What does it take to lead a scale-up in a specialist sector? скачать в хорошем качестве

What does it take to lead a scale-up in a specialist sector?

In this episode of Scaling Stories Unfiltered, James Chappell shares the journey of co-founding and growing Digital Shadows, a cybersecurity company built on trust, technical excellence, and a deep understanding of what enterprise customers really need. We talk candidly about what it’s like to scale as a technical founder, how to stay grounded when the stakes are high, and the moments that matter most from winning your first big client to knowing when to step aside. What you’ll learn in this episode: • How James’ background shaped the early foundations of Digital Shadows • The key turning points in their scale-up journey • What enterprise customers are really looking for • The mindset shift from builder to leader and back again • How to build a culture that works in a high-trust, high-pressure space • The power of listening when building teams at pace Timestamps 01:44 – 02:47 Early experience of working in Silicon Valley through the dotcom bubble 02:48 – 03:40 How an early consultancy role plus a used car dealer Dad, were good foundations for entrepreneurship 03:40 – 04:25 Trust your gut, the lesson from going with their first business idea after ruling out 20 others 04:26 – 04:47 From start-up to trade sale 05:06 – 06:47 Thoughts on timing, launching into emerging vs established market 07:05 – 08:03 Experience of venture funding and the differences between seed funders and series A funders expectations 08:03 – 08:46 From Accenture Fintech innovation lab to the first £1m in revenue 08:46 – 09:17 ‘Sales fixes everything’ 09:44 – 10:57 A key learning from the innovation lab, UI feedback which led to the design of the end product, and then onto their first reference customer 10:57 - 11:40 Ready-made community, another benefit of the accelerator 11:41 – 14:07 Focus – essential quality for early-stage business, and how Digital Shadows achieved that in practice. 14:07 – 15:08 Reflecting on experiences within an incubation programme – experience and feedback rather than a direct route to sales 15:08 – 17:14 Practical advice on retaining focus especially when dealing with slow-moving clients 17:14 – 18:31 People as the core of the business 18:31 – 18:57 Building the early team using previous contacts 18:57 – 19:20 How hiring from a more diverse range of talent avoids the risk of groupthink 19:20 – 20:13 How a university collaboration led to some early hires 20:13 – 20:37 From customer prospect to employee 20:40 – 21:56 Internal talent development – the value of giving people the opportunity to grow 21:56 – 22:34 The challenge of hiring for sales roles. 22:55 – 24:37 The importance of culture, and how to manage this from start-up to scale-up 24:37 – 26:53 Consciously using messaging rather than email to embed their communication style 26:54 – 27:46 ‘Rip the Band-Aid’, the importance of acting quickly when something is clearly not working 27:46 -28:25 The broader impact of tolerating underperformance. 28:35 – 29:33 Being a Brit in America, and learning the benefit of being ‘super confident’ and positive as an entrepreneur 29:33 – 30:03 ‘It’s the stuff that unites you that matters’, how company culture brings together an international team 30:29 – 31:21 On the motivation to raise external funding 31:21 – 32:35 On the experience of working with investors as board members – and the importance of choosing carefully 32:35 – 33:24 Thoughts on alternative funding sources 34:14 – 35:21 ‘Stick with it’, advice to James’s younger self. 35:27 – 36:57 An investors perspective: ‘the most important thing you invest in is the people and the team’, and leadership team dynamics are key 37:09 – 38:12 The benefit of an experimental ‘test and learn’ approach 38:32 – 39:06 The benefit of an external network 39:18 – 37:45 Recommended sales methodology: MEDDIC 39:45 – 40:06 Five dysfunctions of a team, another recommended book 40:24 – 41:43 Myth busting, building a business to scale is a 10-year slog, not a 2 year sprint 41:56 – 42:35 The value of incubators in refining your message and proposition 42:35 – 43:27 Embracing failure, not a British thing, but important for successful entrepreneurship. “Get back on the bike” 44:34 – 46:16 It’s ok if it doesn’t go right on day 1, stick with it but learn from mistakes. Whether you’re scaling in tech, health, climate, or services, if you're a founder figuring out how to lead and grow at the same time, this one’s full of grounded insight. Connect with James on LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/jameschappellac 📩 Got a guest suggestion or want to be featured? Email us: [email protected] 🎧 Listen & Subscribe to Scaling Stories Unfiltered: Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/2p93xe94 Apple: https://tinyurl.com/yp9b4a49 YouTube:    / @scalingstoriesunfiltered   #ScalingStoriesUnfiltered #Leadership #Entrepreneurship #ScaleUps #CyberSecurity #TechnicalFounders #FounderStories #DigitalShadows #BusinessGrowth #TrustedTeams