Episode Details

Paul Strouts has run a business of four people.

His first business, James Harvard, quickly grew beyond 100 people and sold to Hays for approximately £20 million at 32.

He then spent a decade running Hays Life Sciences globally. Got headhunted to PE Backed Acacium and quickly made two strategic acquisitions.

He now runs:

3 brands.

250 people.

12 countries.

Contingent, SOW, RPO and Solutions revenue

Predicted £45 million GM in 2026.

£12 million EBITDA target.

He has seen every stage of headcount growth. The good version and the expensive version.

This week on The RAG Podcast, Paul Strouts gives the most direct answer we have had on this show about when headcount creates value and when it just creates cost.

We cover:

- The first question Paul asks any founder who wants to grow from 5 to 20 people

- Why you need a minimum of £500K to grow headcount properly, and what happens if you don't have it

- When headcount genuinely creates value in a recruitment business, and when it becomes a cost

- The ceiling Paul believes exists in life sciences, and why going beyond it risks diluting everything you built

- How Acacium Life Sciences grew from 160 people to a £45 million GM operation through two targeted acquisitions

- Why Paul sold James Harvard to Hays three years ahead of plan, and whether it was the right call

- What working inside a global corporate taught Paul that founding a business never could

- Why AI will not kill specialist boutique recruitment, but will change the lower end of the market permanently

Growing headcount is not the right move for every recruitment business. Paul is the first to say that. But if you are building a people-based business and you want to know exactly what it takes to do it properly, what it costs, when to bring in outside funding, and where the ceiling actually is, this is the episode.

If you've ever wondered when headcount creates value and when it becomes a cost... this episode has the answer.

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