I started my second business in 1998. I lost it in 2012.
What follows is the record. The dates, the numbers, and the decisions I made on my own.
Born in Eastbourne to a Scottish father and an Iranian mother, I grew up with a clear set of values. Inclusion, hard work and do your best. Combined with a sense of adventure and curiosity, they led me to explore life and its edges.
After a school music scholarship I moved to London and sold advertising and sponsorship to major corporations wanting to be seen at prestigious events. It taught me a lesson that still holds in how I work today. Listen first. Speak second.
By 27 I was burnt out. Tired and stressed. I stopped smoking, put the drink on hold, joined a gym and started meditation while I figured out my next move.
Build something that solves a problem you understand.
On 17 August 1998, SNCDirect started trading from a rented flat in Camden.
I had no experience of retail, no experience of the internet, and no experience of the category. But I believed people buying sports supplements deserved a better deal. So I cut out the middleman, sold products online for less and delivered them directly to customers, long before most of the high street had a website and Amazon was only selling books.
Six months in, my distributor offered me £250,000 for 25% of the business.
Our revenue was only £125,000.
I said no.
Inspired by Bill Phillips and what he was building in the USA with EAS, I believed the sports nutrition industry was only just beginning. My ambition was bigger than the offer.
I don't regret saying no. I regret making that decision alone, with no one to challenge my thinking.
Within five years, annual revenue was approaching £4 million.
Over the next fourteen years we served 350,000 customers.
In 2012 my life changed forever.
A combination of decisions, events and circumstances led to the business going into liquidation. I was declared bankrupt.
I lost everything I had spent fourteen years building.
I moved back into my mother's home with my two children. I felt pain, humiliation, shame and devastation.
Looking back, that experience became one of the most humbling lessons of my life. It forced me to take full responsibility for my shortcomings, and understand what had to change.
I don't believe I lost my business because I wasn't capable. The decisions became bigger than my ability to challenge my own thinking.
From 2014 to 2018 I worked inside a £64 million turnaround portfolio, rebuilding businesses under pressure. It gave me a front-row seat to the commercial and personal pressures founders and CEOs face at every stage of growth.
I then trained as a coach at iPEC. Coaching gave me a structured way to do what I had been doing for years. Help leaders think more clearly, make better decisions and lead with greater confidence.
Since 2019 I have coached more than 700 leaders, including COOs and Global Directors at Heineken and AkzoNobel, alongside founders leading businesses across technology, engineering, professional services and other sectors.
I've run the business I'm supporting you to build. And I've lost one. That's the difference.
I work one to one with a small number of founders and CEOs scaling businesses from $3 million to $50 million in revenue. It is a confidential, bespoke coaching relationship.
You bring the decision that is keeping you awake at night. Together, we improve the quality of your thinking around it. You leave with clarity.
I also moderate Hampton's two London core groups, Waterloo and Primrose Hill. Every month I sit in a room with founders where the performing stops, the masks come off and the real conversations begin.
The best decisions are rarely made alone.
That is why founders need someone whose only agenda is improving the quality of your thinking. Book a 20-minute call. Just you and me. We'll see if it's a fit.
Book a 20-minute call