Sharpe Advisory - Advisory & consulting services for the creative and digital industries

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For Business

Strategy, review and advice for businesses doing the interesting stuff.

For Government

Bespoke consultancy, research and training, focusing on creative and digital industries.

For Not-for-Profits

Strategic planning, training and specialist projects for social enterprises.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Visit our specialist M&A firm, Fletcher Sharpe.

Our Difference

We’re specialists: we get creative and digital businesses.

We listen: we put ourselves in your shoes.

We get you: we’ve worked as creative practitioners, business owners and in government positions for the creative industries. We understand your world.

We provide business plans, operational reviews, business coaching and bespoke consulting on specific challenges.

Our clients include businesses in architecture, advertising and communications, app development, design (including graphic design, web design, industrial design), events, film and TV, games, marketing and PR, media and entertainment, music and performing arts, publishing, software development and visual arts.

Strategic and business plans
Whether you’re planning for the future or want to overcome obstacles, we can help you take a holistic look at your business and explore pathways for success. We believe in a process that is iterative and collaborative. As the world changes around us we need to learn to adapt and we help our clients adopt this mindset.

Business health checks
Get a snapshot of where your business stands and improvements you can make. We look at four key areas: strategy, operations, sales and marketing and finance. We create a report that helps you understand areas that need attention and we set priorities for actionable items.

We undertake a range of bespoke consulting projects for government organisations, seeking expert advice on creative industry issues.

Research and analysis
We undertake specialist consulting projects that inform and advise on a range of specific challenges that impact the arts and creative industries.

Financial analysis
We provide financial analysis to help funding agencies make considered funding decisions. We create succinct and clear reporting on organisations and their financial model and sustainability.

Grant assessment and analysis
We undertake assessments for grant based programs based on our knowledge of the industry.

Our clients: Australia Council for the Arts, City of Sydney, Create NSW, Creative Partnerships Australia, Creative Victoria, NSW Department of Education, Screen Australia, Screen Territory, South Australian Film Corporation and Wollongong City Council.

For not-for-profit organisations, we:

write strategic plans and undertake operational and governance reviews and
deliver financial and governance training for staff and boards.

Our clients include arts organisations, screen industry bodies, and charities in the health care sector. We understand the issues specific to NFP organisations and tailor our approach to your organisation’s specific circumstances.

Our clients: Aids Council ACT, Carriageworks, Gondwana Choirs, LGBTI Alliance, Media Resource Centre, Outloud, Performing Lines, Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation, State Opera of South Australia, Regional Arts NSW, Urban Theatre Projects.

David Sharpe

Business Advisor

David Sharpe is a management and business consultant, specialising in creative and digital industries companies. His focus is on assisting business owners to identify and pursue opportunities for growth. Hundreds of clients around Australia have benefited from his ability to mix business nous with a keen understanding of the creative process.

His clients include companies in design, app development, games, film & TV,
performing arts, media & communications, events management and architecture. In all, he has 15 years’ experience in coaching and advising creative industry
clients.

He has held senior positions with Generate (specialist accountants to the creative
industries) Creative Industries Innovation Centre and Australia Council for the Arts, and been a business advisor in the federal government’s Entrepreneurs’ Programme, contracted to Deloitte and Business Australia.

He holds a Masters in Management (UTS), is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is undertaking a PhD on entrepreneurship in the Creative Industries. He has taught at UTS and at the Australian Film, Television & Radio School, and given guest lectures at NIDA and University of Wollongong.

Ann Hinchliffe

Business Advisor

Ann’s strategic planning, advice and facilitation has guided the growth, income generation, effective delivery of mission and impact across the creative sector.

For creative companies and government agencies, Ann solves complex issues and delivers high quality growth outcomes: combining her analytical, planning and financial skills with a deep understanding of the needs of the creative sector.

Her broad experience includes all levels of government, not-for-profit organisations, professional associations, consultancies and private companies. Whilst specialising in the creative sector, Ann has also established transformational, capacity-building initiatives in the water, environment and public parklands sectors.

