Cooper Parry

Leading our Digital Transformation business across Salesforce, NetSuite, Data & Analytics and Cybersecurity.

Managing Director - Cooper Parry Digital

Leading all firm market activity across the venture capital ecosystem.

CP's Tech & High Growth platform is the UK's #1 accounting & advisory team for start-ups and scale-ups.

Partner - Head of Early Stage, Tech & High Growth

Middlesex Cricket

Board Observer

HM Revenue & Customs

Appointed to the board.

The Administrative Burdens Advisory Board (ABAB) is an independent board comprising members from a range of business backgrounds and professions who represent the small business community. The Administrative Burdens Advisory Board's goal is to make a noticeable difference for small business by supporting HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to help make tax easier, quicker and simpler.

ABAB - Advisory Board Member

Labrys

Part of founding team.

Responsible for all finance implementation, structuring, corporate treasury, HR & incentives. Successfully raised and completed multi £m Seed Round before rolling off and handing over to full time CFO.

Now - Advisor to the Board.

Group CFO

Acclivity Advisors

Acclivity is a boutique advisory firm specialising in providing accountancy, taxation and consultancy services to entrepreneurs and high growth, early stage businesses both nationally and internationally.

Founder & Managing Director

HM Treasury

Consultative Committee member tasked with reviewing the current taxation system and providing meaningful insights that can result in a simplification of the regime.

Office of Tax Simplificiation -  Consultative Committee

Richmond Gatehouse LLP

1. Co-founder with a specific focus on early stage startups & High growth SME's.

- Full stack advisory, consisting of: structuring, accounting, (Corporate/Personal) direct/indirect taxes & systems. As well as strategic development, fund raising and founder matters.
- Particularly aim to build relationships and demystify accounting and taxation to non-finance professionals

2. Managing multi-office accountancy firm, business/brand development & strategic partnerships

3. Advising & mentoring both hopeful and established entrepreneurs on wide ranging matters including finance & strategy. In particular making meaningful introductions where beneficial.

Partner

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

I engaged with various governmental departments, discussing frontline business matters and opportunities for innovation, in a forum facilitated by Vince Cable.

Member of Entrepreneur Forum led by the Secretary of State for Business

PricewaterhouseCoopers

- Private Equity, M&A (London)
- Tax (Jersey, Channel Islands)

Senior Associate

Managing Director, Cooper Parry Digital | Head of Early Stage, Tech & High Growth |

I lead our Digital business that supports clients across their Salesforce, NetSuite, Analytics & Cybersecurity needs.

I also lead market activity for CP in the Venture Capital ecosystem. 

Our specialist team works with Founders, CFOs and Boards of early stage, scale-up and high growth businesses, navigating challenges spanning finance, strategy, technology, and deal support. We are highly active in the scale-up ecosystem and have worked as the accounting partner for leading organisations and communities and have built community platforms such as TechCFO and VentureCEO.

I started my career at PwC, then established and ran successful early stage focussed firms such as Acclivity Advisors. Following the successful exit of Acclivity to Cooper Parry, where I am now a Managing Director.

I wrote the best selling book 'The Finance Playbook for Entrepreneurs', so that entrepreneurs of ALL backgrounds could benefit from the very best teachings. 

Thinking back, I can see how my family-business beginnings have influenced where I am today, teaching me primarily how to spin multiple plates at the same time, but more importantly the significance of being surrounded by the right people.  

This unique skillset has afforded me a number of Board positions across industries within public & private sectors. At present, these include:

1. Middlesex County Cricket Club (Board Observer, Chair of Growth Committee)
2. Queen Elizabeth's Global Schools (Chair, International Schools project)
3. Labrys (Advisor to the Board)
4. HM Revenue & Customs - ABAB (Board Member)

As well as the above, I advise Government on how to innovate for SMEs & entrepreneurs through consultative committees and forums.

All of these roles have shown me the value of sharing what I know beyond my own sector;

And so, I enjoy speaking at universities, schools, accelerators and incubators on a wide variety of relevant entrepreneurship related topics.

Asif Ahmed

Profitability isn't the ultimate validation.

That's a lesson you only learn the hard way.

After working with 500+ venture-backed start-ups, here's the uncomfortable truth:

The most dangerous position to get into? 

When your P&L looks perfect but your fundamentals are weak.

Here's why being cash-focused ultimately builds stronger businesses:

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘀𝗸𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀. 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.

Companies obsessing over profitability develop lazy habits:

→ They don't know their unit economics deeply
→ They avoid hard decisions about efficiency  
→ They confuse "not losing money" with "building value"
→ They miss the difference between margin and runway

Meanwhile, cash-burning companies (done strategically) are forced to develop critical skills:

𝟭) 𝗥𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
Every pound spent requires justification. No budget bloat. No vanity projects.

𝟮) 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆  
They know CAC, LTV, payback period, and burn multiple empirically. These aren't just spreadsheet exercises, they're critical to survival.

𝟯) 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿-𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴
They must articulate value creation constantly. This clarity drives better decision-making at every level.

𝟰) 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱-𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲
Cash management is predictive. Profit analysis is historical. One protects your future, the other reviews your past.

