Growth as a Service — or GaaS — is one of the most practical models available to businesses that want to grow into new markets without the cost, time, and risk of building an in-house sales and business development function from scratch.
At Grant & Graham, it is one of our most requested service lines. This article explains exactly what it is, how it works, and whether it is the right model for your business.
Growth as a Service is an outsourced business development model in which an experienced external team acts as your new business function — opening doors, building pipeline, and driving revenue in target markets on your behalf.
Rather than hiring a Head of Sales, a Business Development Manager, and a supporting team, you engage a specialist firm that brings the network, the sector knowledge, and the operational infrastructure already in place. You pay for outcomes and expertise, not headcount.
In practice, this means Grant & Graham operates as an extension of your leadership team — attending meetings in your name, building relationships with target clients, and delivering qualified opportunities directly into your pipeline.
Growth as a Service works best for three types of organisations:
Technology and SaaS businesses entering Europe. Companies based in the US, Asia, or further afield that want to establish a commercial presence in the UK, Netherlands, or broader European market without the complexity and cost of setting up a full local operation. GaaS gives you boots on the ground, a local network, and revenue-generating activity from day one — without the 6 to 12-month ramp-up of a permanent hire.
FinTech and Payments businesses scaling into new markets. The FinTech sector moves fast. The opportunity to land a major client or partnership can open and close within weeks. Having an experienced business development resource that already understands the sector, the players, and the buying cycle — and can act immediately — is a genuine competitive advantage.
Established businesses launching new products or service lines. If your core team is focused on delivery and operations, there is often no capacity to drive new business at the same time. GaaS allows you to run a dedicated growth programme in parallel, without distracting your existing team or delaying your core business.
Our Growth as a Service engagements are structured around clear commercial outcomes. Here is how a typical engagement runs:
Discovery and market mapping. We start by understanding your product or service, your ideal client profile, and the specific markets or geographies you are targeting. We then map the opportunity — identifying the companies, decision-makers, and routes to market most likely to generate traction.
Outreach and pipeline development. Using our existing network and targeted outreach, we begin building relationships with the right people in the right organisations. Every conversation is tracked, reported, and fed back to you in real time.
Qualified introductions and meetings. We do not just generate leads — we open relationships. The opportunities we bring to you are qualified, contextualised, and ready for a commercial conversation.
Ongoing pipeline management. A GaaS engagement is not a one-off exercise. We manage the pipeline on an ongoing basis, following up, nurturing relationships, and identifying new opportunities as your market presence grows.
Grant & Graham has been operating across FinTech, Payments, Telecom-IT, Technology, and Retail sectors since 2009. We have delivered engagements for clients including Worldline, KPN, VodafoneZiggo, Deloitte, Allianz, NATO, Nespresso, and Vopak.
That track record matters because effective business development is built on credibility and relationships — not cold calls. When our team opens a door for you, it opens because the person on the other side already knows and trusts us.
We operate from 14 offices across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania. That global footprint means we can support new business development across multiple markets simultaneously — something a single in-house hire simply cannot replicate.
A senior Business Development Manager in the UK or Netherlands will cost between £80,000 and £120,000 per year in base salary alone, before recruitment fees, benefits, management time, and the 3 to 6 month ramp-up period before they are fully operational.
A Grant & Graham GaaS engagement is structured as a monthly retainer, typically significantly below the all-in cost of a permanent hire — and with results visible from the first 30 days rather than the first 6 months.
No. The key difference is seniority and accountability.
Traditional sales outsourcing or lead generation agencies operate at volume — high-activity, low-personalisation, focused on filling a calendar with meetings. That model works for some businesses, but it rarely works for complex B2B sales in senior markets.
Grant & Graham's GaaS model operates at C-suite and senior executive level. We are not booking introductory calls — we are building strategic relationships that convert into meaningful commercial outcomes. Every member of our business development team has operated at board or senior management level in their respective sectors.
GaaS is worth exploring if any of the following are true:
You have a strong product or service but limited capacity to sell it into new markets. You are entering a market where you do not yet have an established network. You have tried hiring in-house but found the ramp-up too slow or the cost too high. You need results within 90 days, not 12 months.
If you are unsure, the best first step is a straightforward conversation with our team. We will tell you quickly and honestly whether GaaS is the right model for your situation — and if it is not, we will say so.
Grant & Graham operates Growth as a Service engagements across the UK, Netherlands, and EMEA. To discuss your growth ambitions and how our GaaS model could support them, contact us at uk@grant-graham.co.uk or visit www.grant-graham.co.uk.