I sold my business… then immediately launched another one – Anna Sutton, The Data Refinery
This week we speak to Anna Sutton, Co-Founder of the Data Refinery.
For most of us building then selling one business would be enough. Not with today’s guest who, having sold one business, immediately launched a second one. Anna also shares with us the complexities of being the leader rather than the do-er, business growth pains and a chastening fund-raising exercise.
The Business Surgery answers the question; “‘“We’re coming up to annual appraisal time. Any advice?”
For more information on our sponsors, YFM Equity Partners, please visit www.yfmep.com (and when you contact them tell them Phil from Leeds Business Podcast sent you!)
INTRODUCING ANNA SUTTON
Anna Sutton co-founded The Data Shed, a Leeds based data engineering consultancy in 2013. Exiting to Hippo Digital in March 2023, Anna is now back in start-up land and in the process of taking her SaaS data integration platform, The Data Refinery, to market. The aim is to provide enterprise level data warehousing, insight and segmentation tools to small/medium sized businesses at a fraction of the cost.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
[00:02:00] From employment to launching a business whilst pregnant
[00:05:00] The birth of the Data Shed
[00:12:00] Hiring staff and growing the business
[00:16:00] Growth pains and failed fund-raising
[00:24:00] Dealing with Covid through a structured team
[00:26:00] The importance of business coaching
[00:30:00] Leadership rather than being a do-er and scaling a business
[00:37:00] Exiting a business and the emotional impact
[00:48:00] Launching the Data Refinery
[00:52:00] How to define and track key indicators
[01:03:00] Business Surgery
6 KEY TAKEAWAYS & BUSINESS LEARNINGS
- Time to revenue and profit is much faster than building a product business
- You have to work with the business coach that is right for YOU
- There’s a huge difference between starting a company and scaling one
- There’s lots of people really love giving advice. If you ask, people will help.
- You don’t need 38 KPIs. You need a simple clear set of numbers that help you get where you
- Your KPIs are nothing if you have inconsistent data below it are going
3 MOMENTS TO LOOK OUT FOR
“We spent a good two or three years figuring out how we were going to make it work”
“I cannot do the thing that we are selling”
“There was a huge learning curve. I loved it but it was terrifying”
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: http://www.thedatarefinery.co.uk/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-sutton-the-data-refinery/ & https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-data-refinery
Shout out: https://livve.uk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-sookia-bbab17248/
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YOU MAY ALSO LIKE (INCLUDING ‘AS MENTIONED’)
https://leedsbusinesspodcast.com/podcast/business-problems-solved/
https://leedsbusinesspodcast.com/podcast/george-fairhall/
https://leedsbusinesspodcast.com/podcast/lifted-ventures/
https://leedsbusinesspodcast.com/podcast/phil-fraser/
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
Hippo Digital, The Data Shed, The Data Refinery, Leeds,
Leeds Business, Business in Leeds, Nous of Fraser, Business Sounding Board,
Business Coach, Business Mentor,
Email: phil@leedsbusinesspodcast.com
