Episode #637: ScaleUp Radio Shorts - Why focus beats hustle every time
Release Date: 08/07/2026
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_outlineChoose 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 building the systems and trust that allow businesses to scale.
Along the way they discuss burnout, delegation, profit, purpose, AI, authority and why execution beats endless learning every time.
In this episode
- Why revenue without profit is one of the biggest traps founders fall into
- The hidden cost of chasing "more" instead of focusing on what matters
- Why authority beats endless content marketing
- The difference between learning and implementation
- How burnout forced both Gulliver Burns and Lee Nazari to completely rethink success
- Why trust and delegation sit at the heart of every scalable business
- How AI should challenge your thinking rather than replace it
- The importance of execution rhythms, deep work and disciplined focus
One standout message
The founders who scale don't do more. They choose less, then execute brilliantly.
Key takeaway
The businesses that grow sustainably are built on clarity rather than complexity. Profit matters more than turnover. Delegation matters more than control. Focus matters more than activity.
Featured Episodes
- Erica Holthausen — Building authority without the content treadmill
- Gulliver Burns — From burnout to better business foundations
- Lee Nazari — Using AI to make recruitment more human
If you haven't already listened to the full interviews, they're well worth adding to your playlist.
Smart90
Most founders I speak to feel busy but stuck. Plenty happening, but no real clarity on what matters most this quarter.
Here's what more than 500 interviews on this show have taught me: the founders who scale choose less, and deliver all of it.
That's what the G90 Summit is for.
A structured half day where we cut through everything competing for your attention, agree the three to five priorities that matter over the next 90 days, and build the rhythm to make sure they actually happen.
Quarterly • Virtual • £97 per seat
Find out more at Smart90.co.uk/summit
About ScaleUp Radio
ScaleUp Radio is hosted by Kevin Brent and brought to you by Smart90, sharing practical conversations with entrepreneurs and business leaders who have successfully scaled their businesses.
This episode was produced with the aid of AI, with editorial review by the ScaleUp Radio team.