Expertise that creates value
Consultancy, interim leadership, mentoring, project delivery, business development and practical problem-solving — on terms that suit both sides.
THE EXPERTISE EXCHANGE
Experience has
no expiry date.
A trusted platform connecting proven expertise with businesses, organisations, communities and people who can put it to work.
EXPERTISEKnowledge ready to contribute
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OPPORTUNITYNeeds worth solving
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IMPACTCommercial and social value
THE OPPORTUNITY
A national asset
hiding in plain sight.
Across the UK, highly experienced people leave full-time employment through retirement, redundancy or a change in circumstances. Their knowledge does not disappear — but too often, the route back to useful, flexible work does.
At the same time, businesses, organisations and communities continue to need skills, judgement and practical experience that may not justify another permanent appointment. ExEx is designed to bring these two sides together.
Purpose that strengthens communities
Community projects, mentoring, voluntary support and knowledge-sharing that allow valuable experience to keep making a difference.
BACK IN THE GAME
Back in the Game
Leaving full-time employment does not mean that ambition, curiosity or the desire to achieve something suddenly disappears.
Retirement is one reason people step away from the conventional workforce. Redundancy, restructuring, business closure, caring responsibilities and career breaks can have the same effect.
In every case, valuable knowledge and experience can become disconnected from the organisations and people who could benefit from it.
For some, there comes a point when they miss something more than employment itself: the challenge of solving problems, developing ideas, making decisions, contributing and achieving something.
They don't necessarily want another full-time job or to rebuild a conventional career.
They may simply want to be back in the game.
ExEx is intended to provide different routes back.
That could mean a consultancy assignment, interim role, mentoring relationship, project, voluntary contribution, directorship, business acquisition, sales opportunity or even helping to build a new venture.
For someone facing redundancy, ExEx could also provide an opportunity to rethink what comes next — using years of accumulated expertise in several different ways rather than simply searching for another version of the job they have just lost.
The benefit works both ways. Individuals regain challenge, purpose and opportunity, while businesses, entrepreneurs and communities gain access to expertise that might otherwise remain unused.
Multiply that across thousands of experienced people and it becomes more than an individual opportunity. It becomes an economic one.
A job may end. Expertise doesn't.
I HAVE EXPERTISE
Join ExEx as an Expertise Partner
Join us on an exciting journey towards new ways of putting your expertise to work.
ExEx is currently in development and intends to become fully operational in the summer of 2027. We are inviting Expertise Partners to join us now so that when ExEx goes live we will have a comprehensive database of Founding Expertise Partners offering their services.
Expertise Partners who join before launch will have the £245 joining fee and £245 first-year annual membership fee waived. The free membership period will begin when ExEx launches. Transactional and service charges will remain payable where applicable.
If you think ExEx could work for you, build your Expertise Partner profile now. The structured information will help ExEx match your experience to real client needs.
Join ExExI NEED EXPERTISE
Register your interest as an ExEx Client
Join us on an exciting journey towards new ways of finding the expertise you need.
The Expertise Exchange is currently in development and is expected to become fully operational in summer 2027.
Before launch, we are building a broad network of Founding Expertise Partners drawn from different professions, trades, industries and walks of life.
Clients who join before launch will have the £490 first-year access fee waived. The free access period will begin when ExEx launches, and there is no obligation to continue beyond it.
We are now inviting prospective Clients to join. There is no obligation, and we will keep you informed as ExEx develops.
HOW EXEX WORKS
How ExEx Works
The practical detail, in one place.
ExEx does more than simply provide an introduction. It provides the framework through which opportunities can be found, engagements agreed, payments managed and both parties supported.
The main questions about Expertise Partners, matching, verification, engagements, payment, commercial terms and what happens when circumstances change are now brought together in one clear section.
Read How ExEx WorksI HAVE AN IDEA
Join the ExEx Ideas Forum
Bring your idea closer to market.
All too often, promising ideas never progress beyond the initial concept. The originator may have the idea and enthusiasm but lack access to the commercial experience, specialist knowledge, funding contacts or practical support needed to take it forward.
The ExEx Ideas Forum is designed to help bridge that gap. It will connect people with ideas to experienced entrepreneurs and other Expertise Partners who may be able to offer mentoring, practical advice or specialist support and, where both parties see the potential, may even wish to become involved as a collaborator or business partner.
