£60m+ in Exits

My first exit left significant money on the table because I didn't understand the preparation required. With Difrent, I approached the business from day one with an exit mindset—not to flip quickly, but to build something genuinely valuable that a strategic buyer would want to acquire. That difference in mindset and preparation resulted in a significantly better outcome. Now I help other founders avoid the mistakes I made and position their businesses to attract the right buyers at the right time.

I love working with leaders when the stakes are highest. I have lived the challenges of navigating scale, organisational anxiety, and high-pressure decisions. The right support can transform not just the outcome — but the leader in the process.

When we sent the first patient appointment reminder via text message, it seemed like such a simple idea—but the impact was profound. We weren't just reducing missed appointments; we were fundamentally changing how the NHS could engage with patients at scale. Building Healthcare Communications taught me that the best technology solutions often start with identifying a clear, measurable problem and then obsessively focusing on solving it better than anyone else. That clarity of purpose made us invaluable to our NHS clients and ultimately made us an obvious acquisition target for a company looking to expand into healthcare technology.

Many organisations treat data transformation as a technology project, but it's fundamentally a business transformation challenge. At Network Rail and then through Carruthers and Jackson, I learned that successful data strategies require equal parts technical capability, organisational change management, and leadership alignment. When we built C&J, we deliberately stayed small and focused on impact rather than scale—working with clients who genuinely wanted to transform how they use data, not just implement new systems. That approach attracted clients who valued quality over quantity and ultimately made us an ideal fit for Praesto's vision of building a best-in-class data and AI practice.

I take hard-won lessons from one sector and reapply them where they create disproportionate value. Exit strategies aren’t just about timing the market, it’s about transferring wisdom before it becomes obvious. Most founders are sitting on undervalued intellectual capital and overplaying more obvious, less valuable assets. My talent is spotting that arbitrage, lifting methodologies and embedding their value early enough to accelerate growth and strengthen multiples.

Build for the long term, lead with intent, and do the right thing even when it costs. Real businesses are grown through grit, hard work and people decisions you can stand behind. There is no secret — it’s mindset and work ethic.

Being expelled from school forced me to find my own path, and teaching myself to code opened doors I never imagined. When Darren and I started ClearSky Logic, we didn't have perfect plans or extensive funding—we just started solving problems for clients and figured things out as we went. That 'start now, get perfect later' mentality became our competitive advantage because it meant we could move faster than competitors who were still planning. Building the agency taught me that taking imperfect action beats waiting for perfect conditions, and that lesson applies to everything from client projects to exit planning.

Building and exiting Grosvenor Contracts taught me that successful entrepreneurship isn't just about your own company—it's about learning from others, sharing knowledge, and building relationships that outlast any single business. That realisation led me to Startup 2 Standup and THIS R&D, where I can help other founders access the community support and financial resources that make such a difference during growth phases. The entrepreneur journey can be isolating, but it doesn't have to be. Having a community and knowing how to access resources like R&D tax credits can fundamentally change a founder's trajectory.

Building a business is as much an emotional journey as it is a commercial one. Behind every decision sit uncertainty, responsibility, and pressure that isnt’t taught in books. As the business grew, the challenges changed rather than disappeared, scaling teams, serving customers nationwide, and making decisions that carried real consequences for others. Negotiating and completing an exit was its own test. It required perspective, resilience, and the ability to make long-term decisions under intense pressure. That experience shaped how I think about value, timing, and what truly matters.

Building businesses across different continents and sectors taught me that successful exits require both technical excellence and commercial pragmatism. With MyCognition, achieving medical device status before our exit wasn't just a regulatory checkbox—it fundamentally increased our company's value by proving we could navigate healthcare compliance while delivering clinically-validated outcomes. That combination of technical rigor and regulatory achievement made us attractive to acquirers seeking proven HealthTech platforms rather than just promising technology. Understanding what makes a business truly valuable to strategic buyers, not just technically impressive, has become central to how I advise founders today.

“Technology only creates value when it solves a real human problem. My approach is always to simplify complexity, empower great teams and create solutions that genuinely make a difference. When organisations align purpose, people and disciplined execution, they unlock extraordinary potential.”

Look after the four Cs – Communication, Colleagues, Customers and Cash. Believe in the values of the business, deliver on your commitments and find your USP.