James Prebble at Google Studios in The Deal Room - Built, sold, scaled, divested and today Palladium Digital is at its pinnacle.

Post Palladium’s exit from Next15 and into their new home backed by Inspirit capital and PCB partners, Palladium continue to go from strength to strength. Adding numerous new client logos over the last 10 months, once again being named in the FT Top Consultancy list for 2026, and being well on track to deliver another record year.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

When you're thinking about post-merger integration, one of the most important things to work out right at the start is where the parking spaces are and who parks where.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Welcome to the deal room, the show that takes you behind the scenes of some of the most significant software and technology founder buyouts in the market. We go beyond the headlines to unpack founder motivations, high-stakes negotiations, everything that truly goes into getting a deal done.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

Welcome to the deal room by PCB Partners here at Google Studios. It is my pleasure to introduce a long-term customer and now business partner in James Preble. James, welcome. Thanks, Ben. Good to be here. Yeah. For those of you who don't know, James Preble is the founder of Palladium Digital, a business that we've admired and followed for several years. He will talk you through who they are and indeed his role as the CEO of the business. But we are also proud investors of the firm having been involved alongside in Spirit Capital since June, July this year. So, Jim, if you could just start letting the world know who Palladium Digital are and your role in the business, and maybe start at the beginning, just to rewind the clock, your entrepreneurial spirit and where that all started.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

I think uh it's a great place to start. For sure. Uh it's always been there, certainly. Uh I think palladium's been the the vehicle that's really helped it take off. Okay. But I guess it started really working in agencies in and around London in their heyday, you know, when media was the the place to be and and and working in London was you know what it was before before COVID and everybody together and those sorts of things. Sure. Um I worked for a very entrepreneurial business back then, and that really inspired me, I guess, on my journey. It's also where I met my co-founder, Mark. Uh, but we um we joined that business when it probably had you know seven or eight people. I think. What sort of period was that? I think that was uh probably around we're probably talking about 2010. Okay. Somewhere around there. Uh and uh we we joined that business, as I say, had probably seven or eight employees. We were in a a small kind of shed-like building somewhere out in uh in Tooting. Uh, but actually we uh Mark and I were reasonably instrumental, uh alongside, of course, the the founders there in growing that business. And I think by the time we got around to leaving there, we'd grown that business to around 50, 55 people. I mean, revenue was through the roof, and we'd just been crowned Digital Strategy Agency of the Year at some awards. So left on a real high, but decided that I'd I'd take some of that kind of entrepreneurial spirit that I'd learnt there and and and some of the skills that I'd learnt there and applied it to the world of consulting. Started working with the likes of Atos and Boxwood, KPMG, cutting my teeth there in kind of the uh the brutal world that is uh consulting, traveling.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Boxwood were acquired by KPMG?

SPEAKER_00 3:04

They were, they were acquired by KPMG. I was very fortunate to be there at the time of of that acquisition and to work with some very, very talented people there. Again, entrepreneurs who had started their own business. Okay. I think it was at that point and that transition into KPMG and having done a couple of programs for them, I thought, I think it's time that I do this for myself. And uh over a uh tired lunch at the Newcastle Marriott, uh working on a project, I convinced Mark that the time was right and we started out in the uh in the world of palladium.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

So that brings us to 2000 and we must be talking about 2000.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Wasn't it your tenure anniversary recently? It was, so it'd be about 2015, around that time that we uh that we got that going.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

So and if we fast forward to your first event when you sold to a listed company in in Next 15, how did that come about? How did that originate? Was were you were you ready for an exit at that point? Was it Sarah? Like just talk us through how that's manifested.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

It probably came around earlier than we thought in the journey. Yeah. I think uh one thing that uh throughout my career and and having the opportunity to have been exposed to the private equity world very early on in my career and and then working with them through some of those consultancies I've mentioned, um, what stood us in good stead when we started Palladium was from day one, we built a business to sell. And I think one of the most important things I would I would share with anybody thinking about starting out and building their business is thinking about what it is you're going to sell and to who and at what juncture. Now, the transaction with Next 15 that came around probably earlier that than we thought, but at the same time provided us with an opportunity to leverage their global platform to help us take the Palladium brand out to a much wider uh private equity audience, but also gave us the opportunity to make acquisitions as well.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

So you join a listed business far larger than yourselves. I think you were 30, 40 people at the time.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Yeah, we were, and they were what, 4,000? 4,000.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Yeah. And now you want to acquire new businesses. Um how did they support you? How did you think about that?

