Outreach Sequence (3-Step): The Very Group — Martin Knight (Trading Director)

Metadata

• Brand: The Very Group
• Contact: Martin Knight, Trading Director
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-knight-68aab146/
• Signal Lead: L2 — Appointed Trading Director (March 2026)
• Signal Stack: L2 appointment + L3 Carlyle £2bn auction + L3 PE tech investment mandate + L3 commercetools platform
• Urgency: 7 — 90-day window, PE auction creates urgency for operational wins
• Channel Strategy: LinkedIn (Step 1), Email (Steps 2-3)
• Draft Date: 2026-05-02
• Status: Steps 1-3 APPROVED — Ready to send (2026-05-04)
• Existing Relationships: Sam Wright (CCCO) has separate outreach sequence — Martin's thread is independent and focuses on trading/margin performance, not CX strategy

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Relationship & Intel Flags

• CCCO thread active: Sam Wright (CCCO) is the primary entry point for The Very Group with a separate 7-touch sequence. Martin's outreach must be independent — never reference Sam or imply coordination.
• PE auction context: Carlyle preparing £2-2.5bn sale. Incoming buyer will scrutinise operational efficiency and trading margins. Martin's mandate is to demonstrate trading improvement — frame QM value in margin and sell-through terms.
• Tech leadership gap: Neil Memmott (senior tech/product) departed Jan 2026. No replacement announced. Martin may be operating without a strong tech counterpart — keep messaging commercial, not technical.
• 20+ years retail leadership: Martin is deeply experienced. Do not over-explain retail concepts. Lead with specificity and insight.

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Step 1 — Connect (LinkedIn, <100 words)

Martin, welcome to The Very Group. Stepping into the Trading Director role during a PE auction window is high-visibility, high-stakes — the incoming buyer will want to see trading performance moving in the right direction quickly. I work with D2C fashion retailers on a specific challenge: identifying where the digital experience is silently eroding margin — abandoned carts, promotion fatigue, pricing friction that doesn't show up in aggregate reporting. Given Very's scale at 19.5M monthly visits, thought it might be worth connecting.

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Step 2 — Value (Email, <100 words)

Martin, one thing I've seen with trading leaders at high-traffic D2C retailers: the conversion funnel looks healthy at the top, but buried inside are margin-destroying friction points that only show up when you measure at the session level.

At 19.5M monthly visits, the difference between your best and worst trading journeys is usually £millions annually — price-sensitive customers abandoning because of a promotion logic error, or high-value baskets dropping at payment. Traditional reporting averages it all out.

I recently helped a comparable retailer's trading director quantify £9M in recoverable friction in under 90 days. Happy to share the method.

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Step 3 — CTA (Email, <75 words)

Martin, as you build the trading roadmap ahead of the auction — how are you measuring friction at the individual journey level, not just category-level conversion?

If it's worth a quick call, I can walk through how one trading director at a PE-backed retailer used session-level revenue quantification to build a "quick wins" case that directly influenced the buyer's valuation. 15 minutes, no pitch.

[Calendar link]

Outreach Sequence (3-Step REVISED): The Very Group — Martin Knight (Trading Director)

Metadata

• Brand: The Very Group
• Contact: Martin Knight, Trading Director
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-knight-68aab146/
• Signal Lead: L2 — Appointed Trading Director (March 2026, NEW tenure)
• Signal Stack: L2 appointment + L3 Carlyle £2bn auction + L3 PE tech investment mandate + L3 commercetools platform
• Urgency: 8 — 90-day window closing June 2026; PE auction demands demonstrable margin improvement
• Channel Strategy: LinkedIn (Step 1), Email (Steps 2-3)
• Draft Date: 2026-05-03
• Status: REVISED — Pending CMO review
• Revision Note: CMO directed shift from generic trading focus → margin recovery via experience visibility. Must frame QM value in margin terms the PE buyer will scrutinise.

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Revision Summary

Original issue: Good structure but too generic on "friction." Needed sharper margin-recovery language tied to PE auction valuation and Martin's specific 90-day mandate.