Ann holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Psychology and Certificate in Aboriginal Cultural Awareness, EORA TAFE; and recent professional development includes Learn to Lead, Australian Graduate School of Management at UNSW; and Social Return on Investment Methodology: Social Ventures Australia

David was able to tune in to our board and translate their aspirations into a realistic and focussed strategic plan. He's an expert listener and facilitator, with an extraordinary depth of understanding about how things work in the arts and cultural sector.

Dr. Tim Kurylowicz, Executive Director, Eastern Riverina Arts
David worked with me on some of the more complex company financial details I was keen to understand but didn’t have the background in, given my career as a journalist and writer in the creative industries. He is both personable and a patient teacher who makes tricky concepts easy to grasp.

Jane, family board director
We engaged with David when we were first developing ideas for our new company, Saber. There were so many possibilities and directions we wanted to take the new company in – all of them seemingly daunting and almost impossible to achieve! David worked closely with us to bring out the essence of what we wanted our company to be. I can’t recommend working with David enough. He really helped us to translate an idea into a successful and sustainable company.

Brad Maiden, Managing Director, Saber
I’ve worked with David across multiple clients and I find his insight and industry knowledge first class. He has a unique ability to get to the root of a business issue and come up with a path to improvement. I would not hesitate to recommend David to any of my clients over the life of their business.

Nic Solly, Managing Director, Lolly Jar Accounting
I feel very fortunate to have been able to work with Wendy Mather through a critical period in our company’s growth. Wendy provided exceptional strategic advice for Co-Curious and we now have a clearly defined, action-oriented plan to grow into a sustainable and impactful company for the long term. I always looked forward to my meetings with Wendy - it was a time to regroup, get perceptive and work with someone who has an innate business sense and understood immediately what set our company apart.

Annabel Davis, Co-Curious
David has a laser-like ability to see the bigger picture and he helped us realise we were doing too many things at once – we needed to tighten up and focus on our core strengths. Our new strategic plan focuses the hell out of us. We have a very clear vision.

Tim Carroll, former GM, Bankstown Youth Development Service (now Outloud)
We wanted an outside perspective because as producers, we’re so attached to our projects. We felt we needed to step back and look at our company as a business. The process makes you ask questions that you normally wouldn’t. David created a safe place to bring up our concerns, articulate things that have the potential to become issues, and find solutions.

Kristina Ceyton, Director, Causeway Films
Wendy’s knowledge and business acumen is outstanding. Matched with her ability to motivate and drive us to reach excellence and really understand our business before eventually expanding it, was due to her truly understanding our goals, motivations and creating clear pathways for us to reach our goals. The continued growth and success that we have garnered to date wouldn’t have been possible without Wendy, and I cannot recommend her enough. Wendy continues to work with us at No Coincidence Media and it’s a pleasure to have her on board.

Mitchell Stanley, Managing Director, No Coincidence Media
Working with David Sharpe gave us an opportunity to see our company with fresh eyes and to really understand what we needed to grow. David's understanding of creative industries meant that his support and recommendations were right on target for what we needed. David assisted us in formulating a five year strategic plan for the business - and with his guidance, we hit our targets in three.

Alice Cook, General Manager, Studio Mondo
Wendy and David were terrific to work with on our proposal. They effectively extracted the essence of what we were trying to achieve, wrapped it up in an easy to understand strategy, simplified and clarified the outcomes to report against and gave comfort to the funders that it was worth funding! Can’t get much better than that.

Mitzi Goldman, CEO, Documentary Australia Foundation
David provides ongoing strategic and process related advice to Grade. His wide ranging knowledge plays a pivotal role in what has been a period of intense growth and increased workload. This combination of strategic 'big picture' thinking and practical spreadsheet-based detail means he's a rare breed, and is an integral part of the business' success and viability.

Matt Bachle, Director, Grade Creative and Founder/CEO, Realy Pty Ltd