[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Welcome back to the Growth Focus podcast. I'm Gary Lafty, host of the show and found of the Growth Focus Partnerships where we help MSP owners and B2B tech leaders build more predictable revenue. My guest today is Alex Pasler, a 30 year veteran of the flexible workspace industry, CBRE Regis WeWork, who left the corporate world in 2021 to build his own hospitality driven co working business on a model most of the industry still hasn't caught up to.
Here's what I want you to sit with before we get into this.
Alex runs a business where the biggest cost itself is is the space. And he's found a way to eliminate the lease entirely. Not reduce it, eliminate it. And the way he did it isn't just interesting for the property world. It's a mirror for any B2B Tech founder or MSP owner who's been building on a cost model they inherited rather than the one they designed. We also get into what happens when your investors want you to run faster than you think is smart and how Alex is holding that line.
If you've ever had that conversation, you'll know exactly what we're talking about. So as per usual, no fluff. Let's get into it.
Hey, so Alex, it's absolutely pleasure to have you here today on our podcast. Why don't you start off by introducing yourself, tell us who you are and what is it that you actually do.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: Thank you for having me, Gary. It's a pleasure to be on the show. Yeah, so my name is Alex. I've been in the flexible workspace industry for best part of 30 years.
You know, growing existing large operators from Europe across to asia and the U.S.
i left that world, that corporate world in 2021 to start my own business. And we run co working spaces very much aligned with landlords, so on management agreements, much like the hotel sector has been doing for years where we offer very highly hospitality driven workspaces.
[00:02:20] Speaker B: Okay, well listen, I'm going to dive a little bit more into that. I can't wait to share, you know, your story. What is it you actually do because of the, the different way you do things, which is why I love how you couldn't wait to have this particular episode with you. So delving a little bit more into your, you know, really extensive background, you've done CBRE, Regis and WeWork. What was the moment you knew you wanted to build your own thing?
[00:02:45] Speaker A: I think it's something that's been growing over the years. I think a pivotal moment was during COVID when WeWork, where I was at the time was going through a bit of a turbulent time, both from a business model perspective, where they had a failed IPO and were spending a lot of time getting out of a lot of the deals that we'd structured over the years.
And then together with COVID where everyone had started to change the way people worked and the return to office and the need for a different motivation to cut, to come back to the office. So there was a number of drivers that thought, okay, now is a better time than any than to start taking all my learnings from my various roles and putting them into practice with my own business.
[00:03:28] Speaker B: And you enjoy enjoying it, obviously. Obviously enjoying it. That's the key thing when it comes to business, enjoying it. So the big idea is landlord led and no lease risk, et cetera. Can you explain that like you're talking to a smart founder but in a completely different industry. How does that work and what's the key thing here?
[00:03:47] Speaker A: Yeah, I think for us in this sector, I mean, obviously every business is different, but in this sector we have our key cost basis, which is always the rent of the premises. And traditionally it's been very much a lease arbitrage business where you rent space off a landlord, you fit it out and make smaller unit cut up into smaller units and rent it on.
And that obviously poses a pretty big risk in terms of lease liability.
When there's a market downturn, you've typically signed a long 10 year lease and you, you don't really have much flexibility with the landlord yet it does impact your pricing of what you can achieve in the market. So that's put a lot of operators into trouble in the past.
But it's not just from a risk mitigation point of view. I just think that when you align closer with the landlord, especially in this sector, and kind of be guided by their overall leasing strategy for the asset, and you bring in something that complements to their strategy that just opens up so many more doors and just makes your business run a lot more efficient.
[00:04:45] Speaker B: You know, I love that contrarian view that you have. You know, that the other industries have been doing it, this hasn't been doing it in the shared office space. Let's bring that in. So that being said, and again, this is just in your opinion, what did you think? What do you believe that, you know, most people have heard that, have been watching this or listening to this, have heard of WeWork or even probably still in a WeWork environment, what do you believe that WeWork got right? That most people tend to miss in the industry. And what do you think? They got dangerously wrong.
[00:05:15] Speaker A: I think WeWork did absolute wonders for the sector.
