00:00:00:00 - 00:00:30:03
Unknown
Welcome back to Emanating the weekly podcast for acquisition entrepreneurs, holdco, builders and search fund investors in the UK, Europe and beyond. On your hosts, Gareth Wilkins, co-founder and CEO of This Crunch An End to end Platform and Power Tools Suite for small business Succession M&A. Today our guest is Toby Henry, the successful searcher behind Full Circle Capital. And since late 2024, the CEO of Accelerator Solutions, a People development and change consultancy.

00:00:30:05 - 00:01:00:19
Unknown
Toby's career began in management consulting, leading major transformation programs across London and New York before moving into fintech, where he helped build and launch Chase Bank in the UK. And after a nearly a decade in corporate and scaled up environments, Toby decided to take a different path, acquiring a business of his own. In this conversation, he shares what it's really like to transition from corporate leadership to E.T.A. and the lessons he's learned about people and culture and how to navigate an increasingly tech driven world while staying human first and leveraging the human capital within businesses.

00:01:00:21 - 00:01:23:18
Unknown
So let's dive in. Toby, welcome. Thanks, Rob. Amazing introduction. I think I'm going to steal that and put it as my link to buy it because beautifully succinct and really looking forward to the conversation. Thank you for having me on the podcast. That's very kind of, you know, as called me, succinct before, but that's very kind. If you want to make it your ogm on your voicemail, I wouldn't be too offended.

00:01:23:21 - 00:01:42:04
Unknown
All right. So let's let's get stuck in your background, as I mentioned, spans management, consulting and fintech. And now you're an acquisition entrepreneur successfully with one deal already under your belt and more to follow more in the pipeline currently. Take us a little bit through a whistle stop tour of that journey through London, in New York and on to where you are today.

00:01:42:07 - 00:02:02:15
Unknown
Yes, I came about in a little bit of a roundabout way, and so I'd like to say I spend nearly ten years in management consulting and kind of grew up in that world of transformation and consulting and really love the I graduates in 2008 from my master's in the middle of what about the start the financial crash, really?

00:02:02:15 - 00:02:36:12
Unknown
And job opportunities were limited. I was very fortunate. I got kind of picked up by a mentor who is my mentor now, but a friend of the family for a small piece of work, did a pretty good job and then they ended up keeping me on as a consultant that's worked committee for Capco for nearly seven years. That took me across London, ended up living in New York, was supposed to be just for 18 months to help out that digital wealth Part of that business, which is what I primarily done in London, ended up just falling in love with New York, absolutely loved it, was there for four years, had my first child there.

00:02:36:15 - 00:03:06:07
Unknown
Grew that business along with a number of other people to a significant proportion of capital, New York's revenue base from a digital perspective and then decided for family reasons to move back to move back to London with the same company I was getting to a point in my consulting career. I was about to make partner and had to make quite tough decision about whether to stay in New York or whether to move back because people base businesses and, you know, you build relationships for a long period of time and it was quite difficult decision.

00:03:06:07 - 00:03:27:12
Unknown
But the right decision to move back to London to be a bit close to family, bring my kids up with a bit more space. And our apartment was about 400 square feet. So glad we moved back pre-COVID. That would have been a little bit of a difficult time. And then I went to a consultancy called Alpha FMC, who are Specialist wealth and asset management consultancy, helping to build out their wealth practice.

00:03:27:18 - 00:03:51:16
Unknown
Fantastic company, probably one of the best companies cultures I've ever worked and it gave me a really I always refer back to them when I'm talking to clients now with Accelerator about what good culture and good company culture and behavior looks like. So they just stood out so strongly for me. And then I got a little bit, a little bit bored, honestly, of writing PowerPoint decks for very senior people to do strategy work or transformation work.

00:03:51:16 - 00:04:16:05
Unknown
And I was just a little bit out of touch with what changes happening and actually doing the doing. And I think as a consultant, that's quite dangerous thing because you're telling people or advising people what to do and the world was changing even then. So quickly from a digital transformation perspective, you felt like you were losing touch and that was like at the outset of cloud computing and banks thinking about Monzo starting and that kind of cloud revolution.

00:04:16:05 - 00:04:48:03
Unknown
And I got the opportunity to go join a company called ten X. They were building Jp morgan Chase Bank Chase, which was three unbelievably exciting, busy, hard working years, and we ended up building four banks from scratch. And then after three years, I went to a company called Invest Cloud away from their services business for two years. And during that period of time I'd kind of lost it, kind of got a bit disillusioned again and was not enjoying the work I was doing and for a number of reasons.

00:04:48:03 - 00:05:13:10
Unknown
And then very fortuitously found out about search and NTA and kind of dove headfirst into that. I was like, You were a frustrated entrepreneur in so much as you wanted to be master of your own destiny. But in all these different, interesting businesses, you were working for somebody else and having to comply with their sometimes perhaps not optimal ways of working.

00:05:13:13 - 00:05:35:14
Unknown
Is that a fair assessment? It is, yeah. I mean, I always thought I wanted to do something on my own or had got to do something entrepreneurial and my mum and dad were both entrepreneurs and we definitely. Yeah, yes, Yeah. And then I went into a very corporate consulting finance going to be further right. My dad ran an advertising agency which he exited.

00:05:35:16 - 00:06:03:13
Unknown
My mum came to entrepreneurship quite late and she runs a children's charity through Horsemanship in Leeds and which she still does now in the early seventies. So I had those role models in place and quite a lot of my family had done like being entrepreneurs, but I'm not a big ideas person. The thought of starting particularly know when you've had a good corporate career and you get a bit comfortable and used to the nice holidays and you've got a mortgage and got two kids, you thought starting something from scratch.

00:06:03:19 - 00:06:22:05
Unknown
It felt like that pipe dream of doing something entrepreneurial was getting further and further away the more comfortable you got and then get found out about search and that was unlocks. I realized you could piggyback on somebody else's hard work and legacy and then try and take it through an evolution in itself. Yeah, you don't have to start something.

