Season 4 | Ep 19 - James Cox from launching his start up within an established group to group CEO in 3 years!
Today I was delighted to be joined on The RAG Podcast Live with James Cox, the Co-Founder of Bio Talent and the CEO of Trinnovo Group. Trinnovo is a fast-growth, international recruitment company, bringing together three market specialists and our own social enterprise:
- Trust in SODA - digital
- Broadgate Search – governance, finance, change
- BioTalent - life sciences
- Ex-MilitaryCareers.com – enabling ex-military career success (social enterprise)
Launched in Jan 2018, this growth in 3 years has been incredible!
In this episode, we discussed
🎙How and why he decided to join 2 founders of established agencies and create a new brand - as opposed to launching on his own
🎙His startup story and achieving £900,000 in year 1 revenue!
🎙How the pandemic affected the group brand
🎙His move to CEO of the group
🎙The business today and his vision for future growth!
A super smart leader with huge ambition, if you are interested in launching a multi brand recruitment business then this is one for you!
If you would like to chat to James directly please contact them via LinkedIn!
Season 4 | Ep 18 - James Fernandes and Simon Gardiner on their 10 year journey from a garage with no heating to over 60 staff and multiple industry awards!
Today I was delighted to be joined on The RAG Podcast Live with James Fernandes and Simon Gardiner, the Co-Founders of Carrington West, an award winning agency specialising in technical recruitment for the built environment in the UK.
Launched in Jan 2011, these guys have been on an epic journey!
In this episode, we discussed
🎙How and why they left to start the business
🎙Their start up story working from a brothers garage with no heating (and fingerless gloves)
🎙The move to bring on more partners to lead the business in the early days
🎙Their secret to getting the best out of their people
🎙The business today and his vision for future growth!
A pleasure to interview such energetic and inspiring founders, they are more than willing to support the next generation of recruitment owners!
If you would like to chat to James or Simon directly please contact them via LinkedIn!
Season 4 | Ep 17 - Logan Naidu on growing Dartmouth Partners to 180 staff through 30% year on year growth, PE investment and M&A activity!
Today I was delighted to be joined on The RAG Podcast Live with CEO and Founder of Dartmouth Partners, Logan Naidu.
Logan is now almost 9 years into the growth of his second recruitment agency and he feels like he is only just getting started!
In this episode, we discussed
🎙Leaving a role in Corporate Finance and joining the recruitment sector at 24 yrs old
🎙Why he set up his own agency 1 yr into his career
🎙The growth of his first business and his role as £1m biller
🎙Being diagnosed with cancer on his first year wedding anniversary with a wife who was 6 months pregnant
🎙Exiting the business and launching his own entity that could truly scale in the way he wanted
🎙Dartmouth’s journey pre, during and post PE investment
🎙The acquisition of Pure Search in late 2019 and then the impact of COVID-19
🎙The business today and his vision for future growth!
One of the most relaxed and humble recruitment owners I have ever met, it is clear to see that Logan has his mind set on more amazing achievements in the future. Great advice and honest accounts of the good and the bad, I hope you learn as much from listening to this as I did recording!
If you would like to chat to Logan directly please contact him via LinkedIn!
Season 4 | Ep 16 - James Caan CBE on selling Alexander Mann for £260m, appearing on Dragons Den and why he still loves investing in Recruitment Agencies today!
Today I was delighted to be joined on The RAG Podcast Live with Recruitment Entrepreneur and former Dragon - James Caan CBE!
Although famous for his time on BBC TV, James is the most followed recruitment professional in the world today with over 3million Linkedin followers!
In this episode, I we discussed
🎙Launching, growing and selling Alexander Mann in 2013 for £260 million
🎙How he felt when he had enough money to retire at 42 years old
🎙Growing Humana International and moving into private equity with Hamilton Bradshaw
🎙Launching Recruitment Entrepreneur in 2014, investing in more than 32 founders to date
🎙The impact of his 3 million followers on Linkedin
🎙Why he loves the industry and keeps on going when he simply doesn’t need to!
A fascinating chat with James and for me the realisation that despite his huge success - he truly believes that growing a recruitment business is about investing in people and doing the basics well, every single day!If you would like to chat to James directly please email him at jb@hbpe.com or via LinkedIn!
Season 4 | Ep 15 - Paul Flynn on addiction, mental health and selling Staffgroup for over £20m!
Today I was joined by Paul Flynn - an investor in recruitment and mental health businesses and the ex Founder / MD of Staffgroup which he sold in 2015 for over £20m
A warm and open person, I have only ever heard great things about Paul from the market. This was my first ever chat with him in person and he certainly lived up to expectation.
