Joe speaks with Terry Graunke, Chairman and Founder of Erie Street, about his extensive management and investment career. He has led over 40 businesses: founding, growing, selling and listing them, all within disruptive industries.

Terry talks about founding his first business, Omni-graphics, stumbling upon, then harnessing data to disrupt direct marketing, scaling and then selling to Omnicom. 

Terry then moved into the operator/investor role within the Hawthorne Group, before starting Lake Capital and ultimately the creation of Erie Street, a business services investment firm focusing on operational orientation and family office money.

The podcast delves into Terry's emphasis on human capital, the importance of connections, and the role of curiosity and serendipity in success. Terry also discusses the significance of company values like kindness, curiosity, and courage in guiding daily activities and long-term value creation.

Terry discusses his involvement across various industries, including forensic accounting with Huron Consulting Group, web development with Eagle River, and the recent impact of AI on the market. He shares insights on balancing investor partnerships and fostering a patient investor base to focus on sustainable growth rather than short-term sales.

Joe and Terry also touch upon the challenges and opportunities in navigating regulatory landscapes, particularly with AI, and the overall evolution of the business landscape.

Timestamps

04:52 Terry’s first start-up in direct marketing 

06:59 Seeking self-confidence, adaptability, and resourcefulness despite challenges.

13:00 How technology for cruise lines was a catalyst for e-commerce

19:58 The business opportunity Terry saw after Enron brought down Arthur Andersen.

28:00 The evolution of private equity, why Terry founded Erie Street and how it is different

35:04 Underwriting deals, hitting milestones, recapitalizing for growth.

45:12 Investor worries about cybersecurity and future impact.

In this episode, Joe chats with Paddy Harverson, Co-Founder of Milltown Partners and Former Communications Secretary for the Royal Family & Director of Communications at Manchester United.

Paddy discusses Milltown's unique approach to marketing their business, creating a successful company culture, and selling the business to an employee ownership trust in 2021.

They discuss the influence of Paddy's journalism background and its importance in his subsequent roles, and how he navigated media relations at Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson's watchful eye, to managing the public image of King Charles and his royal household. He emphasises the importance of calmness, truthfulness, and maintaining professional boundaries in high-stakes environments. 

Paddy delves into Milltown’s strategic focus on quality client relationships and honest communication, which has driven their reputation and growth, particularly in the tech and sports sectors. Together they explore the foundational values that contributed to the company’s success, such as integrity, collaboration, and the privilege of selective project engagement. 

Lastly, they reflect on the evolving landscape of media and the crucial role of internal communications in navigating challenges like the pandemic.

This week Joe Hine speaks with Mark Sargeant from Phoenix Equity Partners. They discuss the constantly evolving world of private equity investment in the creative and digital sectors. 

Founded in 2001, Phoenix Equity is a leading mid-market private equity firm with over £1.7bn invested across 60+ deals. They specialise in backing ambitious UK founders and were a pioneer in marketing and digital services with their investments in Karmarama (2011) and later 1000heads (2019). Both companies achieved significant growth and successful exits. Mark Sargeant, a Partner with nearly 20 years at the firm, played a key role in both these stories. 

In this episode, Mark demystifies Private Equity explaining how it really works, from raising funds to investing decisions and how the culture of the Private Equity business will define its success.  

Mark emphasises what Phoenix looks for in a target business and how it approaches the growing influence of digitisation and data. He addresses the challenges and opportunities in balancing creativity with financial success, particularly the movement towards recurring revenue models that attract private equity interest.

Mark insists on the importance of alignment and shared values between private equity investors and business founders, and the steps an entrepreneurs should take to choose a PE partner. He explains the benefits private equity brings to the economy, helping businesses scale and avoiding cultural clashes commonly seen in corporate acquisitions.

They also discuss:

-  The integration of customer-centric strategies in investment practices

- How Private Equity benefits the economy, and society, particularly within the mid-market

- The rapid advancement in digitisation and the growing importance of data

- The changing dynamics of private equity and the ability for swift investments. 

- In an ever turbulent world with high interest rates, what is the future for Private Equity? 

