Built by Heather Elkington
Great managers don't magically know what to do.
You need the right systems, habits and confidence around you. Custard gives you all three. Every other week you get an honest read on your team, and a coach who tells you exactly what to do about it.
Nobody hands you a manual when you become a manager.
You got promoted because you were good at the job. Then suddenly the job became people, and people don’t come with instructions.
Everyone says "fine" in their 1:1.
Then someone hands in their notice and you realise you had no idea how they really felt.
You're the last to know.
Problems brew quietly for weeks. By the time they reach you, you’re firefighting instead of leading.
The advice sounds nice on LinkedIn.
But it never tells you what to actually do on Monday morning, with your team, about your problem.
You're winging the hard conversations.
The under-performer. The one who’s gone quiet. The one who’s clearly unhappy but won’t say why.
I learnt to manage the hard way. You don't have to.
My first management job was on the Harrods shop floor, and it was mostly a lesson in how not to manage. It took me years to learn that great managers aren’t born knowing what to do. They need the right systems, habits and confidence around them.
- The startHarrods shop floorMy first team, and every mistake in the book.
- 2018Employee #2 at a start-upGrew the team from 2 to 30 as Ops Director, and built the onboarding, 1:1 frameworks and accountability that helped get us to an 8-figure exit.
- 2020Five global teams at SageMy results caught L&D's attention, and I started running leadership workshops internally.
- 2023 onwardsHelping managers everywhereWorkshops, keynotes and training for some of the world's biggest organisations. And now, Custard.
“I built Custard to give every manager on the planet access to the one tool they need to build a Culture Of Excellence™ in their team.”
Most people don’t hate their jobs. They hate bad leadership, unclear expectations, and cultures that demand excellence without ever building the conditions for it.
Managers matter more than we realise. The way you communicate, make decisions, give feedback and hold standards doesn’t just shape one person’s day. It shapes how your whole team thinks, works and performs.
Custard exists to make sure you’re never doing that blind.
Build a Culture Of Excellence™ in your team.
A team where people are engaged, challenged, safe to speak up and proud of what they’re building. Not hustle culture. Just a team people genuinely love being part of. It comes down to four things:
Standards that are clear
Not assumed.
Feedback that's honest
Not avoided.
Safety to speak up
And to make mistakes.
Accountability from care
Not control.
Custard is the system around you that makes it happen, one sprint at a time. Here’s how.
Hear what your team won't say to your face.
Every other Friday, your team gets seven quick statements to respond to. It takes about 60 seconds and it’s completely anonymous. So you get an honest, real-time read on how they’re really doing, not just what they tell you in a 1:1.
Have you said hello to Geraldine yet?
Geraldine can help you improve your team's scores or give you advice on how to help your team thrive.
Ask Geraldine a question...Advice about your team. Not generic leadership waffle.
In your corner, but never holding back. Geraldine reads your team’s results and nudges you with specific, practical actions based on what’s actually going on. And when you genuinely don’t know what to say, Geraldine helps you find the words.
Private. No judgement. Ask the questions you’d never ask your boss.
Know exactly what to do on Monday morning.
Knowing something’s off is the easy part. Every report comes with actions picked from a library of real, tested actions across the seven areas of a Culture Of Excellence™, chosen for what matters to your team right now.
Pick one recent win, however small, and call it out in front of the whole team this week. Say who made it happen and why it mattered.
Seven areas. One team that genuinely loves its work.
Custard measures all seven in every check-in, so you always know which one needs you. Want to dig deeper? Run a Focus Survey on any one area with specific personalised questions written by you.
Clarity & Direction
Everyone knows what good looks like.
Priorities and roles written down, not assumed.
Accountability & Standards
People own their work without you chasing.
Accountability from care, not control.
Psychological Safety
Problems reach you while they’re still small.
Safe to speak up, so you hear it early.
Autonomy & Ownership
Stop being the bottleneck.
Trust to decide, and your calendar back.
Belonging & Engagement
Everyone feels part of the team. Even the quiet ones.
