Exiteers

Charlie Norton has bought, built and exited businesses since he was a teenager but nothing prepared him for the eight weeks he spent trying to turn around a haulage company he bought for £1. In this episode, Charlie (CEO of VAMOS Business Transfer) walks through his path from setting up a tag rugby coaching business at 14, his first leveraged buyout at 21 with an overdrawn bank account, to the mul...

Roei Samuel sold his first company at 26 and became a millionaire overnight. By his own account it didn't fix a single thing he thought it would. He sits down with Rachel to talk about the burnout, the self-medication, being 120 days sober, and why the feeling of being enough never showed up the day the deal closed. Then the business he's building now, Connectd, and his case that full-time...

Most AI rollouts don't move the P&L. Here's why, and what to do instead. Rachel Murphy is joined by Ben Ford: technologist, ex-Royal Marine, and co-founder of Grafter AI. Ben taught himself Python on a boat to Iraq in 2003, has built national platforms, and ran Mission Control rebuilding internal systems for founders before ChatGPT 3.5 even launched. This conversation is for founders r...

Caroline Carruthers was the first female Chief Data Officer in the UK. She built Carruthers & Jackson from a book and a summer school into a thriving data consultancy. And along the way, found herself in the middle of an exit process she never asked for. In this episode, Rachel and Caroline talk about what it actually feels like to be courted by acquirers, why expensive advice isn't always...

What happens when a journalist with a gift for storytelling builds a PR agency in one of the fastest-moving sectors in healthcare and then walks away from it all? Holly Tennock joins the Exiteers Podcast to tell her story. Starting out as an NHS trainee and economics journalist, Holly discovered she had a rare ability to take complex, dry subject matter and turn it into stories that resonated with...

This episode is a rollercoaster, emotionally and professionally. Rachel Murphy returns for Part 2 of her Exiteers conversation with Sally Wynter, and this time, she goes even deeper. From building her first million-pound business in a year, watching her teenage stepdaughter fight for life in an ICU, to helping 41 businesses grow, raise, or exit with real ROI - it's what real leadership looks like....

In this episode of Exiteers™️, the first of a two-parter, the mic is flipped. Rachel Murphy, known for building and exiting multiple businesses, steps into the hot seat as former guest Sally Wynter takes over the questions. What follows is a raw, honest look into Rachel’s journey, from founding her first company in her 20s, a £13.3m exit, to running The Grafter today. But it’s not all business. Ra...

Sam Alsop-Hall co-founded Clive Henry group at the height of a global pandemic. No plan B in place, just a bold idea and relentless focus. Named after their grandfathers, the business went on to become the second fastest growing company in the UK. But behind the headlines was a journey of late nights, hard calls, and lessons LinkedIn barely touches with honesty. In this episode, Sam joins Rachel M...

Join us as Phil Telfer talks about the gritty reality of UK entrepreneurship! From battling policy hurdles to seizing global markets, Phil's journey from tech agency founder to industry leader is packed with insights. Discover the secrets to thriving in a challenging economic climate and why collaboration is key. Don't miss this conversation between Rachel and Phil on the current UK busine...

In this conversation, Gareth shares his extensive journey from sales to successful CEO, detailing the pivotal moments and lessons learned during his career. Gareth and Rach talk about the challenges of scaling through acquisitions and the emotional impact of exiting a business. He talks to his current venture, BizCrunch, which aims to innovate the process of buying and selling businesses, and refl...

Kathryn Strachan started CopyHouse in 2020. This was weeks away from a global pandemic kicking off. What began as a solo venture quickly scaled into a content marketing agency with 32 team members and over £2 million in revenue. But behind the scenes of that rapid growth was a founder learning to let go, to lead, and eventually, to walk away. In this conversation, Kathryn shares how she shifted fr...

Knowing how to survive is one thing, but knowing how to succeed is something completely different. She wasn’t handed a network, a mentor, or a safety net. What she was given? Grit. Hunger. And a stubborn refusal to accept her circumstances. At 24, Sally Wynter went from the idea of creating the first CBD-infused gin to a 7-figure exit in less than a year. This was all without funding, connections,...

Stephen Critchlow built and sold not just one, but two companies. One to a major healthcare software firm, and another that developed wind farms. Both were highly profitable exits. But what happened after the sale? In this powerful and honest conversation, Rachel and Stephen explore the real story behind the headlines: what it feels like to walk away from a company you've poured decades of your li...

Niraj Shah has been on both sides of the deal table with building, buying, and selling businesses across real estate, wellness, and technology. In this episode, he sits down with Rachel to share what it really feels like to go through an exit - emotionally, financially, and personally. From suffering a stroke at 30 that changed the course of his life, to exiting a wellness business that was deeply...

Here in the UK, we don't talk about money and we certainly don't talk about planning to sell our businesses. You may not have even thought about selling but if you're running your own business, succession and exit plans are necessary. Being approached by another company wanting to buy what you've built happens all the time and that's where the Exiteers™️ come in. With over 10 businesses sold betwe...

Andrew Hulbert grew up working class on a council estate, raised on graft and grit. At 26, with no funding and no plan, he walked away from a suffocating corporate job and launched his own business from his bedroom. That bet turned into a team of 500, clients like Twitter and Deliveroo, and a $100M exit before he turned 35. But with the dream came the cost: missed moments, personal sacrifices, and...