In March 2015, London-based management consultancy Clarasys found itself in crisis. Established in 2011, the company had experienced consistent growth since foundation and had expanded staffing levels to service new business accordingly. But it was still in start-up phase and a perfect storm of events had suddenly hit the firm: two potential growth projects were unexpectedly shelved, meaning almost 50% of consultants were no longer on billable client projects, and the company accountants admitted to having made a serious mistake in VAT payments, which meant Clarasys had to make a double payment, for two years’ VAT returns, at the same time.