- - - -

The counterintuitive truth:

A company burning £100k/month with 24 months runway and crystal-clear metrics is stronger than a profitable company that doesn't know why it's profitable.

The difference is control.

Cash-focused founders know exactly:
→ How long they have to hit milestones
→ What drives their economics  
→ Where to deploy capital for maximum impact
→ When to accelerate or conserve

Profit-focused founders often know:
→ That they made money last month
→ (And hope it continues)

✅ One is building a machine. 
❌ The other is hoping the machine keeps running.

💡 What financial metric do you think founders obsess over that actually limits long-term success?

♻️ Repost to help others in your network ♻️

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
📌 Follow me, Asif Ahmed for more insights
📌 Accounting, Audit, Tax, Salesforce, NetSuite & Cybersecurity
✒️ Specifically for: Fast Scaling venture-backed founders & CFOs

Momentum processes

I help execs and founders build and keep team momentum through 1 on 1 and team coaching and workshops. I also host leadership and full company offsites and retreats.
Expertise in:
- C-suite coaching
- Management team coaching
- OKRs
- Integrating values
- Elon Musk "5 step plan"
- Feedback training
- Manager training
- The science of happiness workshop
- ACC accredited.

- Joachim Horn -CEO Sam Labs (seriesA):
"The ROI has been huge. Since June - something very special entered SAM Labs. Sam Knight started coaching our leadership team."
- Saasha OLIO COO (SeriesB), on the company retreat: 
"Honestly it was brilliant, we’ll work with Sam & Maya again, and if it sounds too good to be true - well, it’s not!"
- Tessa OLIO CEO (SeriesB): 
MASSIVE MASSIVE congrats to the organizing team for pulling off a one in a million event that will be remembered forever. Perfection from start to finish. You ROCK :)”
-Product lead at Contact (Series A): 
"Working with Sam has been absolutely brilliant... helping transform not only our leadership team, but the whole company."
- COO learnerbly Jonny Day (Series A): "Honestly has changed my life and perspective. The impact it has had on the leadership team has huge." 
- Frederick Martini (CMO Tailify-Series A): 
"Sam has had a huge impact on the founders, the leadership team, the company and my own mindset."
- Medispot(Series A)- Michael Pallett:
"Sam is a phenomenal coach. Sam has changed my life and I'm confident that he will continue to do so."
Claudia (HeadofPeople Tailify seriesA):
"Sam has had a positive impact on every single one at Tailify. Yes, all 80 of us! The feedback training and workshops have been incredible."
Segerby (co-founder Tailify) : "I cannot overstate the impact Sam has had on our organisation and leadership team."

Founder & Executive Coach

The YES YES Company Ltd

Advisor to CEO and Exec team of YesYesYes company.

Advisor and NED

Foundrs

Supporting Foundrs with running and managing Tribes

Tribes lead at foundrs

Shilling VC

Very happy to be helping the wonderful Shilling VC take the portuguese eco-system to new level and support the Shilling portfolio.

Advisor

Octopus Ventures

coaching partner

pollen8

After 5 years as CEO of Pollen8, which is a 20 person innovation consultancy and SaaS business, I joined the board of the company and left my executive position in order to focus on something I have always loved doing and loved doing as CEO, coaching leaders & teams. I spent the first part of my career at PwC as an innovation consultant and facilitator before founding Pollen8. There I helped corporate teams build and launch new ventures and we did this successfully with brands like Vodafone, PwC, GKN, Oracle, Grant-Thornton and the British Red Cross.

My passion has always been working with leaders and their teams. From C-suite execs to founders of newly started businesses, this is what give me energy. Working with my coach changed me as a leader, a manager and a person. Now I want to do same for others but I remain a Director and advisor at Pollen8 at Tom takes the company to new hights and new levels of excellence I could only dream of.

Co-founder & board member

Discover. Refine. Scale. Repeat. 
We help teams lay the foundations for intelligent innovation by embedding a framework to systematically develop profitable new ventures. Year after year. Campaign after campaign. 
Pollen8 focuses on helping large organizations set up a complete eco-system for innovation by encouraging leaders to treat their internal investments like VCs and giving employees the resources they need to act like entrepreneurs.
The pollen8 platform support this by creating an online innovation community, it challenges how we resource work in what will become an increasingly fluid labor market.

Co-Founder & CEO

South france villas

Helping as advisory and board member of the family business. Recent exit and transition.

Director and advisor

New Entrepreneurs Foundation

Fellow

PwC UK

Leading internal innovation programmes.
Helping to identify and think about the right POC's for PwC to focus on.
Introducing Lean start-up methodologies
Co-founder and project lead of PwC startup Journey;
PwC first digital product aimed at the early stage startup ecosystem. Lead and product managed the startup journey initiative working with departments across the firm to create a PwC MVP. This was one of the fastest product PwC has ever built aimed at getting feedback and creating an automated AI tool to help startups.

Digital transformation

PwC management consulting london

Worked on Innovation and customer teams in banking, local government and public education initiatives.

Consultant in digital transformation

I help execs and founders build and keep team momentum through 1-on-1 and team coaching, workshops, and leadership or full company offsites.

