Skip to content
Get in touch
gloucestershire-107520_1280

The Alternative Board (M3/M4 Corridor)

Improve your business and change your life with The Alternative Board

Book an introductory call

Tackle your greatest opportunities and challenges in collaboration with others.

The journey of owning and growing a business is one of the most rewarding and challenging anyone can experience. Like any journey, it is one that is best shared. Imagine doing that, in confidence, with a peer group of experienced business owners to share challenges and insights, to hold each other accountable, and to celebrate achievements.

This is the power of The Alternative Board (TAB).

Damian Cavanagh leads TAB advisory boards in and around the M3/M4 Corridor and is passionate about using his 30 years of business and leadership experience to help business owners thrive. Book a call to discuss your needs and how TAB can make a difference.

Discover the benefits of advice from others like you

Start with you

Focus on what you want in life and how your business can help get you there.

Increase profitability

Be held accountable to meet your business targets.

Improve decisions

Take control of your decisions through peer support and proven planning tools.

Make better time choices

Spend your time well by utilising the experience of others.

Become a better leader

Motivate your people with the guidance of peers and an expert coach.

Plan a successful exit

Get the best result for you with tailored, hands-on support.

Real Stories from Real Business Owners

Scaling Up with Confidence: George Goss’s Business Journey with TAB
by George Goss

Discover how George Goss grew his business 2.5x and built a stronger team with the support of The Alternative Board (TAB) and peer advisory insights.
Read more

Scoring Big: How Blueblood Transformed Their Business Game with TAB
by Dale Harris and Ben Cook

Discover how Dale Harris and Ben Cook transformed their business with TAB's support, boosting profitability and streamlining operations.
Read more

Strategic Innovation & Mentorship | Dev4 Online Success Story
by Gail Henderson

Learn how Gail Henderson overcame uncertainty with strategic innovation and mentorship with TAB. 
Read more

Since Joining TAB...

68%

of members said their turnover increased

91%

of members said their ability to address people or organisational issues improved

87%

of members said their leadership skills improved

81%

agree they get great value from their TAB Board

See full Member Survey Results here

Your Facilitator in M3/M4 Corridor

Damian Cavanagh

Damian Cavanagh

07780 604870
Email Damian
Make an enquiry here Read more about Damian

Damian is a serial entrepreneur, Angel investor and NED who for over 30 years has actually built, scaled, sold, and funded businesses, always with his own money on the line.

He built an office products company to £10m turnover and has also developed and sold over £50m of residential property. Alongside this, he has been an active Business Angel since 2009, supporting a portfolio of start-ups and scale-ups, and was nominated for UKBAA Angel of the Year in 2024. He currently holds a Non-Executive Director position at Oxi-Tech Solutions.

Damian is also a member of the Association of Business Mentors.

He is now channelling all of this experience into something purposeful: working with a small number of ambitious business owners in the M3–M4 corridor helping them to think bigger, make better decisions, avoid costly mistakes and build companies that genuinely perform.

Damian has experienced the same challenges that most SME owners encounter and understands first-hand the pressure and the sense of isolation that often comes with being the person at the top. Looking back, he wishes TAB had existed when he was building his first business, believing it would have saved him from several expensive errors and accelerated his path to success.

Based in Sunningdale, Damian is married and has two children and three grandchildren. Outside of business he is a keen runner and enjoys keeping fit.

Start your TAB journey

Get in touch with Damian using the forms on this page.

He will contact you to arrange an introductory meeting.

 Chat about whether TAB is right for you and your business.

Attend your first TAB board meeting and experience the power of peer support.

Get Started

What our members say...

"I always feel uplifted and more confident following a board meeting.  The challenges we face as business owners are invariably those shared by the other board members. Bringing them to the table puts them in perspective and usually provides several options on how to tackle them.  Support, being non-judgemental and really trying to understand each other's businesses help make the meetings fun, enjoyable and, most of all, invaluable to the growth and well-being of my own business.  The regular one-to-ones help build on this with tough constructive advice.  I would be lost without the support of TAB."

Jan Buckett , JMB Accounting

"I have a debt of gratitude to TAB after a 400% turnover boost. I can’t speak highly enough of The Alternative Board. It has made a huge difference to our agency. It’s something I would encourage business owners to think about. We wouldn’t have been able to achieve the growth we have without TAB."