Revised angle: Martin's job isn't just "trading performance" — it's demonstrating margin improvement to the incoming PE buyer within a compressed window. Frame experience visibility as the tool that converts hidden digital friction into quantified margin recovery the buyer can see in the data room.

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Step 1 — Connect (LinkedIn, <100 words)

Martin, stepping into Trading Director at Very during a £2bn PE auction means one thing: the incoming buyer needs to see margin moving in the right direction before due diligence closes. At 19.5M monthly visits on commercetools, the gap between your best and worst customer journeys is where recoverable margin hides — promotion logic errors, mobile payment drop-offs, pricing friction that averages out in category reporting but costs £millions at session level. I help trading directors at PE-backed retailers quantify that margin gap in days, not quarters. Worth connecting.

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Step 2 — Value (Email, <100 words)

Martin, here's what PE buyers scrutinise in retail valuations: not just top-line growth, but margin trajectory. The fastest lever a trading director can pull is recovering revenue lost to digital experience friction — because it converts to margin without incremental marketing spend.

At Very's scale, a 1.5% improvement in checkout completion = approximately £12M in recovered revenue annually. That's margin-accretive from day one.

One trading director at a PE-backed retailer built a "recoverable margin" dashboard in under 30 days that became a data room exhibit. The buyer cited it in their valuation model.

Happy to share the method.

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Step 3 — CTA (Email, <75 words)

Martin, as you build the trading case ahead of the auction close — do you have visibility into where digital friction is silently eroding margin at the session level, not just the category level?

If 15 minutes is worth it, I can walk through how one PE-backed retailer's trading director turned experience data into a £9M margin-recovery roadmap that directly influenced buyer valuation. No pitch — just the framework.

[Calendar link]

Outreach Sequence (3-Step): The Very Group — Muktar Mahama (Head of Digital Product)

Metadata

• Brand: The Very Group
• Contact: Muktar Mahama, Head of Digital Product
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/muktar-mahama-938b2733/
• Email: muktar.mahama@theverygroup.com (inferred)
• Signal Lead: L1 — Carlyle preparing £2-2.5bn auction; all vendor relationships under review
• Signal Stack: L1 £2bn auction + L1 Constructor AI product discovery + L1 Sam Wright CCCO promotion + L1 Neil Memmott departure + L1 Edward Fry permanent CFO + L3 AWS GenAI Innovation Centre
• Urgency: 9 — Active sale process; incoming buyer will reset digital investment roadmap from scratch
• Channel Strategy: LinkedIn (Step 1), Email (Steps 2-3)
• Draft Date: 2026-05-03
• Status: Pending CMO review
• Cluster: The Very Group (coordinated with Sam Wright CCCO — drafted 2026-05-01, Martin Knight Trading Director — drafted 2026-05-02)

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Cluster Coordination Note

Muktar is the digital product/technology entry point in the Very Group thread. His sequence leads with product discovery measurement and platform experience quality during ownership transition. Sam Wright (CCCO) carries the commercial/customer strategy angle. Martin Knight (Trading Director) carries the trading performance angle. Sequences staggered: Muktar Week 1, Sam Week 2, Martin Week 3. Muktar gets the "how do you prove Constructor AI is delivering?" frame. Sam gets the "customer experience under new ownership." Martin gets the "trading performance visibility."

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Step 1 — Connect (LinkedIn, <100 words)

Muktar, with Carlyle preparing the Very Group auction and Constructor AI now live powering product discovery, you're sitting at the intersection of two high-stakes priorities: proving your digital product investments deliver measurable results, and doing it before a new owner resets the vendor roadmap. That's a narrow window. I work with digital product leaders at enterprise retailers building the experience measurement layer that survives ownership transitions — quantifying where the platform creates value and where it doesn't. Would value connecting.

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Step 2 — Value (Email, <100 words)

Muktar, one pattern I see during PE exits: the digital product team knows Constructor improved search relevance, but the incoming buyer's diligence team wants session-level proof that AI investments translate to revenue.

At 19.5M monthly visits across Very.co.uk and Littlewoods, even small experience friction in the product discovery flow compounds across millions of sessions. The question is whether you can quantify that — not just search clicks, but full-session revenue attribution from discovery through checkout.