Expertise in:
➝ C-suite coaching
➝ Exec team coaching
➝ OKRs and goal setting
➝ Feedback training
➝ Manager training
➝ Integrating values
➝ The science of happiness workshop
➝ ACC accredited

I am an entrepreneur, exited CEO of Pollen8 (acquired by PwC), workshop facilitator, and executive and team coach. I ran Pollen8 as CEO for 5 years before selling the company to PwC. I have designed innovation programs and run workshops for the C-suite of some of the world's biggest corporations (Oracle, Vodafone, Grant Thornton, the Red Cross) and have worked with more than 100 founders and 60 management teams. I'm passionate about surfing and climate change, so we can leave this world better for future generations.

Testimonials:
•⁠  ⁠Tamara Lohan, Mr & Mrs Smith CEO:
"Sam brought absolutely what our team needed to our offsite: empathy, insight and the tools to get us all working better together. It makes such a difference being coached by someone who has been in business themselves. Highly recommended!"

• Joachim Horn, SamLabs CEO (Series A):
"The ROI has been huge. Since June - something very special entered SAM Labs. Sam Knight started coaching our leadership team."

• Saasha, OLIO COO (Series B), on the company retreat: 
"Honestly it was brilliant, we’ll work with Sam & Maya again, and if it sounds too good to be true - well, it’s not!"

• Tessa, OLIO CEO (Series B): 
MASSIVE MASSIVE congrats to the organizing team for pulling off a one in a million event that will be remembered forever. Perfection from start to finish. You ROCK :)”

• Product Lead at Contact (Series A): 
"Working with Sam has been absolutely brilliant... helping transform not only our leadership team, but the whole company."

• Jonny Day, Learnerbly COO (Series A): 
"Honestly has changed my life and perspective. The impact it has had on the leadership team has huge." 

• Frederick Martini, Tailify CMO (Series A): 
"Sam has had a huge impact on the founders, the leadership team, the company and my own mindset."

• Michael Pallett, Medispot (Series A):
"Sam is a phenomenal coach.  Sam has changed my life and I'm confident that he will continue to do so."

• Claudia, Tailify Head of People (Series A):
"Sam has had a positive impact on every single one at Tailify. Yes, all 80 of us! The feedback training and workshops have been incredible."

• Segerby, Tailify Co-founder: 
"I cannot overstate the impact Sam has had on our organisation and leadership team."

Samuel Knight

Certainty is the biggest lie we tell ourselves at work.

And the quickest way to lose our teams.

I love this quote from Voltaire:

“Change is annoying. Certainty is absurd,”

It’s leadership summed up in one line.

We work in environments that change constantly. 

Teams evolve, markets move, and plans get torn apart.

Yet, leaders always feel the pressure to act like they’ve got the master plan hidden somewhere.

It just isn’t the reality. 

Who can relate?

We can never be certain about everything.

To build a culture that’s actually strong, you need to stop pretending.

You need to:

➡️ Show your team where things are unclear.
➡️ Admit when you don’t have something locked in.
➡️ Talk openly about grey areas.

Weirdly, this honesty creates stability.

People relax when they know their leaders aren’t faking it.

Research backs this up also:

➡️ A 2024 multilevel leadership study found that when uncertainty rises, team performance drops unless leaders communicate openly about it and involve people in next steps.

So, leaders: 

Stop thinking you need to always remove uncertainty. Just start being more honest with yourself and with your team.

Try doing this this week:

➡️ Write down one decision you’ve been sitting on because you’re waiting for more clarity.

➡️ Take a small step you can do without getting this clarity.

Share it with your team! Let them see you go through things anyway.

How do you lead when things are unclear?

♻️ Share this quote with fellow founders.
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for more grounded takes on leadership.

Exec Team Coach | High-Performing Teams | Leadership & full company Offsites | Management, OKRs & Strategic Alignment Expert | Exited Founder (Pollen8 → PwC)

Anthony Hopkins reading “I grow old… I grow old…” hits harder when you’ve actually started to.

The older I get, the more I realise that experience doesn’t free you from indecision.

It can chain you to it.

Because sometimes, the more you know, the harder it is to decide.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is one of the most amazing poems I’ve read, that hits in so many ways.

For me the theme of paralysis and indecision comes up, which is such a big one for leaders.

The line “I grow old… I grow old…” carries the weight of time, the fear of doing nothing.

When we know too much, it gets harder to make decisions.

We’ve seen what happens when things go wrong, so we hesitate.

As a coach, I see this all the time in senior teams.

➡️ Brilliant people stuck in analysis, every option dissected to death.

➡️ Waiting for certainty that never comes.

It’s protection rather than incompetence, but it kills momentum.

⚠️ A 2023 study found that 72% of professionals say data overload stops them making decisions.

That’s a symptom of modern leadership.

We’re drowning in information but starving for clarity.

Here’s something I get teams to do:

➡️ Pick one decision you’ve been avoiding.

➡️ List three next steps.

➡️ Choose one.

➡️ Act on it within 48 hours.

➡️ Review what you learned, not whether it was “right.”

Leaders, indecision gets louder as we get older.

But so does your experience, intuition, and courage.

Trust that more than your fear.

What’s one decision you’ve been sitting on too long?

