Paul Bennett: How an appetite for risk, bow ties and developing relationships have played a part in building a successful automotive software career.

In this episode we are celebrating the career to date of Paul Bennett.

Paul's focus centres on the Asset Finance industry, primarily on the sale
and delivery of complex FinTech/SaaS solutions to Tier 1 (captive and
non captive) automotive financial services companies, their OEM
partners and retail networks in Europe and other key international
markets.

Over the past 40 years he has originated, invested in, and successfully
exited several commercial ventures, mostly in the technology sector.

He's a dynamic yet pragmatic highly skilled communicator with a proven
track record of UK and international success in all aspects of business
development, consulting, and relationship management. He thrives on
close customer interaction and developing executive relationships to
achieve commercial success.

In our conversation we talk about his entrepreneurial background, his early career years and his transition into automotive retailing and then the software side of customer retention. Paul shares some entertaining examples of how his appetite for risk has led to foreign adventures and business success.

I look forward to hearing what resonates with you.

Connect with Paul on LinkedIn: Paul Bennett
Email: pab@madoxsquare.com

Thank you to our sponsors:

ASKE Consulting
Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk

Aquilae
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror 

If you enjoy listening to our guests career stories, please follow CAREER-VIEW MIRROR in your podcast app. 

Episode recorded on 24 January 2024.

Transcript

Paul Bennett: 0:00

What can I do that's exciting. I thought, Well, I'll tell you I've never been on Concorde before. So I took myself down to the what was the British Airways office in Regent Street, and I bought myself a Concorde ticket to Washington DC with the desire to go to the States, buy a motorcycle and ride across coast to coast, which is exactly what I did.

Aquilae Academy: 0:22

Welcome to CAREER-VIEW MIRROR the automotive podcast that goes behind the scenes with key players in the industry looking back over their careers to share insights to help you with your own journey. Here's your host, Andy Follows.

Andy Follows: 0:54

Hello, listeners, Andy here. Thank you for tuning in. We appreciate that you do. We're also very grateful for our guests who generously join me to create these episodes so that we can celebrate their careers, listen to their stories, and learn from their experiences. In this episode, we're celebrating the career to date of Paul Bennett. Paul's focus centres on the asset finance industry primarily on the sale and delivery of complex FinTech and software as a service solutions to tier one captive and non captive automotive financial services companies, their OEM partners and retail networks in Europe and other key international markets. Over the last 40 years he's originated, invested in and successfully exited several commercial ventures, mostly in the tech sector is a dynamic yet pragmatic, highly skilled communicator with a proven track record of UK and international success in all aspects of business development, consulting, and relationship management. He thrives on close customer interaction, and developing executive relationships to achieve commercial success. In our conversation, we talk about his entrepreneurial background, his early career years and his transition into automotive retailing and then the software side of customer retention. Paul share some entertaining examples of how his appetite for risk has led to foreign adventures and business success. I look forward to hearing what resonates with you. If you're listening for the first time. Hello, I'm Andy follows I'm a trusted adviser to senior leaders in the automotive industry. I work alongside them and their teams to enable fulfilling performance. Contact me if you'd like to know more. Hello, Paul, and welcome and where are you coming to us from today.

Paul Bennett: 2:44

Andy, I'm sitting in my garden office in the north Cotswolds equidistant between Cheltenham and Oxford in a little tiny hamlet, of 45 houses. And when it's full, there are 120 people here.

Andy Follows: 2:59

And I noticed and I never said I was gonna mention this, but my listeners can't see you. You're wearing a very smart shirt and bow tie. And I always see you wearing a bowtie. So before we actually start, can I just pick up on that? And so is that kind of Is that a signature feature of yours?

Paul Bennett: 3:16

You, spot on it is a significant feature, you know, it's helpful to stand out in a crowd. And not many people wear a bowtie during normal business attire, but I've found it to work to my advantage over the years. Yeah,

Andy Follows: 3:31

I can imagine if I was to want to refer to you in a room of 400 people at a conference or something as Oh, the gentleman with the bowtie away we go. So that's a digression, but one that's very relevant to you and a unique style feature of your so I don't mind making that detour. But as my listeners will know, I always start right at the beginning. So if we could please Where were you born?

Paul Bennett: 3:53

I was born in a little town on the northwest coast of England called Southport. I grew up in Southport. I'm one of four siblings. I have two brothers, one older and one younger, and one older sister. And for those of you that may not know Southport, anyone that's keen on golf will probably know it's quite famous for hosting on a number of occasions, the British Open golf tournament at the Royal Birkdale golf club.

Andy Follows: 4:23

Ah, okay. What were your parents doing? What jobs did they have? What roles did you have visibility of when you're growing up?

Paul Bennett: 4:32

I should say that my father was of a generation that sort of more of a grandfather than a father. He was born in 19 110. And sadly, he died in 1980. Just before I was 20. And he is a was, I should say, a first generation English born to Jewish immigrants from what was then Imperial Russia, and they came from a small one horse town which today is in Poland? About 150 miles north of Warsaw. My mother's heritage is not as colourful as my father's, in that her family had been in English for for generations

Andy Follows: 5:12

did your father's cultural heritage. How did that impact the family when you were growing up? Did that come through? And he was born in the UK. But did that have influences on you?

Paul Bennett: 5:25

But in as much as you know, his mother and father were Eastern European Jews from what would have been, just to give you a sort of image of sort of Fiddler on the Roof kind of town, you know, it was a little town, but 15,000 people in the middle of nowhere, sort of one horse place in a rural location in what was Imperial Russia back in those days. They left in the late 19th century around 1891 and ended up in Liverpool.

Andy Follows: 5:59

Right, they were immigrant. So did they come with much? Or did they come with their clothes on their back? And

Paul Bennett: 6:05

yeah, I mean, you know, they didn't have much anyway. So they came with very, very little, I believe my grandfather came with his mother, because his father had died prematurely. He was a cabinet maker, a woodworker, a carpenter, established himself with a job, these other brothers and sisters that arrived in the following handful of years. And he went on to become a pillar of the community in Liverpool, employing 100 People in the 1930s, and 40s, in manufacturing bedroom furniture. So it was a sort of, dare I say, classic immigrant story. And then of course, my father, who was a sort of middle child of 11, a self made man, I guess, from a self made father and continued that tradition, he was an entrepreneur, for sure. His commercial spirit, certainly rubbed up, rubbed off, I should say, with us children. I remember he was he was often referred to, as the fellow that could go down a coal mine, and come up with a nugget of gold. I've always found that statement endearing. And frankly, I believe it speaks volumes about my late father who's focused commitment, tenacity in all of these sectors mine to do, you know, from the commercial perspective, and he was a successful person. If you count success by the amount of money that you have in your bank.

