The Journey to £10 Million

At Raw Selection, we work exclusively within private equity. Every day, we advise investors and portfolio companies on how to build leadership teams that scale value, manage risk, and drive outcomes.

But behind the scenes, we are building a business of our own.

This blog marks the start of something new: documenting Raw Selection’s journey to £10 million in revenue. Not as a vanity project, but as a transparent account of the wins, the losses, the constraints, and the lessons learned along the way.

Why Document the Journey?

Private equity is built on data, discipline, and constant improvement. Yet many service providers operate behind closed doors, only showing the highlight reel.

We want to do the opposite.

This journey is about:

• Sharing what actually works (and what doesn’t)

• Holding ourselves accountable to the same standards we expect from leadership teams

• Building a culture of execution, feedback, and continuous improvement

• Creating long-term trust with our clients, candidates, and future team members

£10 million is our first major milestone - not the destination, but a marker of scale, consistency, and quality.

Working on the Biggest Constraint

One of the most important frameworks shaping how we run Raw Selection comes from the concept of constraints: identify the single biggest bottleneck in the business and focus relentlessly on fixing it.

Last year, that constraint was clear.

Our search-to-placement ratio was too high. We were taking on too many searches that lacked urgency, clarity, or alignment and that diluted outcomes for everyone involved.

At one point, it was taking six to seven searches to make one placement. That wasn’t acceptable.

So we paused, refocused, and spent three months fixing it.

Today:

• We average one placement for every three searches

• We are far more selective about the work we take on

• Quality, urgency, and alignment now come before volume

That shift alone fundamentally changed the trajectory of the business.

Constraint Two: Not Pitching Enough Business

The next bottleneck wasn’t delivery - it was demand generation.

For the first part of the year, we were pitching an average of 5.5 retained searches per month. The solution wasn’t complicated: raise the standard and focus on volume with intent.

We set a clear target:

• 10 retainer pitches per month

By focusing singularly on that metric, we not only hit it - we exceeded it. Every month.

No complex strategy. Just discipline, measurement, and execution.

Constraint Three: Hiring and Developing the Right People

As Raw Selection grows, the biggest lever for future scale is people.

That means:

• Hiring the right individuals

• Setting clear expectations by role

• Tracking the right metrics

• Increasing the probability that every new hire succeeds

We’ve broken down performance metrics by job function - research, sales, and business development - so expectations are explicit, measurable, and fair.

Every week, I sit down one-to-one with my direct reports. Quarterly, I do the same with everyone in the business. Feedback flows both ways.

This isn’t about micromanagement. It’s about clarity, growth, and accountability.

One recent example was celebrating a promotion to Principal - alongside the largest single-contributor revenue month in Raw Selection’s history. That moment didn’t happen by accident; it was the result of consistent standards and sustained effort.

Discipline Over Motivation

One of the recurring themes on this journey is the difference between motivation and discipline.

Motivation comes and goes. Discipline doesn’t.

There are plenty of days where it would be easier to slow down - to watch the rugby, switch off earlier, or push something to next week. But every decision has a cost.

For us, discipline means:

• Protecting performance today so Monday doesn’t suffer

• Making short-term trade-offs for long-term consistency

• Setting a new personal and professional baseline and never slipping below it

That mindset compounds over time.

Making Hiring a Business Problem, Not a Hiring Problem

One insight that comes up repeatedly in client conversations is this: companies often think they have a hiring problem, when they actually have a business problem.

A vague brief usually reflects a deeper issue:

• Margin pressure

• Poor cost visibility

• Operational inefficiencies

• Lack of leadership clarity

Our role is to get underneath the job title and diagnose the real problem - then design a leadership solution that addresses it.

That approach is central to how we “de-risk” executive search:

• Refundable retainers

• Clear qualification

• Total transparency

• Accountability on outcomes, not activity

The Founder’s Role as the Business Scales

A recent conversation with a non-executive director challenged a common narrative: that founders should get “off the tools” as quickly as possible.

In our case, the advice was the opposite.

To scale effectively, I need to stay close to:

1. The sales engine - refining how we qualify, pitch, and win work

2. The mission and vision - ensuring everyone understands what we’re building and why

3. Hiring - attracting and developing top graduates and experienced operators

Those three areas will define whether Raw Selection scales sustainably - or not.

The Road Ahead

This journey won’t be linear. There will be setbacks, missteps, and uncomfortable lessons along the way.

But that’s the point.

If we expect portfolio companies to operate with clarity, discipline, and accountability, we have to do the same.

This is Raw Selection - building toward £10 million, one constraint at a time.

 

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