♻️ Repost to remind someone that action creates clarity.
🟣 Follow Samuel Knight for more grounded takes on leadership and performance.

Everybody wants the upgrade.

No one wants to pay the price.

Unfortunately, success isn’t something that comes easy.

Most of what we hear about growth are the good things, like confidence, freedom and success.

But behind all of this are the costs that come with it.

Love this post by Sahil Bloom, had to reshare. 

He calls them the costs of entry. Every meaningful change in life demands a price!

Here are 7 costs of entry you’ll pay to live the life you actually want 👇

1️⃣ Uncertainty is the cost of entry for achievement.

You can’t plan every step. Progress only happens when you walk into the unknown.

2️⃣ Imposter syndrome is the cost of entry growth.

If you never feel out of your depth, you’re probably not growing.

3️⃣ Loneliness is the cost of entry for personal transformation.

When you level up, not everyone comes with you.

4️⃣ Embarrassment is the cost of entry for progress.

You’ll always feel like you look stupid before you get good. Every expert started there.

5️⃣ Hard conversations are the cost of entry for meaningful relationships.

Avoiding them might feel easier, but honesty is the thing that creates long-lasting, trusting relationships. 

6️⃣ Criticism is the cost of entry for excellence.

If you’re doing anything worth doing, someone won’t like it. Accept that you will have critics.

7️⃣ Boredom of routine is the cost of entry for success.

You will spend a long time trying to achieve your goals, even longer if you can’t be disciplined. Your results lie in the boredom of routine.

📊 Research shows that leaders who embrace ambiguity and uncertainty are significantly more prepared for long-term success.

It’s true at every level.

The more you grow, the more discomfort you need to tolerate.

The bigger the goal, the bigger the cost of entry.

👉 Next time you feel resistance, ask:
 
“Am I willing to pay the cost of entry for the life I say I want?”

♻️ Repost to remind someone that growth always comes with a cost.
🟣 Follow Samuel Knight for grounded

The 7 costs of entry for life

I’ve worked with startups for more than 10 years.

This is some of the worst advice I’ve ever heard.

So many people think they know it all when it comes to creating and building companies.

(I’ve been there also).

But the reality is that there is no rulebook or correct formula to success. 

We are all just figuring it out as we go! 

Each company works differently, and each product garners different levels of success.

I’ve coached and worked with enough people to spot the worst myths from a mile away.

So if you hear any of these, challenge them! As most aren’t as straightforward as they seem.

1. Never do business with friends.
➡️ Why it’s toxic: It assumes trust is a liability.

➡️ Do instead: Create structure, define roles, and treat friendships as professional relationships. 

2. Culture will sort itself out later
➡️ If you don’t set standards early, you will inherit a mess.

➡️ Do instead: Pick three behaviours that matter most and focus on them.

3. Raise as much as you can”
➡️ More money doesn’t always equal freedom.

➡️ Do instead: Raise for a milestone and know exactly what the money is buying you.

4. “Copy what the big players are doing”
➡️ The same advice that works for Amazon doesn’t work for a 10-person startup.

➡️ Do instead: Study the principles and adapt.

5. “Fail fast”
➡️ This will lead to half-baked ideas, wasted cash, and burnt morale.

➡️ Do instead: Learn fast. Reduce the distance between “idea” and “evidence.”

6. “You need a business plan”
➡️ Traditional business plans aren’t built for the ever-changing startup world.

➡️ Do instead: Build a living, breathing 5-step plan.

7. “You need an exit plan”
➡️ This pulls focus away from value and towards imaginary end-games.

➡️ Do instead: Build an option-rich company.

8. “Founders shouldn’t show doubt”
➡️ This makes you unpredictable and ruins psychological safety.

➡️ Do instead: Share the truth without spiralling.

9. “Chase bigger markets early”
➡️ One of the fastest ways to dilute your product, message, and focus.

➡️ Do instead: Pick a tiny, underserved corner of the market and dominate it. 

10. “Push harder, always”
➡️ This confuses output with progress, encourages frantic effort over thoughtful action, and burns out your best people first.

➡️ Do instead: Push cleaner, not harder. Cut tasks, set non-negotiable priorities, and fix bottlenecks.

Around 42% of startups fail because there’s no market need for their product.

Which means most of the "build bigger, build fast, just raise” advice is totally missing the point.

If you ignore the bad advice and stick to what is proven to work, your odds of success go up.

What’s the worst advice you’ve heard as a founder? 

♻️ Repost if you’ve ever heard one of these myths and want other founders to avoid it.
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for more no-BS founder insights.

Some of the worst advice I've heard for startups

How do you get the most powerful information from other people?

Two steps:

1️⃣ Use statements instead of questions.
2️⃣ Express disbelief.

Chase Hughes explains this brilliantly.

He gives this example:

You hop into an Uber and say, “I recently read that Uber drivers have the highest job satisfaction in the world.”

The driver responds and says something like, “What? Where did you see this?,” proceeding to tell you how badly they treat staff.

You follow with disbelief, “No way. There’s no way that company would treat you like that…”

Now you’ve got them talking. 

And you’ve got them talking in friend mode, without asking them any questions yet.

They’ll tell you everything, what they love, what’s broken, what they wish someone at HQ actually understood.