Andy Follows: 7:32

It sounds like from your grandfather onwards, a successful immigration story, and what was your mom doing? At this time, she

Paul Bennett: 7:41

my mom was 16 years younger than my little father. So they met and married in 1951. And she became very much as was the norm in those days. housewife, homemaker I think is a nicer word for it. And she was a great mum, you know, with all that entails, you know, there were four of us and supported my dad, as was the way and remember, his generation was even more tragic and old fashioned. You know, he was a grown up, man, by the time World War Two started. So it's a it's a different kettle of fish.

Andy Follows: 8:17

So if we can move on to school. How was that? Yeah. How would your teachers have described you at school,

Paul Bennett: 8:24

I've got a little piece about that, which I already figured out in preparation for something that I thought was very true then and very true today, in fact, has been true throughout my life, but my school so I attended a prep school in our hometown in Southport, and until I was age enough to be shipped off to boarding school. And in fact, I was just looking through a sort of memory chest earlier this morning, and came across strangely enough, my school report from the summer of 1967. At that time, I was according to my report, seven years and one month old, and it made for some amusing reading, made me smile, and I quote, Paul is a very enthusiastic child, very engaging, and frequently entertains us with his interesting conversations. So I guess what I'm saying is, the die was struck back in the dark days of pre decimalisation. And I must admit, from that day to this, I've always been the kingdom storyteller. And a keen listener. I'm happy to admit that my working life to date, listening to issues and hopefully, eloquently telling meaningful and convincing stories has served me reasonably well.

Andy Follows: 9:54

And from your perspective, did you enjoy school in particular, what did you end joy about it academically and other areas.

Paul Bennett: 10:04

I enjoyed my my young years at prep school, it was fairly easy going I was a milk monitor, can you believe that? I just that's just popped in my head now. Oh,

Andy Follows: 10:13

yes, that was a position. That was one of the early was a position of somewhat similar authority. Yeah, position of responsibility.

Paul Bennett: 10:22

So I delivered my quarter pint bottles of milk to each child, I do remember that very, very, very vividly. But when I went to senior school, you have to remember you are not ancient. But on the other hand, if you driving back into the early 1970s, the attitude of sort of parenting was quite different. And then especially if you take the, you know, the age of my, my father, it was kind of, well, if you go to school, they'll teach you, and I pay them. And that's the way it works, which is quite different from today's approach. And indeed, the approach that my wife and I have taken, obviously, with our daughters, but in those days, it was kind of off you go do your best work hard, put your head down. And I honestly didn't put my head down. And that is one great regret that I have in my life. Because I was always told that you've got all the ability, you just need to buckle down Bennett and get on with it. And for whatever reason, I decided to have more of a sort of fun time with my schooling and didn't make the best of it. Although my love of history, which was my favourite subject, still row marches as part of me today.

Andy Follows: 11:36

So at what point did you start to get interested or find something that you liked doing and knuckle down.

Paul Bennett: 11:43

After I left my senior school back in 1977, eight, I didn't cover myself in glory with my results. And as a consequence, I obviously wasn't going to take further education. And I came to live in London. And my elder brother sort of put his wing around me it was seven or eight years old, or if I remember rightly now. And so he was sort of semi established. And he was involved in foreign exchange transactions. As you may remember, there were lots of different foreign exchange bureaus that used to be in central London, which were operated independently of banks that used to change all kinds of foreign currency that we used to have in those old days, you know, Belgian francs and Deutsche Marks and French francs, and goodness knows what else anyway, I started working for him as a foreign exchange cashier. We had several branches in central London, one of which, oddly, if I think about it now within chapels music store in new Bond Street with

Andy Follows: 12:49

Yeah, a bit of a random location,

Paul Bennett: 12:51

it was a random location. And we used to be on Laker airlines, we'd have a foreign currency report on Laker airlines, that was recorded by a very well known journalist at the time, who was with LBC. If I remember, rightly, his name escapes me. But so we were quite well established. And then once we had this opportunity in the in the music store, it was the start of consumer electronics and video recorders. And goodness knows what else. Don't ask me quite how but we branched out. And we, we ended up with a central London premises where we used to sell consumer electronics in the Sony and Panasonic and JVC and all that good stuff. And most of it was sold via the exchange and Mart magazine, you know, that the day before electronic marketplaces, and we'd always be a challenge cheaper than everybody else. And we'd ship these video recorders and other electronic equipment all across the UK, people would phone up and you'd have to have a good conversation that would put the customer at ease to send them that check for 599 pounds, that's a lot of money, why they should send it to you. So they'd send a check, we didn't take credit cards, and they'd have to wait for it to clear and then we'd send it by British road services. And that's the way it worked. And we ran the foreign exchange business alongside of that. And we ended up into importing and exporting consumer electronics goods from Germany and Belgium, and on and on and on.

Andy Follows: 14:18

And was that your brother's business that he became

Paul Bennett: 14:22

I became part of that business right over those years. And that continued for 12 years, up until 1990.

Andy Follows: 14:30

So really entrepreneurial in a family business to begin with. And then part of that business but very much pretty much an entrepreneurial start

Paul Bennett: 14:39

Very much so and you know, I always have a high threshold for risk.

Andy Follows: 14:43

Okay,

Paul Bennett: 14:44

That's in my character and makeup, I can't say you know, the older you get, the more you enjoy it, but I have got a very good threshold for risk.

Andy Follows: 14:52

Thanks for sharing that poll. Do you think that appetite for risk is something that you had or have you learned it whether it was through an experience that helped you learn it,

Paul Bennett: 15:02

I said that, you know, my father's influences and so forth sort of cascading and rubbed off on his children. And growing up, it was always a very sort of commercial environment. You know, my, my father would talk to us as equals, as adults almost in certain instances, with regard to what opportunities you know, business could bring. So it was learned at a very young age, and it became just part of me,

Andy Follows: 15:27

right?

Paul Bennett: 15:28

Neither was I totally radical, but I have a strong appetite and always have had for risk taking.

Andy Follows: 15:34

So you said you didn't do particularly well at school? So and he said earlier that your father's mindset was send you off to school or pay you to do the education bit, and then, you know, that's their job. What was his reaction when you came back having not necessarily made the most of it was he ambivalent about that, because he didn't see it as the be all and end all because he thought that, you know, business was probably the way forward rather than needing to go to university,

Paul Bennett: 15:59

I think he was less than satisfied. Let's put it that way. But unfortunately, I never really remember my father being in good health. So that impacted his physicality and his ability to really involve himself in my younger life. So part of the sort of, you know, go off to school and put your head down and do your best. He was expecting me to run with that I didn't, I got distracted. So I don't think he was best pleased, but he never chided me about it.

Andy Follows: 16:29

So you had this period, working with your brother foreign exchange, import export business, electronic consumer goods, what did that lead to?

Paul Bennett: 16:39

Well, that led to a great bachelor life with all of the traffic in London, all of the trappings that a young man may want with or without a bowtie,

Andy Follows: 16:50

Lots of foreign currency.