00:06:22:05 - 00:06:42:06
Unknown
You can pick something up and carry it forward. And that is, I think, an epiphany. Too many of us have had to go the 0 to 1 route and or have wrestled with the possibility of going the 0 to 1 route. But like you say, you didn't want to give up the creature comforts and the and the stable income and the you have an obligation to provide to your family.

00:06:42:06 - 00:07:08:26
Unknown
Right? So it's a it's a leap into the unknown. But yeah, it sounds to me like you had to live your authentic self. You've got these role models, you've got this inner entrepreneur that you needed to unleash. And it was a question of maybe when rather than if. Yeah, and yes, and it did. I mean, I think the answer is yes, but it did genuinely feel like that part that have that dream had kind of died a little bit.

00:07:08:28 - 00:07:38:26
Unknown
And then I it was very, very fortuitous. A guy who I know through my kind of network, I saw that he'd quit his job and he'd started a search fund. And I had no idea what search fund was. But on the set he had a fantastic job, was doing really well. And I just reached out to him and one thing I find about the general search community is everyone is so open at that time and almost like they feel like they've got this little hidden bit of knowledge that they need to share with as many people as possible because it's like I didn't know anything about it.

00:07:38:26 - 00:08:01:29
Unknown
And I'd been in the world of investments and financial services for nearly 15 years. And I just he said, Yeah, let's have a chat. And he told me about search funds and he told Gary Stanford that all the literature around Stanford stuff and Harvard Small Business Review and a table book, and I read them all like over a weekend, and I was like, This is kind of what I've been looking for.

00:08:02:03 - 00:08:21:16
Unknown
And then the dream came back alive again. And it was just then it was more about when, not if. Yeah, I could see exactly how that unfolded. It's not an uncommon journey. Is it someone that someone adjacent to you has gone this path and it's sort of like, you know, hey, come, come and have a look inside here and opens up, opens up the table Bible.

00:08:21:16 - 00:08:39:29
Unknown
And as you say, the HBO review. And I mean, it was quite a dry read, the Stanford search paper, but I guess you've done that. And that was that the first one or the last one that you read in the weekend? It was the I started with the Stanford one and I did it. I had a day off work on the Friday and went sat in a coffee shop and downloaded all them.

00:08:39:29 - 00:08:58:18
Unknown
And it is a very, very dry read and almost a bit overwhelming actually. And then when I'm very, very academic, very formulaic, which they are, and and then I read the Harvard Small Business Review and that was the one where I was like, it was it's such a simple read and it makes so much sense or actually this makes sense.

00:08:58:18 - 00:09:19:01
Unknown
And then kind of went down that rabbit hole and started to think about what's my thesis and why should I play and all that stuff. And then I found out that I the one thing I didn't like about search funds and this is a purely personal thing, is because they're quite formulaic. I didn't feel like I wanted to give away 70% of the business.

00:09:19:04 - 00:09:39:14
Unknown
I just felt like that was too close to what I was doing now. I mean, you had a boss. I kind of wanted to do it on my own. The size and scale of a search firm, though it scared me a little bit. For the first one I didn't know if I wanted to go buy business that big in that complicated with a very serious board involved and that level of pressure.

00:09:39:17 - 00:10:06:01
Unknown
And then I found out, although you become obligated to, because if you take other folks money in order for you to make the best of that 20, 30% that you've got, it needs to be an elephant. It needs ideas. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And as I started getting to the reality of it and a couple of people were fortunate to share how they'd gone about raising such funds, I kind of knew myself that if I got into that trying to raise capital cycle for the first one, I don't think I would have ever come out the other side.

00:10:06:01 - 00:10:26:05
Unknown
I think I would have got caught in like conversations and creating a thesis and refining it and investor decks. And then I found, as many do, as many do, there was a bit of a wasteland of folks that have tried to go the traditional search route and have just ended up in that loop and either have pivoted to self-funded or just given out and gone back and got a job, which is, you know, a travesty.

00:10:26:12 - 00:10:47:01
Unknown
Did you then resolve to be a self-funded searcher about that to find some equity, get funding for the right deal, or were you resolved to being I want to do this 100% myself. I went down I found out about then self-funded and it kind of answered a few of my questions of, you can retain almost 100%. You have to make a compromise.

00:10:47:01 - 00:11:07:09
Unknown
That's probably going to be a slightly smaller deal. And that was okay with me for my for my first one, and it meant that I had a bit more autonomy and agency about I didn't have to go and raise capital if I didn't want to. I could fund through debt and I had some savings saved up. So I kind of started to put these little pieces, puzzle pieces together.

00:11:07:16 - 00:11:24:18
Unknown
And then that gave me a okay, so we're looking at a company size of X I'm looking at and even the range of Y again, because, you know, you start on the search and you go like everyone, I want to find a business between 751.5 million in EBIT. I never goes, Yeah, no, absolutely. And they grow on trees.

00:11:24:20 - 00:11:42:10
Unknown
We're looking for those businesses. So then that helped me just refine some of my search criteria and then it was just about carving out time. So I did this while I had a full time job. So a lot of that was just about finding the time and carving out the time and telling enough people that were going to hold me to account as well.

00:11:42:10 - 00:11:56:00
Unknown
So I started to tell people I was going to do this. People were close to me and would challenge me, but also hold me to accounts. Next time they saw me, they'd be like, Hey, how is that going? And Adam moved it along. There was a sense of, I probably should have done this. I told you I was going to do this.

00:11:56:03 - 00:12:23:26
Unknown
Yeah, it's helps to have those accountability bodies, I think most definitely that hold your feet to the fire. And so a few questions. I want to unpack some of this. Firstly, what's it like raising an American? I find he was only born so he doesn't he knows he knows an American. He's got an American passport. But we live in Surrey and he speaks like he's from Surrey, to my parents dismay because I'm from Leeds originally.

