# Season 9 | Ep34 Mathew Gollop: 7 to 85 People, a Near Collapse, and the Free Idea That Paid Him Back

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-rag-podcast-recruitment-agency-growth-podcast-1158173/season-9-ep34-mathew-gollop-7-to-85-people-a-near-collapse-and-the-free-idea-that-paid-him-back
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-rag-podcast-recruitment-agency-growth-podcast-1158173/season-9-ep34-mathew-gollop-7-to-85-people-a-near-collapse-and-the-free-idea-that-paid-him-back.md
Podcast: [The RAG Podcast - Recruitment Agency Growth Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-rag-podcast-recruitment-agency-growth-podcast-1158173)
Published: 2026-06-16T23:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://hoxomedia.com
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/aa429767-32c6-45d6-93b6-783e5e38981f.mp3
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Duration seconds: 4341

## Resource

Mathew Gollop found Hong Kong in the back of Recruiter magazine. A glossy advert, a Chinese temple, a palm tree. He flew out, signed the contract, and landed in February 2001. The dot-com bubble had just burst. Then 9/11. Then SARS. Within a year the founder wanted out, and Mathew took the business over. It was the only way to keep his job. When the market finally turned, it turned hard. Connected Group went from 7 people to 85, across 5 offices inside 5 years. Then the financial crisis hit. £800k gone in little over a year. Six months of runway. An investor brought in, his shares diluted, offices closed one by one. “I had dumb confidence, I think, at that time.” On this episode of The RAG Podcast, Mathew Gollop breaks down the full arc. The scale, the near collapse, and the decision that rebuilt the business: giving recruitment away for free. Mathew is the first to admit he loved running 85 people across five offices, and wasn't actually good at it. If you have ever wondered whether purpose can survive a brutal market, this episode has the blueprint. ------------------------------------------ Episode Sponsor: Atlas Admin is a massive waste of time. That's why there's Atlas, the AI-first recruitment platform built for modern agencies. It doesn't only track CVs and calls. It remembers everything. Every email, every interview, every conversation. Instantly searchable, always available. And now, it's entering a whole new era. With Atlas 2.0, you can ask anything and it delivers. With Magic Search, you speak and it listens. It finds the right candidates using real conversations, not simply look for keywords. Atlas 2.0 also makes business development easier than ever. With Opportunities, you can track, manage and grow client relationships, powered by generative AI and built…

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