If I look back my early days in the career working for Regis, it was very much you rent an office for a project or it's a small satellite office, if you will, you don't have any communication with the other tenants in the building, you're in a cubicle, you do your work and you leave. What WeWork changed and was really transformed the industry to bring in that whole community element to it. There's a very well curated space, curated events, which everyone somehow participated in or took an interest in. And that really brought a lot of different businesses together. So if you're a startup and you in an environment, startups can be pretty lonely at first. And to be, you know, in a room, at an event, at a happy hour, what you name it, with a bunch of other startups in the same situation as you, it's. That was, you know, that was a significant change to the industry.
And the industry got more attention than it ever had before.
You know, before is one would always have to pitch what exactly is coworking or what is a serviced office.
You no longer have to do that. Today, everyone knows what it is. So, you know, that was a transformational point.
What they got wrong, you know, they were growing at a tremendous rate and the only way to grow at that speed at the time, especially due to the heavy funding, was through lease, lease liability. Right. So they were taking on a huge amount of lease risk, which was going well at first, but as soon as you have some kind of a shift in the market, as we did with COVID as we do now with Return to Office, which is still a struggle in many markets, that posed a huge risk for the company and got them in a bit of trouble. So trying to get the good things out of what wework did learn from the bad ones. So I think that was a good starting recipe for us.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Do you know what? I think this is the key thing is always learning.
No one's going to blame entrepreneurs for taking risks. That's what entrepreneurs do. That's how we grow.
But we fall and we fall faster. But something like you said, and we will talk a little bit more as we get into this particular episode, but it's kind of there'll be people, and I know that people nodding their head when they're listening to you say the expansion, the speed of expansion. A lot of them who are listening today on this show will be vc, led, PE LED and One of the things they are hearing constantly is here's the ball, run and run faster.
That is what we expect from you. What are the challenges and insights do you have to share with these founders who are caught up in that particular predicament?
[00:07:47] Speaker A: Look, we're a little bit in that predicament ourselves because we also are VC backed and we are getting a lot of pressure to grow faster than we are.
And I just think one of my biggest learnings over growing at speed is it's a bit of a short term view. Yes, you can grow, we can grow a lot quicker if we want. We're turning down deals every day from landlords, but do we believe that those deals will be successful for the next 10 years?
I struggle. So we're very picky about how we grow, which is a constant battle in terms with RVCs. I think they will probably come back and thank us in the long run. So I think it's finding that balance and really making your, your investors kind of understand and see the long term view of how, how the company can succeed. If one was to slow it down a little bit more and do things a little bit more structured, structured way. I mean, that's what we're hoping anyway. That's very much.
[00:08:36] Speaker B: Well, they seem to be going through it so far, Alec. So that's the key. That's a good thing isn't when they are, okay, we'll let you run, just not as fast as we would likely want you to. And I think that's a very important part there is that, you know, and this is, we're not preaching anything new here, but it's just sometimes a nice reminder to the basics that you can be VC led and the investors do want to have their results. But if you're, if you, you don't want to expand to a point because there's been plenty of examples out there that you refine too fast, you expanded, you broke through the seams and you end up with nothing. And at the end of the day, VCs move on and you are stuck holding what's left of those pieces out there, isn't it? So I think the standing of the ground like you said, oh no, we will run, but we'll run at the speed that we think is going to be sensible. Right?
[00:09:26] Speaker A: Correct, correct. We have that a little bit twofold in our case because we've got our VC investors who invested in our business, we've got the landlords who we partnered with on these projects and it's not too different there. Right? So the landlord will say, look, why aren't you at a 70% occupancy? You've been open for two or three months. And this is also, this is something that we struggle with every single day, right? Yes, we could be at 70% occupancy versus 50 today, no doubt about it. But we'd have to have these launch these launching discounts and this, you know, new opening discounts. And that's another lesson I've learned over the years. They're very hard to wean off over time. Right. So being a little bit more strict and stubborn on pricing slower ramp up gets you going slower maybe, but it's, it really is beneficial in the long run when you don't have to explain to your clients that you're going to give them a 30% price increase on year two because you're stabilized. So yeah, that's, that's, that's another challenge that we have on a daily basis. But.
