David Jones

And so I think surrounding yourself with people who will be honest, but at the end of the day, you've got to trust your own judgment. I think if I take the entire journey of the BrandTech group, everybody who I knew who was smart and senior in finance told me it was impossible to raise $300 million with a PowerPoint. Impossible.

And so I think surrounding yourself with people who will be honest, but at the end of the day, you've got to trust your own judgment. I think if I take the entire journey of the BrandTech group, everybody who I knew who was smart and senior in finance told me it was impossible to raise $300 million with a PowerPoint. Impossible.

And these are really, really talented senior people in big organizations. Fortunately, I didn't listen.

And these are really, really talented senior people in big organizations. Fortunately, I didn't listen.

2014, yeah. So I was in my gardening leave year, and I started raising in 2015. I was running a big, successful holding company, but I could see the frustration from my clients. in that they wanted a new model. So I could see a huge need for it. And I could also see just from that case study I told you about that it's really hard and really complex to change big legacy businesses.

2014, yeah. So I was in my gardening leave year, and I started raising in 2015. I was running a big, successful holding company, but I could see the frustration from my clients. in that they wanted a new model. So I could see a huge need for it. And I could also see just from that case study I told you about that it's really hard and really complex to change big legacy businesses.

They're very good at what they do, but if you look back in history, you can't find a single example of where the big incumbent is the market leader post the revolution. Just never happens. Because all of the things that made them very successful in that world are all of the things that make it really complicated to lead in the next world. I think I just had an absolute belief that

They're very good at what they do, but if you look back in history, you can't find a single example of where the big incumbent is the market leader post the revolution. Just never happens. Because all of the things that made them very successful in that world are all of the things that make it really complicated to lead in the next world. I think I just had an absolute belief that

Not only did clients want a new model, but I knew how to build that. But the problem was, if you were solving the issue for the world's global clients, there's no point in being three of us in a loft in Soho, New York, because adding another company to the 10,000 they're already working with, you're part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Not only did clients want a new model, but I knew how to build that. But the problem was, if you were solving the issue for the world's global clients, there's no point in being three of us in a loft in Soho, New York, because adding another company to the 10,000 they're already working with, you're part of the problem, not part of the solution.

So the reason for raising the money is I wanted to acquire businesses that solved our clients' biggest pain points, that were tech or tech-enabled. So the start point was to say, we'll never buy ad agencies or traditional ad agencies. We'll buy tech or tech-enabled companies that solve our clients' biggest pain points and put them together at global scale.

So the reason for raising the money is I wanted to acquire businesses that solved our clients' biggest pain points, that were tech or tech-enabled. So the start point was to say, we'll never buy ad agencies or traditional ad agencies. We'll buy tech or tech-enabled companies that solve our clients' biggest pain points and put them together at global scale.

We'll have technology and what we called machine-generated content and AI as a founding vertical. And we launched saying, look, we think you can do all marketing better, faster, and cheaper using technology. And back then, no one understood what it meant. but the good news was no one else was trying to do it. Today, everybody understands what it means, but everyone else is trying to do it too.

We'll have technology and what we called machine-generated content and AI as a founding vertical. And we launched saying, look, we think you can do all marketing better, faster, and cheaper using technology. And back then, no one understood what it meant. but the good news was no one else was trying to do it. Today, everybody understands what it means, but everyone else is trying to do it too.

But I think it really just came from a passionate belief that this business needed to exist, but the only way that I can deliver it is to raise the money to scale it fast. Because what we wanted to do was solve the problem for the world's biggest global brands.

But I think it really just came from a passionate belief that this business needed to exist, but the only way that I can deliver it is to raise the money to scale it fast. Because what we wanted to do was solve the problem for the world's biggest global brands.

And look, I think if you trace back every entrepreneur, the way we like to think about it is that we look at every entrepreneurial story, and someone had a really obvious idea, it was really easy to execute, it worked brilliantly, and everybody always knew it would all the time. The truth is 99% of people

And look, I think if you trace back every entrepreneur, the way we like to think about it is that we look at every entrepreneurial story, and someone had a really obvious idea, it was really easy to execute, it worked brilliantly, and everybody always knew it would all the time. The truth is 99% of people

Probably even more like 99.5 will tell you either your idea is shit or terrible and will give you all the reasons it won't work. Then no one will give you money for it. We can talk about the 300 million we raised. We can also talk about all the meetings we had where people thought we were totally stupid and almost threw us out of the room. I think that's something you don't need.

Probably even more like 99.5 will tell you either your idea is shit or terrible and will give you all the reasons it won't work. Then no one will give you money for it. We can talk about the 300 million we raised. We can also talk about all the meetings we had where people thought we were totally stupid and almost threw us out of the room. I think that's something you don't need.