Adam Bell, Moment

"TAB has given me coaching sessions, focusing on the positive elements of my business and helping to grow and develop during what is probably the most difficult trading period we have encountered. TAB has also invited me to a monthly board meeting where I joined six existing members, all of whom have extensive business experience and have provided me with some invaluable advice, guidance and accountability."

Kelly Smith, Juice Personnel
Having a Peer Board is an amazing asset to me. It’s a safe and supportive environment where you get the support of other business owners who are committed to your success. It’s allowing me to be candid and get different views on sorting out knotty problems.
Professor Deborah Eyre, High Performance Learning

"TAB is an independent thought process, away from the influences and pressures of work. In the day-to-day job, you can get drawn into distractions, you often don’t have time to think, and you’re just firefighting problems. However, with TAB, getting out of the office and speaking with the board for the 3-4 hours we have together allows me to think more independently."

David Scalley, AJT Engineering

"Before TAB, I didn’t really have anyone I could talk to about business issues. Getting reassurance from my board on things I’m thinking of doing gives me more confidence to get on with it. I really value the openness of my board and facilitator, which allows me to say what I’m feeling and thinking.  I’m now making longer-term plans and decisions about the business.  As a result, I enjoy running the business more because I know we’re heading in the direction, rather than focusing on short-term fixes."

Geoff Hunt, Hey Group

Latest news and insights from TAB (UK)

The Loneliness Premium: What Isolated Leaders Cost Their Businesses

8 April 2026 | 4 minute read

Explore the hidden cost of CEO leaders loneliness and how peer support and smart leadership strategies improve SME performance and decision-making

Read more

Managing a Team in 2026: Proven Strategies for Growing Businesses

7 April 2026 | 6 minute read

Struggling with managing a team as your business grows? Discover practical team management strategies used by successful SME leaders to improve performance, accountability and culture.

Read more

Managing Decision Fatigue as a Business Owner

23 March 2026 | 6 minute read

Decision fatigue in business is problematic for any ambitious entrepreneur. Use these techniques to manage decision fatigue to avoid burnout.

Read more

Business coaching FAQs

While each business is on a unique journey, there are some common problems that many people face on the road to business success. A coach will utilise their own years of experience in business to help target these issues and get businesses past them. A coaching program can help you identify the areas where you need to make changes to expand your business and to stay ahead of the competition. 

Often the qualities that people value in a  business coach include insight, life coaching skills, character and areas of expertise, experience and trust. It is important that you find the right business coach for you. It might be However, when you chat with potential coaches you could ask them questions like:

– What are the biggest challenges you’ve helped client solve?
– What do you do best? What don’t you do so well?
– Where have you failed and how did you handle it?

It’s easy to find your local TAB coach, just visit our board near you page, find your nearest coach and get in touch with them. They’ll be happy to answer any more specific questions about TAB and how we can help your business.

Your monthly coaching session, which can be held online, with your TAB business coach focuses on commitments you made at the last board meeting.

Plus, you review a 90-day goal that you set and commit to with your coach, and build the strategic foundations of your business using TAB’s Business Builder’s Toolkit.

The sessions are designed to provide ongoing support, where you can ask for further guidance and resources to achieve your goals and objectives.

Of course, your coach with adapt to your pressing needs, issues, or challenges that you want to discuss.

There is a small difference between a coach and mentor. A coach acts as a sounding board and guide, helping coachees tap into their full potential, whereas a mentor offers or imparts their own knowledge and experience to help someone else grow and develop.

Our TAB coaches endeavour to do a bit of both because ultimately we want you, the business owner, to get what you want from life. 

In our experience, we’ve found that the best business mentors are often those who have owned a business themselves. This is because regardless of size, industry or value, 70% of businesses face the same challenges.

Experienced business owners with any degree of success, have already overcome the bulk of the challenges entrepreneurs face everyday.

This is why the TAB system is so successful – alongside our business coaching, we facilitate peer advisory groups made up of other business owners and entrepreneurs, and all of our facilitators have owned their own business or held a senior business leadership role.