Andrew on his life before running a business...
“I started in my academic life with an arts-based degree in English and philosophy, studying down in Brighton, which was a great time of my life. But in the early '90s I was fortunate to come across an inspirational chap who had started one of Britain’s first web design agencies.
There were some big questions. I was asking myself how I could contribute something to the world and not just my own mind
“I worked as an apprentice for this guy and it raised a number of questions as tRunno what I was going to do with my life. There were some big questions. I was asking myself how I could contribute something to the world and not just my own mind.”
On how the company went online...
“To go on the internet immediately really wasn’t the case for us, we we're initially paper-based, then we just registered the domain name online. We were lucky to register ‘BusinessesForSale’ which semantically hits the nail on the head.
“The future of our business is understanding the nature and behaviour of the market, and acting as a positive feedback from the market back to itself.”
On having a vision and when to sell the business...
“There is a vision in the business and a strategic view of how the business needs to play out. The road to delivering that vision may not be straight, but as long as the vision is in sight then there is still work to be done and value to be created.
“For me, I still get a sense we’re nowhere near our destination, I think once we are it’s probably time to hand the reins over to someone else. In a way the business has its own life, as for all the businesses we sell on our website along the way, but for the time being there’s more to be done.”
