For the bootstrapped founder trying to grow, scale and exit.

Dear Founder,

As an “unfunded” founder, you will have put your heart and soul into growing your business.

You may be wondering why it feels precarious even though the numbers are going up.

You may not have anyone to talk to who truly understands what you’re going through and who can also be objective.

You may want to know how much you should sell for, how much you need, and what it’ll be like afterwards. Can you even leave?

My job is to use my skills and experience to help you identify your goals and make it considerably more likely that you achieve them. And if I don’t know the answer I’ll put you in touch with a friend who does.

My history

I built an HR Tech SaaS app up from nothing to just under £2m ARR with no investment or other shareholders and took it to successful acquisition in April 2025. It made one of my big dreams come true.

Working together

I work with a small number of founders seeking to grow their business and who want the choice to exit. Best fit is where revenue is between £100,000 and £1m, the business has been bootstrapped or there’s no external investor governance/advisory board. This is my niche.

When working together, we’ll talk about what’s on your mind, challenges you’re facing and decisions that need to be made. You’ll leave with clarity on what needs doing to help you get to your next step, whether that’s growth, exit, or something else.

A few things that often come up

On people: every founder I speak to says the same thing. Managing people is what they spend most of their time or mental effort doing. People are weird and wonderful. We suffer from all sorts of problems like envy, bias, avoidance of (or attraction to) irrational things. Managing this can be absolutely exhausting, yet you must find a way to do it successfully. It helps if you’ve got your own values and purpose in reasonable order first.

Authenticity: It’s very hard to be successful as a founder if you lack it. Knowing your strengths and what you stand for is important have when facing opposition and adversity. But most people are human and find themselves attracted to conflicting messages about how they should act in order to be successful. It’s natural.

Humility: or perhaps better written as humbleness. It’s an underrated value in entrepreneurial circles. It means you’re open to learning, you realise everyone makes mistakes and nothing is perfect. You can be humble yet still have conviction, determination and passion.

On leadership: I found a way to be an authentic leader, comfortable with my role, and I would like to help you do the same.

If you feel like you are operating alone, worried you’re not making the most of the opportunity you have, or thinking about an exit, get in touch with me for a chat.

Yours,

Roly