SPEAKER_00 5:27

And were you successful in acquiring many already? So I think what we do is we take it back and perhaps take the opportunity to talk about what Palladium does. Please, yeah. And we can use that to show how kind of Next15 created that platform for us. And so when Palladium started out, our our ambition was to deliver a brand of digital and technology consultancy that wasn't confined to pages on a PowerPoint or a report, but actually provided some actionable recommendations for our clients that were then subsequently executed by us as well. So we stood behind our recommendations, we executed those recommendations, and we drove forward technology advancements in private equity backed businesses to drive better upside. Next 15 really bought into that. They were very keen at the time to add more consultancy capability to their business. And uh we became the kind of the tip of that spear given that they had, you know, uh 15 or so execution type businesses at the time: website development, PR, marketing. That they'd acquired themselves, yeah. That they'd acquired themselves. And we sat at the top of that as a consultancy that could potentially drive some of that execution work through. Um but what we also recognised, and I think very important to do so, is some of the areas where we were weak and needed to bulk out. You know, I think one of the first things we wanted to do was improve our data capabilities, and Next15 helped us by 140, which was a fantastic acquisition for us and continues to be to this day. Um they also helped us by white space strategy so that we had that upfront, deep, detailed market, customer, you know, white space opportunity research capability, which really complemented our technological.

SPEAKER_02 7:21

Dare I say, and I should know the answer to this. Would you put that in the sort of strategy world or more the commercial diligence or a bit of a mix?

SPEAKER_00 7:29

I mean, I think they're such a talented business that they could do as as good a job on commercial diligence as as any of their peers in market. But I think the reality is that you know the majority of the work that they do and and do incredibly well, which is why they are uh like us, a uh kind of a Times Top 100 consultancy, Financial Times Top 100 consultancy. Um, they do incredible strategy work. And I think we've been the beneficiary of that from the first day that we acquired. And when was that? So we must have acquired them about three years ago now. So we're just uh fully settled in, integrated, and and and working together in harmony.

SPEAKER_02 8:09

And how how do you go about doing that on this series? I've asked lots of private equities and strategics, Jimmy, on on how they sorry if the audience, I call James Jimmy, so just bear with me. Um, but how do you go about post-deal PMI ensuring the people stay, in particular the manager team or or more often the the founders? Because palladium seems to done a very good job there. What's the secret to your kind of success there?

SPEAKER_00 8:35

I think the most important thing when you're thinking about post-merger integration, and and and it's probably uh it's a phrase I think I've stolen from an ex-chairman, but one of the most important things to work out right at the start is where the parking spaces are and and and who parks where. And I think if you can have those gritty conversations during the transaction period, knowing full well that you're bringing this business in to integrate it, you know, we're typically buying businesses smaller than us and bringing them into the fold. And and so they're they're typically coming into our architecture. I think having that conversation up front is incredibly important so everybody knows the role that they're explaining. Pre-deal play. Pre-deal. Pre-deal, pre-deal. I think that that that's one of the most important things that you can do. I think on top of that, regular communication throughout not only the transaction period, but that post-transaction period with not just the management team of these businesses, but but the entire employee base of this business to help them understand what's expected, why they should be excited, about where the opportunities are, is uh one of the most important things that we do. But, and I think this is probably the my my biggest leave behind for anybody doing that that PMI is when thinking about the businesses coming in, I think it's important to recognise that they will have some component parts that are better than the way you do things. So it's important to take something from them as well as you know, impress your ways of working and your approaches and your infrastructure and architecture on them. And that's happened on both of those integrations, and there are component parts of them both that still live to this day that were better than the way that we did things.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

So, regardless of size, you embrace maybe the wisdom that you're inheriting and keep an open mind to ensure you get benefit from their value and their um maybe IP that maybe Palladium didn't have prior. Precisely. Okay, very good. So, following on from these bolt-ons you've made, following on from being part of a larger group like Next 15, of course, earlier this year we came together and we were the successful bidder alongside Inspirit Capital and have partnered with Palladium. Uh, and now you've been carved out of the group. Certainly, from my perspective, um, it's been really harmonious and and uh beautiful coming together. The next phase when we talk about acquisitions in your new world with your new partners, what value do you think all the respective partners can bring? And how excited are you about the growth through inorganic as well for Palladium?

