From Council Estate to £100M Exit | How He Built a Business That Didn't Need Him episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 10, 2026 · 1H 13M

From Council Estate to £100M Exit | How He Built a Business That Didn't Need Him

from Don't Work Harder

Andrew Hulbert started his business in his bedroom with no clients, no processes, and no team.Within 18 months he hit £1.5M turnover. Within 10 years he had 500 staff, £50M turnover, and at age 37 he exited his business for £100M.Andrew grew up on a council estate in Oxford watching his parents work multiple jobs to keep the lights on. He started Pareto at 27, won Bulgari Hotel as his first client, scaled to £50M revenue, built a senior team of 15 with 100% retention over 10 years. Andrew gave his Senior Leadership Team 20% equity worth over £10M between them, and exited for nine figures, all before he turned 38.But the hard part nobody talks about - Andrew WAS the business. Every client meeting, every promise, every relationship was tied to him showing up. And that's exactly what would stop him from scaling and selling. He had to make himself irrelevant in the company he'd built on his back.In this brutally honest conversation, Andrew reveals:- How he went from bedroom to £1.5M in 12 months with nothing but a laptop and six years of networking relationships- The exact moment he realised HE was the blocker in his business' growth- His team management strategy - why he ""overpromoted"" people who wouldn't get as high level roles anywhere else - The £1M overhead investment that tanked his profit but doubled it the year after 💰- How he felt the day after his exit money hit - and how he figured out who he was WITHOUT the businessAndrew names the unbalanced years, the WhatsApp rants at 11pm, the kids born during the biggest growth phase when he wasn't around enough. And the fact that even at £4M revenue, if you're the only one who can do the thing, you haven't built a business. He also names what came after - the team watching money hit their accounts, buying his parents houses, and now doing the school run every day.For anyone building something they hope to sell, who wonders if the grind is worth it, or who's realised they've become the bottleneck - this is the blueprint 🚀--------This episode is brought to you by our Sponsors:Mavericks Growth Club. This is for you if you’re ready to scale and want access to epic in-person and online events with world-class entrepreneurs who can show you the way. You’ll unlock powerful strategies on our exclusive Mavericks-only Strategy Days, where you get dedicated time to work on your business - plus access to weekly coaching calls. Sign up here: https://www.atomic.site/mavericks ------Andrew's Links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewhulbertInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/_andrewhulbert------Steal our Sales Call Success Template and convert more of the right people on calls and get more ‘YESES’ than ever before without feeling salesyAccess our FREE Sales Call Success Template, to help double your conversation rate call, forevermore.https://atomic.site/sales-script/------#DontWorkHarder #BusinessGrowth #SalesandMarketing

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From Council Estate to £100M Exit | How He Built a Business That Didn't Need Him

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