We’re excited to launch this series of SUG Talks between our Executive Chairman and Founder, John O’Connell and successful entrepreneurs (many of whom have become our esteemed ScaleUp Group partners) who have founded, grown and successfully exited their companies. In case you’re new to us, ScaleUp Group helps B2B SaaS businesses secure Series A funding on the best terms, from the right investment partner for the best results. Our 37+ entrepreneurial partners act as our client’s virtual advisory board, with their investment, advice and introductions.
We hope you enjoy these inspiring stories, lessons learned (& shared), and advice that shine through the conversations.
Jump to a Talk:
- Frank Reeves, former Co-Founder and CEO, Avvio:
- Insights on AI, Empowerment, and Resilience
- Matthew Elson, CEO, Evotix
- Acquired a business for a £1 and sold it for more than £100 million!
- David Cocks, former Co-Founder and CEO CloudTrade:
- Insights on Board Dynamics, Product-Market Fit, and Knowing Your Buyer
- Guy Rigby, Chair, Non-Exec, The Entrepreneurs’ Adviser, Partner at ScaleUp Group, Ocean Rower and World Record Holder (2022):
- What makes a “Complete Entrepreneur”, balancing realism and ambition, and do founders have a natural sell-by date?
Guy Rigby, Chair, Non-Exec, The Entrepreneurs’ Adviser, Partner at ScaleUp Group, Ocean Rower and World Record Holder (2022):
What makes a “Complete Entrepreneur”, balancing realism and ambition, and do founders have a natural sell-by date?
Guy Rigby is an entrepreneurial advisor with a
financial background. He built and sold his own accountancy firm, co-founded and invested in businesses across various sectors, and held leadership roles in multiple industries. Throughout his career, Guy has worked closely with founders and management teams of growing SMEs.
In 2011, he published the best-selling book From Vision to Exit, providing insights on building and selling businesses. In 2022, he set a world record as part of the oldest pair to row any ocean during the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, raising £750,000 for charity. Today, he focuses on advisory work, mentoring, and fostering innovation and entrepreneurship.
Guy and John explore what makes a complete entrepreneur and how to maximise their chances of success. From balancing realism and ambition to navigating the fine line between abdication and delegation, they reveal how these key decisions shape the entrepreneurial journey.
Guy also discusses whether founders have a natural sell-by date, the challenges of scaling down, and tackles the big question: Can constantly striving for improvement actually hold entrepreneurs back?
David Cocks, former Co-Founder and CEO, CloudTrade:
Insights on Board Dynamics, Product-Market Fit and Knowing Your Buyer
David Cocks co-founded CloudTrade in 2009 and managed the company as CEO from day one. He grew CloudTrade into a global provider of intelligent data capture and document automation services, delivered by its own patented, machine-learning technology. David shares some incredible insight, tips and advice for fellow entrepreneurs.
David dives deep into the realities of startup life, from not paying himself for the first three years to navigating complex board dynamics down the line. Learn how developing your product alongside your first client can help secure that crucial product-market fit and hear about the impressive growth from £1m ARR (within 9 years) to £3m (within 3 years), after securing growth funding.
On selling the business 12 years later, David notes, “One of the reasons we succeeded so well with the sale to Advanced is we understood why they wanted to buy us: why Advanced wanted the tech and where it fitted in. Understanding your buyer, is really key because then when you hit a problem, you know why and what you’ve got to negotiate around.”
Matthew Elson, CEO, Evotix:
Acquired a business for a £1 and sold it for more than £100 million!
Matthew Elson acquired Evotix (a health, safety and sustainability SaaS business) in 2011 and sold the business in 2023. He remains CEO, where he has led the company through commercial dispute, going from 10 to 150 staff, international expansion, growth funding, pricing strategies and much more. Today, Evotix is the leading player in its space in the UK and Ireland.
Throughout this incredible journey, Matthew notes one of the keys to success is, “building up that network of external advisors and supporters for the business. Your job as CEO, as the entrepreneur is to take the decisions, you don’t always have to take the advice, but it’s always good to listen to the advice and consider it carefully. Frankly the external support and advice that we’ve had along the way has been absolutely invaluable to the success of the business.”
Frank Reeves, former Co-Founder and CEO, Avvio:
Insights on AI, Empowerment, and Resilience
Our first guest – Frank Reeves, a distinguished entrepreneur and innovator in the travel technology sector, best known for his role as the co-founder and CEO of the bootstrapped travel tech firm, Avvio.com, from 2002 to 2022.
Frank has a powerful story and some memorable points emerged from their conversation, which every self-respecting tech entrepreneur should heed.
Frank recalls one of his biggest go-to-market initiatives, which reminds us that aligning your proposition directly with your clients is paramount, “we just bravely went into the market and said, look, this is what working with us means, right? Everyone’s got great technology, that’s fine. But when you boil it all down, working with Avvio means that you get at least 25% growth in your direct channel, which is your most cost-effective booking channel, and that then is tied directly to a PNL impact. So that was a very differentiated go-to-market strategy – talking about business outcomes rather than how great we were as a company and how great our tech was. That really resonated in the market. We worried, of course, that some competitors would follow us into that value prop. But none ever did, which was wonderful.”