A Canadian BD founder got his week back for the relationship work only he can do.
Ian Froude built Pedal and Shift on being present with clients. Coordination and inbox work were quietly taking that away.
A business development consultancy growing across Atlantic Canada and Europe, built on the founder being present.
Ian Froude runs Pedal and Shift, a business development and marketing consultancy for technical service companies in the renewable energy and ocean tech sectors. The firm connects clients to new opportunities across Atlantic Canada, the Netherlands, Iceland, Denmark, Belgium, the UK, and Germany.
The work is relationship-driven. Trade missions, conference representation, B2B matchmaking, partnership development. It runs on the founder being present, focused, and in the room. As Pedal and Shift grew — more clients, more markets, more moving parts — being present got harder.
Coordination, scheduling, research, and inbox work were quietly taking 8 to 10 hours a week from business development.
The growth created its own drag. More clients and more markets meant more coordination, more scheduling, more research, and an inbox that needed constant attention. Ian estimated 8 to 10 hours a week going to work that was necessary but not the highest use of a founder running relationship-driven business development.
In a service business, that math is direct. Every hour spent on coordination is an hour not spent on the BD and client work that actually generates revenue. The cost was not abstract. It was capacity, measured in deals.
Hiring locally in St. John's was not the right fit for the stage Pedal and Shift was at. Ian needed capable support he could trust and delegate to without micromanaging — flexible and scalable, without the overhead of a local hire.
We placed a full-time Executive Assistant in Gambia, ten days from first touch to close.
Ian moved fast. From first conversation to a signed engagement was about ten days — he knew what he needed and the model fit where the business was. A firm that already works across time zones treated geography as a non-issue.
There was also intent behind the choice. Ian was drawn to an agency built around supporting African talent. It aligned with how he thinks about business, and the practical case — flexible, scalable support without the overhead of a local hire — made sense for the stage Pedal and Shift was at.
The placement is a full-time Executive Assistant based in Gambia, working forty hours a week. She owns coordination, scheduling, research, and inbox management — the work that was quietly eating Ian's week. After a natural early learning curve, she now picks things up steadily and follows through proactively. Ian can hand work off and trust it gets done.
- Role
- Executive Assistant
- Tier
- Operator
- Hours
- 40 hrs/week (full-time)
- Location
- Gambia
- Time to first day
- 10 days
"The matching process felt thoughtful. They weren't just filling a slot. The person they placed has made a real difference to how I operate week to week."
Ian is back to building relationships, developing strategy, and being present with clients.
Eight to ten hours a week came back — and in a service business, that time translates directly into capacity for business development and client work. The administrative and coordination tasks that were quietly eating Ian's week are handled. He is free to focus on what he is best at.
The bet was on a full-time hire, not a part-time fix. Pedal and Shift now has a permanent operational layer built to scale with the firm as it grows deeper into Atlantic Canada and across Europe.