You didn’t ask a single question, you just created space for the other person to be honest.

This is the bit most people miss.

In business, we talk a lot about empathy and active listening, which is great.

But high performers go straight into it, they make statements instead of asking polite questions. 

They make people tell you a real answer instead of the ‘right answer’.

The same applies to your team. If you want to know how things are actually going, make a statement instead of asking questions.

Try saying, “Sounds like everyone’s happy with how this project’s going.”

If it’s not true, someone will jump in to correct you, and now you’ve got an honest conversation instead of a performance review.

➡️ Next time you’re in a 1:1, throw out one confident statement you’re not entirely sure about.
➡️ Then shut up.
➡️  Watch how quickly people fill the silence with the truth.

High performers use tension and honesty to push forward, instead of avoiding it.

What’s one conversation where someone surprised you by opening up more than you expected?

♻️ Share if you’d rather have honest conversations than polite ones.
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for grounded takes on leadership, people, and culture.

How to make people feel heard.

How many times have you been in a conversation with someone, and instead of listening, they’re waiting for their turn to speak?

It drives me mad.

But it’s always a reminder to look back at myself when it happens.

How can I be a better listener?

How can I learn more and be more present when someone is speaking?

The reality of life and work is that people want to be heard before they receive advice.

They want to voice their truth before you jump down their throat with suggestions of what they should do.

Here’s something I teach in leadership sessions.

If you want to build trust in your team, try this the next time someone comes to you with tension or feedback:

1️⃣ Prepare yourself
Before you speak, expect you’ll be triggered.
Then remind yourself: “If I let these emotions take over, they’ll give me bad advice.”

2️⃣ Listen with full presence
Put your phone down and make eye contact.
Don’t plan your response. Just listen to understand.

3️⃣ Reflect back what you heard
Say, “I think I heard you say…”. Then check: “Is that right?”
When they finally say “yes”, you’ve made them feel seen.

4️⃣ Name what’s underneath
Go one layer deeper and reflect the emotion behind them.
Try: “It sounds like you’re feeling frustrated, maybe even a bit hurt?”

This is leadership in action: making people feel heard.

When people feel heard, they stop defending and start working together.

It creates psychological safety and a sense of togetherness.

How do you make people feel heard in your team?

♻️ Repost to remind someone that listening is a performance skill.
🟣 Follow Samuel Knight for more grounded takes on leadership and human performance.

Your team's communication is broken

Are you focused or just busy?

How much did you actually get done yesterday, versus the hours you spent on your computer?

In this modern era, we all spend so much time looking at our screens.

But the output very rarely matches up to our screen time.

And we often confuse busyness for productivity.

This mismatch often leads us to burn ourselves out even more, as it feels like we never stop working but can’t seem to get anything done.

Here’s a simple checklist I use when I feel pulled in a hundred directions 👇

☐ Review your top three priorities and delete one.

☐ Spend 15 minutes thinking, not doing. 

☐ Look at what you’re doing and ask yourself, “am I being, or just busy?”

☐ Give one piece of honest feedback to your team, and maybe to yourself.

☐ Write down one thing you’ll communicate better tomorrow.

☐ End the day by clarifying tomorrow.

A Harvard Business School training study found that employees who spent 15 minutes reflecting each day scored about 23% higher than those who didn’t.

The power of reflection is massive. 

It helps us stay aligned, clear, and focused on our goals.

What’s one decision you could simplify before the week ends? 

♻️ Repost to remind leaders that clarity creates progress.
🟣 Follow Samuel Knight for more grounded takes on leadership and human performance.

The 10-minute clarity checklist

Most founders I meet start off working 14-hour days.

I did this for the first few years at Pollen8.

You pour everything into the company, try to squeeze in a few hours with your family, then crash into bed, running on fumes.

The obvious cost is burnout.

The sneaky one:

➡️ Your creativity flatlines.

When your brain never switches off, it can’t think big or spot new ideas.

Every founder needs headspace to imagine the future of their business.

But how do you get that when you’re glued to your laptop all day?

➡️ You need to get bored.

Our brains are built for creativity, but we overload them with noise. 

Slack pings, meetings, messages, notifications all give you tiny hits of adrenaline that feel productive but actually keep your brain on constant alert.

No wonder there’s no room left for ideas.

Strip that away, and boredom creeps in. 

It feels strange at first, but if you stay with it, your brain relaxes. 

Then the good stuff starts, like focus, calm, creativity.

Try it:

● No phone during meals

● 30 minutes offline every day

● A full weekend unplugged once a month

These are just small steps to take, but they can help you have a big reset.

It’s about maintaining your mind and keeping it alive in a world that tries to robotise it.

If you want to lead well, protect your stillness, it’s where your best ideas hide.

What’s one small way you could build boredom back into your week?

♻️ Repost to remind someone to take a break
➕ Follow Samuel Knight more grounded leadership ideas

Stop panicking.

Start fixing underperformance the right way.

If you’re dealing with underperformance in your team, there’s a better playbook than emails full of judgement or waiting for quarterly reviews.

Fact: Companies that implement regular performance feedback and structured performance management systems report up to 75 % of employees saying feedback improves their performance and engagement. 