00:12:23:26 - 00:12:43:28
Unknown
So because he knows of reminding mind where his real roots are from. But yeah, hopefully American president maybe one day. So that's going to say all options are on the card. The world is awesome. And if he goes back with a Surrey accent to New York, he's going to just clear up his name. I demand. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

00:12:44:01 - 00:13:13:16
Unknown
So those experiences in the corporations and in the in the sort of Yeah. Alpha FMC and Tenix and invest cloud and what did they those experiences teach you about building high performing organizations. They taught me a lot and it was quite varied actually. I suppose when I was a consultant. The thing that I personally loved about it was you were working with really very smart but driven people who were always wanting to learn more.

00:13:13:16 - 00:13:32:23
Unknown
And when my first bosses said to me, like, when you walk into a client on day one as a consultant, they are paying a day rate for you. So there is no learning curve. It's you have to be adding value from day one. And I really liked that. And like the continuous learning environment and being surrounded by very ambitious people, particularly in my early twenties.

00:13:32:25 - 00:13:49:29
Unknown
And then as I started to get a bit more senior in my career, there was that big part. How do you build like a very high performing team and how did you find the right skill sets? And you don't have to be good at everything. You can have a superpower and that's fine. It's about kind of finding the complementary people and skill sets that that work with you.

00:13:49:29 - 00:14:13:24
Unknown
And then when I started to move particularly into the fintech side of things, I went from a place where I felt like a knew a lot as a consultant, and I was advising senior people on digital strategy and transformation into some really big platform transformations. Basically New York to feel like I didn't know anything. And it was then about how you could leverage your network and try to add as much value as possible.

00:14:13:24 - 00:14:29:02
Unknown
And I realized is, you know, I was trying to be probably overly technical, I was trying to play in that space, and I realized that that's not the thing I'm good at. What I'm good at is solving complex problems and breaking like a big, very large problem. Like how do you build a bank? It's almost too big a problem to solve.

00:14:29:02 - 00:14:47:20
Unknown
And one of the things I'm quite good at is in breaking that down into various components of working out how you actually deliver it. You don't need to be the big ideas person who has the big architectural principles or you don't need to be the engineer actually writing the code. You don't even understand the code. You just need to understand the part you play.

00:14:47:22 - 00:15:11:01
Unknown
And then I suppose, doing it in a genuine way. I learned a lot about myself as a leader and how you develop teams, particularly when we scaled from 60 to 600 people in three years. So what started as you could sit around and know everybody's name is getting to 600 people. That was a it was very deliberate about the culture and the type of people we hired and worked with at every level across the business.

00:15:11:01 - 00:15:35:17
Unknown
And that was a real eye opener in terms of how you even think about doing that. When a business is scanning that quickly. Yeah, I want to just unpack that a little bit more if we can, that learning a little bit about yourself in those corporate roles, what since you've become a leader of accelerate and solutions or or post deal search, what have you learned about yourself in this context?

00:15:35:20 - 00:15:58:03
Unknown
And then it's okay to ask for help? I think I think this is my I've run large teams and been in senior positions before, but I've always had a boss or always had a peer group of people where you can bounce ideas off and you can lean in and help is kind of clear on responsibility. One thing that I definitely I'm still learning, I've only been in the CEO role.

00:15:58:03 - 00:16:25:06
Unknown
I accelerate for just over a year is you don't feel like you need to solve every problem and there's days where you feel the pressure. It can feel lonely at times because you know, you don't have that peer group. Everyone's looking at you to make decisions. The book ultimately stops with me across the whole business, and it's about it has been about finding again which areas I can delegate to people, building that level of trust, people building that trust with me.

00:16:25:06 - 00:16:45:18
Unknown
I think that's quite an interesting dynamic when you come in and having acquired a business, it's not like you've inherited a leadership position by coming in through the business or being hired for a certain set of skills. You've bought the business and inserted yourself in the most senior position. And then it's about building that trust and it has taken time to build that trust.

00:16:45:18 - 00:17:01:11
Unknown
And I'm a big believer in building trust through credibility. So I'd never ask anyone to do something that I wasn't willing to do. And I learned that a lot as a as a consultant. Like if you going to ask someone to work on a debt tool to aim for a pitch, you better be ready to work on a debt tool too.

00:17:01:11 - 00:17:31:28
Unknown
I am yourself like. And we're a small business, so everyone has to lean into various different things. And it's been finding that balance between making sure everyone is accountable for certain things, but feeling like you can delegate and trust. And that's like a constant back and forward as, as I evolve my leadership style. Yeah, yeah, the balance of leading by example, but also not being afraid to delegate and empower and have everybody share that journey of growth together, that is a difficult one to get to.

00:17:31:28 - 00:17:54:08
Unknown
But in terms of the delicate change management piece of coming in to an organization that you've bought and acquired and then having to try and preserve the culture or, you know, refine and focus the culture in the new era, you perhaps had the most distilled version of that with All eyes on you because you bought a change management and people and culture business.

00:17:54:10 - 00:18:15:15
Unknown
Yeah. So these guys, these guys knew exactly how this should be done, right? Yeah. Yeah, they did. And one thing I know about the business is they hold me to account for that. But we talk to our clients all the time around dealing with change and resilience and how to be a leader and building high performing teams on the whole business.

00:18:15:15 - 00:18:47:08
Unknown
For the last 25 years is built around really nice core principle and it feels a bit disingenuous. If you went to a client and you were talking to them about culture and transformation and being resilient through change, and then you couldn't apply that to your own business. And I'm very fortunate that two founders stayed in the business. So there was a level of continuity, as I came in, and they've been very supportive but respectful that now I own the business and I'm the CEO and they've taken on slightly different positions that play to their skill sets.

00:18:47:08 - 00:19:09:12
Unknown
And the strengths are the that there was a huge amount of change and the team didn't know the acquisition was happening. So they found out on the Monday I turned up on the Tuesday I met everyone and I tried to approach it in a way which was how would I, how would I feel about this if I was had been in the business and I didn't know this was happening and an acquisition, what would I be scared about?

00:19:09:14 - 00:19:26:01
Unknown
What I'd be? Who would I be worried about? I don't know this guy. I'd be bought by a like a PR firm, even though it's not like full circle. Capital is only, only small, but there's all these connotations of what was going to happen. And I just tried to be vulnerable and just in the sense of like, this is who I am.

