Stephen lives in France, works in the UK — and has completed four acquisitions of digital and creative agencies, two mergers, and one disposal.

GUEST

Stephen — Former COO; now building a UK digital and creative agency group from his base in France.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Stephen's acquisition journey began when he left a COO role at a $6m US business and discovered Jonathan Jay's webinar. Based in France, he has since completed four UK acquisitions in the digital marketing and creative agency space — sending out batches of letters, building a pipeline of 30–40 conversations, and completing his first deal with a distressed business owner. He reflects candidly on the difference between a distressed owner and a distressed business, and on the value of in-person mastermind events.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

▸ You do not need to live near the businesses you buy — Stephen operates entirely remotely from France.

▸ Sending letters in batches of 1,000 and following up consistently is the core of deal origination.

▸ The first call is the hardest; after six conversations, confidence builds naturally.

▸ There is an important distinction between a distressed owner (whose business may be healthy) and a distressed business — the former is a much better deal.

▸ Walking away from a deal at heads of terms is entirely valid — Stephen did it on his first serious conversation.

▸ In-person mastermind events deliver disproportionate value: the peer network, shared experience and real-time problem-solving accelerate progress significantly.

DEAL HIGHLIGHT

Stephen's first completed acquisition was a distressed business with a distressed owner. He structured it to limit downside: bought for £1, knowing the worst case was simply walking away and shutting it down — ensuring no significant capital was at risk.

"When I decided to leave, I came across a webinar of yours and I'm like, oh, this is possible — didn't even realise there was an option."

Learn more: www.dealmakers.co.uk

Rob pivoted from British food shops to coffee shops and completed two deals within two months of joining the programme — with more in the pipeline.

GUEST

Rob — Canada-based acquirer targeting independent coffee shops across Ontario and the US northeast.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Based in Canada, Rob initially planned to acquire British food shops serving the expat community before pivoting to independent coffee shops after listening to a podcast episode featuring John Richardson. Within two months of joining the Fast Track programme, he had signed heads of terms on two deals and had a third imminent. His story is a masterclass in following the process, staying disciplined on the 30-minute initial call, and understanding your own valuation logic before you walk into a negotiation.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

▸ Pivoting your target sector based on new information (such as a podcast) is smart, not indecisive.

▸ 750 letters generated five to six enquiries per day — and they were still coming in weeks later.

▸ Discipline on the 30-minute initial call is critical: it signals professionalism and filters out time-wasters on both sides.

▸ Know your valuation multiple before you enter any conversation — Rob uses 1–1.5x for standard sites and up to 3x for strategic locations.

▸ Sellers who can't produce financials rarely have a real business to sell.

▸ The lease is often more complex than the purchase agreement — always request it early, especially if there's a mortgage on the property.

DEAL HIGHLIGHT

Rob's first deal seller — who had run the coffee shop since 2005 — wanted to return to bookkeeping. Rob offered her a separate bookkeeping role across his growing portfolio, turning the acquisition into a long-term operational relationship.

"Stick to the process. Be confident. Do your homework. And be persistent."

Learn more: www.dealmakers.co.uk

John has bought three businesses in a year — including a hotel and golf club from administrators and a software company in six hours.

GUEST

John Graves — Serial acquirer with three deals in 12 months, specialising in distressed and administrator opportunities.

EPISODE SUMMARY

John's approach to acquisitions is defined by speed, volume and decisiveness. He signs NDAs daily and reviews at least five opportunities a week. His standout deals include a distressed hotel and golf club bought from administrators (with seven broken toilets on day one), which he refinanced within a week to pull most of his money back out; and a software company acquired in a six-hour process — at the price of a family car — alongside fellow mastermind member Steven.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

▸ Volume of deal flow is everything: signing an NDA every day means you can be highly selective about what you pursue.

▸ When you have too many inbound leads to handle well, switch off outbound marketing temporarily rather than give any deal poor attention.