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Well, look, I think I think it's fair to say that during the transaction process, given the world that we work in in private equity, we were we were reasonably popular. There were a lot of options for us, and we were fortunate enough to have options. But the In Spirit PCB opportunity was just far too good for us to turn down. I mean, the first part, let's take In Spirit, fantastic carve-out specialist, brilliant management team, brilliant track record. You know, we were very excited about the opportunity of working alongside the likes of Will and Saskia and In Spirit. But I think the PCB angle gives us an unfair advantage, and I'm all for unfair advantages. Uh, I think working with a business that we've admired and known for a long time and been on both sides of deals with you, um, to have the opportunity now, thinking about future acquisitions and our future growth, to work with a uh not just an investor, but a true partner that understands exactly the sort of businesses we like, the culture that we have, which is incredibly important in acquisitions, the size, the location, the capabilities that we want, and your ability to source those. But I think beyond that, because there are others that can source, it's the relationships that you build with those founders and the transparency that you have that makes these conversations so much easier with these potential acquisition targets, is what we were most excited about and are already enjoying the fruits of.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

Yeah. Yeah. No, the the the complement between our respective firms and the obvious synergies in terms of offerings and customers, you know, the one plus one I think we've all seen makes a far bigger number coming together. So when you think about inorganic, have you got any regional plans? And if so, where where would those sort of countries be?

SPEAKER_00 13:13

Well we we absolutely do think globally, I mean, private equity is a is a global market. I I'm literally just back from New York this morning, having been out seeing some clients out there. Uh, we have a fantastic client base out in North America. You know, just spent some time with HG Capital, we've spent some time with Quortech out there, we spent some time with Little John, fantastic funds doing some fantastic transactions that we've been able to support. And and they like our brand of digital and technology diligence and value creation. Okay. I want to take advantage of that. I think there's opportunity for further expansion. We have a little satellite in New York, we have a touchdown in in Boston as well, and some team out there. Um, but certainly our ambitions expand beyond Europe and into North America.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

Revenue roughly percentage of palladium's group in North America?

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Probably about 20%. And if you think about it two years ago, that was probably only one or two percent, which gives you a sense of just how fast we've we've been able to grow the revenue profile in North America. And that's come with a lot of travel, a lot of boots on the ground, a lot of hard work, you know, a lot of networking, a lot of development, a lot of introductions from parties like yourself. Sure. Um, but there's definitely a fantastic opportunity out in North America at the moment. I think that the mid-market specifically is crying out for this practical, hands-on consultancy kind of capability that doesn't just talk but also delivers for these for these assets that typically are receiving first institutional capital.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

And I've always admired uh following the palladium story like Tim and I have all these years, your connectivity and relationship with the BVCA. Could you just bring that to life? Where's that intimacy come from? What do you do for them? Obviously, I know what many of the member firms get in return, but just it looks like you do a lot more than just sign up to a partnership and a membership with them.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Yeah, so I mean, that's actually part of the the very start of Palladium. When we committed to supporting private equity and working within this space, you know, the first thing we did was seek out the uh British Venture Capital Association, BVCA. We uh we were keen to understand the role that they played and and we were keen to support them as as best we could. We you know, one of the first checks we ever cut, even when we were bootstrapping the business, was membership to the BVCA. Been fantastic for us. And um about nine years ago now, I uh offered up uh a course that I would run on behalf of the British French Capital Association uh around digital due diligence when when that was a thing. Um, fast forward nine years on, and and I've been a course director there at the BVCA for nine years. Uh, delivered multiple iterations of courses there from digital diligence through to technology for value creation, and of course, our latest iteration, which is um AI demystified for for investors, which has proved, as you can imagine, incredibly popular. We run that a couple of times a year. Um, but they've been they've been a brilliant supporter of ours, um, and it's been a fantastic relationship.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

So a good segue into accolades and recognition for the brand image. Um only recently, unfortunately I couldn't be present, but you were on stage receiving a very uh prestigious award. Can you tell the audience about that and and how that came about?

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Yeah, so uh I think it was uh the the second time that we'd we'd won that in uh in probably the last seven or eight years, uh, which was Specialist Due Diligence Provider of the Year. Uh and that was at the British Private Equity Awards, which we were we were delighted to uh to be, you know, well, nominated, but also to win because the competition is incredibly fierce there. You know, it's it's all of our peers, it's some some very large consultancies, it's some very well-established businesses. But yes, uh we won that. That was our our second award, and of course, as I mentioned previously, uh both Whitespace Strategy and Palladium this year uh were awarded the uh Financial Times uh Top Consultancy Award, us for private equity and and Whitespace for uh commercial strategy.