I recently helped a comparable retailer build exactly that measurement layer in 8 weeks, pre-acquisition.

Worth sharing the approach?

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Step 3 — CTA (Email, <75 words)

Muktar, straightforward question: can you currently tie Constructor's product discovery improvements to revenue at the session level — in a way that would survive buyer due diligence?

If that's worth 15 minutes, I can walk through how one enterprise retailer built that attribution layer before their exit process. No pitch — just the measurement architecture.

[Calendar link]

Outreach Sequence (3-Step): The Very Group — Robbie Feather (Group CEO)

Metadata

• Brand: The Very Group
• Contact: Robbie Feather, Group Chief Executive Officer
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbie-feather-983a841/
• Email: robbie.feather@theverygroup.com (inferred)
• Signal Lead: L1 — Carlyle preparing £2-2.5bn auction with Barclays and JP Morgan as advisers
• Signal Stack: L1 £2bn auction active + L1 Carlyle tech mandate + L1 Constructor AI product discovery + L1 Sam Wright CCCO promotion + L1 Neil Memmott departure + L1 Edward Fry permanent CFO
• Urgency: 9 — Active sale process; incoming buyer will reset digital investment roadmap from scratch
• Channel Strategy: LinkedIn (Step 1), Email (Steps 2-3)
• Draft Date: 2026-05-03
• Status: CMO approved — no changes required
• Cluster: The Very Group (coordinated with Sam Wright CCCO — drafted 2026-05-01, Martin Knight Trading Director — drafted 2026-05-02, Muktar Mahama Head of Digital Product — drafted 2026-05-03)

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Cluster Coordination Note

Robbie is the executive sponsor entry in the Very Group thread. His sequence leads with auction-readiness and digital ROI validation for buyer due diligence. Sam Wright (CCCO) carries the customer/commercial strategy angle. Martin Knight (Trading Director) carries trading performance visibility. Muktar Mahama (Head of Digital Product) carries product discovery measurement. Sequences staggered: Robbie Week 1, Muktar Week 2, Sam Week 3, Martin Week 4. Robbie gets the "prove digital investments survive buyer scrutiny" frame.

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Step 1 — Connect (LinkedIn, <100 words)

Robbie, with Carlyle preparing the Very Group auction and Barclays and JP Morgan appointed, every digital investment you've made — Constructor AI, the commercetools migration, Sam Wright's CCCO appointment — will face buyer due diligence. The question incoming bidders will ask: can you prove these investments generate measurable revenue at the session level across 19.5M monthly visits? I work with CEOs at enterprise retailers building the experience measurement layer that translates digital capability into investor-grade ROI evidence before ownership transitions. Would value connecting.

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Step 2 — Value (Email, <100 words)

Robbie, one pattern I see during PE exits: the leadership team knows Constructor improved product discovery and commercetools enabled platform flexibility, but the buyer's diligence team wants session-level proof — not dashboards, but revenue attribution that ties each technology investment to commercial outcomes.

At Very's scale, even small experience friction compounds across millions of sessions monthly. I recently helped a comparable retailer build that measurement layer in 8 weeks pre-acquisition — converting technology capability narratives into quantified revenue impact that survived buyer scrutiny.

Worth sharing the approach?

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Step 3 — CTA (Email, <75 words)

Robbie, straightforward question: can you currently tie Constructor's product discovery improvements and the commercetools migration to revenue at the session level — in a format that would survive buyer due diligence?

If that's worth 15 minutes, I can walk through how one enterprise retailer packaged digital ROI evidence before their exit. No pitch — just the measurement architecture.

[Calendar link]

LinkedIn Message: The Very Group — Martin Knight (Trading Director)

Metadata

• Brand: The Very Group
• Contact: Martin Knight, Trading Director
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-knight-68aab146/
• Channel: LinkedIn message (assumes connection exists or sent alongside connection request)
• Signal: L2 appointment (Mar 2026) + L3 Carlyle PE auction + Constructor AI stack
• Urgency: 8 — 90-day window closing Jun 2026
• Draft Date: 2026-05-14
• Status: DRAFT — Pending CMO review
• Complements: 3-step revised sequence (2026-05-03, pending CMO review). This is a shorter, Constructor-specific alternative first touch.