Paul Bennett: 16:51

A single bachelor lifestyle, enjoying all at the capital had to offer I shan't delve any deeper luxury of having a nice car. And you know, what young man doesn't want a nice car, and so all that good stuff. But in 1990, I encountered a sea change in circumstances, which delivered a 360 degree review of my life. And I shouldn't go into detail because it's very delicate. But anyway, I did. And that's what happened. And you know, things happen in life. And I grew up very, very quickly. And this is when I sort of first became involved in the automotive space. A little arrogantly, I thought, well, I know how to buy fancy cars, so I'm sure I can sell them just as well. Of course, you're not quite the same. And my first job in auto retail now hold back the laughter here and was for a Volvo dealer in Hartfordshire. And I had a great attempt at convincing him to find a new angle for sales. And I arranged an internal trade show, specifically targeting undertakers to promote converted 760 GLE estate cars into hearses.

Andy Follows: 18:09

But right.

Paul Bennett: 18:11

They've got to buy them, they need them. I'd say the lifecycle is rather long, unfortunately, but they do need to change them from time to time. So I did that.

Andy Follows: 18:21

Now I'm smiling, because I know later in the story, we're going to get onto the topic of retention and life cycles and knowing that you started with a product, which I've not really thought about it, but I imagine they keep them quite a while.

Paul Bennett: 18:36

Think 20 years plus. They don't drive very far or very fast Andy.

Andy Follows: 18:42

No, no, they're very sedate and short distances. So that's something I've never given much thought to the change cycle of hearses. But there you go, now we've covered it on the show. So you found yourself needing to look for something else. And you chose automotive at that point. And your angle was that this particular stretch Volvo's or extended Volvo's, and you got the job, did you on the back of that?

Paul Bennett: 19:10

I got the job. And I worked there for about a year or so maybe a bit less. And then I thought now I'm fully expert at this, somewhat arrogantly, a chum of mine used to work for BMW Cooper group in Redding. And I thought I'll I'll go and do that. It's got to be damn sight more interesting than Volvo hearses. So I went to work for BMW Cooper reading member. I was still footloose and fancy free. I was looking for change. I was looking for excitement. I was looking for a bit of a gap year when I was 30. Because remember, I don't want to sound you know, hard pressed here but after I'd left school, I used to work and in for several years, literally seven days a week when it was just non stop. That's what I did. I did what I mean of course, you know, I had the benefit of things later. wrong, which was great. But I all I knew about was working. And in my spare time having a good time in later on. So I went to Cooper reading I was there for about a year or so I bumped into someone that said, oh, you know, I've got a good friend of mine. And he lives in Johannesburg. And, you know, he'll always give you a job selling cars and the other well, why not? So off I went to Johannesburg, and I ended up after a while working for BMW in Johannesburg selling BMWs.

Andy Follows: 20:30

Was that quite an unusual thing to do as it would still be today? If you just decided to up and leave by yourself? What did your friends make of this?

Paul Bennett: 20:40

I was a bit of an island that time and I thought why not? I like adventure. I like change. I had a flat that I rented out, packed my bags and off I went I thought if I don't like it, I can come back.

Andy Follows: 20:53

Okay, so you ended up with BMW in Johannesburg.

Paul Bennett: 20:57

In Sandton actually a good northern suburb of Joburg. And I worked there quite successfully for a couple of years. And then I decided to return to the UK.

Andy Follows: 21:07

What made you decide to come back?

Paul Bennett: 21:10

At that time, when I was in SA when Nelson Mandela had recently taken over from FW de Klerk. And the country was beautiful as it is beautiful today, I'm sure I haven't been back for some years. But the attitude, I kind of summed it up, then. I don't know if it's changed distinctively now. But it was a kind of first world infrastructure with a third world environment. And it became very insular and very boring. And I had to get out if it wasn't for me.

Andy Follows: 21:44

Did you have something to come back to? Or did you just head back? And

Paul Bennett: 21:47

What do you think, Andy?

Andy Follows: 21:49

No, I think you just left.

Paul Bennett: 21:50

I just left

Andy Follows: 21:53

It's that risk appetite demonstrating itself again. So you just came back,

Paul Bennett: 21:59

I came back. And I sort of hung around for a while. And then I thought to myself, you know, what does? You need have a bit more excitement, Paul. And it was now I think, early 1993. And so I need one last fling before settling down and knuckling down.

Andy Follows: 22:14

Where had you come back to you come back to London or somewhere else?

Paul Bennett: 22:17

Back to London.

Andy Follows: 22:18

So even London didn't seem exciting?

Paul Bennett: 22:21

Didn't fulfil what I was looking for, because I didn't really know what I was looking for. Because I was a bit lost.

Andy Follows: 22:26

Okay,

Paul Bennett: 22:27

so anyway, I returned, I thought, you know, what can I do? It's exciting. I thought, Well, I'll tell you. I've never been on Concord before. So I took myself down to the what was the British Airways office in Regent Street and I bought myself a Concorde ticket to Washington DC, with the desire to go to the States, buy a motorcycle, and ride across coast to coast, which is exactly what I did.

Andy Follows: 22:50

I'm starting to feel a bit like I wouldn't mind a little bit of this kind of spirit. I've probably left it a little bit late now. This spirit is a little bit enticing, I suppose.

Paul Bennett: 23:03

A little bit mad too

Andy Follows: 23:04

You had a bit of money then to buy a Concorde ticket and think I'm gonna go and ride a motorcycle across the state

Paul Bennett: 23:10

I had a bit of money but I should say that at that particular stage in my life, I didn't invest it wisely in as much as most people would do. But I always think Well, I'm not most people. I am who I am to use that awful phrase. And

Andy Follows: 23:26

You're not going to break into song are you?

Paul Bennett: 23:27

No I shan't break into song.

Andy Follows: 23:35

I don't know if we need a different licence for

Paul Bennett: 23:37

I'm sure we would do if we go too far down that that. road. And as somebody said to me once more, just be who you are, because everybody else is taken. And it's true.

Andy Follows: 23:47

I love it, be who you are, because everyone else is taken. Let me take a moment to tell you about our sponsor. This episode is brought to you by ASKE Consulting who are experts in Executive Search, Resourcing Solutions and Talent Management across all sectors of the automotive industry in the UK and Europe. I’ve known them for almost 20 years, and I can think of no more fitting sponsor for CAREER-VIEW MIRROR. They're the business we go to at Aquilae when we're looking for talent for our clients and for projects that we're working on. ASKE was founded by Andrew McMillan whose own automotive career includes board level positions with car brands and leasing companies. All ASKE consultants have extensive client-side experience which means they bring valuable insight and perspective for both their employer and candidate customers. My earliest experience of working with Andrew was in 2004 when he helped me hire Regional Managers for my leasing sales team at Alphabet. More recently, when Aquilae was helping a US client to establish a car subscription business, ASKE Consulting was alongside us helping us to develop our people strategy and identify and bring on board suitable talent. Clients we've referred to ASKE have had an equally positive experience. Andrew and the team at ASKE are genuinely interested in the long-term outcomes for you and the people they place with you. They even offer the reassurance of a 2-year performance guarantee which means they have‘skin in the game’ when working with you. If you're keen to secure the most talented and high potential people to accelerate your business and gain competitive advantage, do get in touch with them and let them know I sent you. You can email Andrew and the team at hello@askeconsulting.co.uk or check out their website for more details and more client feedback at www.askeconsulting.co.uk . ASKE is spelt A S K E You’ll find these contact details in the shownotes for this episode. Ok, let’s get back to our episode.