Here’s the system I use and recommend when things start sliding:

1. Get clarity up front
Define what “good” looks like. Spell out the behaviours, the standards, what matters most. No guessing games. No assumptions.

2. Check in regularly, not just once a year
Weekly or bi‑weekly one‑on‑ones. Use a simple model: Situation → Behaviour → Impact. Focus on what works.

3. Don’t assume laziness
Underperformance often comes from unclear expectations, skill gaps, burnout, or misalignment. Sit down and ask what’s blocking them.

4. Offer real support
Training. Mentoring. Task adjustments. Sometimes the problem isn’t attitude, it’s fit or skill.

5. Use fair but clear improvement plans when needed
Set simple, measurable goals. Agree on a timeline. Provide support. Track progress. Make it human, not punitive.

6. Celebrate progress
Even small wins. Improvement fuels motivation. Recognition builds momentum.

7. Keep accountability AND empathy
Transparent expectations, honest feedback, but also respect, safety, dignity.
Leaders, if you want to tackle underperformance, you need to be proactive.

Try this this week:

Write down 3 areas where your team might be underperforming.

Next to each, note:

The root cause (skill gap, unclear expectations, misalignment, burnout).

One action you can take this week to address it (training, check-in, task shift, mentoring).

A measurable outcome so you can track progress.

Do this once a week. 

Within a month, you’ll start seeing clarity, improvement, and better engagement across the team.

Underperformance doesn’t need to kill morale or trigger panic.

The right systems keep everyone fair.

How do you handle underperformance in your team?

♻️ Repost this if you believe feedback + structure beats panic + blame.
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for grounded, no‑BS leadership advice that actually works.

7 systems that actually work for underperformance

Leaders don’t have the privilege of avoiding conversations.

Delivering tough decisions is part of the job.

The real test is how you do it.

Research shows that poor delivery of bad news can erode trust long-term and hurt future performance. 

And avoiding those conversations just makes it 10 times worse.

I’ve had to have a lot of difficult conversations. All leaders have. 

It’s inevitable when you lead.

Whether you’re letting someone go, cutting a project, or giving difficult feedback, these are the moments that test you as a leader.

What matters most isn’t what you say, but where and how you say it.

You don’t get to outsource the human part of it.

These tips from Mikel Arteta really hits the nail on the head here.

➡️ Choose the environment carefully.
Are you sitting behind a desk across from them? Or side by side? Does the space feel like a safe zone or a “conversation with the boss”?

➡️ Show you care.
Even when you’re delivering bad news, they should feel your belief in them. You’re not tearing them down, you’re being honest about a decision that needs to be made.

➡️ Be transparent.
People can handle hard truths. What they can’t handle is feeling blindsided.

Leaders who communicate with honesty and heart build long-term respect.

Your team feels it when they trust and respect you, and it shows in their performance.

Some days you might not have the energy to deliver news, or would rather put it off.

But you don’t have this privilege as a leader. You need to be honest and respect your team, always.

Recognise that the conversation is part of the strategy, and your decision is real.

You should look them in the eyes the next day and ask for their help if needed. 

Because respect actually builds in those tough conversations, despite what you may feel.

How do you approach tough conversations with your team?

♻️ Repost to remind someone that leadership is in the delivery.
🟣 Follow Samuel Knight for more grounded takes on leadership and human performance.

Video credit: Akhil Vyas

You don’t need 40 dashboards.

You don’t need to measure every click, comment, or conversation.

You only need the signals that show whether your company is actually getting healthier.

A lot of leaders don’t realise how important it is to be specific about setting and tracking their goals.

📊 Companies that set and track their goals are 2x more likely to hit them.

📊 And companies that focus on performance management systems tied to people and organisational health are 4.2 times more likely to outperform their peers.

Cut out the extra spreadsheets and start using the right metrics, reviewed often.

I put together this cheat sheet to make this a bit easier.

It covers the only four metrics that actually matter:
● Customer acquisition
● Customer retention
● Financial health
 ● Team health.

Pick up to five metrics in each and build your daily dashboard around them.

Keep it simple, visible and honest. 

The goal is straightforward:
➡️ Stop reacting to what’s already happened.
➡️ Start steering based on what’s coming.

A quick exercise I use with teams:

Choose one metric from each of the four areas.

➡️ Look at the last 30 days.

➡️ Write down what the trend is telling you.

➡️ Then, agree on one action per metric that’s small, specific and executable.

That’s how you build a company that matures, instead of just lurching from crisis to crisis.

What’s one metric you’d move to the top of your dashboard right now?

♻️ Repost if more leaders need this clarity
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for grounded thoughts on building teams, momentum and sustainable growth

AD | Most founders plan for growth.

Very few plan for collapse.

4 years ago now, I had a massively herniated disc and nerve damage.

I couldn't walk for a month, lost feeling in my calf, and some nerve damage.

It was brutal.

And it forced me to stop working for three months, with no choice in the matter.

I didn’t have any health insurance at the time.

It didn’t seem like a priority.

I am incredibly lucky and privileged that with the Pollen8 exit, I have some financial freedom as I could afford to pay for the operation myself privately here in Portugal.