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LinkedIn Message (<150 words)

Martin — you're running trading performance on Constructor AI for product discovery and commercetools for the storefront. That's a strong stack for controlling what customers see. The missing piece is measuring what customers actually experience.

Constructor optimises which products surface. Quantum Metric measures whether the full journey — from discovery through checkout and payment — actually converts, and quantifies in £ where it doesn't. Together, that's complete commerce intelligence: what you show and what they experience.

At Very's scale (19.5M monthly visits), the gap between Constructor's intent and checkout completion is where recoverable margin hides. One PE-backed retailer built a margin-recovery view in under 30 days that became a data room exhibit.

Worth a quick conversation on how this maps to your trading priorities ahead of the auction?

Adrian

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Drafting Notes

• Tone: Practitioner-level, concise. Trading director language — margin, recovery, conversion.
• Length: ~130 words. Short enough for LinkedIn message format.
• Constructor angle: Explicitly frames QM as the measurement complement to Constructor's discovery layer — not competitive, additive.
• PE hook: Margin recovery as data room exhibit (consistent with revised 3-step sequence).
• No mention of: Specific friction percentages (save for follow-up), competitor tools, analytics gaps.
• CTA: Conversational, low-commitment ask tied to his specific trading priorities.

The Very Group — Sam Wright (Chief Commercial & Customer Officer)

7-Touch Email Sequence + LinkedIn Connection

Date: 2026-05-14
Priority Rank: 1 of 7 (CMO priority update 2026-05-14)
Signal Stack: L1 (Sam Wright CCCO appointment Apr 2026 — 90-day window open, closing ~Jul 2026) + L2 (active PE auction — Barclays/JP Morgan advising) + L2 (Martin Knight Trading Director Mar 2026 — leadership reset) + L2 (commercetools migration from Oracle ATG) + L2 (UK BNPL regulation Jul 2026)
Entry Strategy: Cold LinkedIn + email — L1 new appointment signal, 90-day window active, URGENT
Proof Point: Lululemon (fashion D2C at scale), Canadian Tire (+40% conversion in price-sensitive segments)
Warm Route: None confirmed. commercetools partner ecosystem and Boohoo cross-brand (Steve Nolan CIO, ex-Boohoo) are secondary paths.

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LinkedIn Connection Request

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contact: Sam Wright
brand: The Very Group
signal_refs: [2026-04-01 CCCO appointment — FRESH L1]
signal_levels: [L1]
touch_number: 0
channel: linkedin
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 1: CCCO appointment Apr 2026 — 90-day window open, Ring 2: PE auction active]

Sam — congratulations on the Chief Commercial & Customer Officer promotion. Leading commercial during an active PE auction at £750M revenue — that's a high-stakes remit. Would be great to connect.

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LinkedIn Follow-Up 1

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contact: Sam Wright
brand: The Very Group
signal_refs: [2026-01-01 PE auction, Barclays/JP Morgan]
signal_levels: [L2]
touch_number: 0.1
channel: linkedin
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 2: PE auction — operational maturity signal, Ring 4: revenue-quantified analytics for due diligence]

Sam — thanks for connecting. One pattern from PE auction scenarios: incoming buyers scrutinise digital operations forensically. The question isn't "what's the conversion rate?" but "where does friction cost money, and can you prove it?" Brands that can quantify friction in £ per session command better multiples. If that resonates with where Very Group is heading, happy to share the data.

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LinkedIn Follow-Up 2

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contact: Sam Wright
brand: The Very Group
signal_refs: [2022-01-01 commercetools migration]
signal_levels: [L2]
touch_number: 0.2
channel: linkedin
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 2: post-migration hidden friction, Ring 4: headless architecture API-layer failures]

Sam — one more angle: post-migration friction is the hidden cost of headless architecture. After Oracle ATG to commercetools, API-layer failures create friction invisible to traditional analytics — the frontend looks fine, but the backend timed out and the customer silently abandoned. At 19.5M monthly visitors, even 0.1% of those sessions = £750K annually. If post-migration visibility is on the radar, happy to share how other commercetools retailers are solving this.

