Scaling to £1bn: Lessons from an Exited Entrepreneur

Successfully scaling a business demands a decisive change in focus regarding leadership, team building, and board governance. The journey requires founders to replace hands-on operational work with strategic leadership that enables true growth.

This framework is drawn from insights shared at a recent Exited Entrepreneur Roundtable breakfast, hosted in partnership with Sheffield Haworth, where plural chair and former CEO, Duncan McIntyre, offered a direct, no-nonsense guide to managing the critical transitions of a scaleup.

The Founder to CEO Transition

The drive that starts a company - the belief that you can do everything better - must be replaced by leadership that enables scale. This shift requires discipline in delegation and a clear focus on core strategy.

To free up time for strategic work, you must actively shed operational tasks. A practical approach is to implement strict delegation by aiming to move 20% of your workload off your desk every week. This discipline forces you to focus only on activities essential to the business's survival and growth.

As the business grows, use clear, simple internal tools to manage complexity and maintain focus. The Five P’s Framework is a useful model to assess business health and allocate resources: People, Product, Performance, Pipeline (Sales), and Profile (Marketing/Branding).

Beyond daily operations, you must recognise your maximum effective scale. If you dislike internal politics or large structures, focus on your strengths (investor relations, people) and hire leaders to take the business beyond your personal comfort zone. To stay grounded, use annual written goals to track personal objectives. This ensures you remain focused on your core motivation rather than becoming solely driven by escalating valuation figures.

Building the Scalable Team

Scaling requires a team you can trust and an understanding of what truly motivates them.

Absolute trust in your team is non-negotiable for scale. Build this trust by hiring correctly and then giving people the autonomy to perform, which includes allowing them to make mistakes. While equity is important, alignment must be based on a shared culture, values, and talent. Consistent culture and celebrating small successes are crucial for team cohesion, as money alone can often fracture management teams.

Be cautious of executives from large corporations. They often lack the first principles thinking and resilience required for a smaller, scaling company, relying on support structures and data that may not exist.

In terms of sales, start with a direct sales force to establish product-market fit. Channels and partners should only be introduced once you clearly know what customers want and buy.

Building and Managing Your Board

A well-structured board provides governance, experience, and the necessary protection for the CEO.

The Chairman must transition from the CEO's directive role to one of strategic nudging. Their primary function is to support the management team and protect the CEO by handling investor relations and shareholder matters outside operational discussions.

Investors seek a Chairman with exit experience. Successfully selling a business is far more complex than raising capital, and you need a board member who can navigate competitive bidding and transaction complexities. However, be careful if investors insist on placing a Chair, as their allegiance may be with the investor, making them a difficult partner during challenging times.

To prepare for a formal board, start running informal boards with potential independent directors early. This provides crucial practice for the management team. Finally, never appoint a Chairman whose current day job is CEO; they will likely default to giving orders rather than providing strategic advice.

Final Takeaway: Execution Over Ego

The journey from founder to successful CEO is defined by execution over ego. It requires hard decisions about delegation, team composition, and external oversight. The most effective leaders accept that sustained growth depends on building a robust system that can thrive without their constant hands-on input.

If you are currently navigating the transition to Series A or B, these principles are not optional - they are the minimum requirement for preparing your business for the next phase of institutional investment and eventual exit.

VenturePath members: You can find Duncan and Sheffield Haworth's insights available to recap through the content library within our digital platform. Not yet a member? You can register your interest in joining here.

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"The success of the companies lies within its people." Scaling requires meticulous planning and execution to fill critical leadership roles at the management and board levels, which is the single greatest determinant of your a company's success.

About Sheffield Haworth

Sheffield Haworth is a global executive search and strategic talent advisory firm operating across the financial services, technology, and professional services sectors. With over 200 professionals and 14 offices spanning EMEA, North America, and APAC, the firm specialises in placing exceptional executives in influential roles.

Their Technology practice partners internationally with private, investor-backed, and publicly listed businesses to deliver people-led change within Deep Tech, Enterprise Software, and Digital Services, ensuring clients realise their full potential.

Sheffield Haworth is a strategic partner to VenturePath. VenturePath members - the Sheffield Haworth team is on-hand to partner with you on your legal needs while scaling, raising or exiting.