Episode #638: ScaleUp Club - Seeds, Nets and Spears: Building Predictable Lead Generation
Release Date: 08/10/2026
Episode #645: Scaling Through Change: Leadership, Diversification and Building a Stronger Manufacturing Business - with Suzie Siddall
ScaleUp Radio
In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, host Kevin Brent is joined by Suzie Siddall, CEO of Opus International Products, a Warwickshire-based precision engineering and manufacturing business working across automotive, aerospace, defence, industrial and medical sectors. Suzie’s story is one of leadership through significant change. Having moved from Managing Director to CEO following the death of the company’s founder in 2024, she has had to balance continuity with the need to reshape the business for its next stage of growth. Today, Opus has a team of around 33 people and significant UK...
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Episode #644: From Generalist to Niche: Scaling Through Focus, Certification and Community - with Janet Tanguay
ScaleUp Radio
What happens when you stop saying yes to everything and commit to the part of your business that customers really want? In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, host Kevin Brent talks to Janet Tanguay, founder of The Hammock Way of Life, about the journey from broad business consulting to building a scalable business around vision boarding, coach certification and a growing global community. Janet's story is a great example of how focus can unlock growth. The turning point came during and after the pandemic. Janet had been using vision boarding to help businesses think creatively about their future,...
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Episode #643: Trust Isn’t a Feeling. It’s a KPI - with Rob McKenna
ScaleUp Radio
What if one of the biggest constraints on your ability to scale is something you’re not measuring at all? In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, Kevin Brent is joined by Rob McKenna for a fascinating discussion about trust: how to measure it, why founders frequently misjudge it, and why building trust isn’t about creating a perfect culture. Rob introduces the WiLD Trust Index, a framework designed to turn trust from something intangible into something leaders can measure, understand and deliberately improve. For founders, there’s a particularly important message here. Delegation and...
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Episode #642: Building to Sell, Starting Again and Where AI Changes Business Value - with Gavin Bell
ScaleUp Radio
What would you do differently if you knew from day one that somebody else would eventually need to run your business? In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, I’m joined by Gavin Bell, entrepreneur and founder of Yatta, the paid media agency he deliberately built to be sellable before its acquisition by Velstar in 2024. Gavin’s story is particularly interesting because selling Yatta wasn’t something that simply happened after years of building the agency. It influenced how he designed the business from the outset. Inspired by Built to Sell, Gavin moved away from building a business around his...
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Episode #641: From Founder Led to Systems Led: Building a Business That Can Scale Without You - with Jake Young
ScaleUp Radio
What makes a business genuinely valuable? For many founders the answer isn't more customers, more turnover or even more profit. It's creating a business that can thrive without depending on them every single day. In this episode Kevin Brent is joined by entrepreneur, investor and business strategist Jake Young to explore why founder dependency is one of the biggest barriers to sustainable growth and successful exits. Jake shares the frameworks he uses with businesses ranging from ambitious SMEs through to organisations preparing for institutional investment and IPOs. From defining your end...
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Episode #640: Why smart leaders still make bad strategic decisions - with David Mansfield
ScaleUp Radio
Making decisions as a founder or leader is rarely about having perfect information. In this episode, Kevin Brent is joined by David Mansfield, strategist, board adviser and researcher into strategic decision making, to explore why so many intelligent leadership teams still make poor strategic choices and what business owners can do to dramatically improve the quality of their decisions. Drawing on doctoral research and decades of board experience, David explains why the process behind a decision matters far more than simply reaching an answer. He shares practical techniques that help leaders...
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Episode#639: Designing organisations that scale by putting people first - with Peter Rimmer
ScaleUp Radio
Growing a business isn't just about strategy, systems or structure. As organisations grow, founders often discover that the biggest obstacle isn't the market. It's themselves. In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, Kevin Brent is joined by Peter Rimmer, founder of Tusk Consulting, to explore why scaling successfully requires founders to evolve alongside their businesses. Peter shares why organisation design should start with people rather than process, how founders can overcome the fear of letting go, and why creating a culture where both hiring and leaving are positive experiences is essential for...
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Episode #638: ScaleUp Club - Seeds, Nets and Spears: Building Predictable Lead Generation
ScaleUp Radio
Growing a business beyond founder-led sales is one of the biggest challenges many SMEs face. In this special ScaleUp Club edition of ScaleUp Radio, Kevin Brent is joined once again by returning guest Dhanushka Tennakoon from RE24 for an interactive Q&A session exploring one of the biggest questions facing growing businesses: How do you create a predictable flow of new opportunities instead of relying on referrals and hope? Alongside the discussion, Kevin also shares this month's AI Pulse update, covering one of the most talked about AI stories of recent weeks and what it means for business...
