FREE SPIRIT PARTNERS
The operating partner for ambitious affiliate brands.
Advisory, technology and hands-on operations for digital affiliate and performance marketing businesses. Built and run by operators who’ve led these businesses themselves, not consultants who’ve only advised on them.
01 — Parameters
Own the asset. We run the business.
WHAT YOU KEEP
Brand, licence, player data, final say
WHAT WE RUN
Platform, product, content, PRM, day to day
TYPICAL SHIFT
EBITDA margin, mid-30s% into the 60s%+
ENGAGEMENT
Licence-based, guaranteed baseline plus upside
THE TRANSFORMATION
How the shift actually happens
An outside operator can move faster than an internal team constrained by legacy systems and sunk cost. This is what that transition looks like in practice.
02 — Investment Thesis
Most affiliate businesses are carrying more cost than they need to
Headcount built for a different era doesn’t move the needle on growth. AI-native operating models change what a lean team can run.
01
Headcount in product, platform, design and finance, sized for a higher-growth era, doesn’t match where most affiliate businesses are now.
02
AI-native operating models let a small team run what used to need a department. Most owners don’t have that model in-house yet.
03
Restructuring now, rather than reactively cutting later, keeps a brand’s value intact instead of eroding it piece by piece.
03 — Background
Operator experience, applied.
Our operating experience spans three CEO mandates across global affiliate networks and iGaming publishing, work that means restructuring cost bases and processes under real P&L pressure, not advising on them from outside. That’s included leading acquisitions and integrations, managing a business through an eight-figure divestment, and resizing organisations to match where a business actually is rather than where it used to be.
Alongside that, the focus has been on rebuilding how these businesses acquire, engage and retain players and customers: modern attribution and data infrastructure, community and loyalty models built for durability rather than short-term acquisition, and content and product operations designed to run lean. That combination, deep operational experience plus a genuinely modern approach to consumer engagement, is what FSP brings into every partner relationship.
04 — ADVISORY
Advisory and board services
Twenty-five years of operating experience across digital and affiliate businesses gives FSP a practical lens most advisory firms lack, not theory, but the judgment of people who’ve actually run the P&L, made the calls, and lived with the consequences. We work alongside founders, investors and leadership teams on the decisions that actually move a digital business.
01
Non-executive chair and board appointments — an operator-led voice in the boardroom, not just an advisory one
02
M&A advisory — buy-side, sell-side and post-acquisition integration for digital and affiliate businesses
03
Organisational and operating model design — resizing cost bases and restructuring operations to match where a business actually is
04
AI adoption and technology transformation — practical, applied change in performance marketing and affiliate operations, not theoretical roadmaps
05 — Contact
Open to the right conversation.
I am selectively available for conversations around deal flow, co-investment, advisory, non-exec/chair roles and the right introductions. If you have something relevant, I would like to hear from you.