Nigel Tunnacliffe is the founder and CEO of Coastline Academy, the largest driving school in the United States. Starting from teaching students himself at a single location, Nigel has grown Coastline Academy to serve nine states and hundreds of thousands of students. The company has been recognized as the sixth fastest-growing education company in the U.S. by Inc. magazine. Nigel’s journey is a testament to scaling a hands-on service business into a national operation, all while staying mission-driven and customer-focused.

On this episode we talk about:

How Nigel made his first dollar selling Magic: The Gathering cards as a kid

The transition from side hustles and early businesses to founding Coastline Academy

The challenges and pivots involved in launching a mission-driven company

Financing a startup with minimal savings, creative fundraising, and lean operations

The step-by-step process of scaling from a local service to a national brand

Top 3 Takeaways

Start Small, Scale Smart: Begin by doing the work yourself to gain firsthand experience and credibility. Each step up-hiring, management, multi-state expansion-should be built on a solid foundation of understanding the business from the ground up.

Mission Over Product: Focusing on a core mission (in Coastline’s case, eradicating car crashes) allows you to pivot product ideas while staying true to your purpose. Execution and adaptability matter far more than the initial idea.

Creative Survival: Raising just enough money to buy time and cover basic expenses can be enough to get off the ground. Be transparent with investors, get creative with financing (but be cautious), and focus relentlessly on achieving product-market fit before scaling.

Notable Quotes

"The execution against the idea is literally everything. There’s zero value to the idea that you have. What actually matters is working to figure out if somebody is going to vote that they’re on board for this service existing-and not just vote by giving you a thumbs up, but by actually taking their wallet out and paying you to solve this problem."

"For someone just starting out, you don’t need to figure out how to have layers of directors and middle managers and regional operations. You’ve got to figure out how to get enough cash in to cover your costs, and you can do that by just rolling up your sleeves and doing the hard work."

"Success is like a spiral staircase. You can only see the next couple of steps. You can’t see around the corner… but you can see the next two things you’ve got to do. So just focus on doing those two things and do them extremely well."

Connect with Nigel Tunnacliffe:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tunnacliffe

Website: https://coastlineacademy.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coastlineacademy/?hl=en

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