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I’ve never bought a forever home. That doesn’t mean I don’t settle in. It just means that, for me, there’s always been a plan from the day we moved in for the day we’d leave. We’ve known what needed doing and what wouldn’t come back at sale. You don’t rip out something sound just because the latest finish is fashionable. You don’t ignore the roof because a buyer can’t see it from the road. Certificates, planning permissions, guarantees, invoices and photographs. All kept. All

Two Sets of Numbers Every business has two sets of numbers. The ones it measures. And the ones that are quietly measuring it back. Revenue measures sales activity. But customer concentration measures resilience - and whether the revenue that looks healthy today would survive the loss of one significant relationship. Headcount measures growth. But founder dependency measures scalability - and whether the business could function, deliver and make decisions without the person at

Hindsight Is a Wonderful Thing There's a phrase that surfaces in almost every honest founder conversation about a hire that didn't work out. If only foresight had the power of hindsight - said with a wry smile and a slight shrug. And then everyone moves on because there's too much else to deal with. But hindsight deserves more than a shrug. Because in the context of hiring - particularly in growing, founder-led businesses - the things that become obvious in retrospect could a

I absolutely love talking to founders. I really listen to their journey and am genuinely enthusiastic for every one of them. But there's something I've noticed many, many times. They can tell you what their business does. But few can tell you - succinctly, clearly and without warming up for ten minutes first - why a stranger should care. Those are two completely different articulations. And the gap between them has a real cost. Lost time to market. Delayed funding conversatio

There are more than 5 million family businesses in the UK. They account for 93% of all private sector firms, employ millions of people and contribute around 70% of global GDP. They are the backbone of how much of British business actually operates. And yet only around 30% successfully pass to the second generation. By the third, that number falls to barely 12%. These are commercial facts about businesses that built something real, employed real people and created genuine valu

When we viewed the house two and a half years ago I noticed a faint line in the render on the garden wall. Easy to miss. The house had been completely refurbished inside and out and everything looked immaculate. I mentioned it to nobody. We bought the house. Two years later the crack was back - significantly worse. I filled it myself with specialist repair material. It opened again, wider this time. I called a builder. He walked around to the other side of the wall. The found

A few weeks ago, as I was rushing towards the exit doors of Leeds train station, keen to get to my meeting on time, a guy in a branded uniform held out a bottle of cold pre-mixed coffee to me. With a warm smile and a tray full of product, he'd clearly clocked I was dashing. "Here you go, take one of these - there's skinny, original or caramel, which would you like to try?" Oh how nice, was my first thought. I selected the skinny option, took the free sample, said thank you an