May the force be with you - Adam Oldfield, Force 24

This week we speak to Adam Oldfield, Founder & CEO of Force 24.

Adam tells us about ‘forming, storming, norming and performing’, the dangers of having too much money in the business, how market pressure forced him to change the business offering and how he rejected, perhaps wrongly in hindsight, an offer to sell the business.

The business surgery segment answers the question; "Our team is growing and I'm recruiting. Any tips on writing job descriptions and roles & responsibility documents?”

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 ADAM OLDFIELD

After spending 20+ years in senior marketing roles, in 2010 Adam began a journey to develop a solution that allowed marketers to hold greater conversations with their audience at speed. He called it Force24 – now one of the in-demand marketing automation platforms in the UK.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

[00.00.00] Adam's early career

[00.03.45] merging two businesses, the pros & cons

[00.06.45] exiting one business and launching another

[00.12.00] Funding and growing the start up

[00.16.30] Changing the business strategy

[00.22.00] The problems in scaling the business

[00.24.00] Finding equity funding and a trade offer

[00.34.00] Spending PE money and Non-Exec Chairs

[00.38.00] Business Surgery 

[00.43.00] The problems caused by having PE funds

[00.48.00] How to build a team to support scale

2 KEY TAKEAWAYS & BUSINESS LEARNINGS

• Recruiting 'troops on the ground’ quickly, doesn't work
• PE want you to spend their cash in a slow, diligent, controlled measured manner

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: https://www.force24.co.uk 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/force24 https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-oldfield-7b5a1813/ 

Shout out: https://www.bobbledigital.com 

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