Mark-Paul Buckingham is a multi-exit founder, PhD engineer, chair of a mental health charity, and a man who has spent his entire career building things the world wasn't ready for yet. The suspension system he developed in 2001 turned up in Audis in 2015. The wireless charging technology he built in 2008 is now everywhere. He designed the isolated power tool handle used across the industry. He didn't get to capitalise on most of it: the patents lapsed, the market wasn't there, the timing was wrong.

But that's only part of the story. What this conversation really gets into is what two decades of that relentless pace, four hours of sleep a night, carrying everything alone, wearing a face for the world while quietly falling apart, eventually did to him.

In his early forties, after years of pushing through, Mark-Paul hit the wall. Not burnout as a term you put in a LinkedIn post. Full blown darkness. Not wanting to be around. He describes being there in body but completely gone mentally: a man who could step back from any business decision with cold clarity, but who was entirely blind to what was happening inside himself until it was too late.

Takeaways:

• Mark Paul Buckingham's entrepreneurial journey highlights the critical importance of resilience and perseverance in overcoming challenges.
• The complexities of mental health issues and burnout are frequently overlooked in the fast-paced startup world, warranting greater awareness and dialogue.
• Effective leadership necessitates the ability to make difficult decisions, even when faced with emotional strain and personal adversity.
• The evolving landscape of technology and business requires founders to adapt, learn from failures, and embrace new strategies for success.
• Building a supportive company culture that prioritises mental well-being can lead to improved productivity and employee satisfaction.
• The significance of childhood experiences in shaping one’s work ethic and approach to business is a recurring theme in Mark's narrative.

About The Burnout Files

Hosted by John Glover. Every episode explores the side of entrepreneurship that doesn't make the highlight reel: the setbacks, the sacrifices, and the very human stories behind building something from nothing.

Subscribe: https://feeds.captivate.fm/the-burnout-filesInstagram / LinkedIn / TikTok: @theburnoutfiles_

About Mark-Paul Buckingham

Mark-Paul Buckingham is a serial entrepreneur, engineer, and inventor who has spent over two decades building technology that was consistently ahead of its time.

He founded Reactec, a data and wearable technology company focused on workforce safety in the construction sector, which he grew over nearly two decades before selling to Ideagen in 2025.

He simultaneously co-founded and ran other ventures, including Xi consulting, which he continues to be involved with. He holds a PhD alongside his undergraduate engineering degree, having started both his doctorate and his first serious company at the same time.

In this episode of The Burnout Files, host John Glover sits down with Tony Crolla, founder of the Vittoria Group: one of Edinburgh's most enduring hospitality businesses, now in its second generation.

Tony's parents came to Scotland from Italy in 1967 with nothing. They opened a café on Leith Walk. Tony was working the floor at 12 years old. By his mid-twenties he was married, running the business, and responsible for a legacy that wasn't entirely his yet: and making it his own.

He's been doing it for 35 years. And he's never really stopped to talk about what it cost him.

This conversation goes to the places most founder stories don't. Tony talks candidly about the years he carried the weight entirely alone, the sleepless nights, the bad investments, the people who let him down and the ones he let down.

About the period in 2013, 14, 15 when the business had expanded faster than he could lead it and he felt, in his own words, that things weren't right but couldn't articulate it or take control. About the back injury that forced him to stop, and accidentally unlocked the next decade of growth.

He talks about what it does to a father to hand his sons not just a business but a life — and the fear that without care, love and succession planning, you hand your children a bomb.

He opens up about stress eating his way through the hard years, quietly putting on 15, 20 kilos in the difficult stretches, and only seeing it clearly in old photographs years later.

And right at the very end of the conversation, almost as an aside, he said something that stopped the room:

"When you add time as an asset to anything, time fixes everything. The darkest hour is always the one before sunrise."

If you've ever wondered what's really behind a family business that looks like it has it together, and what it actually takes to keep going for half a century, this one's for you.

Subscribe for more honest conversations about the real cost of building a business.

ABOUT THE BURNOUT FILES

The Burnout Files is hosted by John Glover. Every episode explores the side of entrepreneurship that doesn't make the highlight reel: the setbacks, the sacrifices, and the very human stories behind building something from nothing.

Subscribe for new episodes: https://feeds.captivate.fm/the-burnout-files/

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theburnoutfiles_/

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theburnoutfiles/

Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theburnoutfiles_

ABOUT TONY CROLLA

Tony Crolla is the founder of the Vittoria Group, a multi-site hospitality and property business based in Edinburgh.

The group was started by his parents in 1970 on Leith Walk and has grown under Tony's leadership over 35 years into one of the city's most respected independent restaurant groups.

Tony handed the day-to-day running of the hospitality side to his sons in 2020 and continues as the group's overarching director and investor.

