The Dealmaker Uncut

Join Jonathan Boyers, Head of Alvarez & Marsal Corporate Finance, and Chris Maguire, Executive Editor of BusinessCloud, as they sit down with Mark Sweeny, CEO of de Novo Solutions. In this episode, Mark Sweeny discusses: Dreaming of being a drummer in a rock brand Why selling Certus Solutions to Accenture was no fluke Why founders seeking investment need the ‘eye of the tiger’ to succeed The c...

Join Jonathan Boyers, Head of Alvarez & Marsal Corporate Finance, and Chris Maguire, Executive Editor of BusinessCloud, as they sit down with Mia Drennan, Founder & CEO of GLAS. In this episode, Mia Drennan discusses: Growing GLAS from £6k loan to a £1bn+ business How her gender grounded her hopes of being a fighter pilot Working as a holiday rep in Corfu Exiting her first business Square...

Join Jonathan Boyers, Head of Alvarez & Marsal Corporate Finance, and Chris Maguire, Executive Editor of BusinessCloud, as they sit down with Steve Rigby, CEO of Rigby Group. In this episode, Steve Rigby discusses: Life as   an entrepreneur, business leader, investor and philanthropist His remarkable father Sir Peter Rigby Growing Rigby Group’s turnover from £1.5bn to £4bn Investing in disrupt...

Join Jonathan Boyers, Head of Alvarez & Marsal Corporate Finance, and Chris Maguire, Executive Editor of BusinessCloud, as they sit down with John Hughes, Chairman of Cortus Advisory Group and serial board member. In this episode, John Hughes discusses: Rediscovering his mojo after a 29-year career at KPMG Turning around the fortunes of loss-making delivery giant Yodel Supporting ambitious com...

Join Jonathan Boyers, Head of Alvarez & Marsal Corporate Finance, and Chris Maguire, Executive Editor of BusinessCloud, as they sit down with Tom Dunlop, Founder and CEO of Summize. In this episode, Tom Dunlop discusses: Turning his back on Olympic dream to launch Summize Lessons learned from 150+ investor pitches Growing ARR to 8 figures Raising $50m How to crack American market and Staying t...

Join Jonathan Boyers, Head of Alvarez & Marsal Corporate Finance, and Chris Maguire, Executive Editor of BusinessCloud, as they sit down with Ruth Percival, Founder and CEO of Contollo Group. In this episode, Ruth Percival discusses: Dealing with misogynism Why women have to work harder than their male counterparts Making 5 acquisitions and growing to £35m turnover in less than two years Build...

Join Jonathan Boyers, Head of Alvarez & Marsal Corporate Finance, and Chris Maguire, Executive Editor of BusinessCloud, as they sit down with Fernando Kufer, CEO of Emmy award-winning visual experiences giant Disguise. In this episode, Fernando Kufer discusses: How watching Massive Attack at Glastonbury in 2014 changed his life Speaking 7 different languages Tripling the size of Disguise Survi...

Join Jonathan Boyers, Head of Alvarez & Marsal Corporate Finance, as he sits down with Adam Farricker, CEO of Empower Youth Zones, the charity behind Hideout Youth Zone in Manchester and Salford Youth Zone. In this episode, Adam Farricker discusses: Growing up in one of Manchester’s most deprived neighbourhoods and how youth work changed the course of his life; The collapse of traditional yout...

Join Jonathan Boyers, Head of Alvarez & Marsal Corporate Finance, and Christopher Maguire, Executive Editor of BusinessCloud, sit down with the King of Fudge Cakes himself, Chris Ormrod, CEO of Cakesmiths, the entrepreneur who turned Ministry of Cake into a private equity success story… not once, but twice. Episode summary Building, selling, re-acquiring and selling again the same cake busines...

Join Jonathan Boyers, Head of Alvarez & Marsal Corporate Finance, and Chris Maguire, Executive Editor of BusinessCloud, as they sit down to discuss Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget. In the second half of the episode, Jonathan will looks at the trends in the 2025 deals market and look at  what 2026 might have in store. Episode summary Who are the winners and losers from the long-awaited Budget?...

Join Jonathan Boyers, Head of Alvarez & Marsal Corporate Finance, and Chris Maguire, Executive Editor of BusinessCloud, as they sit down to interview  Paul Gedman, Co-founder, eComplete Group. In this episode, Paul Gedman discusses : · Making 10 acquisitions at THG Beauty and growing revenue to £600m; · Launching eComplete in 2020 to provide alternative to private equity; · Raising £100m; · Tr...

Join  Jonathan Boyers, Head of Alvarez & Marsal Corporate Finance, and Chris Maguire, Executive Editor of BusinessCloud, as they sit down to interview Tiffany Thorn, CEO of BiVictriX Therapeutics. In this episode, Tiffany Thorn discusses:   Why she didn’t want be a hairdresser; The tragedy that inspired her quest to improve cancer care; The pros and cons of doing an IPO; The decision to take ...