00:19:26:01 - 00:19:46:19
Unknown
This is why have gone on this journey. This is about freedom, both in terms of my career, financial freedom and building something that has a bit of a legacy to it and being open about my family and and that journey that I was on personally. And that seemed to work. And then people were fairly open with me about what they were worried about.

00:19:46:22 - 00:20:13:01
Unknown
And that evolved over kind of 3 to 6 months. And we do have a very open dialog as a company around. This is about an evolution of the business, not a revolution of the business. Like, well, to take something that has been running well for 25 years and then throw the baby out with the bathwater. This was about small increments and whether that was process discipline on certain aspects of the business, whether it's about how do we productize certain things.

00:20:13:01 - 00:20:28:16
Unknown
And that all came from my consulting background. I was I've been working out, you know, where can I add the most value based on my skillset without disrupting the business to the point where it's no longer the business you bought and you might as well just started the business from scratch. It just makes sense to have applied it.

00:20:28:18 - 00:20:46:21
Unknown
Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. Your instinct served you well. Also did so did your humility by the sounds of it, and you you made a good judgment call going into a business where one would assume there's a high IQ amongst the workforce and leading with that kind of authenticity, relatability, you know, empathy. I think that was a really good call.

00:20:46:21 - 00:21:01:00
Unknown
And hopefully that sort of set the tone for the culture of how you wanted to lead the business going forward that like, you know, I'm an open book, I want you guys to be, too. You know, we're all in this together. I think that's really important. They were quite early. Has that proven to be the case over time?

00:21:01:00 - 00:21:22:04
Unknown
And, you know, you've got the hearts and minds now firmly with you. I mean, you'd have to ask the team, honestly. I mean, I think so. I think it has been definitely a it's not been a straightforward because I think there is not that macro level trying to be clear about the vision. And the vision has evolved as you understand more about the business and the clients and the strengths of the people.

00:21:22:06 - 00:21:48:09
Unknown
And then you apply your own lens to that. And I think if I went round each of the team, they'll probably give me a slightly different answer based on where they are from that career perspective, the things they like to do. But what I've tried to do generally is take all that input from the team. So we did a big piece of work and it's probably lasted nine months where we've looked at our culture and our values and our behaviors are propositions, value, prop generally.

00:21:48:09 - 00:22:06:09
Unknown
And I played that back in a in a redesign of both the website and the brand, and it's really resonated with the team and with our clients, which is be really nice because that was the first point. I felt like I'd distilled down what I thought the business was, but also put my own flavor on it. So I think it's going I think it is a continuous things.

00:22:06:14 - 00:22:30:07
Unknown
There are weeks where I maybe could do a better job at sharing my priority around things that are happening, whether that's, you know, we had a team meeting last week and I talked to about new proposition development and one we've developed and are launching around. I and the team are super engaged in it, but I realize I probably spent a lot of time on my own thinking about that, not necessarily engaging the team on it.

00:22:30:13 - 00:22:54:04
Unknown
So it's a bit of like a ha, this is what I've done moment where I could've probably taken them on the journey a bit better. And that's something definitely I'm continuously learning about that right level of involvement, feedback throughout all these things, because you don't overwhelm the team with everything that's going on because they're busy doing their day jobs, delivering excellent work for our clients, but they still want to be involved in some of the stuff as well.

00:22:54:07 - 00:23:15:14
Unknown
Yeah, yeah. Is there is there room within the business for working groups? Is it a big enough workforce to be able to sort of do like a task finish? Hey folks, is the kind of general high level theme that I think we should be exploring. I want you folks to go and bring back some thought, some innovations or some at least some stick man kind of outlines of of where we might want to go.

00:23:15:17 - 00:23:30:09
Unknown
Yeah, there is. And we we set up a couple of those working groups a little while ago and just said we approach from two different ways. Basically, you just describe it as like these where the biggest pain points. Now if we were consulting into our own business, where are the biggest pain points that we have and how do we address those?

00:23:30:11 - 00:23:51:09
Unknown
And then empowered a small group of people who put their hands up and said, I want to be involved in this to go and solve that problem? And primarily that was around how we as a business integrate it to be more efficient because we are quite small and that's been an ongoing test and learning activity over the last, Stephanie the last six months and probably get to the point now where we're ready to actually launch something into the business.

00:23:51:09 - 00:24:12:24
Unknown
But my role within that was purely setting the guardrails and the team are now on with actually implementing it, which has been really nice to see. Yeah, it's wonderful experiment when you could do it, especially when you see that the team rises to it and it sort of again sets the tone for how you can delegate and how you can innovate as a team going forward.

00:24:12:27 - 00:24:29:16
Unknown
So just do a bit of a retrospective on the deal, if you don't mind. How did you source it originally? Was it on market? Was it through network? How did you how did you come by Accelerated Solutions and what attracted you to it specifically at the time? Yeah, sure. And so it was it was a broker dealer. So I went down the broker route again.

00:24:29:19 - 00:24:57:23
Unknown
I made a decision quite early that going down proprietary deal sourcing may not be for me. I felt like I would get caught in procrastination again and I just felt like if there was an opportunity to accelerate that part of it and my first big chunk of time was reaching out to different brokers, various corporate finance teams, networking and building up this network and having conversations about, you know, what my value proposition was.

00:24:57:26 - 00:25:23:11
Unknown
I also made a decision quite early that I was going to go down a service based route. You know, we were talking beforehand around your background's in product manufacturing that scared the crap out of me. I'd never done it before. Having inventory and the cash flow issues, you hear about what those types of businesses felt like a bit of a stretch, both for my skill set, my background, so I thought if I can stay with services, I understand how that business operationally works.

00:25:23:13 - 00:25:45:06
Unknown
And then I was going down the just the traditional, you know, blue collar type route and trying to find a phantom with nice property maintenance businesses. And I found a really great one in Bolton. It would have been a hell of a commute. So I decided against that on my wife's advice. And then I found a couple of really nice consulting businesses and I thought, that's quite interesting.

