We started Reddico in 2012 because we wanted an agency of our own, run our way. Based in Kent, outside London and long before Covid made flexibility normal, we could not compete for the industry's best people on postcode or prestige. So we built the whole business around attracting and keeping them.
We did things differently. No managers, no fixed hours, completely open with the team, competitive and hard working, and always trying to do the right thing by people. It sounds soft. It was the hardest operational thing I have ever done, and it worked.
Once we became a grown up agency, we structured the business properly, so it could run with or without us. Building to sell, whether or not we ever chose to. There are plenty of great agencies, and even more great people inside them, but very few founders know how to scale, how to structure a business a buyer would actually want, or what good terms look like when an exit is on the table.
We managed to do it. Deloitte Fast 50. FT 1000. A client list that ran up to BlackRock. In 2024 we sold to Sideshow Group, backed by Waterland. Twelve years, one exit, and a good deal I would do differently.