Paul Bennett: 25:49

So off I trotted or off I flew. And because I was so intent on buying this motorcycle, I took my motorcycle helmet with me and when I boarded the aircraft, the stewardess or the flight attendant, I should say more correctly today said to me, are you expecting a rough ride? Off I trotted and then three hours and 40 minutes after departing truly wonderful experience.

Andy Follows: 26:20

That is something that not many people have are able to say they've done. So you did that. And then did you buy the motorcycle

Paul Bennett: 26:28

I did. I did buy the motorcycle. I hold up for a few days in a very nice Washington DC location. And I had my eyes and my heart set on buying a particular Harley Davidson I can't remember that model of it. But I couldn't find one anywhere. And so I found a factory because I'm quite industrious, like they found the factory that Listen guys, I'm here on a once in a lifetime opportunity. This is what I want to buy. Tell me where I have to go to anywhere in the United States that's got one of these in stock. And so they looked it up and they said, Well, we shipped one last week to this dealership in Delaware Dover Delaware, which for me, it was actually quite close to Washington DC. So off my title to Dover, Delaware. At that stage, I had all my worldly possessions in cash in my pockets. So I went in to his motorcycle shop. And the chat there was so unhelpful and so rude and so miserable.

Andy Follows: 27:28

This is so believable.

Paul Bennett: 27:32

There's no way I'm gonna buy anything from you. And I left I had a taxi driver waiting outside who very interesting African American guy and he kept thinking I was a potato farmer from New England and after about explaining to him not from New England, I'm actually from England, I just gave in and said yes, I am a potato farmer from booked into an IKANO lodge on a highway, the kind of place that you rent the room by the hour. If you take my drift. It had an air conditioning rattler over the

Andy Follows: 28:02

Okay, well, I don't know why. I'm saying. I jumped in a bit too quick knowing about that. I have no idea what you mean no Paul agreeing with you, yes. Okay, that happens right door with dripping moisture content onto the carpet. And they gave you the remote control for the TV when you checked in. So sort of painting a picture here. So I'd come from a rather pleasant environment in the morning ended up cutting a long story short, I flipped through the Yellow Pages. I found a dealership called Dover motorcycles. And I went to them and I ended up buying a Yamaha V max in candy apple red. Wow. And the people that I got talking to the husband and wife that owned the dealership, lovely people. I was telling them my story. So that's a little story. And you don't want to stay there. Come and stay with us and I asked and spend the weekend with us and and I went to their house and spent the weekend and they showed me a good time and he had all of these classic cars. And they were very, very lovely people. And then on the Monday morning I got on my motorcycle and I bought my motorcycle insurance and titled off and they said well which way you go and I said I'm just gonna go south. And so off I went down the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel into North Carolina and South Carolina and Florida and Alabama and Mississippi and Colorado and just everyone whichever way I wanted to go I went and I spent about three months doing this This is just a wonderful adventure story. Was it as fun as it sounds? Were you loving this exploration and just living life and

Paul Bennett: 29:45

Like all things Andy, you know, take you get on it from my short conversation with you now in all of the high spots. There were obviously some low spots, some very low spots and some can I continue with this but overall I look back on Now albeit many, many years ago, very, very fondly, and it was a great deal of fun in its kind of Mad Cat way. I met a lot of very interesting people. And as you know, I enjoy speaking to interesting people, because you never know what you'll pick up or what you won't. And it was a blast. It was a blast.

Andy Follows: 30:20

So you came back after three and a half months and three months or so.

Paul Bennett: 30:23

Well, actually, I decided, having sewed my wild oats and running a bit low on the old readies. I decided I'd better knuckle down. I sold the motorcycle, went back to New York City. I had some friends there, I managed to find accommodation there even with very little money. And I secured a role at a BMW dealership. So a BMW's been a constant throughout my life, and I worked there and did a very good job for them. And after a year or so, I found myself in Los Angeles. And I secured another position at a large BMW dealer that covered the whole of the LA metro area. It was a big site we did circa 700 units a month 450 New 250 used seven days a week nine to nine to shifts of six salespeople with two floaters as they call them. And two business managers seven days a week, it never stopped. Or I should say, as the President of BMW North America said on a visit to the dealership, Vic Doolan he said to me Paul there is no finish line at BMW. I've always remembered that.

Andy Follows: 31:34

Yeah, well, that rings true

Paul Bennett: 31:37

Puts you in your place, doesn't it.

Andy Follows: 31:38

Yeah, not gonna argue with that. Anyway, there you were, this time in LA huge dealership, lots of volume. And at a time when things were really flying, I'm imagining,

Paul Bennett: 31:52

Oh, yeah, mid 90s. And we knew you couldn't really put a foot wrong. It was rocking and rolling, to use an analogy. And I really honed my craft, and became very competent in the product and sales. People like me, I used to wear a bowtie. People always ask me, where's the guy with the bowtie? You see? So that used to work in my favour. And then I became very involved in the finance and insurance side of things. And then in the mid 90s, what would the emerging digital age of the internet sales, just starting to creep in certainly, LA and east and west coast started becoming quite a thing. And I set up a web sales team and eventually became a general manager at the dealership. So that became quite a lot of baptism of fire because I was well involved. But I really honed my craft there, I learned an awful lot. I enjoyed it greatly.

Andy Follows: 32:50

And becoming very much an automotive person by this point

Paul Bennett: 32:54

very, very much indeed. And started thinking about the whole finance and insurance piece more widely. And you know how that could really gather pace and what we could do with it just from a retention perspective, which was weak. And we'll come on to that a little bit later on. Sure. But that was my first brush with how can we do this better?

Andy Follows: 33:14

And how did you find being an employee having been, you know, back in the days where you've been working very long, long hours and long weeks with your brother, were you comfortable being an employee?

Paul Bennett: 33:27

It was kind of different? Because I mean, yes, you were an employee, but your employee rights are pretty or those times were very, very shallow in the US. I mean, if I tell you that you had no basic salary,

Andy Follows: 33:44

wow.

