Double Your Valuation, Over Dinner - Food for Thought.

Salil Pajwani & Sophie Surowiak-Long Discuss Over Dinner How They Doubled Whatif's Exit Price, in 6 Months.

In today’s fast food world, where life is predictable and instantaneous, surprises are a rarity. My expectations for Home Grown Club ’s ‘Food For Thought’ event were; large space, buffet food and mild interest from the audience. But upon opening the dining room’s double-height doors, I immediately understood how wrong I’d been.

Deep into a surprisingly balmy April afternoon, I’m once again happily commuting from East to West to spend an evening at my favourite Georgian Grade 2 Listed Townhouse (no small accolade). Architectural preferences aside, the promise of three-course fine dining has me floating through the air like Mickey Mouse trailing vapours of freshly baked apple pie. Following my nose from Marble Arch, past the Pret scoff through the terraced streets to arrive at Marleybone’s entrepreneurial haven, Home Grown Club.?

Rewind to the previous day, I’d received a call to arms from the HGC team to review a keynote speech like no other; a dinner hosted by Salil Pajwani & Sophie Surowiak-Long , founders of 2ndStage Limited , where we’d be listening to the story of their recent exit from Sal’s original agency, Whatif, and how they’d 2x’d its valuation from another company’s initial offer only 6 months prior.

Hungry enough to accept the invitation and ambitious enough to believe this information could be of use to me, I RSVP’d and prepared myself for what I thought would be a night of light bites and even lighter networking.

Any illusions of the cliché stale ‘speaker event’ evaporated upon entering the dining room. A tastefully flamboyant space with high ceilings and a grand polished oak table in the middle, set, ready for dinner. Already present in the conjoined drawing room, exchanging quips and chuckling away were members of that evening’s cohort. Given the decor and unrestrained interaction among guests, it felt much more like someone's living room than anything seriously formal. Humming with chatter as attendees eagerly engaged each other, I potter the room awkwardly, eavesdropping in, and beginning to feel slightly out of my depth amongst what was clearly a brilliant crowd.?

Before I could make myself small, Sal honed in on my awkwardness, welcoming me into the group. Sophie joined the conversation, and between the three of us we spoke about my business. A generous curiosity was present in how they both treated me. This wasn’t a polite conversation to build favour before their talk, it felt like genuine interest in me. To have the hosts so quickly show such care spoke volumes.

As they break away to greet other guests, it’s within these first few moments of the evening Home Grown's value becomes apparent. The true brilliance of the club is a guarantee that wherever you’re standing, you’ll find yourself talking to someone interesting.?

Working my way around the room I was happy to meet leaders from the usual Home Grown smorgasbord of industries; private wealth lawyers, precious metal traders pivoting into the fractional ownership of classic automobiles, aerospace growth founders, just to name a few.?

Eventually, all attendees arrived, we took our seats, placed our orders with the waiters and silence fell across the room. Our hosts, also seated, kicked off the evening by challenging us to explain what each of our businesses really do, and further to this, what makes them unique. The value in this, they say, is when a company looks to acquire you, they want to know what you do is special. Hard to copy. But, further to this, they want to know if this USP can be done at scale.?

“We want you to walk away from this evening with a better understanding of what makes your business valuable to potential acquirers”

From here the pair took us on a wild ride of 25+ years through the world of innovation, mergers and acquisitions. Detailing their secret sauce which makes them so attractive to buyers (the answer’s talent, brilliantly disruptive talent) and encouraging us to challenge them on their ideas as we went along, which was a brave move considering their audience. Sal’s demeanour was relaxed and his tonality engaging, a natural storyteller that kept the ball rolling. Sophie brought extra energy to the duo with bright eyes, a conviction in her ideas and a friendly assertiveness.

The evening reached it’s narrative pinnacle when they received their first offer from Salesforce to acquire their business, which fell through, only for Sal to apply the lessons from that ‘failure’ to allow them to get twice as much for the business six months later.

We were taken on this journey as if listening to two old friends recounting misadventures by the fire interspersed with dramatic pauses as beautiful food, tasty enough to stop a frenzied Gordon Ramsay in his tracks, would arrive at our table (see the end for the full menu!). During these pauses, conversation would immediately ripple through the room as guests excitedly debated what they’d just heard.?

Once the sale of Whatif agency had been complete, Sal and Sophie would continue working for Accenture as per a handoff agreement, assisting them with their M&As. Accenture was constantly turning down deals they would bring to them because the companies were too small. Spotting an opportunity, Sal & Sophie formed 2nd Stage to help disruptive companies become acquisition-ready.

As the evening draws to a close, our bellies full and heads even more full with inspiration, most speakers may shake a few hands, exchange polite words, and then scuttle off. But, true to how the dinner started, Sal and Sophie spent the next hour talking to guests one-on-one. The point was they weren't here to lecture and leave. The evening was a candid dialogue between two incredible hosts and a room of equally impressive founders (and me). All of whom could have delivered an evening just as insightful. Looking around, I could see a dining table of brilliant people who felt inspired, and that said something.?

I said my goodbyes and headed off down the red brick streets of Marleybone. Coming away feeling truly privileged to have just experienced something you simply can’t do in day-to-day life. Yet, Homegrown achieves this most nights of the week. And, that’s a rarity.

Sal perfectly summarised Home Grown’s magic with an anecdote from earlier that evening “As I waited for Sophie to arrive, I overheard someone mention the name of an old friend of mine. So I approached him and gently introduced myself saying ‘I know Myles’. We agreed to meet in 30 minutes when he finished his meeting. In the interim, I phoned Myles (for the first time in 10 years) and told him I had heard someone say some nice things about his company. I find out Myles needed some help navigating an investment, so we agree to meet in a couple of weeks.?

Meanwhile the guy I overheard comes over and Sophie invites him to the dinner that evening, which he attended. We are now talking to him about the future of his company.?

Basically, HG is a great place to meet people and the atmosphere is conducive to approaching people and making an introduction. The membership is of high-quality, proactive and energetic people who are all willing to say hello and share their stories. Creating a hub where you can easily meet people is invaluable.”

Does this sound like your kind of event? Contact Jessica Barwell to discuss how you can become a member at Home Grown Club .

MENU

Starters

Asparagus and smoked mushroom with slow-cooked egg and hollandaise

Torched Chalk Stream trout ceviche, pickled perilla plum, shiso, chilli and lime

Mains

Roast fillet of bass with a fricassee of garlic flowers, gem and new potatoes

Baked potato gnocchi, pea, courgette, pecorino and semi dried tomato

Desserts

Rhubarb frangipane tart, vanilla mousse, toasted marzipan ice cream

Warm chocolate fudge cake with milk ice cream