Building a Desk vs
Building a Business:

How Agencies of 1 to 10 Heads Grow Faster

With Howard Greenwood and Dave Pye from Jump Advisory Group, and Mark Thompson from Sonovate.

Most agencies of 1 to 10 heads are built around the founder’s desk. This session looks at what it takes to build a business instead: the infrastructure that makes growth possible, and how to bring the right people in at the right time.

Thursday 29th October11am, live on Zoom

45 to 50 minutesLive Q&A

Reserve your place ↗

Can’t make it live? Register anyway and we’ll send you the recording.

Your panel

Three perspectives on growing past the desk.

Howard Greenwood

Co-Founder, Jump Advisory Group

Howard has spent more than 30 years growing recruitment businesses, from top-billing IT recruiter to Board Director at Computer People, where he made struggling regions the UK’s most profitable. He has built his own agency from scratch, coaches start-ups for the REC and mentors founders on strategy, hiring and high-performing teams.

Dave Pye

Co-Founder, Jump Advisory Group

Dave has spent 25 years scaling recruitment businesses at home and abroad, including as CEO of three UK and international agencies. He has advised on multiple MBOs, sits on the boards of several niche, high-growth agencies and leads the REC’s approach to business growth.

Mark Thompson

Chief Revenue Officer, Sonovate

Mark works with recruitment businesses at different stages of growth. He brings a commercial perspective on managing working capital and building the back-office foundations an agency needs to grow past the founder’s desk, profitably.

The discussion

What we’ll be discussing.

Desk or business? What’s the difference, and when should a founder stop being the top biller?

Infrastructure to build on. What separates agencies that grow past 10 heads from the ones that stall?

Bringing in the right people. When you’re ready to grow, who should you hire next?

Live audience Q&A

Bring your questions.

We’ll finish with a live audience Q&A, so you can put your own questions to Howard, Dave and Mark.