Paul Bennett: 33:45

So what you kill you eat, you don't kill, you don't eat. It sharpens one's attention. Now, there are pros and there are cons. And when I say you had no basic salary, it was so basic, it wasn't even worth considering. And if you didn't make your use of colloquialism, make your nut. In the first three months, you were shown the revolving door. It was a tough environment. And so that I quite liked because i i usually worked rather well when my backs to the wall. And I remember, we'd have Monday morning meetings and we had some great characters. As you can imagine, a colleague of mine who I used to work with similarly for Los Angeles is like a bone of museli. I said, What do you mean by that statement? He said, You take out the nuts and the flakes and you're left with the fruits. It was a very, very true and it's a very transient town. People are there pretending often to be who they're not. Perhaps that's why it kind of appealed to me in part. Everything's a stage. It's colourful, it's colourful, very colourful, and they knew how to reward you as sales people remember the general manager of the sales General Sales Manager would Monday morning meeting with start the meeting. Okay guys, beginning of the month, Fast Start $10,000 cash bonus to the first person that sells X. And you'd get it. It wasn't pie in the sky. And that sharpened the enthusiasm. I remember my first 21 days, for reasons that I won't go into detail, I decided to work every single day, from nine till nine. And the, the general manager who later became very good friend of mine, he said, report, you know, you can't do this, you're gonna burn yourself out, and you're gonna be no good to me and no good to anybody. Anyway, it was a question of having to do something. And I did it. And in 21 days, I remember distinctly I sold 27 vehicles, so I cracked it, and I earn my chair. Let's put it that way. And it went from there. It just got better and better and better.

Andy Follows: 35:51

And how long did you stay in that environment,

Paul Bennett: 35:53

Oh three and a half, four years.

Andy Follows: 35:55

And what caused you to move move on from there,

Paul Bennett: 35:58

Through a mutual friend, I met a beautiful young woman who was later to become my wife. Ironically, she was English, also living in LA. We've just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary last November, we got married in Palm Springs, California. And we decided that we did want a family because I was knocking on by them. And we as much as we had enjoyed our la lifestyle. It wasn't something that we would want to impose freely on our children. And we decided to come back to the UK and start a family. And we did that in the following year. And as irony would have it, I secured another role with a fabulous company who were based in Philadelphia. We went back

Andy Follows: 36:46

It was going so well.

Paul Bennett: 36:48

Well, it wasn't it wasn't permanently in Philadelphia. But so I work for a really interesting company. You'll probably be familiar with the Ford options PCP programme. Yeah, that was the granddaddy of them all. And Ford options and Ford credit, created that financial product in advance of any other OEM captive finance company. And the company that was responsible for creating for sowing that seed, watering it and bringing it to harvest was a company by the name of half a car. And they were based in Philadelphia, and the name half a car was arrived at because broadly speaking, after two years, most vehicles, the residual value broad brush was about 50% of their original selling price. So they coined this name half a car, they became hugely successful. And they were responsible for implementing the poor options programme in 22. Countries teaching the values and benefits of PCP, how to sell it to consumers, or how to present it to consumers, I should more correctly say, and be able to extol the benefits of this new financing visa vie higher purchase. And the rest, as they say is history because you'll know very well that PCP is by a country mile, the biggest financial product used for the purchase of us new cars in the UK market. And it's gaining a lot of foothold and grounding in other European sectors as well. So that revolutionised the way people bought cars. But it took a while for them to understand that the ultimate value was, you know, begin with the end in mind, this customer has got a fixed term cycle. And that beauty of the PCP is the renewal and the retention. And dealers no matter how hard you tried. Few of them were very good. But the vast majority were not good at the retention process, primarily because it was heavily paper based in those days. And big Ledger's used to sit on top of filing cabinets in the f&i office and get very dusty. And they started off with a good will. But you could see that the content was getting thinner and thinner as the weeks went by with focusing on the retention process. So we educated them as to how to best go about it. And cutting a long story short, that's when the seed really germinated in my mind and that of a very close colleague of mine, that we would go into business and create a software product that was to drive customer retention for motor finance companies.

Andy Follows: 39:29

So it's brilliant. I mean, that you had that thought. Lots of people have good ideas, Paul, but they don't follow through. Of course, one thing you had one ingredient you had was this risk appetite.

Paul Bennett: 39:41

Yep.

Andy Follows: 39:42

So that would have contributed to it. So tell us how you set that up.

Paul Bennett: 39:46

So it was 2004 the original company half a car had been purchased, lock stock and barrel by a much larger organisation called The Reynolds and Reynolds company from Dayton, Ohio. Reynolds rentals are primarily a dealer management system backbone provider. And they were under pressure to have international representation. And so they bought an allied automotive services company that had a footprint in 22 countries, primarily with Ford Motor Credit. Anyway, long story short, they as often is the case when these large beer moths, by a smaller, agile business really didn't have the vision or understanding of what it was about. And shortly, but slowly, over a couple of years, the business relationships became poor, with Ford, and they decided to close down and or sell off various tranches of the business that they had originally bought several years before. So my good friend and colleague at the time, and I decided it was now or never, and we we resigned. And we had a little bit a little bit of money, but not a great deal. And he was very much the technical brains behind the operation. And I was very much the front of house, the storyteller. And so the storyteller comes back into play. And we built on a shoestring a minimum viable product, I think that's what they call them today, they didn't call them that, then they won't call startups, then they will just call kitchen table businesses, because that's what it was. And off we went, we spoke to lots and lots of people. Nobody said, this is absolutely mad, forget about it, you're bonkers. But on the other hand, nobody actually bought it either. We were encouraged. We were encouraged, little bit naive with regard to getting your hands on the necessary data from the various finance companies. But you know, sometimes, naivety can be quite helpful, because if you kind of know all of the problems before you start, you never really jump off on the bungee cord. So that was helpful, long story short, we needed money now to build this. So I said to my darling wife, who was pregnant with our second child, and our first daughter was two years old, I would like to re mortgage the house for 50% of its value, to invest in the business with my partner, business partner, because this is what we want to do. And we sat down and talked about it. And I said, What do you think, you know, expecting sort of fairly robust response. And I have to say, All credit to her that she said to me, if you believe in it, I believe in you, and it's the right thing to do.

Andy Follows: 42:43

Wow.

Paul Bennett: 42:44

And so then get that brings, you know, quite a lot of emotion into into my head at the moment as I'm chatting.

Andy Follows: 42:50

Yeah, I get I completely get that. So you did it.

