E356 | $100M Exit at 37: What They Don't Tell You About Selling Your Business

From a council estate in Oxford to a £100 million exit by age 37. Andrew Hulbert's journey isn't a polished Silicon Valley success story—it's raw, real, and packed with hard-won lessons about what actually matters when you're building something from nothing.

In this episode, Andrew breaks down the decade-long grind of scaling Pareto from his bedroom to a 500-person, £50 million turnover business serving the world's biggest tech companies. He shares why balance is bollocks when you're building, why bright yellow McLarens don't buy happiness, why you should retire early if you can, and how a council estate upbringing gave him the hunger and community mindset that fueled everything. This is a masterclass in bootstrapping, knowing when to go all-in, and actually achieving the goal you set out to hit.

What you'll learn:

💷 Why money doesn't buy happiness—but time does, and how an exit gives you that back

🎯 The truth about balance: why it's bollocks when you're scaling (and when it matters again)

🚀 How to build a £50M business with no funding, no backers, and no marketing budget

⚡ Why you don't need expensive marketing to make a massive splash in your market

👔 Why corporate life doesn't work for everyone—and why that's perfectly fine

🏆 How changing your peer group at 16 completely altered the trajectory of Andrew's life

Who should listen:

Bootstrapped founder-CEOs grinding through the early stages of scale

Anyone in corporate wondering if they should take the leap into entrepreneurship

Leaders thinking about exits, life after the business, and what actually matters

Entrepreneurs from non-traditional backgrounds looking for proof it's possible

Book recommendations:

The E-Myth Revisited - Michael E. Gerber - https://www.amazon.co.uk/E-Myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses-About/dp/0887307280

The Escape Manifesto - Escape the City - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Escape-Manifesto-Freedom-Meaningful-Living/dp/1783521430

Beer Mat Entrepreneur - Mike Southon & Chris West - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beermat-Entrepreneur-Turn-Good-Great/dp/0273708074

About the Guest:

Andrew Hulbert is the founder of Pareto, a business he started from his bedroom at age 27 with nothing but a laptop and an idea. Over the next decade, he scaled Pareto to £50 million in annual turnover and 500 staff, serving some of the world's biggest tech companies before orchestrating a £100 million exit.

Andrew finished working at 37 and has spent the last two years decompressing on a farm in Oxfordshire, reconnecting with his wife, kids, and the life he built outside the business. He's known for his unfiltered honesty about the realities of entrepreneurship, his belief that balance is a myth when you're scaling, and his conviction that money buys time—not happiness. He's also refreshingly candid about buying (and quickly selling) a bright yellow McLaren that made him feel like a "bus wanker" from The Inbetweeners.

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Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:00 From council estate to $100M exit in 10 years

03:56 Five things he believes that most people don’t

07:34 What time wealth really looks like now

12:14 Balance is bollocks and why he went all-in

15:00 Zero marketing budget but still won the industry

18:09 Donuts, logos and the power of experiential sales

21:04 Founder should never stop selling big opportunities

24:58 Social media success doesn’t equal real success

27:17 Parents as hidden entrepreneurs and early hustle lessons

29:12 How he built a loyal leadership team from scratch

35:54 Networking done right and the secret power of downtime

38:27 Three book recs for first-time founders

42:23 Escaping the trap and how his path diverged