▸ Administration deals move fast — offer on Wednesday, accepted Thursday, completed the following Thursday. Be credible and be ready.

▸ Buying assets (not shares) from an administrator means HMRC liabilities and other debts stay behind — you get the business free and clear.

▸ Leases are a hidden cash-flow trap: 10 separate equipment leases can become 10 monthly payments that compound and crush trading cash flow.

▸ Asset refinancing after acquisition can return most or all of your initial investment within days, freeing capital for the next deal.

DEAL HIGHLIGHT

The hotel and golf club: bought from administrators with an offer on day two, completed in seven days. Refinanced the assets within a week of completion and recovered most of the purchase price — then used that cash to complete a second deal within 30 days.

"Stop the procrastination and get those deals in — it's about volume and it's about mass marketing."

Learn more: www.dealmakers.co.uk

Jo's first acquisition — a freehold property plus a client book, funded entirely by the seller at 2% above base rate over 20 years — remains the most remarkable deal in this series.

GUEST

Jo — Founder of Bell's Accountants; has completed five acquisitions in the accountancy sector.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Jo started Bell's Accountants 13 years ago and quickly realised her job was to win business, not do the work. Her first acquisition happened by accident — a referral through a mutual contact led to a meeting with an elderly practice owner who wanted someone to look after his clients and team, not a big cheque. He offered to lend Jo the £500,000 consideration himself, repayable at 2% above base rate over 20 years, secured against the freehold property. To date she has completed five acquisitions, all low-risk, deferred structures.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

▸ Not all sellers want a lump sum — some simply want a trustworthy buyer who will look after their clients and staff, and a steady income stream.

▸ Seller financing — where the seller lends you the consideration — is a real and powerful mechanism, and can come with very favourable terms.

▸ Looking after the staff in an accountancy acquisition isn't just ethical — it's commercially essential, because the clients' loyalty belongs to the people, not the firm name.

▸ The buyer, not the seller, typically drives the process post-heads-of-terms: be ready to lead on timelines, TUPE, client communication and systems migration.

▸ Acquiring practices at a lower multiple, then digitalising and systematising them, increases the multiple at resale — the same logic as property renovation.

▸ Trust is the deal. In many owner-managed businesses, the seller won't proceed until they believe in the buyer as a person.

DEAL HIGHLIGHT

A freehold property plus accounting practice, total consideration £500,000, funded 100% by the seller at 2% above base rate, repayable over 20 years — with the seller contractually preventing early repayment because he wanted the monthly income, not a lump sum.

"He said: would you mind if you effectively borrowed the money from me? Rather than going to the bank, just pay me off over the next 20 years."

Learn more: www.dealmakers.co.uk

Graham acquired McGill's — a 440-person Scottish construction business — out of administration in 2019, proving that credibility, speed and clear thinking can unlock the biggest opportunities.

GUEST

Graham Carling — Entrepreneur and deal maker; acquired McGill's Group, a Scottish Top 500 construction company, out of administration in 2019.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Graham had identified McGill's 18 months before it went into administration and made an approach that went nowhere — until the day it collapsed. By extraordinary coincidence he was sitting in the same hotel when the administrators arrived. Over the following six weeks he negotiated a deal, was named preferred bidder and completed in mid-March 2019. He replaced the entire board, had a new leadership team ready before completion, and within 12 months had turned the business around.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

▸ Tracking a business you want to buy — even if nothing happens immediately — means you're positioned when circumstances change.

▸ Administration deals require you to be a credible buyer: the administrator has fiduciary duties and will not compromise their process for an unproven acquirer.

▸ When value is clear, decisions are easy — this principle cuts through the noise of other people's doubts and opinions.

▸ Replacing the leadership team that oversaw the failure is often an early, necessary decision; but it requires having new leadership ready before completion.

▸ The faster you move in an administration, the more value you preserve — every day of delay devalues the business further.

▸ Buying assets (not shares) allows you to leave liabilities behind and start fresh, even in a high-profile, complex situation.

