Paul Barlow

Founder @ AWGS | Strategic Growth Advisor | Revenue Strategy & Execution | AI-Enabled Revenue Growth & Defense | Executive Advisor to Founders, CEOs & Investors

Charleston, South Carolina, United States

About

Helping organizations to become, position, and market themselves as competitive players in the AI race. I help c-suite leadership whose revenue organizations are underperforming, correct their direction, then scale with intention. Over the past two decades, I have led, rebuilt, and accelerated growth engines across complex, services-based businesses, particularly within the language services industry. Last year was a continuation of that work at a deep, hands-on level, stepping into growth strategist roles where clarity, structure, and execution were needed most. My approach is simple but disciplined: align strategy with execution, bring Sales, Account Management, Client Success, and Marketing into true operating harmony, and build systems that produce predictable, repeatable revenue. I am known for staying calm in high-growth or high-change environments, pairing strategic vision with operational rigor, and helping teams move from reactive to intentional. Whether designing an end-to-end go-to-market strategy, rebuilding sales and client-facing organizations, launching new revenue programs, or integrating new capabilities into existing operations, the focus remains the same: durable growth, transparent data, and teams that know exactly how to win. I am especially energized by work that sits at the intersection of revenue growth, organizational design, and cross-functional leadership. The result is not just growth for growth’s sake, but stronger foundations, healthier pipelines, and organizations that can scale with confidence. What I work on Revenue growth strategy and execution Go-to-market design and refinement Enterprise sales and pipeline development Sales, Account Management, Client Success, and Marketing alignment Organizational redesign and performance reporting New revenue programs and market expansion If you are building, rebuilding, or rethinking how your revenue organization works, I enjoy the challenge. Happy to compare notes, pressure-test ideas, or help bring structure to growth ambitions.

Experience

  • AWGS - Founder & Principal Consultant at Acorn West Growth Strategies (AWGS)
    Oct 2023 - Present · 2 yrs 9 mos

    AWGS is a strategic growth consultancy focused on helping companies accelerate revenue, protect and expand client value, improve operational performance, and strengthen market positioning, with deep specialization in the localization and interpreting industry. We help organizations evolve into more competitive, commercially resilient businesses in the age of AI by refining their positioning, modernizing their go-to-market approach, and clearly articulating the value they bring to the market beyond volume and delivery alone. Recent Successful Engagements include: - Delivered 20% YoY revenue growth for a $35M–$40M healthcare language services organization. - Increased gross margin by 21% while simultaneously driving double-digit revenue growth for a $15M–$20M LSP. - Led the launch of a remote interpreting platform across the U.S. and South America, creating new revenue streams and service expansion opportunities. - Served as Fractional CCO and strategic advisor to language technology and AI companies pursuing growth and North American expansion. Helping founders, CEOs, and investors build scalable revenue engines, strengthen market positioning, and compete in the AI era. If you would like to learn more, feel free to DM me.

  • Head of Client Growth (Fractional) at Voiseed
    Jan 2026 - Present · 6 mos

    Voiseed is an AI-driven speech and dubbing technology company specializing in high-quality, emotionally expressive voice synthesis for media, entertainment, and branded content. As Head of Client Growth & Retention, I lead client expansion initiatives, define and execute the North American go-to-market strategy, and drive the growth of Voiseed’s client base across the region.

  • Commercial Officer (Fractional) at Blackbird.io
    Nov 2023 - Mar 2026 · 2 yrs 5 mos

    At Blackbird.io, the leading Content Orchestration Platform for multilingual global content, as the Fractional Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) I played a key role in aligning business strategy with sales and marketing efforts to drive growth and market expansion. I developed a clear roadmap to identify revenue opportunities and optimize sales and marketing strategies using data-driven insights.

  • Senior Growth Consultant at Nimdzi Insights
    Nov 2023 - Dec 2025 · 2 yrs 2 mos

    Nimdzi Insights is the industry leading market research and consulting firm in the language services industry. I work on various projects in a consulting capacity, advising on Growth Strategies and Change Management, focused mainly on client acquisition and growth in the North American Market.

  • Senior Director of Enterprise Growth U.S., UK & Ireland at Acolad group
    Jul 2022 - Aug 2023 · 1 yr 2 mos

    Responsible for our Growth Strategy with both new logo acquisition and existing customer growth for the North American, UK and Irish markets. This included defining and delivering on our strategic target list, building on our service offerings to our clients and continuously pushing our Customer Experience to higher levels through data and client feedback. This is achieved by managing a team of highly experienced business development managers and account directors who are focused, driven and customer centric at an enterprise level. Overall sales process is driven by a customized approach using a structured sales system as the basis to everything we do and is enabled and supported by the extensive use of sales tech to assist and measure progress including Salesforce, ZoomInfo, L.I. Navigator, Salesloft, Tableau and Loopio. Strong pipeline management and a customer obsessed focus help me drive the program. Working closely with all other departments including Marketing, Operations, Technology and Finance teams to enable and build brand awareness, revenue attainment & growth, and continuous improvement in our services and technology offering. Responsible for the integration and alignment of localization/translation sales teams in some of our recently acquired companies as well as understanding and bringing their unique service offerings into the Acolad portfolio. Customer Obsessed, my aim is to acquire new clients and then build long term relationships with our customers by always being proactive and thinking about their needs before they do.