From “credit-card startup money” to five exits + a global coaching empire, Paul Evans unpacks the exact playbook for scaling to £10 m… then deciding whether to buy, build or cash-out.



Paul Avins, founder of Scale Up Coaching and community-builder at Team Dynamics Global, has helped owners add a combined £140 m+ in enterprise value. In this rapid-fire conversation we cover:



The “mountain” framework that shows you exactly when to switch strategy (sales engine → acquisitions → exit)



Why changing one word in your LinkedIn title forces the CEO mindset



How AI agents are collapsing 2-week quoting cycles into 3-hour sprints



The #1 lie trapping most founders under £5 m—and how to break it



Guest bio

Paul Avins is a serial entrepreneur (5 exits, 2 spectacular flops), award-winning former ActionCOACH franchisee and host of The Grown-Up Business Podcast. Through Scale Up Coaching and Team Dynamics Global he guides founders past seven figures and onto life-changing capital events.



⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro & welcome

0:45 Meet Paul Avins - 5 exits, 2 “face-plants”

1:32 New UK & EU searchers shout-out (Marques Paolo, Sebastian de Bock)

2:16 What Scale Up Coaching & Team Dynamics actually do

3:00 Paul’s early exits + ActionCOACH award run

4:57 Mentors & the bookshelf that shaped his philosophy

7:14 The “mountain” stages of revenue (£1 m → £25 m)

9:22 Crossing the £5 m chasm—build, buy or sell?

12:18 CEO vs Managing Director: one word that changes everything

15:05 Borrowing vs. equity dilution (and the hidden mindset block)

17:11 AI in the real world—7-figure quote automation case study

22:02 Global language hacks & website heat-mapping with LLMs

26:03 Human connection as the next competitive moat

33:13 Jeff Bezos’ unchanging truths test—for any industry

34:45 Paul’s horizon: Dubai “3-Day MBA”, £50 m exits & bio-hacking roll-up

38:40 Where to connect with Paul & free resources

39:59 Gareth’s wrap-up & next week’s preview



📎 RESOURCES MENTIONED

Scale Up Coaching →https://www.paulavins.com/coaching

Paul’s site → https://www.paulavins.com/

The Grown-Up Business Podcast → https://www.paulavins.com/podcast



AI tools referenced: ElevenLabs voice-clone, Fireflies quoting agent, ChatGPT-4o heat-map plug-ins



About M&A Zing

Host Gareth Hawkins: CEO & Co-Founder, BizCrunch (exited founder & M&A investor). Each week we dive into real-world SMB M&A across the UK & Europe.



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