[00:10:23] Speaker B: Well, I want to talk about that because as you said, you got a double edged sword there. You've got two particular aspects. You know, you got your investors and you got your clients go, well, hold on a second. You promised to a degree this is what's going to happen and we don't seem to see that on, on the books at the moment.
I'm going to talk about it a little bit on the other side because I've always loved to look at the other side of things. When you, when you're pitching landlords, for example, what is their most common objection that you tend to get when you're there and what's the simplest way you can actually overturn that and get them to see your way.
[00:10:57] Speaker A: I think, I think it's changed over the years. I think one of the, I think, you know, when we started exiting quarter of their portfolio and IWG were doing the same during COVID landlords generally are a bit nervous about the sector.
They're nervous about the fact that we're not signing a 10 year lease, guaranteeing a rent for 10 years. And I think our biggest challenge is saying, look, we've seen that in the last couple of years that is no more safe, there's no more security in someone signing a 10 year lease because you can always get out of it as we've seen, versus aligning together on a strategy which is a management agreement where we share the lease liability or share the downside risk. There's no lease liability because that in my opinion is a lot more resilient to any kind of downturn. Right. You'll see revenues drop a little bit, but you won't ever see us saying we need to exit the building because we can't make the rent. So I think a big challenge is trust, is getting landlords to really believe in what you're doing and to trust that it's going to be successful because at the end of the day, they're a bit like an investor with our deal structure. So it's us managing their money. There's a lot of upfront capital that we ask for from landlords. I mean, a typical space for US is about £6 million in build out, which the landlord will put up front.
So, yeah, it's just gaining that, that trust. That's a very personal business, in my opinion, to get these landlords on your side.
[00:12:19] Speaker B: No, I can totally see that. Because so given the fact that obviously you can walk into any city now that, you know and just look up, just walking around any city doesn't matter if it's London, if it's New York, if it's.
There's going to be reams and reams of all these empty properties, empty commercial spaces that were once thriving metropolises within themselves, within the business world. Take Canary Wharf in the UK for Arkansas. Just there, for example, is a shadow of what it used to be, even though now it's rejuvenating itself.
You've also mentioned that, you know, you've got landlords really say, hey, take this deal, take this deal from me, you're being picky at it.
What is it that you look for in your landlords, as it were? You know that not necessarily it's a company secret, but you look at it and go, hey, yes, this is what we would do a deal for with you and know that this is not going to be a way forward for us.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a very good question. I think that's one of our key mantras here in this business is really choosing the right landlord.
I've learned lessons with that before and I think the key driver for us is someone who really understands the future of work, how people are going to use office space going forward. We don't want to be seen as someone who will just solve a temporary problem the landlord has with some of his empty stock, because that doesn't, that won't really do well in the long term. As soon as the leasing market might pick up, they might say, okay, well, we can lease this. Traditionally, we no longer need you. Right. We need someone who said, okay, this asset, we want to be different than the buildings next to us, we want to have a competitive edge and we want to offer a product which no one else does in this particular precinct. So it's really finding landlords who understand what we do, I think that's critical and actually care about having that differentiating factor for their asset.
[00:14:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's fascinating just to listen to that concept because there would be landlords out there who want to solve this short term problem but in their world it's probably a longer term problem than they really hoped it could have been because obviously it's been empty now for quite a while and they're looking for this short term, almost short term elastoplast on the problem.
But actually you're looking for the visionaries of those landlords go, hey, it's a different world now, it's a different era and there's a different product to fill that gap.
[00:14:46] Speaker A: Exactly, exactly. And from an operator perspective, I've worked for a lot of operators in the past that it was a lot about having dots on the map. So you know, if I've got a landlord saying come and manage this space, we'll pay the fit out and it's, you know, on a management, there's no risk for us.
So you know, in the past I've been in situations where we said yes, I'll take it. You know, main thing is we've got 20 locations at the end of this year.
Having said that, you know, it is still a big ask from these landlords and the best way to get great deals in the future is by showing them our success of our existing locations. So the moment you take on one that might be a struggle that you don't believe in, it's, it's going to come back to bite you later on. So probably when you're choosing an amazing building where you really need that, that data for. So yeah, it goes against a little bit trying to, trying to scale a little bit more intelligently. Especially at the beginning you'll always have, you know, when you've got 20 buildings you'll always have a dud somewhere which doesn't perform like you thought it would. But it can't be in the first, you know, first five or six locations.