00:25:45:06 - 00:26:08:24
Unknown
I've never thought about buying a business that I've spent ten years building and running and growing. And then I start to look at the more the different variations and flavors of consultancy. And I found Accelerator Solutions, which was learning and development business and the research and change consultancy, and it was kind of in the sweet spot I was looking for is based in London, which was a big tick in the box for me person.

00:26:08:24 - 00:26:32:25
Unknown
That's where I live. Kids go to school and then I met the founders and just really hit it off with them. They seem like super genuine, credible people. They had a couple of other offers on the table from trade buyers, and my kind of pitch was, you know, this is me and I'm this will be a partnership. And we structured the deal in a partnership way so they retain some equity in the business.

00:26:32:28 - 00:26:52:24
Unknown
They have deferred and target. So we kind of have deferred targets as a business fifth to this year and they are still in the business. So they still work in the business in various roles. And that to me was a really nice way to do this. I've been involved in some quite big deals in my career and the ones that I've always worked out.

00:26:52:24 - 00:27:20:25
Unknown
When you have that partnership where no one feels like they lose, everyone wins together and we tried to structure the deal in that way. So from finding the business to going through due diligence and closing was about 7 to 8 months. Now. I'd been looking for about 6 to 12 months before that. But the actual deal, because it is quite simple business like you haven't got big asset registers, is a people based business.

00:27:20:28 - 00:27:49:17
Unknown
The biggest part of the due diligence is on the quality of earnings and everything was in a very neat and tidy kind of package they'd put together, which again was a good sign for me that the business was well-run and well-managed. And so we were able to line the principally on the deal structure and the things that we you know, one of the things we said is that if something starts to get a bit difficult or pressured, let's just pick up the phone on me in person because things get lost over email, sentiment gets lost over text message.

00:27:49:19 - 00:28:08:14
Unknown
And we had a couple of those moments on, you know, various things that people have over acquisitions, and none of it was because people were trying to be disingenuous or doing the wrong thing. It just needed a conversation. And once we did that, it tended to lock away sort of an alternative, which then meant the deal was still viable.

00:28:08:16 - 00:28:29:06
Unknown
And tell me a bit about the founder's motivation for selling. I'm glad to hear that they retain some equity and that that became part of deal structure. But why did they begin on the journey to sell? So I think they've gone round. I think they potentially tried to use it a couple of times in market time. I didn't try to get to pre-COVID and very obviously that in real reasons that didn't happen.

00:28:29:06 - 00:28:47:20
Unknown
And when I spoke to them, one of the first things they said to me was this has never been a lifestyle business. It has always been about value creation and getting to a point in their careers where that they're looking to retire. They want a slightly different type of life. And it's more interesting because it's a it's a joint founders.

00:28:47:20 - 00:29:22:14
Unknown
There are two founders, and Henry now works a couple of days a week for us. And Heidi, who run the trading side of the business, works and works three days with us in slightly different roles than they had before. When I conceive of and said to myself that they didn't have another person they were working with, but they still wanted to work, they still wanted to build the business, they, they I think they bought into the concept of the evolution of accelerator and hope to the benefit.

00:29:22:14 - 00:29:40:21
Unknown
I could add to that and the kind of the growth potential. Obviously they didn't. They built it for 25 years from scratch, so they didn't just want to walk away, which again was was helpful and beneficial for me. And it's, you, you go into these things, I'm a bit of a glass half full type person and you go in with best intentions.

00:29:40:21 - 00:30:01:16
Unknown
And I've had some horror stories of people have stayed in businesses and it's gone horribly wrong for various reasons because they never let go of control of the business properly or they leave on day one, and that is another kind of lens. I don't think there's a right answer to it, but I've been very thankful that both Heidi and Henry are still in the business and have been super supportive over that years.

00:30:01:16 - 00:30:18:09
Unknown
I don't think we'd be in the position we are in if they hadn't now. It's a fabulous transition by the sounds of it, and I'm really glad to hear that that was a possibility because particularly in a people focused business where the relationships with the staff and the customers are probably going to be highly driven by the culture that Henry and Heidi set in place.

00:30:18:17 - 00:30:41:04
Unknown
You want to make sure that that's a a phased transition rather than a sort of schismatic overnight. Okay. Yeah, because that that might have been a bit more difficult. You mentioned 7 to 8 months. There was that from discovering accelerated solutions until close, did you say, yes, I found accelerate in I think it was March and then we closed on September 1st.

00:30:41:06 - 00:31:02:16
Unknown
Okay. So I mean, for a simple business that's a moderate amount of time to deal with. Was there a or anywhere like in terms of I'm thinking and please correct me if I'm wrong, but on the lending side, if you have to leverage this in any way to get them some upfront consideration, leveraging service based consulting businesses is quite difficult.

00:31:02:19 - 00:31:29:12
Unknown
Yeah. So was that was there any blocker there added to that time frame? No, it was it was there's a couple of things. I mean, these are all just like very real things. It's first time I was doing the deal as well. So although I had some really great advisors from a foreign accountancy perspective and from legal perspective and the other one I took a little while to find and I was keen to make sure that I was maybe a bit fuller than it needed to be.

00:31:29:12 - 00:31:50:12
Unknown
Maybe I was being a bit overly cautious from a deal principles perspective on things like an alloy Irving towards head Yes, it probably was. He's probably more like heads of terms to be honest rather than ally. So that took a little bit longer than probably it could have done. I would feel comfortable maybe now having gone through the cycle and we had Easter right in the middle and we had somewhere right in the middle.

00:31:50:12 - 00:32:14:03
Unknown
So there was a a slowing down, particularly in July. I took two weeks. Holiday was still working full time as well. So I was trying to do this in and around my job, which definitely wasn't the most efficient thing to do, and there was no real blockers. We set a deadline of closing on the 31st of August, so then we would start the transition from the 1st of September, which seemed like the right time lines.

00:32:14:03 - 00:32:47:03
Unknown
We set ourselves a reasonable but not overly aggressive timeline and the on the funding side of things, I was I was quite floored. So I realized quite quickly that the debt market at that time and still probably is is difficult. And I spoke to a number of providers about the deal. And yeah, they were, they were okay in principle, but it was all subject to subject to and I couldn't give I couldn't give the founders that that level of comfort and I didn't want to go raise a bunch of equity.