Spot who’s drifting before they leave.
Recognition & Fairness
Wins get noticed, not just mistakes.
See who’s been going unnoticed.
Feedback & Candour
Honest feedback, in both directions.
Honest, not avoided. Nothing left to fester.
Get these seven right, and people stay longer, grow faster, and do their best work. For you.
Category scores
Change since your last report on Mon 5 Oct
See your progress. Don't just hope it's happening.
One Team Health Score out of 10, broken down across all seven areas and tracked report on report. You’ll see what’s improving, what’s slipping, and proof that the effort you’re putting in is actually working.
Show your team you actually listened.
The fastest way to kill honest feedback is to collect it and do nothing. So after every survey, your team gets their own update: the scores, what you found, and what you’re focusing on next. Their voice visibly shapes what happens, so they keep giving it.
How to involve your team
In one minute, Heather walks you through sharing your scores so it feels like a team effort, not a performance review. It’s built right into the app, next to your Team Pack.
Up and running before Friday.
No IT project. No onboarding marathon. No extra admin for you or your team.
Add your team
Takes minutes. Your team doesn’t need a login.
They answer on Friday
Seven anonymous statements. Only takes about 60 seconds.
You see the truth
Your report lands on Monday: your Team Health Score across all seven areas.
You know what to do
Clear, concise actions to take away. Chat to Geraldine and submit the final wrap-up before your next survey.
Managers like you are already doing it.
“Custard showed me exactly where my team was struggling, uncovering some of my own blind spots. It’s helped me become a more self-aware and better manager.”
“Managing a hybrid team, it’s a struggle to keep regular touch points. Custard gives me rich insights and actions I’ve used to stay better connected and human with my team.”
“A meaningful way to keep a finger on the pulse of our teams. A valuable addition to our manager toolkit, and it’s been great to see team member shoutouts too.”
Not another annual survey.
Built for you, not for HR.
Whether you lead 3 people or 300.
First-time managers
Lead with confidence, even before you have all the answers.
Experienced managers
Find the blind spots you didn’t know you had.
Remote & hybrid leads
Stay close to a team you don’t see every day.
Managers of managers
Support your managers before small issues become big ones.
One price per manager. Your whole team included.
You get your own reports, Geraldine and your actions. Invite as many team members as you like at no extra cost.
For you and your team
Discounts as more managers join
For your whole organisation
50+ managers
Custom pricing
All prices include VAT. No per-employee charges. Cancel anytime.
Straight answers.
The questions managers actually ask us.
What if my scores are bad?+
It doesn't mean you're a bad manager. Most managers using Custard care deeply about their team; they just want to see what's going on beneath the surface. Low scores are signals, a chance to step in early. Custard is built to support you, never to shame you.
Will my team think I'm checking up on them?+
No. You never see individual responses, and results only appear once the anonymity threshold is reached. It's not about monitoring people. It's about giving them a safe way to tell you what's really going on.
Will this create more work for me?+
Usually the opposite. Less guessing, less firefighting, less trying to piece together scattered feedback. Your team spends about a minute per check-in; you get clear next steps.
What if my team just use it to moan?+
If people have been holding things in, the first feedback might feel a bit messy. Custard helps you look past the noise and spot patterns. One frustrated comment is a bad day. The same theme report after report is a signal.
What does Geraldine actually do?+
She turns your team's feedback into practical support: conversation starters, coaching prompts and suggested actions. Not generic AI advice; it's built on Heather's frameworks, training and real-world management experience.
My team is small. Will it work?+
You need at least 3 team members for reporting to unlock, to protect anonymity. For smaller teams, we can combine reporting groups.
Is this a HR tool?+
Not really. It's built for managers. HR gets the annual survey; you get something you can actually use all year round.
Join the Custard Culture Club.
A global community of managers who are fed up with leadership advice that sounds nice but doesn’t help. We promise we’re not a cult.
Build a Culture Of Excellence™. Starting this Friday.
Start your free trial today. Your first survey goes out on a Friday, and your report lands the Monday after.