WAVE

Bootstrapped to £1M revenue in two years

Co-founded a talent strategy firm and bootstrapped it to £1M revenue in two years, hiring for scaleups, quant funds and enterprise.

Revenue in 2 years: £1M
Outside capital: £0

01 · The mandate

Before building talent systems inside companies, I built the company: a talent strategy firm with no outside capital.

02 · What I built and led

Wave hired product, engineering, AI/ML research and executives for scaleups and quant funds — Monzo, Two Sigma, Quadrature Capital — and enterprises including Aviva and Santander.

Bootstrapped to £1M revenue in two years. Founder economics teach you what hiring actually costs and what a talent operating model is worth — lessons I've carried into every in-house system since.

03 · What changed

Founder credibility: built and ran the business, not just the function.