ExEx is currently in development and is expected to become fully operational in summer 2027. However, you may register now by providing a brief, non-confidential outline of your idea.
There is no charge for using or contributing to the ExEx Ideas Forum.
Please do not include confidential, patent-sensitive or commercially valuable technical information in your initial submission.
Independent Service Review
Do you really know what your customers are experiencing?
As businesses grow, owners and senior managers inevitably become more removed from day-to-day customer contact. Reports and performance indicators may suggest that everything is working well — but they do not always reveal what is actually happening at the sharp end.
ExEx can provide an experienced, independent Expertise Partner to review your business from a customer's perspective.
Working to a carefully agreed brief, the Expertise Partner can examine the real-world delivery of your service — from the initial enquiry and response through to communication, professionalism, service delivery and follow-up.
Unlike conventional mystery shopping, the review can be undertaken by someone with genuine experience of your industry who understands what good performance should look like.
The result is an impartial assessment of what your business is actually delivering — good, bad or indifferent — together with practical observations on where improvements could be made.
Sometimes the most valuable information a business owner can receive is what nobody within the business has thought to tell them.
BUSINESS SALES
Buy or sell a business through ExEx
Reaching Buyers Who Aren’t Yet Looking
Traditional business-transfer and listing agencies are mainly visited by people who have already decided to buy or sell a business.
ExEx reaches a wider entrepreneurial audience. Many Expertise Partners and ExEx Clients will visit the platform looking for projects, ideas, consultancy work or new opportunities. They may not have considered buying a business — but the right opportunity could change that.
This gives business owners access not only to active buyers, but also to capable entrepreneurs who would never normally visit a business-sales website.
No matter what size of business or its current level of success, it is probable that there is an entrepreneurial individual who would be a willing purchaser and can see potential that a traditional business transfer agency might miss.
ExEx is currently in development and is expected to become fully operational in summer 2027. However, you can register now by providing a brief, non-confidential outline of your interest as either vendor or buyer. Through the network we are already developing, we may be able to identify someone interested in an initial discussion.
No buyer or seller commission will be charged by ExEx on any transaction introduced and completed before the ExEx Business Sales Forum becomes fully operational.
SALES AGENCY
Sales Agency Opportunities
Many businesses have excellent products or services but lack the sales expertise, industry contacts or resources needed to develop new markets.
At the same time, there are experienced sales and business development professionals who may no longer want a full-time role but would welcome the opportunity to represent the right product or service — whether for a fee, commission, retainer or another mutually agreed arrangement.
ExEx aims to bring the two together. You can register now if you have a product or service requiring sales representation, or if you are interested in sales agency opportunities.
You don't necessarily need another sales employee. You may simply need the right person who already knows how to open the door.
EXAMPLES
Five Illustrative ExEx Case Studies
These are fictional examples designed to illustrate how ExEx could work in practice. They are not completed engagements, testimonials or promises of outcome.
SUCCESSION & CONTINUITY
Succession & Continuity Planning
Protect what has taken years to build.
Succession planning is often left until far too late.
This is particularly true of owner-managed businesses, charities and community organisations where one individual may have been the driving force for many years.
Their knowledge, relationships, experience and authority can become so central to the organisation that nobody seriously considers what will happen when they eventually step back.
A great strength can gradually become a serious vulnerability.
The warning signs are often familiar:
- too many decisions depend upon one person;
- important knowledge exists in someone's head rather than in the organisation;
- relationships with customers, suppliers, donors or supporters are personal rather than institutional;
- potential successors have never been developed;
- directors or trustees have become accustomed to the founder making the decisions;
- retirement is repeatedly postponed because nobody appears ready to take over; or
- the organisation begins to lose direction as its long-standing leader becomes less able or willing to maintain the previous pace.
By the time the problem becomes obvious, succession may already have become a crisis.
Succession is about more than finding a replacement.
ExEx can introduce experienced people capable of taking an independent look at an organisation and helping to determine what needs to happen next.
That might include:
- identifying dependency upon founders and other key individuals;
- capturing knowledge before it is lost;
- strengthening management, directors or trustees;
- mentoring potential successors;
- introducing experienced interim leadership;
- recruiting a permanent successor;
- improving governance and delegation;
- planning a phased handover;
- considering merger or collaboration; or
- in a commercial organisation, preparing for a sale.