00:32:47:03 - 00:33:06:27
Unknown
I didn't want to dilute a self too much. I had some savings that I was able to put towards the it myself and but I had to get quite creative. So I went and approached, has an overview. My parents are private clients of I'd watch that industry for a little while. I just approached them and said, You do an asset backed loans and you used to kind of do that on purpose.

00:33:06:27 - 00:33:31:11
Unknown
Lending type loan. It's not really a thing anymore. And they said, Yep, we would do it against my parent's portfolio. So it is personal guaranteed in some sense, and that was the risk I've taken personally. You know, some people say I never personally guarantee anything. I haven't personally guaranteed my house. I mean, a fortunate position where I was able to do that and which meant I could give them certainty on the date that they in consideration.

00:33:31:14 - 00:33:51:13
Unknown
The debt is actually very, very cheap debt. So actually makes quite a lot of sense. And yeah, I'm very conscious that when I talk to people about how I funded the deal, it doesn't resonate with a lot of people, but it's very, you know, that was my circumstances that I was able to benefit from, but it worked out well.

00:33:51:14 - 00:34:22:24
Unknown
It meant I could structure the deal maybe a little bit, be a bit more aggressive with the deal terms because I had one of what historically, for most people, one of the most complicated parts, the deal structure. I already knew I had that money in place, so I could probably be a bit more flexible with other things and that's a really nice unlock and I wasn't aware of that, but I think that was really creative and actually, you know, didn't require anybody to put up their own cash perspective in terms of your parents having to dip into their own pockets to leverage the portfolio.

00:34:22:24 - 00:34:48:13
Unknown
And I thought a lot about loan kind of passive way was was really, really creative. It just enough to galvanize you and make you realize we've got some real skin in the game here and we've got to make this work. But yeah, I think so that an unlock which would have made some of those previous offers that maybe the the sellers had tried to obtain difficult in those different if those previous circumstances you mentioned they'd had some previous attempts to trying to sell.

00:34:48:13 - 00:35:12:05
Unknown
I would imagine financing was it was a difficult thing to overcome. So you came with a unique number or position, I think. Yeah, Yeah, probably. And you're right, there's there's enough skin in the game for me. Positive, obviously you made this deal with my with my parents as well and I have to make good on that. So I'm very incentivized to grow this business in the right way.

00:35:12:05 - 00:35:33:20
Unknown
And that's one thing I said to Heidi and Henry and the whole team at start was this is not about an asset strip. This is not about trying to grow this business ten X for the wrong reasons or this is about sustainable growth and it has to be sustainable for me to meet my debt covenants and make sure my parents still speak to me like five years time.

00:35:33:22 - 00:36:10:09
Unknown
So yeah there's that level of motivation. But there was there was a motivation there anyway to sharpen the mind on a monday morning a little bit. Yeah, it's good. So it's a spring in the step thing to get you out. But tell me who was on your deal team. So I use Fox Williams sir Branch or Fox Williams from legal fabulous and then will and call them back from and Adam they were really excellent yeah yeah I think they think you could have you could have got better with those professional advisors excellent work and also hugely familiar with E.T.A. and you know structuring these kind of deals.

00:36:10:09 - 00:36:44:28
Unknown
So that's good. So biggest challenge since taking over the business and biggest, most rewarding moment and got biggest challenge. And honestly, it does vary, I think week to week. I think like any business, the mark has felt quite soft this year. So we've had some really great we've had a really good year, but it has been really hard work in the sense of we are a discretionary spend type business, you know, learning and development, particularly the clients you get in.

00:36:44:28 - 00:37:05:05
Unknown
Our positioning really is about companies spend a huge amount. The talent war is real and people are spending huge amounts of money recruiting people, but no money in developing the people post recruitment. So I have some really interesting conversations, really senior people about if you believe and you're differentiating on the quality of your people, why would you not invest in them?

00:37:05:05 - 00:37:39:15
Unknown
BE And learning and development has this potentially like soft underbelly which is corporate learning's which you've all done an absolutely hated and regulatory learnings and David Brant has a lot to answer for with his like I'd like that where we position ourselves is where high contextual remarks, if we designed things bespoke for you and your business and your people, this is not a stack of high severity solution and resonates with the right clients, particularly service based businesses who are really trying to differentiate on the quality of their people.

00:37:39:15 - 00:38:18:07
Unknown
As technology becomes a bit more commoditized. And so it's just been about finding the right clients and once they get it, they get it. But it has been hard work from a sales perspective. But but looking I'm going to end the year pretty well. There's also the people side of things like we are a people business and we differentiate on the quality of our people and, you know, making sure that everyone is happy and working as optimally as they can, that all my for I'm just moved offices and there is a lot of change happening within our business as well and trying to keep that continuity so we can continue to deliver excellent service has

00:38:18:07 - 00:38:42:04
Unknown
been really, really important. And you know, people are people in their messy and they're emotional and they have baggage and they have issues. And you know, trying to deal with people as humans is, you know, is a challenge for anyone who has managed people. And when a business, I think they probably say that can be the most stressful and emotionally draining part, but also one of the most rewarding parts as well.

00:38:42:07 - 00:39:02:20
Unknown
Yes, I am. I think it most definitely feels like you walk over the coals sometimes, but my goodness, there is some real reward at the end of it, particularly when you know your people are the unlock and you can see them kind of really flourish and take flight. And yeah, it's a certain sort of feeling that that evokes and I guess you don't know it until you feel it.

00:39:02:22 - 00:39:27:16
Unknown
And so going forward, what's the next 12 months looking like? What would you like to have achieved by this time next year? So the plan for the next 15, 18 months is there's a kind of three there's three parts. With the first, you just continue to deliver against our promise with our clients and deliver excellent work and continue to build out the client relationships that we have.