But it made me rethink how fragile things can get, AND the importance of exec and founder health admin! 

Insurance, pensions, dental, regular health checks….

As founders, we plan for the future of our businesses, product launches, funding rounds and team growth.

Basically, we plan for growth, not breakdowns. 

And we often forget to plan for our own health.

It was such an eye opener for me, to be honest.

I got insured in the case of any future medical mishaps (which there have been a few of!)

And funnily enough, I’ve now started working with Bupa x YuLife on a campaign about combining protection with prevention, so you can support your team (and yourself) every day, not just when you’re feeling unwell. 

It feels like a bit of a full circle moment for me.

It’s something I care deeply about, because I’ve lived it.

And it’s great to be able to research and share about topics that matter to us all.

Leaders, we shouldn’t treat our health, or our team’s health, as optional.

Trust me, I’ve learned the hard way.

Bupa and YuLife have teamed up to support your people every day, not just when the are unwell.

I’m excited to be rolling out this partnership, and can’t advocate enough for this important topics.

Leaders, it’s time to really protect your teams.

What’s one thing you’ve done to protect your health while leading?

♻️ Repost to help more founders rethink how they plan
🟣 Follow Samuel Knight for honest takes on leadership, wellbeing and growth

High-performers know when to just let things be.

They don’t fixate on every tiny detail constantly.

They don’t live in this permanent state of correction.

Beating yourself up over solutions is what will run you into the ground.

Sometimes we just need to let things be, let the day wind down, let life move how it wants to.

When’s the last time you actually just let go for a minute?

This poem by Jane Kenyon is a nice reminder this Monday.

“Let it come, as it will, and don't be afraid.”

As the end of the year approaches, we all rush to get things done, maybe feeling guilty for stuff we didn’t achieve.

But when we hold and carry this energy, we kill our own momentum as well as our teams.

Our emotion regulation and “co-regulation” impact our team’s well-being and performance.

It is a skill leaders need to build into their infrastructure.

You show up tense → your team tightens.
You show up grounded → your team can exhale.

This type of modelling is something I work with a lot with teams.

It builds culture massively.

Do this before you log off today:

1. Write down the thing you’re holding onto most right now. 

2. Ask: “What part of this is actually mine to carry, and what part am I forcing?”

3. Choose one 2-minute action that might help you bring some calmness.

How do you help your team stay steady when things get chaotic?

♻️ If this landed, pass it on. Someone else needs it today.
✚ Follow Samuel Knight for more weekly poems on a Monday.

Never overvalue your own thoughts.

If you live a healthy life, you should have 3 billion seconds.

That’s a lot of seconds to learn new things and change your mind, which you should do.

Humble yourself daily with new ideas that challenge everything you know.

Stay open to learning something new every day! 

There are so many new perspectives out there. 

Such amazing advice from Neil deGrasse Tyson.

As a founder or leaders, you hear a lot of “be confident,” “own your vision,” “stand firm.” 

And yes, you must. 

But there’s also a flip side: the moment your beliefs are hard set, you stop growing. 

You stop discovering and stop leading.

Neil deGrasse Tyson gives the awesome idea of reading old books to challenge your assumptions.

Look how confident people are in their opinions at that moment, and how much they didn’t know yet.

Try this this week:

1. Block out 30 minutes labelled “challenge my assumptions.”

2. In that time: pick one belief you hold (e.g., “We cant up our prices,” “dont have time for video content,” We are stuck because of… ”).

3. Ask: What if the opposite is true? What would that change look like in our team/process/product?*

4. Try something in the ‘opposite’ column and see what changes!

Challenging assumptions is THE ultimate leadership growth hack. Stay humble and keep testing and learning

What one belief will you challenge this week, and what action will you take to test the opposite?

♻️ Repost to remind leaders that curiosity is as strategic as cash-flow.
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for more grounded leadership wisdom, from someone who is also still figuring it out.

This Monday’s poem is a lesson for all leaders.

Failure doesn’t have to be a finish line.

More often, it’s the doorway into whatever comes next.

This line stuck with me:

“I stand at the mouth of my second coming…
Too blind to see the horizon in front of me.”

That’s the bit we all forget.

When something ends, we rush to call it failure instead of recognising that it might be the start of another version of us, or our team, or our work.

Success is never simple or straightforward.

We tell ourselves it’s just:

Set a goal → Achieve it.

But anyone who’s actually built anything knows the real sequence is more like:

Set a goal → Doubt → Start → Fail → Practice → Feel lost → Get it → Struggle → Achieve → Keep going.

And this is where so many people give up.

They prepare for the parts that seem obvious, and just accept failure for what it is.

Instead of viewing it as a new beginning, or a second coming, so many of us beat ourselves up when something doesn’t work out.

Here’s a quick exercise I use with teams:

Draw three columns:

1. What ended

2. What’s starting

3. What’s messy right now

Fill it in and don’t overthink it. 

Spot the thread between the ending and the starts? Amazing right?

Now pick one next step for column three, and figure it out.

Success is far from a straight line.

Most of it feels like losing the plot, until all of a sudden it doesn’t.

(And then it does again!)

♻️ Repost if someone you know needs this today
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for grounded thinking on teams, culture and the actual work between the wins

Explore OKRs are the very very core of startups. 

