Commercial as a Discipline

Commercial as a Discipline: lessons from Zinc’s scale‑up journey

Sophie Malone really knows her craft, there’s a clarity, sharpness and a grounded passion that I felt immediately we started talking.

My conversation with Sophie Malone, Commercial Director at Zinc Systems, was highly energised and gave me that feeling of, ‘I don’t fully understand how they do it yet, but I already want to be part of it.’

Zinc is a fast growing, founder‑led, now PE-backed resilience technology company. Their platform helps organisations reduce and mitigate risk across their estates, from iconic skyscrapers, commercial offices, public venues to retail chains battling organised crime. This interview is not about software. It is about commerciality - what it means, why it matters, and how it evolves as a business grows and matures, requiring different commercial behaviours as the business progresses through the various levels.

As expected, Sophie, has a lot of insight and information to help and inspire us to build better businesses, commercially.

Starting narrow – Technology can do lots of things… but that’s not commercial.

One of the first things Sophie shared was the challenge of commercial focus in a founder‑led tech business.

“Technology can do lots of things in lots of different ways, and you can very quickly design products without actually really listening to customers or markets.”

It’s a trap many start-ups fall into by building product because they can, not because they should. When Sophie joined Zinc, she saw a product with huge potential but too many possible directions. Her first commercial act was to ‘narrow the aperture’

“We took this wonderful product that could do lots of things and narrowed down what it’s actually there to do… who we are for, and why.”

This wasn’t just a marketing exercise, Sophie said it reshaped product development, sales strategy, and customer messaging. It gave the business a spine.

She calls it the ‘pub test’…. If you can’t explain what you do, who you do it for, and why it matters - simply, clearly, conversationally - you’re not commercially ready.

Staying in your Lane - Commercial Discipline in a Changing Market

Zinc operates in sectors where regulation can moves very quickly including commercial real estate, retail, security and increasingly, public‑accessible venues affected by legislation like Martyn’s Law which is officially the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, brought in after the Manchester Arena bombing (enforcement expected April 2027)

Sophie is adamant…. commercial discipline means resisting the temptation to chase every new opportunity.

“You have to be strong enough to stay in your lane… especially as an SME. Nothing should interrupt the focus you’ve currently got.”

If a opportunity approaches them outside of target sectors, they’ll respond, but they won’t suddenly pivot their entire strategy to chase the sector. This is commercial maturity, knowing the difference between reactive opportunity and strategic direction.

Pricing Power -  When you’re new, you don’t have the power.

One of the most honest parts of the conversation was about pricing which I sense is a topic most leaders avoid.

“Pricing is always emotive… When you’re starting off, you don’t have the power. You price to win the business, to get the case study.”

As Zinc matured, things changed….  they understood their cost base, the value of each module and they had credibility, case studies and demand.

“Once you’re mature… you move from survival pricing to value‑based pricing.

Selling Resilience -  It’s not features. It’s fear of loss.

Perhaps the most powerful insight came when discussing how Zinc sells resilience technology, a category often seen as a cost, not a strategic asset, and therefore how and what clients buy.

Sophie reframed it instantly. “Security and resilience tech can be seen as a cost rather than a strategic asset… You get resistance because they don’t understand the cost of change.”

Sophie states she doesn’t sell features. She sells (commercial) outcomes, and more importantly, clients buy the avoidance of loss.

“The fear of loss is what a lot of our customers have … loss of control, loss of credibility, loss of life, loss of brand reputation.”

This is commercial storytelling at its finest. She helps clients imagine the consequences of not acting to understand and mitigate the likes of:

• A fire in a third floor office suite

• A terrorist attack in a shopping mall

• A water leak that shuts down a public building

• A violent incident in a retail store.

Then she shows how Zinc reduces those risks, protects revenue and strengthens insurance positions for clients, thus creating a commercially valuable offering that makes business sense.

“Commercially, it’s about brand reputation and revenue protection.”

That’s the real value proposition.

The Power of One Platform -  Consolidation as a Commercial Strategy

One of Zinc’s strongest differentiators is system consolidation.

“Customers often have five or six systems doing similar or different things… one of our USPs is that it’s all in one.”

This matters commercially for clients and end users because:

• It reduces training time.

• It eliminates fragmented processes.

• It centralises data for insurance, compliance and leadership reporting.

And as Sophie puts it: “If you can’t see the risk, you can’t manage it.”

This single sentence could be the headline of their entire business in my view.

Modular Growth -  Adoption, Expansion, and Lifetime Value

Zinc’s modular platform is designed for long‑term commercial expansion.

“Clients start with the modules that solve the issues of the day… then as their maturity grows, they adopt more.”

This is classic land‑and‑expand strategy but with a twist because Zinc’s platform can scale across regions, countries and global estates, one successful site can become:

• 10 sites

• 100 sites

• A global deployment

  
  

All within a single platform. It’s commercial scalability by design.

Organic Growth - Relationships, Reputation and Word of Mouth

Despite being PE‑backed, Zinc’s growth has been remarkably – and continues to be - organic.

“Our approach has been very organic… leveraging relationships, building trust, winning fantastic clients.”

As presence grows, so does inbound demand… “With that engine starts to come warm opportunities, because they’re seeking you, not you seeking them.”

This is commercial gold ….  the moment a business shifts from chasing to attracting.

The Commercial Director’s role - Everything to do with revenue.

When asked to define her role, Sophie laughed, then answered in a rather punchy way (which I enjoyed and respect)…

“My job is everything to do with revenue… positioning of the business, go‑to‑market strategy, revenue generating activities.”

In a scale‑up, commercial leadership isn’t a department. It’s a discipline that touches… including product, marketing, sales, partnerships, pricing, customer success and market positioning.

Commercial leadership is the connective tissue of the business.

Why Sophie’s Commercial approach works

By the end of the conversation, one thing was really inspiring to me, and that’s Sophie doesn’t just ‘do commercial’, she is the proverbial stick of rock…. it’s in her core.

She listens deeply. She understands markets intimately. She speaks in outcomes, not features, and she protects focus and future relevance. She builds trust, knows the value of the product, she knows the fears of the customer, and knows how to position resilience as a strategic asset.

There's no question Sophie cares about helping organisations protect people, places and reputations. As I told her during the interview,….

“I don’t really know how you do it… but I’ve already bought into the why.”

That’s commercial leadership at its finest.

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