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Episode #637: ScaleUp Radio Shorts - Why focus beats hustle every time
ScaleUp Radio
Choose Less. Scale Better. Three founders. Three wake up calls. One lesson every business owner needs to hear. What do an authority strategist, a sales leader and an AI entrepreneur have in common? Far more than you might think. In this special edition of ScaleUp Radio Shorts, Kevin Brent and Louise Blunt reflect on three recent conversations with Erica Holthausen, Gulliver Burns and Lee Nazari. Despite completely different industries and experiences, all three arrived at the same conclusion: sustainable growth doesn't come from doing more. It comes from choosing less, focusing better and...
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Episode #636: How Not to Scale: Why Revenue, Ego and Hustle Can Destroy Your Business - with Gulliver Burns
ScaleUp Radio
What happens when you build multiple multi-million-pound businesses... but almost lose yourself in the process? In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, Kevin Brent is joined by entrepreneur Gulliver Burns, who has experienced both extraordinary growth and devastating setbacks. From building a call centre with over 200 employees before the age of 25 to creating a multi-million-pound automotive business, Gulliver has learned the hard way that scaling without strong foundations comes at a significant cost. Rather than another success story, this conversation is a refreshing look at how not to scale a...
info_outlineGrowing a business beyond founder-led sales is one of the biggest challenges many SMEs face.
In this special ScaleUp Club edition of ScaleUp Radio, Kevin Brent is joined once again by returning guest Dhanushka Tennakoon from RE24 for an interactive Q&A session exploring one of the biggest questions facing growing businesses:
How do you create a predictable flow of new opportunities instead of relying on referrals and hope?
Alongside the discussion, Kevin also shares this month's AI Pulse update, covering one of the most talked about AI stories of recent weeks and what it means for business leaders.
Whether you're approaching your first £1 million in turnover or looking to build a more scalable commercial engine, this session is packed with practical ideas you can implement immediately.
In this episode
- AI Pulse: What happened when Anthropic's latest language model was reportedly withdrawn shortly after launch and what founders should take from the rapid pace of AI development.
- Why so many businesses become trapped by founder dependency.
- Understanding Aaron Ross's Seeds, Nets and Spears framework for predictable lead generation.
- Why referrals alone rarely create a scalable business.
- How targeted outreach can open entirely new markets.
- The importance of balancing new customer acquisition with growing existing client relationships.
- Why choosing the right niche can transform growth.
- How RE24 pivoted from multiple industries to becoming specialists in data centres.
- Practical advice for reducing reliance on founder-led sales.
- Live coaching with ScaleUp Club members on applying the framework to their own businesses.
Key discussion points
AI Pulse
Kevin shares the latest developments from the AI world, including the reported security concerns surrounding Anthropic's latest model and what this tells us about the extraordinary pace of AI capability.
Rather than simply chasing every new tool, founders should focus on understanding where AI can genuinely improve decision making, productivity and business performance.
Seeds, Nets and Spears
The central discussion explores Aaron Ross's well-known framework:
Seeds
High trust opportunities generated through referrals, introductions and existing relationships.
Nets
Scalable marketing activities including content, SEO, social media and broader awareness campaigns.
Spears
Highly targeted outreach aimed at carefully researched organisations where there is a strong strategic fit.
The key message is that healthy businesses develop all three rather than relying on a single source of leads.
Why niche matters
Dhanushka shares RE24's journey from trying to serve multiple industries to focusing specifically on data centres.
That decision created:
- a clearly defined customer profile
- faster buying decisions
- stronger market positioning
- more effective sales conversations
- predictable growth opportunities
Rather than chasing every opportunity, focusing on one market allowed the business to build genuine expertise and competitive advantage.
Live ScaleUp Club coaching
A highlight of the session is the discussion with Paul Rhodes from Green Gorilla Automation.
Like many growing businesses, sales currently depend heavily on the founder and warm introductions.
Together, the group explores how carefully researched "Spears" could help create a more repeatable sales process while reducing founder dependency.
Practical actions
After listening, consider these three actions:
- Review where every lead has come from over the last six months.
- Categorise your activities into Seeds, Nets and Spears.
- Identify one repeatable activity within each category and commit to executing it consistently.
One standout message
Predictable growth doesn't come from doing more marketing. It comes from building a balanced system that consistently creates new opportunities.
The one key thing
If your pipeline depends mainly on referrals or the founder, your business isn't yet scalable. Creating a deliberate mix of Seeds, Nets and Spears is one of the fastest ways to build predictable growth.
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