In today’s episode we discussed
🎙 Paul’s early days at Progressive (S3)
🎙 His journey to launching Staffgroup in 2003 with 2 co-founders
🎙 How he suffered from addiction and by 2006 needed to go to rehab to resolve this
🎙 Running his business as a sober leader, even with the annual trips to Vegas and Ibiza!
🎙 How he eventually sold in 2015
🎙What he did next
🎙His 3 key takeaways from his career for others to learn from
Paul is a recruiter at heart and he clearly loves the industry! One of the success stories of the past 15 years, feel free to contact him directly if you would like to ask any more questions relating to our conversation!
Season 4 | Ep 14 - Tim Cook on what he has learnt about growing, selling and buying recruitment agencies after 34 years in the industry!
Today I was joined live on LinkedIn by Tim Cook - Group CEO nGAGE, a portfolio of 16 specialist recruitment businesses with over 750 staff.
A fascinating chat that felt like an educational lesson for myself throughout, in today’s episode we discussed
🎙 Tim's 24 years of working at Hays
🎙 His journey to joining James Caan and subsequent MBO
🎙 How he was ready to sell his business for £200m and then covid hit
🎙 What he looks for when buying and selling recruitment agencies
🎙 His vision for nGAGE post Covid!
Tim is a seasoned professional who’s wisdom and knowledge would benefit any growing agency leader! Contact him directly if you would like to ask any more questions relating to our conversation!
Season 4 | Ep 13 - Clare Cooper on 4 weeks into launching her start up agency Storm3 and hiring 20 grads at once!
Today I was re joined by a guest from Ep 19 of Season 1, Clare Cooper! Back in June 2019, Clare was then an executive director at Phaidon International about to celebrate her 10 year anniversary with the business.
Fast forward almost 2 years and she is now the Founder of Storm3 - a specialist Health Tech recruitment agency and one of the newest brands in the Levin Group (the fastest growing recruitment company in the world)
Having recently interviewed James Brown, CEO of the group and Founder of Storm 2, I knew I was in for a great episode!
In today’s episode we discussed
🎙 Why Clare decided to leave Phaidon and almost left the industry
🎙 What she did with 6 months garden leave in a global pandemic
🎙 Why she decided to join James Brown and the team and start Storm3
🎙 Why and how she is hiring 20 grads at once to give the business a huge start
🎙 Her vision for Storm3 and why she feels their model is more simple than you would expect!
Clare has energy, charisma and huge confidence! I have every faith that Clare and the team will be a huge success and she is certainly one to watch across the globe!
Season 4 | Ep 12 - Project 500 reaches £40,000 in February!
In today's live episode of The RAG Podcast, I was joined for the final time by P500 partners Tim Roedel and Chris Redmond
We are proud to announce that we have reached £40,000 in donations!
Thank you to everyone who donated towards our initiative in February, we set out to raise as much money as possible to get brand new laptops to UK school children in need whilst homeschooling!
We have managed to help over 200 children and united many across the recruitment sector to make it happen!
We will be leaving the initiative open for anyone who wants to donate in March but in light of the announcement of schools re opening, we will no longer be pushing the initiative daily.
To donate please visit - https://gogetfunding.com/project-500/
Season 4 | Ep 11 - Bernie Schiemer on going from an 8 figure exit as a recruitment owner to building the world's fastest growing recruitment CRM!
Today I was delighted to be joined by Bernie Schiemer, Founder and CEO of Vincere- the worlds number 1 all in one recruitment crm platform and our wonderful podcast sponsor!
Bernie has spent multiple decades in the recruitment industry and it is clear that what he doesn’t know, probably isn’t worth knowing.
After selling his agency and enjoying his 8 figure payout for a couple of years, Bernie decided to become a tech entrepreneur (with no previous experience)
In today’s episode we discussed
🎙 How in he came to sell his agency
🎙 How he felt with 8 figures in the bank but no job
🎙 Why he wanted to go again as a business owner
🎙 Why he decided to venture into the world of start ups
🎙 His vision for Vincere and where he sees the future of our industry
Genuine and extremely likeable, not only will this give you an insight into selling an agency but also the brains behind the amazing platform we know as Vincere.
Season 4 | Ep 10 - Project 500 reaches £38,000 in donations!
In today's live episode of The RAG Podcast, I am again joined by my P500 partners Tim Roedel and Chris Redmond
We are now 3 weeks into our February fundraising initiative to get brand new laptops to UK school children in need!
This week we saw lots of laptops reaching schools and letters of thanks for both children and teachers across the country!
Thank you so much to everyone who has helped us so far - but we can’t stop now!
Please help by donating what you can - to do so please visit https://project500.hoxomedia.com/