Strategic Advisor to SME Founders & Boards, Chalkhill Blue
With more than 15 years’ experience advising, scaling and exiting owner led businesses, Chris Spratling has built a reputation as a trusted strategic advisor to ambitious SME founders and boards. His background is rooted in real ownership, having launched, grown, acquired and sold multiple businesses himself, giving him a rare depth of insight into the pressures and decisions that define long term success.
As Co-Founder and Managing Director of Chalkhill Blue, Chris works with founders, owners and leadership teams who want clearer decisions, stronger leadership and better commercial outcomes. His work spans scale up support, growth advisory, exit planning, acquisition strategy, funding advisory, EOT preparation, transformation and non-executive governance. Clients value his ability to cut through complexity and focus on what drives enterprise value, future optionality and confident decision making.
Chris is also the author of The Exit Roadmap, an Amazon best-selling guide for business owners preparing for future succession or sale. His two LinkedIn newsletters, The Scale Up Handbook and The Exit Roadmap, are read by more than 1,000 founders and senior leaders seeking experience led insight on growth, leadership and exit. His commentary features widely across press, online publications and podcasts covering SME leadership and enterprise value creation.
What sets Chris apart is his ownership perspective. Every recommendation he makes is informed by real commercial pressure and first-hand experience, not theory. Founders engage him for outcomes, not activity, and his work has helped hundreds of SMEs unlock profitable growth, increase value ahead of exit, execute disciplined acquisitions and navigate transformation with confidence.
A long-time advocate for entrepreneurial leadership across the South West, Chris is delighted to join the judging panel for the inaugural TBE Awards, celebrating the ambition, innovation and impact of businesses across Bath, Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire.
He said, “These awards recognise exactly what matters in our region — ambitious leaders building real value in their businesses and communities. I am thrilled to play a part in celebrating and championing that talent, and supporting the next chapter of growth across the South West.”