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Touch 1 — Email (GIVE only, <100 words)

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contact: Sam Wright
brand: The Very Group
signal_refs: [2026-01-01 PE auction, Barclays/JP Morgan advising]
signal_levels: [L2, L2]
touch_number: 1
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 1: CCCO appointed Apr 2026 — 90-day window open, owns CX + eComm budget (direct QM buyer), Ring 2: £750M revenue, 19.5M monthly visitors, Ring 2: PE auction active]

Subject: Quantifying digital friction before the auction

Sam,

During a PE auction, every operational metric gets scrutinised. Revenue, EBITDA, customer acquisition cost — all covered. The metric that trips up digital-first retailers in due diligence: quantified friction.

At £750M revenue and 19.5M monthly visitors, incoming buyers will ask "where does digital friction cost money?" If the answer is an estimate rather than a measured figure, it's a risk factor in the model. If it's quantified to the £ — "checkout friction costs £7.5M annually, here are the top 10 fixes ranked by revenue impact" — it's an operational maturity signal.

The brands entering auctions with quantified friction data command better terms.

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Touch 2 — Email (GIVE only, different angle, <75 words)

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contact: Sam Wright
brand: The Very Group
signal_refs: [2026-01-01 Constructor AI, AWS SageMaker + Bedrock]
signal_levels: [L2, L2]
touch_number: 2
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 2: AI investment ROI accountability, Ring 4: AI-to-conversion correlation]

Subject: Re: Quantifying digital friction before the auction

Sam,

Different angle — Very Group has invested in Constructor AI for product discovery and AWS Bedrock for personalisation. The board will ask: "What return are these AI investments generating?"

Without session-level measurement connecting AI-driven personalisation to actual conversion behaviour, the answer is approximate. The brands proving AI ROI are correlating AI decisions with session outcomes — which recommendations converted, which caused friction.

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Touch 3 — Email (GIVE + soft question, <75 words)

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contact: Sam Wright
brand: The Very Group
signal_refs: [2022-01-01 commercetools migration from Oracle ATG]
signal_levels: [L2]
touch_number: 3
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 2: headless architecture post-migration, Ring 4: API-layer friction invisible to traditional analytics]

Subject: Post-migration friction on commercetools

Sam,

The Oracle ATG to commercetools migration completed in 2022, but headless architecture introduces a structural blind spot: API-layer failures that are invisible to frontend analytics. The page looks fine, but the product data didn't load, the inventory check timed out, or the payment routing failed.

At 19.5M monthly visitors, these silent failures compound. Is post-migration API-layer visibility something the technology team is measuring today?

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Touch 4 — Email (GIVE + soft offer, <75 words)

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contact: Sam Wright
brand: The Very Group
signal_refs: [2026-07-01 BNPL regulation effective]
signal_levels: [L2]
touch_number: 4
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 2: BNPL checkout compliance, Ring 4: session-level payment flow audit]

Subject: BNPL regulation and checkout measurement

Sam,

UK BNPL regulation takes effect July 2026. Checkout flows involving buy-now-pay-later will need session-level audit capability — not just "did the transaction complete?" but "what did the customer experience during the payment flow?"

I have data on how retailers are preparing checkout measurement for BNPL compliance — what regulators will expect and how session-level capture provides the audit trail.

Happy to share if relevant to compliance planning.

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Touch 5 — Email (soft meeting ask, <75 words)

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contact: Sam Wright
brand: The Very Group
signal_refs: [2026-04-01 CCCO appointment — FRESH L1]
signal_levels: [L1]
touch_number: 5
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 1: new in CCCO role — building operational approach]

Subject: 20 minutes on digital operations maturity

Sam,

You're early enough as CCCO to shape how Very Group measures and quantifies digital experience quality — which matters both for operational improvement and auction positioning.

Would 20 minutes be useful to compare notes on how similar-scale online retailers are approaching friction quantification? No agenda beyond sharing patterns from fashion and retail D2C.

