Phil Fraser has been through the entire entrepreneur journey from soup to nuts. After a couple of false starts he had the winning idea, grew the business from scratch until it became a market leader over an 18 year period then sold it for an eight figure sum. 

A transaction that has given him the breathing room to help other entrepreneurs as a coach and mentor. Phil talks us through his failures and how they ultimately turned to massive success - with 18 years of hard work along the way.

An early adopter of the internet, Phil's story is a great case study on how to recognise opportunity and be prepared to pivot if things don't go to plan.  He talks about the struggle to raise finance for his first business when the market simply wasn't ready for it. 

He describes how he was able to boot strap the business with virtually no funding and the strategies he used to drive growth and reach profitability. The sale process was not straightforward so Phil talks us through what happened and how he ended up with that Holy Grail of business sale scenarios - multiple bidders. 

How did it feel the day after the money hit his bank account?  What investment decisions has he made since the? How did he cope with the transition from full time business owner to being an ex entrepreneur?

Like all my guests, Phil generously shares his top three nuggets of advice you’d offer to any entrepreneurs trying to build a business that will give them an eight figure exit. 

Find Phil on LinkedIn or learn more at  https://philfraser.co.uk/ 

For this episode of Grow My Business Or Sell It we’re travelling all the way to Richmond Virginia to meet Kelley Powell. She has huge experience in private equity and M&A, culminating in her current role as CEO of MacLaurin Group, providing technology support to both sides of private equity transactions - the buyers and the sellers. She’s also a very active angel investor, mentor and chairwoman for fast growing companies and is the author of the best selling book Courage To Lose Sight of Shore, - How To Partner With Private Equity To Grow Your Business With Confidence. When it was published last year the book was described by Entrepreneur Magazine as “ one of the 9 Must-Read Books to prepare Entrepreneurs for 2021”.

In this engaging interview Kelley talks about the lessons she learned about managing growth and change in business, including how to manage the process of partnering with private equity. She has a positive but realistic approach to change, suggesting the appointment of an 'Excitement Committee' to oversee the project but recognising that you are at some stage likely to enter the Valley of Despair when it feels easier to give up than keep pushing forward.

We discuss the key lessons from her book which you can obtain using this link: https://geni.us/couragetolosesight including the important concept of 'reverse due diligence' where you look at the profile and track record of the private equity company before deciding if you want them to acquire your life's work. It's rarely just about the money, it's about looking after your brand, your legacy and the team you've built. 

You can learn more about Kelley at https://kelleywpowell.com/ or contact her directly on kelley@kelleywpowell.com 

If you would like to appear on Grown My Business Or Sell It, or would like Graham Rowan to appear on your podcast, please email Graham on graham@grahamrowan.com

Looking to raise capital for your business or invest the sale proceeds in some outstanding opportunities that you won't hear about from your accountant or High Street financial adviser?  Take a look at the Beaufort Society, a private members club for high net worth investors around the world. With 1,000 members in 37 countries they raise millions in equity, bonds and loan notes for fast growing companies that meet their criteria and also provide access to private placements in the arbitrage markets.

Learn more at https://beaufortsociety.com/   

Ammar Mirza CBE makes Richard Branson look like a timewaster. He’s been involved in establishing over 700 new businesses, as well as helping many existing ones.  He’s raised millions of pounds for a broad range of organisations alongside being an angel investor in fast growing companies. He sits at the epicentre of one of the largest and most influential networks across the North of England including being the chair of Asian Business Connections. He’s a serial multi award winning entrepreneur whose accolades include being a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, he’s been awarded the CBE for his services to business and been made honorary colonel of the 101st Northumbrian regiment of the Royal Artillery. 

