Episode #32 - Sam Smith, SuperScalers and £50 million finnCap

In Episode 32 of ScaleApp Podcasts, Sam Smith and I unpack her 24-year scale journey: building FinnCap from an in-house corporate finance desk into an IPO-listed £50 million revenue financial services firm, staying profitable throughout.

At 24 – “I literally had no clue what I was doing” after painstakingly building to £3 million revenue, a step change along with a management buyout created real ownership, a clear vision, and the freedom to scale.

After leaving FinCap, Sam built Superscalers to address a stark gap in the UK’s scale ecosystem. Using data to track outcomes, Superscalers connects and equips underrepresented founders already past £1M revenue to push through the next doublings — and to create more businesses that break through to £50M and beyond.

Favorite Quotes

• “It was literally a desk, a phone, and me.”
• “We built from there to over 50 million revenue and IPO listing.”
• “Those patterns are the doubling principle.”
• “It doesn’t come with 0.2 of a person.”
• “Who started here is not going to be who ends here.”
• “Assume everyone becomes an alumni.”
• “I’ve not worried about competitors, I worry about customers!"

Key Themes

Why ownership, vision, and incentives mattered — and how the MBO unlocked the next chapter of scale.

The ‘doubling principle’: Why growth compounds in leaps (1→2→4→8→16) and why teams/capability can’t be built in tiny increments.

Culture through constant change: Hiring for growth mindset — and accepting that different stages require different people and skill sets.

Exits as alumni, not endings: A practical approach to protecting culture by treating departures as ongoing relationships.