May the force be with you – Adam Oldfield, Force 24
This week we speak to Adam Oldfield, Founder & CEO of Force 24.
Adam tells us about ‘forming, storming, norming and performing’, the dangers of having too much money in the business, how market pressure forced him to change the business offering and how he rejected, perhaps wrongly in hindsight, an offer to sell the business.
The business surgery segment answers the question; “Our team is growing and I’m recruiting. Any tips on writing job descriptions and roles & responsibility documents?”
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INTRODUCING ADAM OLDFIELD
After spending 20+ years in senior marketing roles, in 2010 Adam began a journey to develop a solution that allowed marketers to hold greater conversations with their audience at speed. He called it Force24 – now one of the in-demand marketing automation platforms in the UK.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
[00.00.00] Adam’s early career
[00.03.45] merging two businesses, the pros & cons
[00.06.45] exiting one business and launching another
[00.12.00] Funding and growing the start up
[00.16.30] Changing the business strategy
[00.22.00] The problems in scaling the business
[00.24.00] Finding equity funding and a trade offer
[00.34.00] Spending PE money and Non-Exec Chairs
[00.38.00] Business Surgery
[00.43.00] The problems caused by having PE funds
[00.48.00] How to build a team to support scale
2 KEY TAKEAWAYS & BUSINESS LEARNINGS
- Recruiting ‘troops on the ground’ quickly, doesn’t work
- PE want you to spend their cash in a slow, diligent, controlled measured manner
VALUABLE RESOURCES FOR YOU
Website: www.leedsbusinesspodcast.com
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/leeds-business-podcast/
Work with Phil – www.philfraser.co.uk
Website: https://www.force24.co.uk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/force24 https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-oldfield-7b5a1813/
Shout out: https://www.bobbledigital.com
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ABOUT YOUR HOST
Phil Fraser went from an accidental kitchen table start up, with no investment, all the way to multi-million pound sale to a PLC 18 years later. He’s travelled the full SME business journey of launch, growth, scale and exit.
As well as hosting the Leeds Business Podcast, Phil now works with ambitious SME-owners as a Business Sounding Board (think somewhere between Business Coach and Business Mentor). In simple terms, he’s ‘a pair of ears and an extra pair eyes’ for SME Owners helping them to be better at what they do. Phil’s mantra is It doesn’t need to be ‘lonely at the top’. He helps Business Owners to be better business owners, by helping with their clarity and focus.
As a Business Sounding Board, he gives SME Owners the time & space to regularly discuss their challenges and opportunities, with no sense of judgement or bias, and in complete confidence. This allows them to explore their options in full, culminating with a list of issues to address/clarify, a clear target in mind, a roadmap to success, and a renewed enthusiasm and confidence for the challenges ahead.
Want to work with Phil to help you? See www.philfraser.co.uk.
LEEDS BUSINESS PODCAST
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Email: phil@leedsbusinesspodcast.com