• Ammar gives his advice on how to make the most of networking to build value driven relationships. 
• He talks about the challenges faced by the Asian business community and what other entrepreneurs can learn from them, including how they are 3 or 4 times more enterprising!
• We touch on what the new Prime Minister should do to help SME businesses including encouraging more start ups,  Over 50% would like to set up a business but only 35 go on to do so. There's also a lack of awareness by business owners of help that's available, like the £100m business support fund. 
• Ammar explains the difference between desirability, feasibility and viability. The latter is especially important in a world where companies garner multi billion valuations without making a penny in profit.  
• Many SMEs are not aware of how to make themselves 'investor ready' so Ammar talks about some of the steps you need to take to be attractive to a private equity organisation like the Beaufort Society.  There are many forms of investment from grants to equity to convertible loan notes that you need to become aware of. 
• Innovation, internationalisation and digital transformation all have a role to play in scaling your company - how does your current plan measure up against these factors?
• Ammar's focus is on scaling companies that are already growing at 20-30% per annum. He is working with the NHS on innovation pathways including life sciences, one of the fastest growing sectors globally.  
• Finally, Ammar shares some rules for success that he's learned from experience across hundreds of companies and decades of success   

If you would like to appear on Grown My Business Or Sell It, or would like Graham Rowan to appear on your podcast, please email Graham on graham@grahamrowan.com
 
 Looking to raise capital for your business or invest the sale proceeds in some outstanding opportunities that you won't hear about from your accountant or High Street financial adviser?  Take a look at the Beaufort Society, a private members club for high net worth investors around the world. With 1,000 members in 37 countries they raise millions in equity, bonds and loan notes for fast growing companies that meet their criteria and also provide access to private placements in the arbitrage markets. 
 
 Learn more at https://beaufortsociety.com/ 

In this episode author, speaker and investor Graham Rowan explains why you need to use your business as a giant ATM machine and how to funnel your profits into assets that will create multi-generational wealth for your family.

You will get a lot more from this episode if you first download a template Wealth Pyramid at https://grahamrowan.com/pyramid/

He uses his proprietary Wealth Pyramid concept to describe the four layers of assets and what each type of asset does for you:

The Bedrock Layer - assets that protect the purchasing power of your money, especially important in this era of excessive money printing, currency debasement and 40 year high inflation.

The Passive Income Layer - assets that regularly put money into your bank account so you can pay your bills, go on nice holidays and drive the car you always promised yourself.

The Global Diversification Layer - assets in other countries so that you have choices on where you live, which currencies you own and where you can run your business. This includes digital visas and Citizenship By Investment programmes.

The High Velocity Layer - this is the pointy end of  your Wealth Pyramid where you can have fun with crypto trading, forex trading, spread betting, planning gain projects and the like. They tendn to be high risk, high return projects with a relatively short timeframe.  

If you would like to appear on Grown My Business Or Sell It, or would like Graham Rowan to appear on your podcast, please email Graham on graham@grahamrowan.com
 
 Looking to raise capital for your business or invest the sale proceeds in some outstanding opportunities that you won't hear about from your accountant or High Street financial adviser?  Take a look at the Beaufort Society, a private members club for high net worth investors around the world. With 1,000 members in 37 countries they raise millions in equity, bonds and loan notes for fast growing companies that meet their criteria and also provide access to private placements in the arbitrage markets. 
 
 Learn more at https://beaufortsociety.com/ 

Jeremy Harbour joins me from his home in Singapore.

Jeremy left school at 15 to start his first business and is now a globally renowned expert in Mergers & Acquisitions . He’s the founder of Unity Group, a firm specializing in buying and selling businesses, as well as attracting capital investments, and helping small and medium-sized enterprises to scale.

He’s on a mission to democratize wealth and one of the cornerstones of that was the founding in 2009 of the Harbour Club where he teaches the 14 ways of buying or selling a business. He’s the author of 5 books including one of my favourite ever titles – Democratising Wealth – A Pragmatic Alternative To Murdering The Rich.

Extracts from our interview:

"You think bitcoin is volatile – try small business!"

"Never borrow money to buy a business!"

"Financial institutions controlling $93 trillion of capital have a higher allocation to Bitcoin than to small business! "

"Stop filling your calendar with customer related tasks and make sure its filled with shareholder facing tasks - leave teh customers to operational management"

"When you buy a business you didn’t create all the jobs and processes so you can pick and choose what you take on. "

"Institutions consider three factors  – risk, scale and liquidity. New money piles into specially created derivatives and not into the real economy where people actually work. "

"The four horsemen of the Apocalypse have arrived for small business - the perfect sh*tstorm!"

"Fortunes are made in troubled times"

"Of all the recessions I've ever seen this one is by far the most recent!"

