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

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/don-t-work-harder-7394263/from-council-estate-to-100m-exit-how-he-built-a-business-that-didn-t-need-him.md
Podcast: [Don't Work Harder](https://stenobird.com/podcast/don-t-work-harder-7394263)
Published: 2026-06-10T08:15:00+00:00
Episode link: https://dont-work-harder.captivate.fm
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/42b1eb0b-7584-4172-8c50-0554fd3d3618.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/don-t-work-harder-7394263/episodes/from-council-estate-to-100m-exit-how-he-built-a-business-that-didn-t-need-him
Duration seconds: 4439

## Resource

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 business Andrew 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 p…

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