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Claritas Tax started in 2012 as a one-person venture. Today, it’s a 100-strong firm with eight offices across the UK. In this episode, Iain Wright, founder of Claritas, shares the journey from leaving a safe career path to building arguably the UK’s fastest-growing specialist tax firm.

We talk about the first business plan, the earliest hires, how Claritas scaled, the challenges of competing without a big brand, and the trust it takes to let go of work in order to grow. 

Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP123

The Tax Lab (real scenarios, tackled live:  https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/thetaxlab/

Timings

• (1:00) Intro to Iain, Claritas Tax, and time-based billing story
• (8:00) Iain's options immediately before starting Claritas Tax, back in 2012, and his thought process
• (11:00) The business plan Iain drew up prior to starting Claritas - the plan and vision
• (13:40) The first hire - was it senior or junior?
• (18:02) How did Iain scale the business to 100 employees?
• (22:52) What challenges did the business run into as it started to get bigger (past 11 or so staff)
• (26:29) How Claritas solved the "lack of brand" awareness problem/challenge
• (29:24) The differences between running a small firm and a larger one
• (32:33) What's Iain's role like now?
• (36:03) The importance of trust
• (38:57) Stand out lessons to Iain from his journey - what he wished he knew when he started
• (41:01) What's been the hardest part of the journey for Iain?

The Tax Lab

Sharpen your skills as a tax advisor by seeing exactly how I think and approach real scenarios that we encounter as tax professionals, with The Tax Lab.

The Tax Lab gives you a glimpse inside my mind — my thoughts and my approach — as I tackle real scenarios live, so you can refine your own way of working.

Sessions of The Tax Lab are free to attend. Sign up so I can invite you to all future sessions.

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