Most consultants hand you a slide deck and take off. We stay with you.

Growth Design Group - We stay through every phase

Growth Design Group is a growth strategy studio combining consulting with fractional leadership. We help companies grow revenue and evolve global operations in a market AI is reshaping fast — whether you're scaling across markets, rebuilding a sales organization, launching new offerings, or choosing the right technology. We don't just hand you a strategy. We join your team, do the work, and stay to make sure it delivers.

Our founders, Paul Barlow and Jose Palomares, have built, scaled, and sold companies on both sides of international growth: the enterprises expanding globally and the providers enabling them. They understand what enterprise teams need and what service providers can deliver. More importantly, they know how to navigate the complexity that AI can't solve - the human judgment, relationships, and operational know-how that drive real results.

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Growth by Design

Growth doesn't have to be left to chance. The organizations that build it reliably and sustain it when conditions change do so deliberately. They treat growth the way an architect treats a building: design it first, with intention and expertise, then build it with the right crew. A blueprint without a builder is just paper. Growth requires both.

That's the belief we founded Growth Design Group on, and it's why we're structured the way we are.

Paul Barlow and Jose Palomares started this firm because they kept arriving at the same conclusion from opposite ends of the industry. Paul spent his career on the vendor side: building revenue organizations from scratch, rebuilding ones that had stalled, and advising leadership teams on how to turn sales ambitions into repeatable results. Jose spent his on the buyer and technology side: running global programs at enterprise scale, building the platforms that power international content operations, and making the vendor selection and build-vs-buy decisions that most consultants only advise on.

The gap they both kept seeing wasn't a lack of strategy. It was the distance between the blueprint and the build.

Paul Barlow and Jose Palomares - Founders of Growth Design Group

Jose Palomares

Strategy & Systems

Jose is a Silicon Valley technology executive with over 20 years building and running global operations at scale.

He has led cross-functional teams spanning engineering, linguistics, and product and program management — building the automation and AI systems behind enterprise-scale international programs, and managing complex operations and partner networks across global markets. Long before AI became a boardroom talking point, he was building it into production.

At Coupa, a leading financial management software company, he turned a one-man localization program into a full Global Experiences unit — growing it into an organization of 180+ actors spanning product, engineering, linguistics, and program management. As CTO of Venga, he built the technology infrastructure behind international operations for Google, Facebook, Slack, Workday, and Uber, shipping dozens of product launches across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. His clients ranged from companies taking a global-first approach — launching across markets simultaneously from day one — to those executing a deliberate, data-driven go-to-market, entering new markets only when business performance and market signals aligned.

He has spent his career making the hard calls that come with global growth: when to build in-house, when to partner, when to buy a platform — and how to think through those choices honestly when AI changes the picture.

MultiLingual Magazine has recognized him as a top global industry influencer. He serves on the Board of Directors at the Globalization and Localization Association (GALA), is a sought-after speaker at industry conferences worldwide, and hosts The Global Crowd podcast.

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Paul Barlow

Revenue & Execution

When a revenue organization needs to be built from scratch, rescued from stagnation, or scaled to the next level, Paul is the call.

He has founded, scaled, and exited multiple companies, and has consistently delivered double and triple-digit revenue growth for organizations across the full spectrum: family businesses navigating their first real growth push, startups trying to close their first enterprise accounts, and established firms managing tens of millions in annual revenue that had stopped growing. His results are measurable because he builds what's required and stays until it performs.

As a fractional leader and strategic advisor, Paul steps into VP and C-suite roles to design go-to-market strategies, restructure sales organizations, lead M&A integrations, and build the systems and processes that keep growth on track. He has done it across North America and Europe, at every stage of business, and in markets AI is reshaping fast.

He doesn't just advise. He executes. His clients get someone who has done this before, knows what breaks at scale, and will stay until it works. Born in Dublin, Ireland, he has built successful businesses on both sides of the Atlantic and brings that firsthand perspective to every engagement.

Paul is known in the global services industry for his direct, unfiltered perspective on the revenue challenges facing language service providers and technology companies. He offers confidential CEO-to-CEO advisory to founders and executives navigating the hard decisions that come with scaling a services business in a market that won't hold still.

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What We Bring Together

Between us, we've been every party at the table: the enterprise, the vendor, and the technologist. Most advisors have lived one of those roles. We've lived all three.

Independence

No vendor allegiance. No hidden agenda. Just the right answer for your situation.

Full Perspective

Buyer, vendor, and technology — every seat at the table, at once.

AI Literacy

Honest on what AI can do for your operations — and what it can't, yet.

Embedded Execution

We don't hand off a plan. We stay in the room until it works.