[00:15:48] Speaker B: No, absolutely. That rotten apple as it were, you know, you shouldn't judge by its cover, as it were, you know, to mix analogies. But that rotten apple is almost going to be what people remember more than the actual 3, 4, 5, 7 ones that are doing extremely well.
[00:16:04] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:16:04] Speaker B: You know, yeah, that doesn't work from there so let's talk about growth. What's actually working for you right now in getting the new locations and partnerships over the lines?
[00:16:13] Speaker A: I think a lot of it is a real.
Our attention to detail and how we look at things and how we plan things very carefully, look at each asset individually, take it from a white canvas and there's no cookie cutter model with us. We're really trying to maximize what the asset actually has to offer, the location and tailor, make a product for that specific market and building.
I think that's got a lot of landlords very comfortable with what we do and how we look at things.
We are unbelievably transparent with the sector when we show a landlord a financial model whilst we're pitching. There's not a single hidden cost in there.
We have live reporting for landlords so they can log in at any time, see exactly who's in the space, how it's being used, what they're paying, something very few operators, if any, are currently offering. So I think, you know, that level of fiduciary responsibility almost, you know, is something that's helping us a lot get landlords to take a leap of faith.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: Yeah, well, do you know what? It's also, I really enjoy talking to companies and founders and leaders like yourself who choose the premium over the cheaper options. Especially in a world which is always trying to barter down to the lowest common denominator they can actually get to, to do the in this market. In your opinion, Alex, what makes someone choose premium over these cheaper options in a real working environment?
[00:17:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I think there's a number of reasons why that is the case. I mean, it's shown in the last 18 months, there's a huge flight to quality in this business and I think the main reason is people now coming into the office less and less. Most companies still have a hybrid work policy where they spend three days in the office and the rest of the time at home.
Most companies are still trying to get their teams into the office more often, so the only way they're going to do that is by putting something into the office environment which you can't get at home.
And, you know, whether it's a level of, you know, high level hospitality, whether it's great breakfast, whether it's, you know, good gym facility, you name it. I think amenities has really come in. It's no longer just about having desks and a bit of a lounge, it's really about having something that they would miss if they didn't come to the office. And I think that's one of the reasons why there's a bit of a flight to quality at the moment, but also a lot of these companies are reducing their footprint. So where they normally had 10,000 square feet and were paying rent on it, now they'll probably only take 3 or 4,000 square feet. But then they want it to be something really special.
So they're playing a little bit with the distribution of their costs for office space.
And I think that's really helping this flight to quality.
[00:19:01] Speaker B: Well, the world has changed, hasn't it?
We wouldn't believe that five years ago if we said this is where the world would be. This is the attitude of workers. This is the attitude of young workers coming in. We're hearing this all the time. Young workers.
They almost put these conditions in whether or not they're going to come to work for you or not, based upon the environment in which they work it.
[00:19:22] Speaker A: Absolutely, absolutely. And it's evolving so quickly. I mean, we looked at a building the other day where, you know, we could do everything that we always do, but we couldn't fit a gym in there. And the sales, our sales team was like, ah, no, that's unacceptable. I mean, a year ago no one cared if you have a gym in your office or not, but now it's almost like, no, if you don't have a gym, it's unacceptable. So it's, it's incredible is a different world.
[00:19:42] Speaker B: And I do, I love change. I always have loved change in, in business and I think it's great to see it at the forefront, but it's also seeing it and, and that leads you to my next question, Alex.
You see things slightly different in the way to build businesses.
And before we get on to the, the bigger one, which I really want to dive into, I want to go down to sort of my new detail. What is a small detail that you personally, Alex, you obsess over, that you think customers feel instantly, but most of your competitors have just missed.
[00:20:13] Speaker A: Yeah, hospitality. And that's something, I mean, I'm not from the hospitality industry. I do travel a vast amount. I spend, you know, three quarters of my year staying in hotels.
