In this edition of ScaleUp Radio Shorts, Kevin Brent and Granger Forson distil powerful insights from two recent ScaleUp Radio interviews with:

• Kat Wellum-Kent, founder of The Fractionals Group, and

• Phil Harding, founder and MD of BBB Drinks.

While their businesses differ in sector and style, finance/HR versus premium drinks distribution, both founders offer hard-earned lessons on how to scale smartly and sustainably.

🎯 What You'll Learn in This Episode:

✅ The power of specialisation – Kat's fractional model brings strategic and operational finance/HR under one roof. Phil, meanwhile, flips the traditional distributor model by offering upfront retainers and full transparency in costs.

✅ Two very different approaches to team building – Kat's scaling an in-house team with cultural authenticity at its core. Phil relies on a lean, outsourced model supported by dedicated Brand Ambassadors and data-led tools.

✅ Efficiency through structure and systems – From Kat's time-blocking and letting go of perfectionism, to Phil's game-changing consignment stock model and custom Amazon dashboards, both founders know how to manage risk and cash flow.

✅ Vision with discipline – Kat aims to build a $7.5M multi-vertical fractional group, while Phil is creating an international machine for bringing drinks brands to market, despite the ever-present funding challenges in early-stage FMCG.

🧠 The one key thing: Scaling successfully isn't about doing more, it's about doing the right things with structure, focus, and control.

💬 Standout quote:
"Don't wait for the website or business cards to be perfect – just go and do it." – Phil Harding

🎧 Listen now on your favourite podcast app by searching for ScaleUp Radio, and catch the full interviews with both Kat and Phil.

📩 Quick heads-up, we're looking for a handful of founders to test our new AI-powered Smart90 Lite app. It's built to help you stay accountable and actually deliver on your goals, in just a few minutes a day. It's free while we're in testing, and your feedback will directly shape the final version.
👉 Just email kevin@biz-smart.co.uk to get access.

👥 Know someone with a great ScaleUp story? Nominate them as a guest for a future episode! Details in the shownotes.

This episode is created with the help of AI