 Learn more about Jeremy at https://www.jeremyharbour.com/

If you would like to appear on Grown My Business Or Sell It, or would like Graham Rowan to appear on your podcast, please email Graham on graham@grahamrowan.com
 
Looking to raise capital for your business or invest the sale proceeds in some outstanding opportunities that you won't hear about from your accountant or High Street financial adviser?  Take a look at the Beaufort Society, a private members club for high net worth investors around the world. With 1,000 members in 37 countries they raise millions in equity, bonds and loan notes for fast growing companies that meet their criteria and also provide access to private placements in the arbitrage markets. 
 

My guest in this episode is the owner of a private equity group and his primary focus is as an investor who specialises in taking companies already producing multiple six figures in revenue and accelerating their growth to over 10 million.

Dan Bradbury's love of numbers and finance is what sets him apart and allows him to find the hidden assets and weaknesses within the businesses that he invests in and the business owners that he consults with. He has over 15 years of business experience in a wide range of industries and has founded, built and sold two companies for seven figure sums and has invested in over a dozen other companies as well as the five businesses that he has purchased outright.

His specialty is maximising the value of a business, whether it be simply to keep the business and reap the rewards or to exit the business for a big payout as he has done on seven different occasions. 

NOTE FROM GRAHAM: Sorry there are some broadband issues at various points during the interview but 98% is fine and the content is priceless! 

Many entrepreneurs have a strange start in business Dan is the first person I’ve spoken to who launched a business based on speed reading. He explains how it came about and also why it failed.  

After getting his fingers burned he made the smart decision to go and work for a big company to get some experience. Dan explained what he learned and how it helped him second time around. What did that teach you and how did that influence your next business venture?

Some of the powerful quotes Dan shares:

"It's what you don't see that costs you money"

"There are only half a dozen business problems to solve"

"I don't go for distressed businesses, I use the Charlie Munger approach of buying great businesses at a fair price"

Dan describes the factors that make a business attractive to him to acquire and the steps he takes to increase its value post acquisition.  

He believes most businesses are the same so he talks about how he deals with acquiring a business in a sector where he has no previous experience?

This happy story was suddenly interrupted by a massive cycling accident that could have been fatal. Dan explains what happened and whether it has changed his approach to life and to business. 

I ask if Dan has built an investment portfolio outside of business and if so what assets he favours. 

As entrepreneurs we tend to be a positive lot but I confess I’m concerned at a macro level when I hear the WEF saying that by 2030 we will own nothing, have no privacy and be happy and when I see a survey of Gen Z in which 63% believe they’d be better off under a socialist or communist regime. Are free market capitalism and entrepreneurship in danger of becoming dinosaurs of a bygone age? I quiz Dan on his take on these macro issues. 

If you would like to appear on Grown My Business Or Sell It, or would like Graham Rowan to appear on your podcast, please email Graham on graham@grahamrowan.com
 
 Looking to raise capital for your business or invest the sale proceeds in some outstanding opportunities that you won't hear about from your accountant or High Street financial adviser?  Take a look at the Beaufort Society, a private members club for high net worth investors around the world. With 1,000 members in 37 countries they raise millions in equity, bonds and loan notes for fast growing companies that meet their criteria and also provide access to private placements in the arbitrage markets.
 
 Learn more at https://beaufortsociety.com/ 

Dan Bates is part of a very exclusive club – he’s the CEO of an alternative energy provider who survived the carnage in the market caused by the wholesale price explosion in late 2021. In fact the company he founded, Rebel Energy, has come out of the energy crisis in better shape than ever and is winning more than 1,000 new customers a week. He’s on a mission to end fuel poverty as well as restoring the planet while making great returns for the small band of private investors who funded the launch of Rebel Energy. 

Dan is something of a gamekeeper turned poacher as he gave up a senior role in BP to launch Rebel Energy.  He tells us about his corporate life and how things changed when he decided to jump ship and start a new company from scratch after 18 years.
 
I suggest it's a bit unfair that companies like BP are being demonized simply for providing the energy that the Western world needs to sustain its economy and all of our lifestyles.

Dan describes the process he went through to take Rebel from the germ of an idea to a business ready to take on its first customers.

He very quickly decided that technology was going to play a key role in the Rebel Energy back office. He tells us why did and how he made it happen.

