I'm Duncan, and I run The Future Smiths
I've spent twenty-five years working both sides of the fence — building businesses and advising the people running them.
That's the experience this work draws on.
Where this comes from
Before starting The Future Smiths, I spent twenty-five years across corporate strategy and hands-on business ownership — advising a major energy company's board on climate and supply chain risk, leading environmental assessment on the UK's first offshore wind farm, and chairing an international standards body for renewable energy supply chains.
I also ran my own live events business for five years, handling contracts, marketing, compliance, and a team on the ground, and later managed the books — payroll, VAT, all of it — for a local farm shop.
Why it fits
That combination is why this work fits. When I sit down with a business that's making decent money but somehow never has any spare, or a founder running themselves into the ground holding it all together, I've usually been on both sides of it — running a business myself, and advising at the level where the largest decisions get made.
Since 2020 I've worked directly with over 300 businesses across Swindon and Wiltshire, most recently through The Future Smiths, consistently rated 4.8 out of 5 by the people I've worked with.
What this looks like now
That's what The Future Smiths focuses on now. Not advice from the outside — working alongside you, in the detail, until your business is visible again.
Start a conversation
If that sounds like where you are, get in touch. You'll be talking to me.