If the timing doesn't work, completely understand.

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Touch 6 — Email (GIVE only, <75 words)

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contact: Sam Wright
brand: The Very Group
signal_refs: [2026-01-01 19.5M monthly visitors]
signal_levels: [L2]
touch_number: 6
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 4: 100% session capture vs sampling, Ring 2: peak trading vulnerability]

Subject: Peak trading and session capture

Sam,

At 19.5M monthly visitors, peak trading events concentrate disproportionate revenue into short windows. Any analytics tool that samples sessions or caps capture systematically misses the moments that matter most.

Canadian Tire — large-scale multi-category retailer — found 40% conversion uplift in targeted segments by measuring every session during peak, not a sample. The insight was in the sessions other tools missed.

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Touch 7 — Email (GIVE only, graceful close, <75 words)

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contact: Sam Wright
brand: The Very Group
signal_refs: [2026-01-01 PE auction, 2026-04-01 CCCO promotion]
signal_levels: [L2, L2]
touch_number: 7
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 1: CCCO role]

Subject: Still relevant, Sam?

Sam,

Over the past weeks I've shared perspectives on auction-ready friction quantification, AI investment ROI, post-migration visibility, BNPL compliance, and peak trading measurement.

Is any of this on Very Group's agenda right now, or is the timing off?

Either answer is genuinely helpful. Best of luck with the transition.

LinkedIn InMail: The Very Group — Sam Wright (CCCO)

Metadata

• Brand: The Very Group
• Contact: Sam Wright, Chief Customer and Commercial Officer
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-wright-profile/
• Channel: LinkedIn InMail (cold — no prior connection required)
• Signal: L1 promotion to CCCO (Apr 2026) + L3 Carlyle £2-2.5bn PE auction
• Urgency: 9 — 90-day window closes ~Jul 2026; auction buyer shortlisting H2 2026
• Draft Date: 2026-05-14
• Status: DRAFT — Pending CMO review
• Complements: 7-touch sequence (2026-05-01, CMO approved). This InMail is designed as an alternative first-touch if connection request is not accepted, or as a standalone outreach.

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InMail — Subject + Body

Subject: Digital due diligence before the auction closes

Sam — congratulations on the CCCO appointment. Combining commercial and customer strategy under one leader is exactly what PE buyers want to see during an active sale process.

One question that will come up in due diligence: "Where are you losing revenue to digital friction, and how much?" At £750M revenue and 19.5M monthly visits on commercetools, the honest answer for most retailers post-migration is "we don't know precisely." That's a valuation risk.

Quantum Metric answers that question in weeks. We quantify digital friction in £ — not traffic metrics, not heatmaps — actual revenue at risk per session. Lululemon recovered multi-tens of millions in checkout revenue using exactly this approach post-platform investment.

Two specific angles for Very right now:

1. PE readiness. QM installed pre-acquisition means the incoming buyer sees a dashboard of quantified digital health in the data room. That's an enterprise value accelerator, not a vendor commitment. Month-to-month terms available — the new owner inherits data and optionality, not a contract.

2. BNPL compliance. UK regulation effective July 2026 requires checkout-level analytics visibility into payment flows. QM provides session-level checkout audit capability out of the box.

Would 15 minutes be worthwhile to walk through how one PE-backed retailer used this exact approach to strengthen their data room ahead of exit?

Adrian Fulle
GrowthStack

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Drafting Notes

• Tone: Direct, peer-level, commercially framed. No jargon, no "thought leadership" fluff.
• Length: ~200 words body. Within LinkedIn InMail best practice (under 300).
• Key reframe: QM is not a new vendor commitment during the auction — it is evidence of digital maturity that increases enterprise value.
• Proof point: Lululemon checkout recovery (matched to Very's commercetools migration context).
• Regulatory hook: BNPL Jul 2026 deadline creates urgency beyond the PE auction alone.
• CTA: Soft 15-minute ask, framed around a relevant case study rather than a demo.
• No mention of: Competitors, current analytics gaps (avoid putting Sam on the defensive about unknowns).