Selling a recruitment business is not an easy game!

This week on the pod, we sat down with Matt Fox from Exitus Advisory.

His backstory is wild, starting as a rep selling bar crawls on the Malia strip to completely accidentally falling into recruitment.

But the real eye opener of this episode is his journey as an agency founder. Matt built a 30 person agency and could smell the finish line of selling it.

The heads of terms were signed. The deal was done. And then...

Boris Johnson went on TV to announce the first national COVID lockdown. The deal collapsed, jobs vanished overnight, and he was forced to go back to the drawing board.

Matt talks through the brutal reality of dealing with toxic staff, the mental toll of managing a business through a crisis, and how he eventually rebuilt the company to secure a successful exit on his own terms.

It takes some serious grit to be so close to the finish, have it all pulled away and then go back round and have another crack.

After going through all of that, he helps other recruitment founders prepare their businesses for sale, and he dropped some incredible advice on what makes an agency actually valuable, which is super useful for anyone who's got their eye on selling.

In this episode we cover:

• Working on the Malia strip and how it doesn't quite prepare you for management.

• The brutal story of a multi-million-pound exit collapsing overnight.

• The emotional and mental toll of managing toxic staff and bad behavior.

• What actually makes a recruitment agency sellable (and how to increase your valuation).

• Why you need to step away from billing if you want to sell.

• Our most thoughtful gift to date.

• Lee's Lunchbox: If you had to start again tomorrow with no network and no brand, would you still build a recruitment business?

The trio is finally back together (and fully illuminated by the new lighting rig) for a long-overdue catch-up and our official Q1 wrap-up.Before we even touch the business stats, we cover the goings on from the last few weeks. There's stories about breaking down on the M25 while on the phone with "Gran Rogan," the stressful reality of driving at night, and why secretly intercepting and eating your kids' Easter chocolate is actually a noble fatherly duty. We also dive into the awkwardness of playing a card game called "Dick Dick" with the in-laws, and the absolute lifesaver that is a neighbour with a spare car battery.On the business front, we take a hard look at Q1. We talk about the stress of the Chrome Extension going down and the massive V2 rebuild that came out of it—plus the flawless launch of the new Reporting dashboards. Finally, we look ahead to Q2, tease the upcoming integrations, and place our highly uneducated bets for the Grand National.In this episode we cover:- Diesel filter nightmares, limp mode, and M25 breakdowns- The extreme logistics of modern-day Easter egg hunts- A Q1 business reality check: The highs, the lows, and the new Chrome Extension- Why we are so pumped for Q2 Integrations (VoIP, multi-posters, and more)- Lee's Lunchbox: What everyday object would be terrifying if it were 10x bigger?- Our official Grand National picks

We are back as just a pair this week with some serious upgrades and not just to the lighting rig.

Before diving into a quick Q1 business wrap-up and celebrating our best quarter to date, we have a lot of ground to cover.

We swap stories from the weekend, including a 100-mile cycling struggle that ended with eating pickles in the bath and smuggling KFC through a window, plus a wholesome Center Parcs trip with the future in-laws that featured three strikes in bowling and a questionable performance in rubber-animal archery.

We also recount a bizarre encounter with Keir Starmer and his undercover security detail on a hike, and round off by detailing exactly what happens when a monkey with IBS decides to use your back windscreen wiper as toilet paper at Longleat Safari Park.

Finally, we wrap things up with a brand new question from the lunchbox: If animals gained human intelligence, which species would become the biggest problem for society? (Spoiler: It involves rats taking down London and whales manipulating global oil prices).

In this episode we cover:

- Studio and rabbit hutch upgrades

- Spotting politicians and undercover security in the wild

- 100-mile cycles and extreme post-ride hunger

- Surviving Center Parcs with the in-laws and the dreaded "Spa Hangover"

- Longleat Safari monkeys causing havoc

- A brief Q1 business update and why we are finally forecasting properly

- Lee's Lunchbox: The global threat of highly intelligent wildlife