DEAL HIGHLIGHT

McGill's went into administration on 1 February 2019. Graham was named preferred bidder by the end of February and completed on 13 March 2019 — a six-week window to conduct limited legal due diligence on a 440-person, £45m-turnover business.

"When value is clear, decisions are easy — that keeps me on the straight and narrow from the noise of other people's opinions."

Learn more: www.dealmakers.co.uk

Nigel built his digital agency over two decades before discovering acquisition; his first deal was done in four days and his second came while he was on holiday.

GUEST

Nigel Wilkinson — Founder of WNW Digital; has made three acquisitions in the digital marketing sector.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Nigel founded his digital marketing agency 21 years ago, noting he'd written in his diary back in 2009 that he wanted to get into mergers and acquisitions — but it remained a distant aspiration until he found Jonathan Jay's content in 2019. His first acquisition was entirely unplanned: a friend mentioned a local agency had just gone into liquidation on a Friday lunchtime, and by the following Tuesday Nigel had taken control of the servers. His second came on the Thursday of a holiday he'd barely started.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

▸ Acquisition opportunities don't always arrive on your timetable — when one appears, the ability to move fast is a genuine competitive advantage.

▸ Buying a liquidated business with no team, no office and a database of clients is high-effort but high-learning: it tests your integration and client retention systems under pressure.

▸ The TUPE 30-day consultation window is a legal requirement — but practically, Nigel compresses it to days, since you can't confidently tell staff a deal is happening until it is.

▸ Letting people go after an acquisition — even kind, blameless people — is one of the harder realities of building a group; it should never be approached lightly.

▸ Growing and combining teams requires active management effort: it doesn't happen passively, and entrepreneurs who thrive on 'new and shiny' must invest in the management discipline.

▸ Your own redundancy can be the inflection point that creates the business you eventually build — Nigel traces his entire career back to a single redundancy.

DEAL HIGHLIGHT

First acquisition: a liquidated digital agency. Heard about it Friday at 12:10pm. Contacted the liquidator Monday. Received the invoice Monday evening. Paid Tuesday morning. Took control of client servers Tuesday lunchtime. Four days, start to finish.

"Some bits are really hot, some bits are really freezing — if your head's in the oven and your feet are in the freezer, on average, you're okay."

Learn more: www.dealmakers.co.uk

Ian's media career spans four decades, two redundancies and eight acquisitions — and his advice for every deal maker is simply: take action.

GUEST

Ian — Media entrepreneur with 40 years' experience and eight acquisitions across video production, AV staging and photography.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Ian's career began as a film industry runner in Soho and wound through production companies, AV staging, broadcast equipment sales and photography. Two redundancies convinced him to control his own destiny, and he started a business with his mother's support. His first acquisition — a sets and staging division bought from a business splitting its operations — was a strategic move that unlocked major international contracts, including a £350,000 job for Motorola around the year 2000. Over 40 years he has made eight acquisitions, all in the media sector.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

▸ Two redundancies were the making of Ian: they removed the option of employment and forced him to build something of his own.

▸ Your first acquisition doesn't need to be large — Ian's was £30,000, but it acted as a springboard to £350,000 contracts.

▸ Price is not the only variable: the method and timing of payment can matter as much as the number itself.

▸ A strategic acquisition — one that gives you capabilities you can cross-sell to existing clients — can pay for itself many times over.

▸ Selling a business you've lost enthusiasm for is entirely rational; but know that the most likely buyer may be closer than you think.

▸ The person you buy a business from is also a natural candidate to buy it back — seller's remorse is real, and that relationship has value.

DEAL HIGHLIGHT

Ian's first acquisition — a £30,000 sets and staging business — directly enabled the largest contract his company ever won: a £350,000 international event for Motorola, circa 2000. A 10x return from a single strategic deal.

"Go with your gut. If you want to do something, go for it. Find a way to do it. Don't procrastinate."

Learn more: www.dealmakers.co.uk