Timestamps: 

05:36 Valued people, culture, and entrepreneurial opportunities at Phoenix.

10:24 How private equity firms assess founders and businesses.

17:57 Opportunity in merging businesses for customer centricity.

23:57 The digital sector's recurring revenue model promotes stability.

34:13 Assessing fund deployment and investment strategies is crucial.

42:35 Private equity funding drives business consolidation and exits.

47:09 Private equity brings massive benefits to the economy.

Joe speaks with Aleen Dreksler, one of the founders of Betches, a business that started as a college blog in 2011 and has now evolved into a major player in women's media.

Aleen reminisces about how they were motivated by comedians like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to create a fresh comedic voice different from conventional 'cutesy' content, focusing on self-deprecating humour and relatability. The podcast delves into the importance of Betches' strategic use of platforms like Instagram, and partnerships to authentically engage their target audience, spearheading their growth. 

Aleen discusses the acquisition journey, how they coped with the many suitors for the business and why they eventually choose LadBible, emphasising the cultural and strategic fit of the merger. 

Throughout the conversation, Aleen highlights the importance of having a good team, fostering strong business relationships, expanding into new sectors, and maintaining a brand rooted in humour and authenticity.

Joe and Aleen also touch upon the underlying values that contributed to their sustainable growth, such as independence, creativity, and a strong sense of community among the founders.

Timestamps

00:00 Brand growth and LadBible partnership

09:22 The beginning of Betches, a college blog started by childhood friends

16:00 Monetising Betches and retaining quality of product

17:37 Starting the Betches instagram account

21:51 The power of partnerships in yielding high engagement and loyalty with their audience

24:15 In 2015, podcasts began to gain popularity, sparking the idea for a new show.

Sir John Hegarty, Co-Founder of advertising agency, Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) and a titan of the industry, delves into his extensive career that spans over seven decades and provides the inside track on one of the industry’s most famous deals between BBH and Publicis…

He opens up about the influences that shaped his career, from his art school education during the culturally transformative 1960s, to his critical role in founding Saatchi and Saatchi and later BBH. He recounts pivotal moments, the emphasis on brand and creativity, the strategic partnership with Leo Burnett and how they managed to preserve the agency’s autonomy when they were acquired by Publicis.

Joe explores Sir John’s recent focus on demystifying creativity for businesses and leaders in every sector and how it can be used for innovation and to create competitive advantage. He discusses his passionate belief in creativity's power to uplift society, the advertising industry’s current challenges and calling for a return to focusing on the quality of work over profit.

In this episode, they also discuss:

- The strategic growth and ethical considerations that guided Hegarty’s agency decisions

- Cultural shifts and their influence on advertising practices

Joe sat down with Marc Nohr, a serial entrepreneur in the agency world - having sold two agencies and advised on the exit of several others. Marc shares his incredible personal and professional journey, including his commitment to philanthropy inspired by his mother, a Holocaust survivor.  

Marc draws connections between the leadership of business versus charity and discusses advancements in technology and global leadership.  

His professional history is fascinating. He founded and successfully grew the creative agency Kitcatt Nohr before selling to Publicis. Though it was not all plain sailing, we find out why the deal ended up in the High Court.  

Despite the challenges, Marc's passion led him back into the agency world with Fold7, focusing on the growth of its culture, its leaders and its clients. The business

ultimately sold to Miroma, after which he successfully transitioned from CEO to Chairman of the advertising agency - a role he now performs across multiple businesses. 

In this episode we also discuss: 

• Why selling your agency is just the beginning 
• Taking a network to court and how he deals with stress 
• Selling to Miroma Group and helping run a global network
• The transition from CEO to Chairman 
• The importance of giving back and what happened when he met David Beckham  

Timestamps 

00:00 An intro into Marc Nohr and his beginnings. 

07:53 Naming Kitcatt Nohr and the importance of agency names

14:46 2008 financial crash led to interest and potential acquisition of Kitcatt Nohr

20:07 Selling to Miroma and running a global agency network

23:58 Learning resilience, business and stress management.

29:23 Marc gives key advice for selling a business effectively.