One of the more bizarre elements of the Rebel Energy story is how Dan and I met and how Beaufort Society became fundraiser-in-chief for Dan's company

They seemed to have done everything right. Great brand. Timely mission. Strong management team. Solid funding from a small cohort of private investors. Then they launch in August 2021 and all hell breaks loose two weeks later. Dan explains what happened and why was it so devastating for the newer players in the energy market.

I’ll never forget the phone call I got from Dan and the letter he was going to send the next day telling staff and  investors that you were going to close the company. Dan talks us through what happened and how we turned the situation around. 

Rebel re-entered the market in February 2022 with 50% fewer competitors and a lot of people who are disgruntled with the treatment they’ve been receiving from the Big 6. Dan talks about how the chain of events has left Rebel stronger than ever and winning almost 
1,000 new clients every week.
 
Key to Rebel's growth is a scalable but cost effective infrastructure. Dan explains how this has been achieved without  huge capital expenditure or staff recruitment. 

What also impresses me about the Rebel Energy business plan is the holistic view they’ve taken of an energy provider's role. Dan talks about some of the partnerships Rebel has entered into and how they are even attracting attention at government level. 

Looking two or three years out, Dan describes Rebel/s planned transition from energy provider to energy service provider. 

Rebel’s a young company but one that has already had bigger players sniffing around. Dan discusses the likely exit strategy as Rebel goes from strength to strength. 

Dan has packed a decade of business experience into a couple of years. I ask him to share the three most important lessons he's learned from this roller coaster ride.

If you would like to appear on Grown My Business Or Sell It, or would like Graham Rowan to appear on your podcast, please email Graham on graham@grahamrowan.com

Looking to raise capital for your business or invest the sale proceeds in some outstanding opportunities that you won't hear about from your accountant or High Street financial adviser?  Take a look at the Beaufort Society, a private members club for over 1,000 high net worth investors in 37 countries. 

Learn more at https://beaufortsociety.com/ 

Jeremy Hall forged a reputation for growing organisations through acquisition during the dotcom boom and has gone on to become one of the UK’s most prolific aggregators of small businesses. Previously chairman of the prestigious global brand Who’s Who Publications, the CEO of asset provider WestWon has invested in a range of businesses over the last two decades including audio visual, hospitality, digital printing, distribution, credit information, import, publishing, recycling and commercial property sectors.
 
He founded Wyse Leasing, which became one of the UK’s largest independent IT leasing companies with £65 million of annual lease transactions a year. He knows how to acquire and build businesses by finding synergies, analysing competitors, uncovering true value, building networks and accelerating organic growth through acquisition. Sounds like he’s on the right podcast then! 

Jeremy explains how he built Wyse and how he sold it, including writing a cheque for hundreds of thousands of pounds to an external adviser.

We then discuss what he did after banking a multi million pound cheque from the sale and how quickly you go from a high status chairman to Billy No Mates. This is a dangerous time for entrepreneurs who have to become stewards of significant wealth.  
    
He is honest about the mistake he made in rebranding Power Leasing which had already been established for nearly 30 years at the time he acquired it.

As anyone running a finance business in 2008 will know, there were some tough years when liquidity dried up and there was no money available to support leasing deals. Jeremy talks about how he got through those tough times.

With severe restrictions on his previous core IT sector part of the business sale, Jeremy talks about the challenges of starting afresh in new sectors with new suppliers.   He also talks about moving from a regional office structure to a more heavily online based approach. 
 
Banks are famous for only lending money to companies that don’t need it – I ask Jeremy whether leasing is different? How flexible can you be and what can business owners do to ensure they get the best leasing terms?  

We discuss whether Jeremy has an exit plan and if so how he might extract himself from the business.  

Watch for Jeremy over-delivering when I ask him to share the top three lessons he has learned for the benefit of our community. 

If you would like to appear on Grown My Business Or Sell It, or would like Graham Rowan to appear on your podcast, please email Graham on graham@grahamrowan.com
 
 Looking to raise capital for your business or invest the sale proceeds in some outstanding opportunities that you won't hear about from your accountant or High Street financial adviser?  Take a look at the Beaufort Society, a private members club for high net worth investors around the world. With 1,000 members in 37 countries they raise millions in equity, bonds and loan notes for fast growing companies that meet their criteria and also provide access to private placements in the arbitrage markets.
 
 Learn more at https://beaufortsociety.com/