Follow the Vittoria Group and Tony Crolla on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/company/vittoria-group/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonycrolla/

In this episode of The Burnout Files, host John Glover sits down with Danny Campbell, founder of Hoko Design, architect, and judge on BBC Scotland's Home of the Year.

Danny started Hoko because he became obsessed with one idea: that home is where the most important moments of your life happen, and architects have been ignoring the people who live in them.

He launched the practice before he was fully qualified, no safety net, just a clear purpose and a strategic first hire. That obsession turned into a business. But the journey nearly broke him.

This conversation goes to places most founder stories don't. Danny talks candidly about the employment tribunal he nearly didn't survive, the contractor who walked off multiple sites at once and left Hoko holding the financial wreckage, and a regulatory hearing that threatened to end his career publicly: all while his brother was dying.

He "cried every day on the way to work and every day on the way home". And he kept going.

Danny opens up about the mental health crisis running through the architecture profession, the third most likely to die by suicide, and why the industry's culture of silence makes it worse.

He talks about ego, about stripping materialism out of his life, about why he wears Crocs to every meeting. And he shares what his brother taught him about facing the worst with grace.

If you've ever wondered what's really happening behind a founder who looks like they have it together: this one's for you.

Subscribe for more honest conversations about the real cost of building a business.

The Burnout Files is hosted by John Glover. Every episode explores the side of entrepreneurship that doesn't make the highlight reel: the setbacks, the sacrifices, and the very human stories behind building something from nothing.

Subscribe for new episodes: https://feeds.captivate.fm/the-burnout-files/

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theburnoutfiles_/

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theburnoutfiles/

Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theburnoutfiles_

Danny Campbell is the founder of Hoko Design, an architecture and design practice based in Scotland focused on helping homeowners create spaces that actually mean something. He is also a judge on BBC Scotland's Home of the Year.

He launched the business at 25 before completing his qualifications, and has spent the years since learning the hard way what it takes to build something that lasts.

Follow Hoko Design on LinkedIn, and Instagram

Follow Danny Campbell on Instagram

THE BURNOUT FILES

"What The F*** Am I Doing?" — Colin Frame, Founder of Stellar Omada

Host: John Glover

Duration: 1 hour 23 minutes

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EPISODE SUMMARY

Colin Frame built Stellar Omada from nothing in 2018. No investors, no safety net. Today it's one of Scotland's fastest-growing consultancies and he's targeting £50 million revenue by 2027. He's also the British Business Entrepreneur of the Year.

But none of that is what this conversation is about.

In this episode, Colin talks about the £200,000 cash flow crisis that nearly ended Stellar in its first year. The two companies he built and watched fail before he got it right. The divorce he went through while trying to scale a business.

The night he found himself walking to a freezing log cabin in rural Scotland with only his phone torch, wondering what on earth he was doing. He's been to the edge more than once. This is what brought him back.

If you're a founder, an entrepreneur, or you've ever wondered what the success stories leave out — this one's for you. Subscribe for more honest conversations about the real cost of building a business.

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IN THIS EPISODE

— Growing up in a caravan in rural Scotland and what it quietly did to his relationship with risk and failure

— Two failed startups before Stellar Omada — and why he's glad they happened

— The Friday afternoon his mum called to say they needed £200,000 by close of business

— How he's walked into boardrooms on the worst days of his life — and why compartmentalising isn't the same as coping

— Losing good people, avoiding conversations, and the leadership mistakes that still sit with him

— Going through a divorce while running a fast-growing company — and ending up in a freezing log cabin in October

— Why 72% of entrepreneurs are affected by mental health issues, and most never say a word

— What it felt like to be handed Entrepreneur of the Year by Bob Geldof

ABOUT THE BURNOUT FILES

The Burnout Files is hosted by John Glover. Every episode explores the side of entrepreneurship that doesn't make the highlight reel — the setbacks, the sacrifices, and the very human stories behind building something from nothing.

Subscribe for new episodes: https://feeds.captivate.fm/the-burnout-files/ Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theburnoutfiles_/ Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theburnoutfiles/ Follow us on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@theburnoutfiles_

ABOUT COLIN FRAME

Colin Frame is the founder and CEO of Stellar Omada, one of the UK's fastest-growing technology and assurance consultancies. Named British Business Entrepreneur of the Year, Colin started Stellar Omada in Edinburgh in 2018 and is backed by the British Growth Fund.

Follow Colin on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-frame-21a94915/

Stellar Omada: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stellar-omada/

What does it really cost to build something from nothing?

The Burnout Files is a new podcast hosted by John Glover — honest conversations with founders and entrepreneurs about the side of business that doesn't make the highlight reel. The setbacks, the sacrifices, and the very human stories behind building a company.

New episodes coming soon.

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