Sometimes the right answer will be a successor.
Sometimes it will be a stronger team around the existing leader.
And sometimes the review may reveal that the organisation needs to take an entirely different direction.
Succession & Continuity Review
An ExEx Succession & Continuity Review could provide a practical starting point.
An experienced independent person would work with the organisation to establish:
Where are we now?
Who and what does the organisation depend upon?
What could we lose?
What knowledge, relationships, authority and experience need to be preserved?
Who could take responsibility?
Is there an internal successor, does somebody need mentoring, or should expertise be brought in?
What needs to change?
Does the organisation need stronger management, governance, systems or delegation before succession can work?
What happens next?
A practical continuity and transition plan with responsibilities and timescales.
The purpose is not to push a founder out.
It is quite the opposite.
It is to protect what they have spent years creating and make sure that it can continue without them.
Experience has no expiry date.
Neither should the value created by a lifetime of experience.
PARENTAL LEAVE COVER
Filling the Gap
When a valued member of staff takes extended parental leave, finding experienced temporary cover can be difficult — particularly for a smaller organisation where there may be nobody internally able to absorb the role.
Through ExEx, an organisation could find an experienced professional able to step into the role quickly, provide continuity for a defined period, and hand responsibility back when the permanent employee returns.
For an experienced professional who no longer wants a permanent full-time position, a three-, six- or twelve-month assignment could be exactly the opportunity they are looking for.
Experience when you need it — for as long as you need it.
YOUNG PEOPLE
Young People Forum
There is another side to the experience equation.
Young people entering the workplace face a familiar contradiction: employers value experience, but someone looking for their first opportunity has had little chance to acquire it.
ExEx provides a no-charge Young People Forum, enabling young people to introduce themselves, describe their interests and ambitions and seek experienced guidance and practical support. Expertise Partners may offer mentoring, guidance and practical insight, while businesses can identify potential that may not be apparent from a conventional CV.
The opportunity might be a first job, apprenticeship, work experience, placement or simply an introduction that opens a door.
The purpose is not to create another youth recruitment service, but to use the experience within the ExEx community to help the next generation begin building experience of its own.
Expertise should not disappear when a career ends — and lack of experience should not prevent a career from beginning.
WHY NOW
The way we work is changing.
People are living and remaining productive for longer. Expertise is becoming available at different stages of life, businesses continue to face skills shortages, and technology has made it possible to connect people, knowledge and opportunities in ways that were previously impractical.
At the same time, attitudes are changing. Increasing numbers of people want greater control over how, when and where they work. Many no longer want another conventional full-time career, but they do want to remain active, useful and involved.
ExEx brings these changes together.
The expertise already exists. The opportunity is to make better use of it.
ABOUT THE FOUNDER
Brian Larkins
The Expertise Exchange was conceived by Brian Larkins, a lifelong entrepreneur whose career has included electrical contracting, security services and, most recently, the development of a successful SaaS business with his son.
After stepping away from day-to-day business life, Brian became increasingly aware of how much knowledge, judgement and practical expertise can become underused when experienced people retire or change direction.
That simple observation became the starting point for ExEx.
Now in his seventies, Brian sees his role as founder and architect rather than future chief executive — developing and validating the concept, establishing its foundations and ultimately helping to assemble the younger entrepreneurial leadership team capable of taking ExEx forward.
The UK has an extraordinary reservoir of knowledge, experience and practical ability that is too often allowed to become economically inactive simply because people have retired, been made redundant, stepped away from full-time employment or no longer fit conventional recruitment models.
I believe ExEx can help change that.
If we can create a practical way of reconnecting that expertise with businesses, entrepreneurs, communities and individuals who need it, ExEx can do more than create a successful company. It can help productive experience remain part of the economy.
That, for me, is the real opportunity — and the principal reason I want to see ExEx built.
“I may have retired from business, but apparently I haven't retired from having ideas.”
A message from the Founder
JOIN EXEX
Become part of ExEx as it develops.
Expressions of interest are welcomed from:
- Expertise Partners
- Organisations seeking expertise
- Community organisations
- Business Sales
- Sales Agencies
- People with Business Ideas
- Young People
Whether you have expertise to offer, expertise to find, an idea to develop, a business to buy or sell, or simply see an opportunity to contribute, joining now gives you the opportunity to become part of ExEx as it develops.