So I've got to see the best hospitality in the world and the worst at the same time. And I think if you look at this business, you know, two years ago there was a lot about, there was a lot of wording around community and such, and now it's shifted to hospitality. In reality, what does hospitality mean for us? It's really knowing what your customer wants before they even say it and sometimes before they even know themselves what they want. Right. That is for me what hospitality means. And that's something that we really drill into our teams on a daily basis and that's really separating us from the rest. Hospitality doesn't mean being able to offer you coffees in the morning and bringing across onto your desk. That's not hospitality. It's really understanding, you know, every person that comes through your door, being able to say, okay, she might be having a bad day, let's see how we can improve that and really know exactly what to offer them before they ask for.
[00:21:16] Speaker B: Just makes that working environment so much nice. And I love what you said there earlier about you've got to pull them away from home, you got to make it so they want to come back. It's not just for the work. They know they can work from home now, but the environment in which they work in that, that, that will make the difference between the saying, yeah, okay, I'll come in more often than I want than, and get back into work. So let's do a big shift now. Alex, let's talk about ops, tech scaling, growing the business, as it were. You've said to me before when we've chatted that, you know, tech is what makes hospitality scalable.
[00:21:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: What are the two to three things that systems in place that you would not build without now, they've got to be in place no matter what.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it's how you build your CRM. I mean, being able to track and record, you know, most, most requirements requests or anything that comes in from, from a member from one of your clients, being able to understand them as well as you can in terms of their daily needs, you know, starting from small things, whether it's, do they have children and do they need to be picked up from school and all these kind of things. Being able to track now when you've got a thousand clients in your building, it's impossible to track all that without some very sophisticated technology, which we've actually recently pulled a lot from the hotel industry. And they've got a lot of tech that supports some of this, but it's being able to collect this data which then tailor with the help of some of the AI software that we're using, being able to tailor products for them, that's been pivotal to us. We've invested, hence our requirement for VC funding at a very early stage. We've requested quite a lot in technology and probably built a technology platform where most companies would probably look to build something like that in Three or four years down the road, we've done it very early to scale into the platform versus scale the platform up with us. And I just think that avoids a lot of distractions further down the line. So it's about that and it's about space usage technology.
Our buildings are fitted out with sensors. We can see exactly how the space is used and we're very quick to adapt the space. The space is almost, we always call it, it's a bit of a living space.
If your building sensors are show that on any given day, most people congregate some somewhere along the corridor, then it might be worth putting a little lounge there or putting a little, you know, coffee machine in a bar in that particular space. Which you hadn't thought of before. Right. And so being able to adapt to adapt your product to current usage data has been very important for us.
[00:23:51] Speaker B: That's been a couple of things that just come to mind there, as you say in that, because, you know, office buildings, weather owned, lease owner operated, serviced, irrespective, they've always become, always be seen more of a stale operation. They're there, it's been fitted out, that's the way it is. That's where it's always going to be.
And most would do is move the furniture around a little bit, you know, put new chairs and new desks. What you're saying is, well, hold on a second. We're very flexible, extremely flexible on this because that's the way the modern world has to be.
[00:24:21] Speaker A: Yeah, correct.
Absolutely correct. And it goes. It's incredible. And this is how we're still learning.
It's incredible how relevant that is in every vertical of the business.
Even when we are looking at procurement. I mean, things like furniture, you can fit out 100 offices in a building and six months later, work patterns change and things become slightly outdated. And you want to change it. You've got to then scrap all that stuff, reinvest in new stuff. So being able to take models where you lease the furniture and you can switch it out versus buying it and then having to get rid of it and buy new stuff is very important. So we've really done that with a lot of the items in our building gone much down, much more down flexible leasing routes, whether it's for phone booths or even office furniture. So it's incredible how it, you know, how it affects every vertical of your operating business, actually.
[00:25:15] Speaker B: Absolutely. And I want to talk a little bit now about again, another little shift into founder lessons. You know, you mentioned something just now that you said you Know, we are growing into the framework, we're growing into ZIM as opposed to growing with it.
I found this fascinating when you and I was talking about it before that most companies, their mistake they do is to do this incremental growth or that they grow and then get what they need to grow to get to the next stage. You've done something completely different to that. You've turned it on its head. Do you mind explaining to us what is it that you are actually doing?
