Feb 19, 2020
This Shot Caller story, told by Nicola Foulston, CEO of Rosenblatt Solicitors in London, will give you a birds eye view into the life of a true business disruptor!
Do you think you are too young to disrupt a male dominated industry? Do you think you are too old to disrupt a male dominated industry? Nicola will prove you wrong on BOTH accounts.
Nicola inherited Brands Hatch race track, a beloved British motor racing circuit in Kent, England, at the age of 19 when her father died suddenly. She saw an opportunity to transform this "old boys" sporting event, focused on the experience for the racer into a smashingly successful hospitality business, focused on the experience of the consumer! One of the biggest hurdles she experienced at this time had more to do with her age than with her sex. She sold Brands Hatch 7 years later in 1997 for GBP 120m/ $150m! This huge turnaround story earned her the Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year, which she received in 1997 as CEO of Brands Hatch Leisure Group. To date, she is the youngest woman ever to have received this honor.
Nicola explains the importance of asking questions and how valuable it was to her to have John Moulton, a top British venture capitalist as her mentor.
After listing Brands Hatch and netting a few pretty pennies, Nicola retired to Switzerland to start a family. She organically ended up running a family office where she made strategic, private investments. Her first two investments happened to be founded by women. Nicola admits that having a young family and trying to run a corporation was not possible for her. She saw her opportunity to start her family after selling her business and feels that was absolutely the right decision for her.
In 2016, Nicola was enticed out of retirement by Ian Rosenblatt, the lawyer she appointed at the age of 19, early on in her Brands Hatch days. He knew if anyone could disrupt and reinvent the legal profession, it was Nicola Foulston! She used her formula of pairing the business back to nuts and bolts and understanding how it made money. It took her less than two years to do what she did with Brands Hatch, list the law firm on the London AIM stock exchange, raising GBP 43m/ $56m. Her goal, to self-fund their Litigation business, which is a very niche and profitable part of law. Rosenblatt was only the 4th Law firm to list in the UK. Nicky is unapologetically commercial and their firm has a net operating margin of 35%, which is exceptional. With their litigation fund, they can help the David's take on the Goliath's.
We talk about promoter vs. prevention questions in the venture capital fundraising world. Women get asked prevention questions and men the promoter questions.
We cover the urgent need to promote businesses finding solutions to the climate crisis and so much more. There is a link to the David Attenborough documentary trailer on Youtube.
This is one hour packed full of inspiration, insight, motivation and wisdom from a very successful and impressive woman. Please share with your network to keep the goodness moving.
https://www.rosenblatt-law.co.uk/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-foulston-a09808144/
https://www.brandshatch.co.uk/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-moulton-b51b0617/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-91umZ7cQE