Paul Bennett: 42:54

We did it. And we we battled on for another year or so. And there were many points, many low points. And we thought to ourselves, let's we crack a deal, how long we got left to run. Anyway, we did crack a deal a very, very, very small deal for about 7000 pounds. I remember delivering the product, installing it, training it and collecting the check for it on the same day. And on the way back from the dealership, I stopped off at Barclays in Dunstable. And I deposited the check immediately. And I rang up my business partner and said, we've now got seven grand in the bank, so we can pay each other a couple of grand this month, and that was the start and, and to be fair, our main sponsor was a wonderful chap from a motor group that is no longer in existence called Wayside Motor Group. They were heavily involved with Volkswagen product around the St. Albans, Milton Keynes area. And there's a chap who was head of their f&i who previously had been the manager of Volkswagen finance and one thing led to another. And we got involved with them. And we managed to get our hands on, on more data, and we created a platform and it became successful. And that led to conversations with Volkswagen financial services in the UK. And the chap who was our main contact is now the MD, Mike Todd. He was our main contact in the day, and we went back and forth and back and forth, and back and forth. Anyway, we made a success of it. And long story short, at one stage, I don't know whether it is today because I'm not associated with the business but all of ox waggon dealers in the UK and Skoda dealers were using our platform for customer retention. And we hit another open seam and we repeated the process with Daimler financial services. And then that took us further afield and I went to Australia, Asia Pacific, I spent months in China and Korea and Japan and Singapore supporting Daimler finance with their platform that they were looking to use in the region. And the rest is history as they say. So We built up a good business from zip to a very meaningful turnover, very handsome EBIT da. And it was 2014. circumstances in life keep changing and shifting, and I decided that it was time for me to cash in my chips. And I did I cashed in my shareholding was at 5050. Owner. And that was in May 2014. So nearly 10 years ago.

Andy Follows: 45:24

And what was that business?

Paul Bennett: 45:26

Oh, sorry, the name of the business in the day was called chrysalis Solmotive. But it's more widely known today as Key2Key. Chrysalis Key2Key.

Andy Follows: 45:34

And so your wife was right.

Paul Bennett: 45:36

Yes, she was

Andy Follows: 45:37

to trust. How long did it take before you felt that you? Was it that first 7000 pounds? You thought, Okay, we've got a or was it before then you were convinced or

Paul Bennett: 45:48

No, I think one of the big moments, probably a couple of years after that. 7000 pounds for around 2008 2009. Maybe we'd been courting an opportunity with Daimler financial services and cutting a long story short, we had one lady that used to work for us in one room office, doing everything that we couldn't do. And she phoned me up and my business partner and I had gone out for early Christmas lunch. And we were in Worcester, I remember in a pizzeria. I don't quite know why. But we were at a pizzeria. And we got a letter here for you, Paul, from Mercedes Benz financial services. Would you like me to open it? I said, Yes, please do. So human to others are checking it for 78,000 pounds. I said, Well, that's good news. Very good news.

Andy Follows: 46:35

We can have dessert,

Paul Bennett: 46:36

What we did, actually, I put the phone down waiter, bottle of your finest champagne, if you please. And then that was that was that was a big turning point. I mean, that was a moment in time. But there was an awful lot of crawling over broken glass to get there, Andy, and for some years afterwards, one thing that I've learned is that, you know, just because a product may work in one market for one client doesn't mean that you can just drop it into other markets for the same client. And you've got to go through the whole broken glass scenario all over again, and educate and eloquently tell stories and help to solve their problems.

Andy Follows: 47:15

Excellent summary,

Paul Bennett: 47:16

We did that successfully anyway. So I'm happy about that.

Andy Follows: 47:20

Well done. So you exited successfully as well, in 2014? How did that feel? Did you feel that you had nothing else to prove? Had you ever felt that you had something to prove and that ever entered into it,

Paul Bennett: 47:33

I always thought I've got something to prove. And I still have that feeling now, that I've got something to prove. So I don't think that kind of character that I am with that kind of outlook that I've got ever actually loses, you know, there's something to prove. There's something more to do?

Andy Follows: 47:48

Have you considered where that comes from? We born with it.

Paul Bennett: 47:52

All the brothers in my family have exactly the same traits, some are more heightened in some than others. But we all have it. It's part of our upbringing, being around that kind of environment. You know, it's like, if you live in a house full of musicians, you're probably going to pick up the violin, we picked up the business game. And one way or another. It's something that's in you sort of don't want to get too artistic here, but it's I guess it's a sort of a sort of DNA is part of you. It's just it's how you think, how you look at things.

Andy Follows: 48:23

Thank you for explaining that. And it reminds me of a conversation I had with Christopher Hope, who is a brand manager for Rolls Royce in Melbourne. And he was talking about growing up in his area where there are a lot of immigrants in the area who had a similar very entrepreneurial spirit. And that's what you saying that reminds me of especially knowing the immigrant background of your family as well. So once you exited, it wasn't a question of brilliant, that's my life's work achieved. I can kick back now it sounds like

Paul Bennett: 48:59

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Number one, I was way too young. Number two, I have hobbies, but I don't want to go and dig the garden and play golf every day. That was that really wouldn't wouldn't be satisfactory. And as I say, there's always something to achieve, at least in my heart. So I did have a bit of a chill out time and I did enjoy time with the family. We went on a few rather nice holidays and did some stuff that we thought we'd never going to do, but we did it. So I had that flexibility of choice. But it was it was never going to be sufficient to satisfy my my requirements for life just ambling around. So I received a call from Roy nice chap, I'm sure you probably know of him. He was the then managing director of CAP HPI a gentleman called Ian Rendell. Yeah. And Ian said to me, Paul, I can't tell you exactly what. But if you're free and if you would be interested, we are going to be purchased by a large American corporation. and they want us to expand across Europe into a number of markets, would you be interested in helping us do that. And I ended up working for him for a year on a contract, because they were purchased, as you may know, by a large US business called Solera. holdings. And Solera holdings had a very good strong footprint with some of their other businesses in Europe, and they wanted to monetize the data business, around residual values, and so forth. So I worked with them for a year up in Leeds, that's where their HQ was. And I remember the day I got there, and God bless him who said, Oh, well, you look after these guys from McKinsey, because they've come to do a market study for us on three markets in Europe. And they need to know the ins and outs of everything that we do, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's about you don't really know the ins and outs of everything that you do, you know, I've got no general, we used to buy their data, you know, when when I was a chrysalis that I knew in, and he said, some very resourceful, individual poor, I'm sure you'll be fine. So that was it. So off, I went with the boys from McKinsey, two very, very smart young gentleman, both with PhDs, I felt a little coming up short. But I did a good job with them. And they got all the information they needed over a period of a couple of months. And they approved our business plans. And we went from strength to strength, and I was there for about a year. And then to be absolutely Frank, Andy, good people. But the environment, I needed to get back to more of my sort of entrepreneurial kind of Paul wants to do what he wants to do it the way he wants to do it, don't ask me the questions, I'll just give you the results. And that wasn't acceptable in a more controlled environment. And I respect that and understand it. So I said to him, I said, looking kind of a square peg in a round hole. I can bash the square peg into the round hole and sort of balance on my chair and do what is needed to but it's just not really my cup of tea. I said, so if you don't mind. I'd like to say bye bye. And he said, Well, Paul, you know, why do you want to do that? And so I gave him some more information, and chat. And he said, Well, you're either very stupid, or very brave. But either way, I wish you all the best. And off I went in December 2015. And whilst I was at CAP, I bumped into an interesting company, another firm that you may know, or Vandy, auto Futura. They were a small business family business, based in Southampton, much more flexible and entrepreneurial could kind of cope with my mad cap ideas. And one of the directors whom I've met before, so look for, we're actually building out a retention and renewals platform. And I think maybe your knowledge and expertise would be helpful to us to help us build it. Would you like to do that? So I worked with audit material for five years, they were very much involved in residual value management tools for the fleet sector. And their services were used widely across all the fleet companies. And they needed a place where they could expand, and there was no more room in what they were doing. So we built this very, very smart retention platform, which became very, very successful. They had a customer already with Jaguar Land Rover and Lloyds Banking Group at the time, if I remember, rightly, anyway, we grew it. And we doubled the revenue of the business. And we had some very large, independent finance company clients, but I probably shouldn't dive hold to became clients of ours. And then again, you might sort of nose for a deal. And conversations with the owners came to the point whereby they thought, Well, maybe it's time for us to grow the business and maybe to cash out for the business. And so I became instrumental in finding a channel to private equity that bought that business. And the private equity bought that business. And that was the keystone of what is today, automotive transformational group, which is ATG.