00:39:27:16 - 00:39:47:28
Unknown
So that organic growth that in a purposeful way are trying to be a bit more clear about what our value proposition is, the repeatability in the back end of our work. So operationally becoming a bit more efficient, we can support more clients across the world and be really focused on what our plan looks like and what types of clients we want to work with.

00:39:48:00 - 00:40:08:24
Unknown
The second is really doubling down on some key areas for us. One of those is our taken our positioning on ice. We're doing quite a bit of work with SME type businesses, a lot of post search actually who are both bigger businesses within search funds who are looking to unlock the power of AI, but they want to do it in a hyper, hyper contextual way.

00:40:08:27 - 00:40:28:06
Unknown
So we've developed quite a unique and interesting proposition to support that given my experience and background. So that's kind of one key growth. If we weren't jumping on the bandwagon, what type of business would be way? But I mean, in all seriousness, like it is a genuine problem and we're seeing it and talking to people that you could kind of immerse yourself.

00:40:28:06 - 00:40:46:24
Unknown
I wasn't I was now was on all the free content and want to throw your laptop out the window when you see a 23 year old build up an AI and workflow and realize he's so far behind. But the reality is, you know, and it's just a different kind of stress within business. And the other is around supporting service based businesses really differentiate through the quality of that people.

00:40:46:24 - 00:41:09:05
Unknown
So consultancies or accountancy fans, legal firms are some of that kind of key targets and play nicely into my background. And then the last part is we're starting to explore what our next acquisition looks like. So the market is quite fragmented, one with a learning and development, and there's some really very nice complementary businesses that we're beginning kind of talking to in conversations.

00:41:09:12 - 00:41:28:26
Unknown
That's going to be a longer term play and for some for capital and for accelerated to find the right business. I'm not in any rush to just to go and find lots and lots and lots of businesses. And from a rollup strategy perspective, this is around finding the next one that's going to add significant value to both full but then also accelerator.

00:41:28:26 - 00:42:01:15
Unknown
So those are three things that are going to be the bits that probably keep me the busiest, I think for the next 12 months. Every focus, very strategic. It sounds like. Yes, it will. You start it off with the right steps, defining what it is you want and knowing about how you going to get there. I think particularly in people and culture is a is a challenge and an opportunity, I think because, yes, every company is going to have to embrace automation and age, but it does present an opportunity for you within these companies to make sure they can balance the cultural impact of that within their organization.

00:42:01:15 - 00:42:24:01
Unknown
So yeah, could be interesting. I just want to touch on mentoring a little bit because you've had some I believe you give some. How has mentoring impacted your journey both on the receiving and the mentoring? It's been probably one of the biggest value adds that people have given me. So I've had the same mentors since I was in my early twenties.

00:42:24:03 - 00:42:47:25
Unknown
Lady Alison Davis And I've added to those my men, the people who mentored me over a period of time. So I'd probably say I've got three mentors at the moment and they provide input from an advisory perspective to the business. Now they also coach me and mentor me and coach and mentor me to slightly different things, but they mentor me in various different aspects.

00:42:47:25 - 00:43:09:20
Unknown
I have people who have known me since I was a teenager and they know my family and they know me in a bit more of a human level and they know the journey that I'm going on. But they've got a very unique perspective in the things that they've done. And I've got other people who have known me for the last ten years as a consultant and they provide a slightly different view and kind of guidance from a mentorship.

00:43:09:20 - 00:43:36:07
Unknown
They tend to hold B.S. It's nice having those people to really, when you ask them a question, they know they don't give you an answer. They ask you to reflect and think about what they're not there to solve problems for you. That to provide a sounding board, an experience. And I think I would say to anyone, both whether you're going on an Aetna search journey or just generally in your career, like find people who can give you that mentorship.

00:43:36:11 - 00:44:03:10
Unknown
I'm part of a Sea of Clarity group run by INEOS Implement called Rob Liddiard and it's an organic thing that's kind of happened over a period of time in I think it's about 15 of us now, or we're not just as a bunch of searchers, as a bunch of people who've gone through the search for truth as people have started their own businesses and we get together once a quarter and we help each other through issues and problems and some really nice peer to peer mentoring as well.

00:44:03:10 - 00:44:26:22
Unknown
Because like I said, sometimes it can feel lonely when you're in a senior position on a leadership position and having those people who are detached enough that they are not giving you emotional advice, but they're close enough to the experience they can give you real advice has been really, really great. Like the type of people who can pick up the phone to like, you know, I've just had a client terminate with as and we booked that rapidly.

00:44:26:22 - 00:44:50:21
Unknown
What do I do? And it won't necessarily solve a problem for you, but they'll listen for a little while and give you some advice, very practical advice. I find that super helpful. Yeah, I think peer groups are tremendous, galvanizes and motivators. I think you can access so much knowledge amongst people that have walked the journey. I mean, Rob, to be the facilitator or the the sort of chair of that sort of group is great because he's obviously been on that journey himself.

00:44:50:21 - 00:45:10:01
Unknown
He's had the exit and now he does easy implementation. So yeah, I think a fabulous group you may have found yourself in there and no doubt they're all getting value from having you in there and sharing your journey and work life balance just to sort of get towards the close here. You've got a young family, but you've also got a fledgling business that with real skin in the game.

00:45:10:07 - 00:45:47:00
Unknown
How do you safeguard your personal time that, you know, do what's required of you in the business? Yeah, this is really interesting and difficult. What the way the best way to answer is when I when I was in the last couple of years of definitely my corporate career, I had no idea, although I had a lot of ownership of my time within the business, I had no real ownership because my diary was booked from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and I was working across three time zones and if client called when I was on holiday, you paid to the fact you're paid at a level and you were a certain seniority that that was just

00:45:47:00 - 00:46:08:16
Unknown
that the quid pro quo that you'd made. So a big part of my journey was to find that level of freedom. Now that doesn't necessarily mean I work less hours. It means that I have the flexibility. Now my kids are four and eight, so I felt like I was missing them growing up for that when I was in the worst parts of my kind of corporate career.