Join Jonathan Boyers, Head of Alvarez & Marsal Corporate Finance, and Chris Maguire, Executive Editor of BusinessCloud, as they sit down to interview Matt Hirst, CEO of ESG. In this episode, Matt Hirst discusses: ▪️Why he had to do an MBO of Utiligroup from Bglobal plc; ▪️Getting the right chairman; ▪️The secret to growing revenue five-fold in three years; ▪️Getting snapped up by ESG, part of...

Join Jonathan Boyers, Head of Alvarez & Marsal Corporate Finance, and Chris Maguire, Executive Editor of BusinessCloud, as they sit down to interview Steve Oliver, Co-founder of musicMagpie. In this episode, Steve Oliver discusses: The pros and cons of musicMagpie’s 2021 IPO, which gave the company a £208m market cap and delivered a 12x multiple for investor NVM—but also brought unwelcome publ...

Join Jonathan Boyers, Head of Alvarez & Marsal Corporate Finance, and Chris Maguire, Executive Editor of BusinessCloud, as they sit down to interview Martin Port, Founder, Chairman and CEO of  Build Concierge. In this episode, Martin Port discusses: His journey from founder to exit of telematic business Masternaut; Why he launched Leeds-based mobile workforce management tech firm Big Change, b...

Matthew Scullion is not your typical CEO. He’s the co-founder of Manchester-based Matillion, which joined the ranks of UK unicorns in 2021 when a Series E fundraise took its valuation to $1.5bn. He tells The Dealmaker Uncut podcast how he doesn’t obsess about being a unicorn and says companies should stop blaming investors if they can’t raise funds.  Scullion also talks about: The game-changing pi...

Dean Ward has created a global business on the back of the surge in demand for touch screen kiosks. Ward is the co-founder of Liverpool-based Evoke Creative, which can count McDonald’s, JD Sports and Google among its clients. The game-changing moment for Evoke came in 2015 when it secured a multi-million order from McDonalds that led to 5,000 kiosks – despite only having 15 staff! What made their...

Beth Houghton started her working life travelling the world as a SAP consultant but gave it up for the world of deals. Today’s she heads up Palatine Private Equity’s Impact Investing Fund and is one of the leading names in all things ESG. She’s proved that doing the right thing for the environment doesn’t have to bad for business.  One of her most noticeable successes was Anthesis, a sustainabilit...

Andrew Leaitherland is the founder and CEO of tech-enabled law firm arch.law but he’s best known from his time as the CEO of DWF. Under his leadership, DWF Group grew from 450 people to over 4,300 across 33 offices world-wide and turnover from under £30m to more than £330m. When he oversaw the 2019 IPO, DWF become the UK’s largest listed law firm – but within a year he’d left in a boardroom shake-...

Graham Donoghue is the CEO of the holiday giant you probably haven’t heard of. Forge Holiday Group is on the cusp of achieving unicorn status but gets a fraction of the attention of its rivals Airbnb and Booking.com. Today the company manages 33,000 properties; handles 700,000 annual bookings; has 1,800 staff; and transacts more than £500m a year. Donoghue is a part-time beekeeper and became CEO o...

Paul Gouge is a giant of the gaming world. He’s the CEO of ForthStar but he’s best known for his previous business – mobile games studio Playdemic – which was bought by EA in 2021 for $1.4bn.  In a fascinating interview with The Dealmaker Uncut, Gouge reveals the bittersweet moment when he first sold Playdemic to Warner Bros in 2016 – only to launch the hit game Golf Clash weeks later. It meant Wa...

Barry Nightingale is the straight-talking Northerner with a reputation for getting deals done. During a stellar career he’s worked with some of the best known names in business – including webuyanycar founders   Noel and Darren McKee; BetFred’s billionaire founder Fred Done; and easyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou.  Nightingale has specialised in financing and has a track record of being invo...

Clare Roberts OBE is the founder and CEO of Kids Planet. She launched the business with her father in 2008 at two new locations in Warrington and Widnes after becoming  disappointed  at the quality of childcare available. Today, Kids Planet is the UK’s third largest nursery group with 220+ nurseries and looks after more than 25,000 children. Roberts talks about her approach to acquisition and her...

As the CEO of Travel Counsellors, Steve Byrne is one of the UK’s most popular and highly-regarded business leaders. Under his leadership, Travel Counsellors has just hit the milestone of £1bn in sales for the first time – and plans to hit £2bn in five years. In a far-reaching interview, Byrne discusses leading an MBO; securing a secondary buyout; his approach to acquisition; and how he navigated t...