[00:25:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I think that came from, I mean having worked for some of these very big companies who've gone through different phases of growth and then gone public. I think the amount of distraction that I recall throughout my career when we pivot CRM systems, I mean simple things like going from HubSpot to Salesforce and a bigger organization, that's a huge disruption and takes months. Whether you want to integrate new software or switch, I don't know, accounting systems or HR systems, it's always a bit of a disruption. People underestimate it, how long it takes and then how long to educate oneself to really keep these things up to date. And I think that's just something again, through lessons learned that we tried to avoid from the get go and say, okay, we know what works from having worked in these larger companies. So we know what works for us in 10 years time or in 5 years time.
So let's just go straight to that.
And then, yeah, it might be a little bit inefficient cost wise at the beginning, but I think it'll pay off over the years. So we've done that with CRM systems, we've done that with accounting systems, we've done it with a lot of, I would say all of our tech platform is years ahead of what we would need today.
You know, it goes, it also goes a little bit on the design element.
We spent months before opening our first building not designing this first building, but looking at, okay, what would building number two, if the building were a bit different and we need to scale it, what would that look like? You know, so you're already, even from a design perspective, is, is what we're putting into this building scalable? Can we replicate it in another building or is it only unique to this one? So there's a lot of decisions that you always have to make thinking about today's needs and are they valid for building number two, three and four. So yeah, again, it's gone through every vertical in the business.
[00:27:41] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think it's a great thing that what fascinated Me about our conversations that we've had before on this was that by having that attitude, by starting off with let us grow into who we think we're going to be, have the systems in place, you're not going to be bursting at the seams. Whereas actually, we can now see the flaw in doing it the opposite way around, because then you're constantly bursting at the seams. You burst at the seams, you try and fix it, you grow into the next part, you're then bursting at the seams again and you have this constant distraction, as you say, you know, and most people here would understand, forget, even just going from, you know, one system to another, like you said, HubSpot to Salesforce, going from on Prem to SaaS, everything changes and disrupts. But if we do it at the very beginning and it changes, it makes sense. So that being said, Alex, if you were starting again tomorrow, what would you build first that most founders tend to postpone?
[00:28:37] Speaker A: That's a tricky question. I mean, I think we've done something.
There's a few things we haven't done well enough in our business going forward, and that's. We've ignored the power of marketing and great, I would say product assets, we kind of pushed it down the line. Look, we've got a great product. People are going to walk in, they're going to see it, they're going to fall in love with what we do.
We kind of overlooked the need to get our messaging out there and get the people in in the first place. Right. So we have no problem when someone walks into the building. It's getting them, getting them to know about it. So we did neglect that, that part. And I think, you know, if I was to start again, I would, I would, you know, I would spend a little bit more time and resources on that. And really, you come up with a great idea, you come up with a great concept, you launch your startup, but you think it's great. No one else knows about it, especially in the early days. Right. So it's getting people to know about it and buy into it at a very early point in time is critical. And that's something that we could have definitely done better on.
[00:29:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's such an important part, and I'm glad you mentioned it, because there'd be, again, there's founders out there who's listening to this, who are watching this, and who had been very focused on either service focused or product focused. They've got it out there. It's their baby. You know, the terminology. We Use in your tech all the time. It's their baby, they're going to give it out. But most people either don't know the baby exists or it's not as great as you think it is until it's gone to the marketplace. You can't know that until you've got that message out.
[00:30:06] Speaker A: Absolutely, absolutely. And I think now when you see the shift to AI, it's even more interesting.
I do see a lot of founders and a lot of startups at the moment very focused on AI because it's a buzzword and it is changing the way we do things. For sure. One has to be careful not to be distracted with it. I think we're spending a lot of time on AI, but we're not implementing it in our day to day yet because we just feel there's also a lot of noise that can help in ways it can bug you down in others.
So trying to navigate that. But yeah, I think really when you have such a good idea and you're a founder and you're proud of your product, you should make other people really buy into that. It just goes a long way when you launch.
[00:30:50] Speaker B: So it does, it is. So it's something you can't really kick down the road, but everyone does it. Everyone just kicks down the road. I'll get round to it eventually.
[00:30:59] Speaker A: Yeah, it's just, it's a cost and you don't see immediate results and it's hard to really, you know, put a figure to it. So that's kind of why it's often kicked down the road by a lot of startups.