00:46:08:19 - 00:46:29:15
Unknown
And and sometimes that means, you know, getting up at 530 and working for a couple of hours while everyone's asleep so I can take them to school on a monday. Sometimes it means close my laptop on Friday at 3:00 and not looking back on. And every week is a slightly different work life balance. There are some weeks where I'm working with clients and facilitating them staying away for the night.

00:46:29:18 - 00:46:50:18
Unknown
I'm super fortunate. My wife works full time in a very senior job and we have a nice balance and conversation and open dialog while weeks and months looked like. But since making the change, my kids are 100 cent noticed a difference. I'm way more present. And for me that's what it's about. It's not necessarily about working less because I would also feel super stressed if I felt like I was slacking.

00:46:50:21 - 00:47:07:18
Unknown
But it's not getting in November now. I haven't taken a break since my summer holiday, but I don't feel like I need one right now because actually there's a nice cadence to my life and go to get to Christmas. I'm going to probably want to take a bath time off and properly kind of recharge at the end of the year.

00:47:07:21 - 00:47:25:05
Unknown
But I don't feel that like, my God, it's October half term. I really to go away for a week and throw my laptop in the pool type thing. But isn't it? And that is a constant like back and forth. There are some weeks that are good. There are some weeks now that. But it was a big kind of impetus for me to actually make the change, to have a bit more control.

00:47:25:08 - 00:47:53:04
Unknown
I think if you're energized by it, then you know the holiday desire isn't quite as pressing, is it? You know, you're immersed and enjoying what you're doing and you're feeling rewarded by it. You know that that can be the better tonic. But yes, interesting that you are still grappling like we all do with the work life balance, but have now hopefully got yourself a bit of bit of freedom whereby you can you can live with that problem push.

00:47:53:06 - 00:48:26:09
Unknown
So one nugget of advice for anybody that's leaving the corporate world thinking, I want to go and do Etta. What do you think they should keep in mind before they do? I mean, I would say if the feeling wants to do it and you've got the information, it's about finding out what the right risk tolerance is. I think about saying, necessary, advise someone to do it, everyone to do this, because it does take a certain type of person and you have to be quite, I think, risk forward to leave a stable job and want to do something like this.

00:48:26:12 - 00:48:42:18
Unknown
I would say go in eyes wide open. There is a lot of like books out there around how easy it is to buy passive income in a business for a pound, and I've never met anyone. You probably speak to way more people than I do guys around the reality of one acquiring a business and then running a business.

00:48:42:18 - 00:49:05:21
Unknown
And I don't think I've ever spoken to anyone who bought business for the passive income. It's hard. It's hard work, but it's super rewarding. So as long as you are doing it for the right reasons, you're not expecting something to change like instantly overnight and you're willing to put the hard work in. I think it can be super rewarding and fulfilling and the other part is going to do it.

00:49:05:21 - 00:49:22:12
Unknown
And you've made the decision to figure out what the next step is to do it. You know, for me, it was something as small as my mum bought me a laptop. I kept complaining that I was working on my laptop and she sent me a little message saying, You don't have an excuse now. And I was like, I don't have an excuse.

00:49:22:13 - 00:49:46:09
Unknown
I'm going to have to start like searching for businesses by now. And then once I'd done that, that was just a bad momentum to it. So finding that first step and not getting caught in the procrastination piece because it is real. Well, thank you to Toby's mum for being the original accelerator, the value accelerator solution. So it sounds to me like you had a bias for action throughout though, and that momentum I think is quite tangible.

00:49:46:11 - 00:50:03:12
Unknown
So how do people reach you if they want to talk about beyond the search from the UK WhatsApp group? Of course, but have they out of the region? And certainly. Jen So twice. Henry on LinkedIn and then anyone who wants to know more about Accelerator or. Jeremy on my journey I'm Tobi Height Accelerator solutions dot com and we're accelerator solutions dot com.

00:50:03:12 - 00:50:21:26
Unknown
If you're interested about what we do from a learning and development research and consulting perspective. Amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that. Toby. I think if there's one thing that stands out from today's episode, it's that even in a world driven by technology and efficiency, people remain at the heart of every business, and culture is what drives performance.

00:50:21:26 - 00:50:46:12
Unknown
And I think that was that culture was strong in your search and it's certainly become strong in the post. You strategy that you have and its inherent in the business that you bought. So really great angle to to have heard about today. Thank you so much Toby we wish you the very best with the next acquisition and in continuing to grow accelerate solutions and we can't wait to hear where you take this company going forward.

00:50:46:12 - 00:51:02:02
Unknown
So thank you for joining us today. Great guys. Really appreciate it. It's been so and thank you listeners for tuning in today and till next time, keep on crunching. Bye for now. Bye.

00:51:02:04 - 00:51:20:17
Unknown
Awesome. Thanks. Toby Norris. Anything in there? Anything in there of concern that you want me to look back to? I thought you did a fabulous job and made my life very easy. Now, apart from the lights going off and these, like, shafted, like stomach wave of you should be able to do perfectly good. You know, the lighting wasn't too bad.

00:51:20:17 - 00:51:37:26
Unknown
Actually, I noticed it dropped a little bit. You weren't a silhouette or anything like that. So don't go with it. Awesome. Great stuff. All right. Well, this will probably go out end of the week, I should think. And we we may have one in the tank on each check with Alfie, but however it goes, it will be over the next 7 to 10 days.

00:51:37:26 - 00:51:55:12
Unknown
So did you You happy just to go? What did you want to see any of it before it left? Now if you have any of that, if you chunka up or anything and you're happy to share that, I'm like, well, I might do is like Toby with our marketing person Nick And if there's anything to ISE or repost or anything like that, I think that's always a good approach.

00:51:55:12 - 00:52:09:10
Unknown
If you want. If you want the role we'll sell, we'll share the link with you and you can chop it up to your heart's content. Okay? Abelson Magic, thanks again so much for doing this and it's been a real pleasure talking to you. Look forward to meeting you for beer at some point. Yeah, Yeah, we need to do that.

00:52:09:12 - 00:52:41:10
Unknown
Yeah. Give me a pop down to pop down to box. So I'm forever in that neck of the woods, so I'll. I'll come to. I'm just going to.