Guy Blaskey: How to scale smart, lessons from a £30M exit

Starting a business is a huge effort, but scaling it to new heights takes a great deal of skill. So, I wanted to hear from a serial founder who has not only grown and scaled a multi-million-pound business, but also decided to start from scratch and do it again. Guy Blaskey founded healthy pet food business Pooch & Mutt in 2007. Having scaled it to £30 million in sales, he sold the business in 2023 for £11.5 million. Since then, Guy has founded Detrash to upcycle waste products into high quality watches.   Keep listening to hear Guy’s advice on what he learnt about a sales strategy, selling a business & why laying the operational foundations is one of the most important things you can do.  Guy’s advice: Think about how you can do things differentlyDon’t spend too long on your business plan; get going and make a plan afterwardsIf you need a retailer, remember it’s less about the product (and less about you) and more about what makes your buyer’s life easy: filling a gap in their range, price point etc.  Think about themAlways think about your customer and how you can help them achieve a resultIt takes time and rigour - and some failures - to get everything right and become a strong businessYou need a strong understanding of the finances; it’s not just about the brandBudget properly; predict sales and follow throughDon’t overfund early on; if you start small you can track the money and see what works and what doesn’tProduce the product and get going with a small budget before considering looking for VCMarketing and distribution channels are quite as important as the productWork on your business rather than in your business; in other words, delegate the knowables FF&M enables you to own your own PR & produces podcasts. Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2025 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason.  Email us at hello@fallowfieldmason.com or DM us on instagram @fallowfieldmason. FF&M recommends:   Buzzsprout for directory listing Zencastr for recording remotely  MUSIC CREDIT Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod.  Link &  Licence Text us your questions for future founders. Plus we'd love to get your feedback, text in via Fan Mail Support the show