Innovation & Growth Strategist | Warwick Lecturer Startup acceleration | Deep Tech | Strategic Reinvention
Denis Oakley is an internationally recognized strategic advisor, innovation architect, and growth mentor. With over 25 years of experience across startups, Fortune 100 firms, government agencies, and scale-ups, Denis specializes in transforming complex ideas into viable strategies for growth and market traction.
He is known for his ability to challenge conventional thinking, accelerate decision-making, and build entrepreneurial ecosystems that deliver measurable results. Denis has led transformation programs across Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia — blending product innovation, business model design, and market strategy.
He brings this unique cross-sectoral experience to Merit Academy as a core faculty member in strategy, innovation, and executive transformation.
Startup Mentor (500 Global, VISA, iCURE, MaGIC): Top-rated mentor across global acceleration platforms, helping founders from Seed to Series B sharpen their GTM, storytelling, and scalability.
Lead Mentor, Next47 Startup School – Siemens: Mentored 1,000+ intrapreneurs; helped teams double internal funding and boost sales by 26% during the 8-week program.
Advisor, Nuon.ai (UK): Guided storytelling and pitch strategy that led to raising £300K in 3 weeks.
Turnaround Strategist, Malaysian Aged Care Provider: Led multi-disciplinary recovery post-COVID, returning the business to cash flow positive and positioning it for acquisition.
Founder, Oakley Steel: Scaled an engineering-led startup with $2M in sales by Year 1; implemented ML-based quoting system for operational efficiency.
Lecturer, University of Warwick: Teaches innovation and entrepreneurship for MBA and executive cohorts, with focus on platform design and B2B models.
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