesses have been priced out of solid advice. We’re changing that with a simple model that’s honest, practical, and values-led, pay what you feel after you see the value, with 20% of our revenue donated to Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice.
Proud to support
Forget Me Not is facing a significant funding gap and is at risk of closure. They have launched an urgent appeal for help.
Read Forget Me Not’s urgent appeal→ News.
Watch: The Ugly Baby story (2 min 32 sec)
Why we built this, how the model works, and why honesty beats polish, straight from Tom.
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Hi, I’m Tom. A few months ago, I felt lost; I was bored; I was directionless, and I said to myself, if I’m going to work, then I need to build something that I really love, and that I really care about.
And that’s when I came up with the idea for Ugly Baby, the world’s first, pay-as-you-feel, SME growth consultancy.
I come from a background of building a software business, where incremental improvements is everything. I firmly believe that there isn’t a product or a service that can’t be delivered better, and for better value. And yet the cost for consultancy just seems to be going up and up and up.
So it’s my firm view that small businesses are simply being priced out of receiving good advice, and that’s something that we at Ugly Baby are looking to change.
I really believe that a successful economy should be measured from the bottom, from its grassroots, from SMEs, and despite empty claims from consecutive governments, I think all SME owners know that that support simply does not come.
I want to change that, and I want excellent advice to be available for every single small business in this country.
I believe that SME founders and owners should lift eachother up. I think that, in a rising tide, we all float higher. And I think that’s better for all of us, as an economy and as a society.
So, here’s how it works. You pay us just a £250 deposit; £50 of that deposit will go straight to Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, who are currently facing a £1m shortfall in funding.
That deposit just shows that you’re serious, and it means that we’re serious, too. Then we roll our sleeves up, and we get to work on your full 360 honest assessment around strategy, marketing, operations, branding, technology, mergers and acquisitions, whatever is necessary.
Yep, we’ll tell you that you’ve got an ugly baby—gently, but honestly—because we want to get results, and we believe that all smart businesses should look to what they’re not doing well, not to what they are doing well.
What if your money could do double the good? What if you were helping your own business and helping a fantastic charity that helps sick children?
So, when we present you with your full 360 honest report, 20% of all of that money will go straight to Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice; not 20% of profits—20% of our entire turnover.
So, if you want honest, practical, affordable advice that helps you, that helps charity, then give us a call.
Key points from the video:
SMEs deserve excellent advice at an affordable cost
Bottom-up matters: in a rising tide, all boats float higher
The model: £250 deposit to reserve your slot (£50 goes straight to FMN). We deliver the 360 assessment; you decide what it was worth. We donate 20% of revenue, not just profit
Our story
Tom Ross helped take a Manchester SaaS business from 125 customers to 4,000+ across 50+ countries by pairing honest advice with relentless execution. The lesson: no-nonsense guidance from people who’ve done the work is priceless, and too often out of reach for small businesses.
Ugly Baby is his answer: pay-what-you-feel after delivery, with impact baked in.
Nick Sanchez spent 20+ years turning messy sales ops into predictable revenue, cleaning CRMs, fixing handoffs, and building enablement that teams actually use. His philosophy: clarity creates momentum.
We’ve built and run teams in both the UK and the US, so we’re comfortable with different service expectations, sales norms, and compliance requirements.
Together, we built a model that tells the truth kindly, acts fast, and measures results.
How the model works
Reserve: £250 deposit to secure your assessment (£50 to Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice)
Assess: 360° review across strategy, marketing, operations, branding, tech, even customer and employee feedback where needed
Decide: when we present your report and action plan, you decide what it was worth
Give back: 20% of revenue goes to FMN
Implement (optional): do it yourself, or ask us to help with builds, coaching, and tooling
How we’re different
Pay what you feel (after delivery). No invoices—ever. You choose the amount and pay via a secure link, guided by industry benchmarks.
Brutal truth, practical fixes. No decks for the sake of decks. You get an executive snapshot, heatmaps, journey and funnel models, and a 90-day action plan
Built by operators. We’ve run teams, shipped work, and scaled revenue, so our advice is grounded in doing
Give back by default. 20% of revenue goes to Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice. (We publish a simple donation ledger)
Implement if you want us to. You can execute yourself, or we’ll help with builds, coaching, and tooling - modular and transparent
What we believe
Honesty beats polish. You can’t scale what you can’t see
Sanity beats vanity. Just because it looks good, doesn’t mean it is
Simple > complicated. Fix first, not everything
One plan, shared by all. Strategy, process, tools, data, and enablement pulling in the same direction
Do good while doing work. Success should lift others, too
Seek the uncomfortable. Smart teams look first at what isn’t working, not what flatters the numbers
Meet the founders
Tom Ross — Founder & CEO (Commercial)
Commercial operator and growth leader. Helped take a Manchester SaaS business from 125 customers to 4,000+ across 50+ countries. Built partner ecosystems, migrated from direct to channel models, channel to distribution models, and recurring revenue models that scale without fluff. Experience spans SaaS and tech-enabled services, global channel sales, enterprise deals, and agency-side growth. Known for “say it straight” leadership, pricing and packaging that actually converts, and making partnerships pay. Typical problems Tom solves: go-to-market focus, channel design, partner strategy, commercial positioning, and turning good products into repeatable revenue.
Nick Sanchez — Co-Founder & Director (RevOps & Sales Ops)
Sales operations leader and RevOps consultant with 20+ years across B2B and B2C. Delivered in both the UK and the US, so comfortable with different service expectations, sales norms, and compliance requirements. Fixes messy CRMs, weak handoffs and fuzzy forecasts so teams can execute. Sector breadth includes safety services, industrial/material handling, utilities and energy, renewables O&M, eLearning SaaS, consumer retail, e-commerce, automotive dealerships and aftermarket. Comfortable where CRMs sit over DMS/ERP/legacy stacks. Typical problems Nick solves: pipeline architecture, forecasting integrity, lifecycle and handoff design, enablement that sticks, and tool choices that avoid bloat.
We also partner with a network of specialists (branding, digital, finance, ops) when a project needs deeper expertise.