36:54 Marc's commitment to charity work, mentoring and advocating philanthropy.

In this episode, Founding Partner & Executive Chairman at H/Advisors - Cicero, Iain Anderson shares his journey into the world of politics and business.

Inspired to become involved in politics by the 1976 film 'All the President's Men' Iain joined the Conservative party as a young man but rather than looking to Parliament he founded his agency, Cicero and became a renowned political commentator on national and international media including many appearances on Question Time. 

We talk about his experiences founding and leading Cicero, a strategic communications agency that advises on strategy, political risk, and public policy, and how he grew the business organically and strategically through M&A.

Iain recounts the challenges the agency faced during the 2008 financial crisis and how investment decisions and branching into new sectors like health, infrastructure, and technology helped the company come back around and grow, which eventually led to its acquisition by Havas. 

Iain emphasises the importance of political change, economic confidence, and adaptability. He has an infectious enthusiasm for the evolving nature of global politics and we discuss why he has recently stepped across the aisle and is working with Sir Keirr Starmer to promote business as part of the Labour Party.

In this episode we also discuss:

1. Weathering the global financial crisis 
2. Agency M&A and becoming ready to acquire 
3. Selling Cicero to Havas and the global opportunities it presented
4. The fear of being on Question Time
5. What it's like to see your friends get to the top of the political tree

Timestamps:

• 01:28 - 04:24: How the 1976 film 'All the President's Men' film inspired Iain to pursue a career in politics and communications
• 06:08: Taking on investment at the beginning of his journey with Cicero 
• 12:57: Acquisition of Westbourne and key learnings
• 17:47: Selling Cicero to Havas
• 30:55: Joining the Conservative party at 16 and going to his first conference in 1984 
• 39:06: Leaving the Conservatives and joining Labour 

Polish national Piotr Majchrzak is the Co-CEO of Boldare. With over 17 years of experience he has weathered the IT industry's seismic shifts, founded and grown companies from ideas to international successes, and pioneered innovative management philosophies. 

From establishing XSolve, custom software, to co-founding Chilid, where design met development, and culminating in the birth of Boldare, Piotr's journey is a testament to agility, innovation, and sheer determination. 

He has utilised the Holacracy philosophy in his business from its early days. Piotr helps peel back the layers of this underused business philosophy, discusses why he adopted it and the reason it’s been so powerful for his organisations. 

Boldare is one of the most exciting tech stories to come of Europe in recent times and Piotr has never left his home town in Poland where he runs the whole company.

We discuss:

• The unfair advantage the young have when becoming an Entrepreneur
• What is Holocracy and why it’s the only solution for Boldare
• How Boldare achieved its 100% international client base

Barrie Brien is the Group CEO of STRAT7 with a wealth of experience leading and inspiring. This episode covers Barrie Brien's experiences as CEO of Unlimited and then co-founder and Group CEO of STRAT7. He discusses his journey at Unlimited, becoming a CEO for the first time, his plan to re-brand and restructure the business to allow the critical de-listing from the London Stock Exchange and into Private Equity ownership. Two years later he successfully co-founded STRAT7 by raising capital and bringing together like-minded businesses to build a contemporary strategy, consulting and data practice. Four years and four acquisitions later the business is going from strength to strength. 

We discuss:

• Why he re-branded a PLC
• De-listing of Unlimited from the London Stock Exchange - the truths and challenges
• Building a new private equity group from scratch 
• Internal transformation and the importance of global operating platforms
• The acquisition process and strategic fit

Gina Lednyak is the Founder & CEO of L&A Social, Australia’s leading Social Media Agency. Under Gina’s leadership they have carved out a reputation for its expertises in helping brands businesses and brands successfully navigate the complex media landscape. Steering brands from the likes of Woolworths and Ferrari to remarkable success through social media. 

Named in B&T’s 30 under 30 Gina is passionate about female advocacy, ocean conservation, and creating impactful company culture. 

We discuss:

• The life cycle of a business and hitting The Ceiling of Complexity.
• How to Develop a culture of purpose
• Building a business that is easy to acquire