Our independence is the foundation of how we operate. We have no financial stake in which vendor you choose, which technology you adopt, or whether you engage a language service provider at all. Those conversations are not always comfortable. They are exactly the point.

Our Services

The problems that bring organizations to us look different from client to client. An LSP with a stalled revenue organization needs different thinking than an enterprise leader figuring out what AI means for their international content strategy. Our services are built around those distinct realities, not a single methodology applied regardless of context.

For Enterprise Teams

International Readiness & Globalization Strategy

For product, growth, and marketing teams building or evolving their global footprint — from market prioritization to full program execution:

  • International product readiness assessment
  • Market prioritization and expansion planning
  • Build vs. buy vs. partner evaluation
  • Globalization program design and execution
  • Support and expansion of existing globalization teams
  • Change management for global teams

Fractional Chief Globalization Officer

Senior globalization leadership without the full-time hire. We step in as your CGO — own the strategy, embed with your team, and stay to execute it:

  • Strategic oversight of your international program
  • Vendor and technology selection
  • Hiring advisory for global roles
  • Managing your vendor and partner relationships
  • Clean handoff to your team when you're ready to run it

AI for Global Operations

Most people selling AI for international content won't tell you how complex it is to get right at scale. We will:

  • AI readiness assessment for global content operations
  • Guidance for companies starting their international content operations with AI from day one
  • A clear path forward for companies rethinking their vendor relationships
  • Risk and compliance considerations for AI-powered content at scale
  • Designing the right mix of AI and human work for your content operations
For LSPs & Language Technology Providers

Revenue Growth & Sales Evolution

For revenue organizations that need to be built, fixed, or scaled — not just strategized about:

  • Sales program review and audit
  • Go-to-market strategy and defining your ideal customer
  • Sales process, CRM, and pipeline management
  • Sales team training, coaching, and boot camps
  • Recruitment advisory for go-to-market and sales leadership
  • CEO-to-CEO advisory

Brand, Positioning & Offering Development

If your audience doesn't immediately understand why they need you, you're losing deals before the conversation starts:

  • Brand positioning and messaging strategy
  • Standing out when everyone is selling AI
  • New service offering development
  • Advising on which services to keep, add, or retire
  • Third-party validation — an independent assessment of your capabilities to strengthen sales and build buyer confidence

Operational Redesign & Embedded Execution

Efficient operations are a competitive advantage, not just a cost line. We help you build them and stay until they perform:

  • Organizational structure and team design
  • Systems selection and implementation
  • Process design and workflow optimization
  • Fractional Sales Officer — embedded sales leadership
  • Bringing in our team to handle delivery when you need the capacity

How We Work

Not Just Strategy. Strategy + Execution.

Growth Design Group combines consulting and fractional services because international growth requires both vision and the people to actually do the work.

Consulting engagements help you make the right strategic decisions: market prioritization, platform selection, organizational design, technology investment, build-vs-buy. Our team brings direct experience from dozens of companies and honest assessment of what will actually work for your situation.

Fractional leadership means we stay and execute. We embed as part of your team - VP of International Operations, Chief Revenue Officer, Head of Global Expansion - bringing senior-level expertise without full-time overhead. You get experienced leaders who've navigated this complexity before, guiding the work until your internal team is ready to own it.

Every engagement follows the same discipline: we start with clarity — defining what success looks like and what it will actually take to get there. We don't pad timelines or manufacture dependency. Once the strategy is designed and the foundation is built, we hand it off. Your team owns it. We step back, but we don't disappear. We stay at arm's length, available when the next challenge arrives.

Who We Work With

Enterprise Teams

We work with product, growth, and marketing teams at companies ready to set up or evolve their international presence. Whether you're launching in new markets for the first time, evolving a globalization function that has stopped performing, or figuring out what international readiness actually means for your product — we bring the strategic clarity and operational experience to make it real. You don't need to hire a full-time team or a Chief Globalization Officer to win internationally. We can step into that role, drive the strategy, and stay to execute it — from choosing the right vendors and technology stack to making the right hires and building the internal capabilities that outlast the engagement.

LSPs & Language Technology Providers

We work with CEOs, founders, and executive teams at language service providers and language technology companies ready to evolve how they sell, position, and operate. Whether you're stalled on revenue growth, struggling to differentiate in a market AI is reshaping fast, or building new offerings that your clients actually need — we know this industry from both sides of the table and we'll tell you the truth about what's working and what isn't. We help you sharpen your sales organization, strengthen your brand, redesign your operations, and develop the offerings that keep you relevant.

Every project starts with an honest conversation.

Whether you're planning international expansion, rebuilding global operations, or figuring out what AI means for your business — let's talk.

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Or email us: hello@growthdesigngroup.com