SPEAKER_02 17:13

Super helpful, Jimmy. When we all had our wash-up after um the signing ceremony earlier this year, Will and I uh and Tim and Albert and Saskia, we were just super upbeat and enthused about what we'd what we'd all put together uh and how excited we were for chapter three of Palladium. Uh question I've got for you, you've touched on it a little bit there, and you had a lot of attention, and you were spot for choice. Everyone knows that given your position in the market with private equity. Did you have any other suitors that were outside of your classic PE house? Um and why did you go with PCB in spirit?

SPEAKER_00 17:53

So I think yes, we did. There were there were some left field approaches, certainly, um that looked more akin to your type of business, let's say that much, shall we? Um as as well as some some strong interest from from trade. Yeah. But as I say, what really drove the decision for for Mark and I, I guess that there were a number of factors that helped PCB and and and in spirit really stand out. And I think, you know, nature of this series that we're talking about now, I think that entrepreneurial spirit and the fact that you know PCB was founded by entrepreneurs really shone through. I think that really helped you get us. You know, I've seen you and the team, well, fantastic team, in action with all of those founder-led businesses that you support to transaction. And and you get it. You get you know what they're going through, what they want out of it. And I think you're able to translate that also to those that were requiring it so that there are successful transactions. It was it was alluring. We we we couldn't say no to to something like that. But I think uh and in addition to that, I think the strength of the kind of the team there, you know, having someone like Tim, a fantastic asset for us, yourself with your connections into the market as well. When you bring all of that together, I think, you know, honestly, there was there was really no other choice for us. We love hearing that.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

And I guess also the the the market, the ecosystem you're in, and that whole world of you know where you've come from, you know, big four and consulting, SI, tech consulting, you know, we've all grown up in IT services. So I think that common understanding and and all of us growing up from different walks of life, but serving IT services in some sort of guise.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

Absolutely, you know, and that that's the other thing. I think you know, for uh for there were some some great suitors, fantastic suitors, uh, and and all could have been great homes for us, but the fact that we didn't need to translate our business model because the team already understood it, because it's the world that you work with in, really helped us accelerate conversations too.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

So when we think about the market we're in, and you know, call it an outsourcing of in the early days and and execution IT service or IT services. Um we've seen cloud top of everyone's mind now is is artificial intelligence and and gen AI and the impact that's having on all industries, um, but but certainly the digital economy is is one that I really taking notice. Question that I'd like to conclude this session on, if I may, Jimmy. It'd be great to get your position given your role in this ecosystem. AI, headwinds, tailwinds, what's your view?

SPEAKER_00 20:49

Well, you could argue it depends what sort of business is that you're looking at. Yeah. I think why don't we start with kind of what we see from the private equity lens? Yes. Which is given the number of diligences that we do a year, and if you trace us back to our origins of 10 years, there must be there's hundreds, if not thousands, of diligences that have been completed. But what we find today in every single diligence mandate that we're asked to look at is what's the AI impact potential on this business from a threat perspective, of course, but also from an opportunity perspective. And I think the very nature of the way that question is structured tells you that even the kind of the most experienced investors in the digital space, in the IT services space, aren't quite sure whether it's a threat or whether it's an opportunity, or indeed, is it both? That's one of the first things that we're looking at. You know, I think threat analysis is healthy. I think it's good to understand where perhaps parts of the services may become automated, commoditized by uh, you know, the the introduction of AI into into the business. But it's also important to look at how the Business can become better off the back of the successful implementation of AI. Where I stand, and I guess Palladium stand on the whole AI debate is that for the most part, it's an opportunity. For the most part, it is when understood well, when deployed well, when complemented by third-party data, your own data, creating your own moat so that you can create something unique from the technology that's available to you, actually put to real work. And what I mean by real work is the toil, the the monotonous tasks that you do again and again and again, the looking for documentation, the reviewing of contracts, the financial forecasts that you have to produce. If something can support you to do that, you've got more time to do something that we're all short of in business, which is think. Yes. And add value to our clients. So anything that can help us take away from the monotonous and the mundane, there's only going to be a positive. The only part to caution that is that, of course, all ships rise on the tide, and as everybody starts to adopt that, it soon becomes the norm. So for those that are able to bring their data and their unique service proposition into this world and to drive AI-driven customer-facing solutions or internal productivity solutions, they're the ones that will win. They are the ones that will command the highest multiples, they are the ones that will see the best exit. Exactly right. Exactly right.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

Couldn't have positioned that any better if I even dared tried. Jimmy or James Preble, thanks for coming to the deal room. It's been a pleasure, mate, and love working with you. Absolute pleasure. Thanks.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

Thanks, mate.