[00:31:10] Speaker B: I can see people just nodding their heads and smiling because they know that they've done exactly the same thing as you and they're thinking, oh my God, it's not just me then we're all doing it. Exactly what we're all doing.
So listen, let's get into the lightning round. Three quick questions for you, Alex, you know, and then we're gonna do a wrap up for you. I'm gonna ask you three questions, really short, quick answers, you know, let's get the synapses going. Ready for question number one?
[00:31:37] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:31:38] Speaker B: Okay. One belief you had five years ago about growth that you now know is wrong scale.
[00:31:46] Speaker A: I think the growing with a bunch of as many dots on the map as possible in many countries as possible, you know, always was a belief I had before. Makes you look bigger, makes you look successful.
I no longer believe that at all. It's about economies of scale versus footprint, which really matter.
Brilliant.
[00:32:04] Speaker B: Question number two. Best decision you've made in the last 12 months.
[00:32:08] Speaker A: Wow. I think that is to realize, to acknowledge that I'm actually not an operator. I've been, I've been a real estate guy. I've been doing this for 30 years. Thought I knew everything.
And, you know, the day I woke up and said, actually I don't know how to run these things and hire a proper operator to run them, that was probably the best decision I've made.
[00:32:26] Speaker B: Okay. And one prediction question. What changes about where and how people work in the next 24 months? And why?
[00:32:33] Speaker A: What's your prediction? I think we will see people returning to office more frequently. There will be a flight to quality. They're going to be a lot more demanding and, you know, it's how they work, which is going to be important, but it will come out of the home and come back to a curated environment of some kind.
Fantastic.
[00:32:51] Speaker B: Well, listen, Alex, thank you very much for that. You know, time has absolutely flown by chatting to you. I really like, thoroughly enjoyed it. If people want to get to know you more, follow you, potentially work for you, partner with you, what's the best way they can get hold of you?
[00:33:05] Speaker A: Yeah, the best way is obviously throughout through our website. It's www.valistv.a l l I-t.com.
otherwise, please do follow us on LinkedIn and reach out to myself.
Happy to be reached out to
[email protected] Fantastic.
[00:33:22] Speaker B: I'll make sure those contact details are in the show notes so people can just go straight to you. All that remains me to say is, Alex, listen, it's been f fantastic having you. It's been an absolute honor. Really enjoyed our conversation and thank you very much for your time today.
[00:33:35] Speaker A: Thank you very much, Gary. It was a pleasure.
[00:33:38] Speaker B: Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us for yet another episode of the Growth Focus podcast. You know, and as Alex has dropped some great truth bombs there about scalability, about growth, about beliefs. When it comes to growing a business, if you've taken something or just one of those things that's made you think, oh, that's interesting, maybe I should look into that, make sure you like it, make sure you make a comment so other people can see that. But more importantly, please, please, please share episodes like this. We all grow by standing on the shoulders of giants like Alex and our other guests. And until the next time, keep working hard. But more importantly, be profitable, be smart, and we'll see you on the next episode. Bye bye.
Now. There's a lot in that conversation worth sitting with. Alex has been in rooms most people only read about. We work at its peak. The deals that built those portfolios and what he took from it wasn't a playbook. It was a list of things he refused to repeat.
The thing that stuck with me most was the way he talked about infrastructure. He built the systems for where the business is going to be in five years, not where it is today. The CRM tech stack, even the design of the physical spaces, all built with scale in mind before they had the scale to justify it.
His words were something like you grow into the platform, not the other way around. And he's seen firsthand what happens when you don't. The disruption, the distraction, the months lost. Migrating from one system to another. Mid growth.
That's not just a property problem, that's a business problem. And if you're running an MSP or a B2B tech company and your sales process, your onboarding, your reporting, any of it was built for the version of your business that existed two years ago. You already feel the drag. You're already losing time and revenue to friction that you've just probably just normalized.
So that's exactly what the revenue leak audit is designed to surface. It's a free 30 minute call. No pitch, no agenda, just a sharp look at where revenue is slipping through the cracks.
After your leads comes in, the booking link is in the show notes and as per usual, send this to one person who needs to hear it. Until next time, be profitable. Be smart. We'll see you then. Bye bye.