Andy Follows: 54:08

It sounds like you're back in in a place where you could be more yourself in that environment I'm smiling. I know exactly what you're talking

Paul Bennett: 54:14

Absolutely I respect and thoroughly understand why organisations need to have processes and controls that keep various employees within a sphere of influence. But you know, they can't actually press the red button until the committee and the committee and the committee and the committee and I respect it immensely. It can be frustrating. I'm sure you will have had your experiences of committees in former career paths. Because I know they're very big on committees. about. And I'm thinking how someone who hops on Concord to buy a Harley Davidson and go off for three months is not necessarily the sort of person who's going to fit well within a highly process oriented or guideline driven big controlling environment would not be good Without sounding arrogant. Andy and I don't want to, and I'm genuinely not an arrogant guy. But if I need to speak to somebody, you know, if it happens to be the CFO, the MD, whoever it is, you know, I'll go and speak to them, I've got a thick skin, you know, what's the guy or the girl gonna say to me, I'm not interested, fine. So, you know, I need to get things done. And you'll know, as I know, from experience, that very often, if you're trying to engage with enterprise clients, you can get easily lost, respectfully, highly, respectfully, in a sea of middle management. And you just keep going around this sort of figure of eight. And nobody makes a decision or you get to the point where you're saying, Guys, someone has to make this happen. It's either yay or nay, how do I break this logjam? And they're not keen on breaking logjams because they like projects, because projects, keep them in their job. And I like action, I'm a doer, I want to get results. And so if that means breaking with tradition, and going above somebody's head, then so be it, not out of arrogance, but just because out of frustration, that you have to get something done,

Andy Follows: 56:11

it's important that way you have the self awareness to know as you did, this isn't a good fit. This doesn't play to my strengths and finding something that does. And recognising that we don't all excel in the same areas. So it's much better to find ourselves the place where we can do well. So you were instrumental in finding the PE firm that acquired Autofutura. So what happened for you, then?

Paul Bennett: 56:39

Well, I remained in the business for a period of about nine months, they brought in a new managing director, they then decided to restructure some of the staff members, I was selected as one person that they would let go. And so I was let go. And I took my package of benefits and so on and so forth with me. And off I went.

Andy Follows: 57:01

How were you feeling about that was that was that you kind of engineered You'd engineered a disruption, if you like in terms of creating the sale?

Paul Bennett: 57:12

Well, that ends well, at the time, I was probably a little peeved for various reasons. But that's so much water under the bridge that you know, I don't even give it a second thought it's what happens still.

Andy Follows: 57:25

And so what did you do?

Paul Bennett: 57:27

So all the while from the time I sold my shareholding in Chrysalis Key2Key, I then set up my own very small business entity, which is known as Madox Square.

Andy Follows: 57:39

Where does that come from?

Paul Bennett: 57:41

Out of my head, okay.

Andy Follows: 57:48

Doesn't have a significant does it have a significant meaning?

Paul Bennett: 57:52

Well, many, many, many, many years ago, when I was in business with my brother back in the day, we used to meet in the morning for coffee at a cafe Italian cafe in Maddox Street. But there was no Maddox square. Well, Maddox Square is actually in Calcutta. That's the only Maddox Square I can find. And I just wanted something that sounded financial ish.

Andy Follows: 58:15

Yeah, no it's good I like it.

Paul Bennett: 58:17

Maddox Square. LLP has got a kind of nice ring to it.

Andy Follows: 58:21

Right. So you've already set that up

Paul Bennett: 58:23

in 2014. And I use that as a vehicle to look for and acquire, I hate to use this word, consulting jobs with anyone operating in the tech digital space in automotive, retail and finance,

Andy Follows: 58:39

Which we know from this conversation, you have now quite a rich history of that intersection of tech and automotive retailing, leveraging renewals,

Paul Bennett: 58:52

financial services in general residual value management, all of these bits that are behind the scenes that make the whole clock tick,

Andy Follows: 59:01

and that are only becoming increasingly relevant and important. As we continue they're more and more topical

Paul Bennett: 59:09

Indeed so yeah, so Maddox Square is my entity at the moment. After I left Autofutura. I called around some people because everything comes from the unit and I spoke to Richard Taverner at iVendi, who's the co owner and Chief Operating Officer of iVendi, which is a tech based organisation very successful SME in the UK. And I'd known Richard and his business partner James James Tew. who is the CEO of iVendi for 15 years because we had been in conversation at the start of the Chrysalis days about maybe trying to find a way of doing things together. Which didn't happen because you're just too busy doing your own day job. Anyway I spoke to them got along famously and they said to me, good job you phoned Paul because we're actually looking at expanding our business footprint into the major markets in Europe. Could you do some work for us on that on a contract basis? And I did for several months? They were very pleased with what I did. And they said, Look, we'd really like to make a role for you here. Would you consider that? I said, Yes, I will. And I considered it and we made a deal. And I joined them. And I was spearhead is maybe the wrong word. I don't want to sound you know too

Andy Follows: 1:00:25

Quite aggressive, isn't it?

