In this episode, award‑winning entrepreneur Martyn Dawes, founder of Coffee Nation (now Costa Express), shares the real story behind creating a new market category, surviving early failure, scaling with private equity, navigating a complex exit, and rebuilding identity and purpose on the other side.

Key Take outs
- From consultant to category creator – How Martyn went from a small consulting firm to founding Coffee Nation, creating a new “third space” between coffee bars and vending that later became Costa Express.
- Brutally honest about early failures – Why the first model (instant coffee in corner shops) almost collapsed, and the pivotal customer interaction that forced him to make the product the hero with real bean‑to‑cup gourmet coffee.
- Scaling with retailers and private equity – The revenue-share model that unlocked roll‑out with major retailers, and the upside and pressures of taking private equity money to move fast in a growing market.
- Hard‑won lessons on exits – Why understanding the PE model, cleaning up your cap table, and having an advisor just for you as founder are critical to a successful and sane exit.
- Life after the deal – The emotional reality of exit: identity loss, relief more than euphoria, and how Martyn has channelled that experience into mentoring founders and helping them build and scale new category‑defining businesses.

Advice for Founders & Key Takeaways

- Start with the market problem, not the product:

• Ask: “What big problem in society am I solving?”, not “What product do I want to build?”.
• It’s a market problem, not a product problem.

- Be obsessed with proof of concept:

• Look for repeat usage and genuine enthusiasm, not just early curiosity.
• Don’t scale until you’re truly sure you’re on to something.

- Understand your investors’ economics and timelines:

• Especially with private equity, know what return they need, in what timeframe, and how that maps onto your own ambitions and risk tolerance.

- Have your own independent adviser for an exit:
Someone who only represents you, not the fund, the company, or the acquirer.

- Think about category creation, not just competition
Coffee Nation effectively created a new category: self-serve gourmet coffee between coffee bars and traditional vending.
Category creators (like Airbnb, Uber, etc.) often capture 70–80% of the profit pool in their space.

Books he’s currently reading and recommending:

• Category Creation Formula by Kevin Maney and Mike Damphousse – on how to identify and create new market categories.

On this episode of Entrepreneurs at Scale, we’re joined by Luke Dejahang, founder and owner of Crown Pavilions, a company that has grown from a tiny workshop in Barking in 2005/06 into what Luke believes is now the UK’s number one luxury garden room and gazebo manufacturer.

Luke shares how he moved from a successful but unpredictable career in TV and acting—including roles in shows like London’s Burning—into carpentry, and how that path led him to meeting his late business partner on a building site. Together they built Crown Pavilions from the ground up, taking on everything from design and marketing to manufacturing, delivery, and installation, often with almost no initial capital.

In this conversation, we’ll explore:

• How Luke turned early hardship and a shoestring start into a premium, nationally recognised brand
• The impact of losing his business partner and why he chose to carry on rather than be defined by tragedy
• The continuous improvement mindset that still drives the business today
• How his acting background gave him unexpected strengths as an entrepreneur and leader

It’s a story of resilience, reinvention, and relentless standards, and a great example of what it really takes to scale a craft-based, operationally complex business.

To find out more about these beautiful Garden pavillions and Summer Houses find a link to their website below:
https://www.crownpavilions.com/

VALUABLE RESOURCES
Entrepreneurs at Scale Podcast - https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/scalingup
Scale Up Your Business, coaching/consulting: https://www.scalingup.co.uk/work-with-a-scale-up-coach
How Scaleable is your business? Discover your Scaleability Score: https://scaleable.scoreapp.com/
Are you ready to achieve a high-value exit? https://extraordinaryexit.scoreapp.com/
Scaling Up Tools and Resources : https://scaleups.com/

ABOUT THE HOST
Neale Lewis is a business growth expert and Strategic Exit Coach. He is focused on helping the entrepreneurs that he works with maximise the value of their organisations and when the time is right guiding them to achieve an extraordinary exit

His “Entrepreneurs at Scale” podcast, has more than 10k downloads in over 30 countries.

CONTACT DETAILS

Neale ’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nealelewis/
Neale's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scaleup_coaches/
Scaling Up Coaches website : www.scalingup.co.uk
email: neale@scalingup.co.uk

In this episode, Neale Lewis talks with Rob Follows, founder and chairman of STS Capital Partners, about what it really takes to achieve an extraordinary exit as an entrepreneur.

They explore:

• Rob’s journey from being pushed out of the family business at 18, to building and selling his own company (at 27x EBITDA but later learning he’d left 75% on the table), to running $1B of business for a global buyer and founding STS Capital.
• Why so many founders are under‑represented in exits, the biggest myths and traps (including “private equity pays more than strategics” and “VCs are your friends”), and how the system is often structurally stacked against first‑time sellers.
• How to define your Owner’s Outcome – the must‑haves and nice‑to‑haves for your exit – so you don’t accept the wrong deal or walk away from the right one.
• Why strategic buyers typically pay more than financial buyers, and how to create competitive tension by mapping and engaging a global universe of strategics.
• The concept of “Rembrandts in the attic” – hidden assets in your business (IP, distribution, technology, relationships) that can be worth far more to the right buyer than to you as a stand‑alone operator.
• The Value Max approach: preparing years in advance, getting early feedback from strategics, and working with a coach and advisory team to deliberately build exit value.
• The importance of assembling the right exit advisory team – strategic coach, wealth advisor, M&A lawyer, tax specialist, and (if you’re staying) employment lawyer – rather than defaulting to long‑time but non‑specialist advisors.
• Rob’s life‑planning philosophy from his book “What Is Your Everest”, and how defining your “next chapter” helps you avoid the post‑exit “purpose cliff” and negotiate from a position of clarity, not fear.

STS Resources and recommended reading
What is your everest e book by Rob Follows
The Intelligent Exit by Mark Carmichael
The Extraordinary Exit by Andy Harris
STS Capital partners website - https://stscapital.com/

VALUABLE RESOURCES
Entrepreneurs at Scale Podcast - https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/scalingup
Scale Up Your Business, coaching/consulting: https://www.scalingup.co.uk/work-with-a-scale-up-coach
How Scaleable is your business? Discover your Scaleability Score: https://scaleable.scoreapp.com/
Are you ready to achieve a high-value exit? https://extraordinaryexit.scoreapp.com/
Scaling Up Tools and Resources : https://scaleups.com/

ABOUT THE HOST
Neale Lewis is a business growth expert and Strategic Exit Coach. He is focused on helping the entrepreneurs that he works with maximise the value of their organisations and when the time is right guiding them to achieve an extraordinary exit

His “Entrepreneurs at Scale” podcast, has more than 10k downloads in over 30 countries.

CONTACT DETAILS

Neale ’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nealelewis/
Neale's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scaleup_coaches/
Scaling Up Coaches website : www.scalingup.co.uk
email: neale@scalingup.co.uk