Paul Bennett: 1:00:27

Yeah. I'm a bit of an iron fist in the velvet glove. So there comes the time when you have to break some eggs. And it's so off I went with my black book of contacts and researched in conjunction with some external companies. The appetite for the products in the five major markets in Europe, have long story short, and then started networking through all the finance houses and people that I knew in France and in Spain and Italy, Germany was already taken care of. So I had no issue with that someone else was dealing with that. And so over the course of those two and a half, three years, through my knocking on doors, connecting Mr. A with Mr. B to mr. F to back to Mr. C, again, we got conversations flowing with all the major auto finance companies that you can think of in Europe, which primarily as you may well know, are all roads lead to Paris or Madrid. Credit Agricole, credit mutual Societe Generale BNP Paribas, they all own other entities in Spain literally under different trading names. They're all hoovered up by the French. And the other big bear in the room is Santander. So we created lots of conversations at multiple levels, all these different people. We hired country managers for Spain, and for France, we'd never got a country manager of Italy, and I was deputising, not because my Italian was so great. But that's just because I was the only man standing. So we created an awful lot of excitement in the marketplace. All the doors are open. And they have to this very day, a number of discussions, conversations and negotiations with lots of different finance companies. But I guess my role had come to a natural end, Andy, I don't what I was hired to do, I'd done it to the very best of my ability, which I always do. And it was a natural ending of that task. And so Richard and games, and I sat down some months ago now and decided that my role was no longer required. And we made an agreement. And here I am back looking for my next exciting opportunity.

Andy Follows: 1:02:46

Are you looking to carry on at that similar space at that intersection of technology and automotive retailing and renewals? Or is there anything you want to add into there or a particular direction you're aiming at?

Paul Bennett: 1:03:00

Yes, all of that, that you've mentioned, of course, is respectfully my sort of bread and butter. I've sort of grown up on a number of years now. And I've got a pretty good handle on what's happening in the market. And I keep myself abreast of

Andy Follows: 1:03:12

and a network. That's so important, isn't it?

Paul Bennett: 1:03:16

I mean, you know, I genuinely love people. And I love engaging with people. And I really enjoy talking to interesting people. Very interesting tuppence ha'penny fact I've got a lot of contacts out in the Far East and one of my contacts and I met this really interesting guy at the Shanghai auto show a year or so ago. And I think you'd like to met him as well give me his number. So I rang him and I said, Is your name so and so he goes, yes. So you don't know me. I'm Paul Bennett. I said well, a good colleague of mine met you at the Shanghai Auto Show whenever it was couple of months ago. And he said that you're a really interesting guy and the kind of person that I'd like to talk to, and I like interesting people. So here I am, I'd like to talk to you. And we got along, famously, and we built this really strong relationship out of nothing. So things like engaging with people I've never spoken to before just doesn't bother me. It's water off a duck's back. And I love it. And I'm genuinely interested in what people have got to say. And I can learn a great deal from them. So yes, I'll remain in the same area, because because, but I'm very open to other areas in as much as part of my role or roles, certainly in the last role, talking to big organisations, banks, who are not particularly finance companies, but they have finance arms. Part of my job has been consulting with them to get them to understand the values of what we were promoting at the time and working with them. My approach is always when I speak with prospects, clients call them what you will, is that you know, I don't want to be one side of the desk and they're on the other side of the desk, you know, so it's a real roll your sleeves up. Consider me. Once you've got to know me a little as part of your intern No team, because that way, we're gonna get to places much more quickly and much more effectively and have a better time doing it than thinking, Oh, Paul is from x, y Zed. And all he wants to do is Bill us for another hour, hour hour, which I do but event. And the fact is, we'll all get to a better place if we work collectively, and not looking at as an asset to them. So I very much put myself into the client's shoes. And an old takeaway from my day at half a car with a wonderful little acronym called TLC squared, which is Think like a customer. And so if you think like the customer, and you look at it from their perspective, it fast tracks everything by way of a conversation. And I may be wrong. Hey, I'm a guru, everything I say is right. I'm prepared to accept on occasions, on a number of occasions, I will be wrong. And I'll hold my hands up to and if there is not a mutual deal to be done, then there isn't. Let's get to it as fast as possible.

Andy Follows: 1:06:02

And if people want to get in touch with you, Paul, how would you like them? To do that? Well put your LinkedIn in the show notes to this episode, and we'll put your email address in the show notes to your episode. Are you happy for people to reach out to you?

Paul Bennett: 1:06:14

Most definitely. Hopefully, I will demonstrate I don't have a closed mind. So how I work with whom is very flexible. I haven't ruled anything in or rule anything out. Whether that's, you know, contract, short term, long term employment, all manner of opportunities are on the table,

Andy Follows: 1:06:33

I think non exec director ships as well. Yeah,

Paul Bennett: 1:06:37

Absolutely. I have some small investments in a couple of tech companies in one in the UK, and one in Singapore, actually, from my considerable amount of time I spent out there. And again, you know, I act as an NED with one of those companies.

Andy Follows: 1:06:51

So is there anything? I haven't asked you, Paul, that means I might have missed an opportunity to uncover a golden nugget? Or have we pretty much covered everything that you wanted to cover?

Paul Bennett: 1:07:02

Well, you know, being a storyteller, I guess I could go on for forever and ever. But as we have a limited time together. I think that we've done each other proud with our conversation. And there should be sufficient material to give your listeners, hopefully, an interesting podcast.

Andy Follows: 1:07:19

Thank you very much indeed, for joining me, Paul. And I wish you all the best in the next opportunity that comes along. And I look forward to seeing where that is and where you show up next. So thanks very much.

Paul Bennett: 1:07:31

And so do I. Thank you very much, Andy.

Andy Follows: 1:07:38

You've been listening to CAREER-VIEW MIRROR with me, Andy follows depending on your unique life experience, where you find yourself right now and your personal goals, you'll have your own takeaways from Paul's story. Some elements that stood out for me were the entrepreneurial nature of the family into which he was born. The fact that he didn't knuckle down at school but he did work very hard with his brother in their foreign exchange business. And when they were importing and exporting electronic consumer goods, he has and knows he has a relatively high tolerance for risk, and it was interesting to see that show up during his story. I loved hearing how he hopped on Concorde to fly to the US buy a motorcycle and go travelling before having spells working for BMW in New York City. And then in LA. Then he got involved in Half a car, which was the precursor to Personal Contract Purchase the finance product that sits behind most new cars sold to retail customers in the UK today. He had early experience of introducing the Ford Options programme that helped customers to enjoy new cars more frequently. Somewhat helpfully, he got into the software side of customer retention at an early stage, and once again demonstrating his risk appetite, he remortgaged his home to invest in his business, which eventually resulted in a successful exit in 2014. He realised that his approach is better suited to certain types of business, and he found that in Autofutura, and then iVendi, and he's now looking for his next opportunity and we wish him all the very best with finding the right one. If you'd like to connect with Paul, we'll put his contact details in the show notes to this episode. If you enjoy listening to my guests stories, please could you do me a favour and share an episode with someone you lead parent or mentor or perhaps a friend of yours who you think would also enjoy listening? Thank you to Paul for joining me for our conversation. Thank you to our sponsors for this episode, ASKE Consulting and Aquilae and thank you to the Career-view Mirror team, without whom we wouldn't be able to share our guests life and career stories. And above all, thank you to you for listening.