If you're not doing this you will fail.

If you skip exploration:

1. You build the wrong thing.
You make product decisions based on assumptions instead of evidence, and end up shipping features nobody actually wants.

2. You waste time and money on the wrong growth channels.
Without exploring, testing, and gathering data, your marketing strategy becomes a set of expensive bets instead of informed experiments.

3. You can’t optimise what you don’t understand.
Lack of exploration means no structured learning loops, so you fail to iterate, improve, and compound small wins into big ones.

4. Your OKRs become fantasies instead of instruments of focus.
Exploration gives OKRs teeth. Without early discovery, your goals aren’t grounded in reality, so teams chase targets that don’t matter.

5. Alignment breaks down across the company.
Exploration builds the shared understanding needed for teams to move fast together instead of fast in different directions.

6. You make irreversible decisions based on false confidence.
The cost of skipping exploration isn’t immediate, it shows up months later in rebuilds, pivots, and missed opportunities.

I used to run teams with execution-first OKRs.

But over time, that model felt a bit brittle. 

The master master of this Andrew Crump from Unkillable. 

I can't recommend working with him enough. And go buy his book! 

Andrew, keen to hear what you think of the stories I have selected!

All businesses today are in uncharted territory, testing new ideas or channels is essential.

That’s where Explore OKRs come in.

Instead of polishing your plan, you can focus on testing the assumptions that sit underneath it.

Explore OKRs force you to treat your quarter like a science lab:

➡️ Run experiments, log what you learn, pivot or double-down based on data.

They teach you to validate that your idea is worth building, instead of delivering a polished product first.

Quick exercise for you all:

1. Pick your top 3 bets for the quarter.
2. Under each, write down the riskiest assumption (“no one will pay”, “they don’t care about this feature.”)
3. Design one experiment for each assumption
4. Turn those experiments into your Explore OKRs

Shift your team’s mindset away from ego and into curiosity.

You will waste less time building the wrong thing.

Which part of your business feels assumption-heavy right now, something you could be experimenting on instead of executing on blind faith?

♻️ Repost if you know a founder or manager who’s over-indexing on execution
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for more practical leadership tools

Are you actually brave?

Or do the opinions of others hold you back?

Brené Brown’s 4 steps to courage are something I always come back to, with myself and the teams I work with.

Only 28% of employees feel their opinions matter at work.

That means 72% feel silent, sidelined or ignored.

If your team don’t feel safe to speak, they won’t. 

And if they won’t speak, your team can’t grow.

A lot of it comes down to courage.

When you show up with courage, which is honest, human and imperfect, your team follows.

They speak up more, they take ownership, and they try things that matter.

Brené Brown has taught me so much about courage and vulnerability as a leader.

Four of the main steps that I carry with me and pass on to my clients:

1️⃣ Rumble with vulnerability.
Stop dodging the uncomfortable conversations. Ask the hard question first. Your team takes cues from what you’re willing to face.

2️⃣ Live into your values.
If you say something matters, but you don’t act on it when pressure hits, people notice. Integrity is a behaviour.

3️⃣ BRAVING trust.
You build trust in the everyday moments, like keeping your word, owning your mistakes, respecting boundaries. Not big speeches, just consistency.

4️⃣ Learn to rise.
Falling is inevitable. What people remember is how you get back up. How you talk about failure. Whether you blame or learn. Your recovery sets the tone for theirs.

Courage is a practice that sets the tone for the rest of your team.

The more you practice it, the better the example you set.

👉 Which of these four steps is your growth edge right now, and what’s the one action you’ll take this week to lead with more courage?

♻️ Repost if you’re ready to build a braver team
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for grounded leadership ideas

Your lack of courage is what's holding your team back

AD | Back-to-back Zooms, no fresh air, and the same chair since 2020?

I’ve been there.

And I learned the hard way that it’s not hustle, it’s burnout waiting to get you.

I recently tuned in to the Burnout Rebellion online panel discussion by Bupa x YuLife, where founders were discussing how the ‘no boundaries, pretending you’re fine’ work just does not work.

It will inevitably lead to burnout if we don’t take care of ourselves.

There are four things that helped me when I experienced burnout.

Things we used to get naturally before remote life changed that:

1️⃣ Connection to nature

A 5-minute walk at the start of the day, and another at the end. I use it as a moment to indicate “work on/off”. Even stepping into sunlight (yes, even cloudy UK light) for a minute helps.

2️⃣ Connection to tribe

Weekly socials, quick check-in hugs with loved ones, and lunches where phones get left behind. Founders forget this bit, we lead teams but often totally isolate ourselves.

3️⃣ Blood flow

This is the most difficult for me. But it just needs to be simple movement, like 5-10 minutes on a treadmill or a light stretch in the sun. The goal is to make it easy so it feels doable.

And for SME leaders, this is exactly why tools like the YuLife app can make a real difference. 

It helps your team build those small, protective daily habits: walks, movement, time outside (without adding more to anyone’s workload). 

People earn YuCoins simply by doing things that support their wellbeing, and can redeem them for rewards they actually enjoy. 

It’s a simple way to create a healthier rhythm at work, and a culture where looking after yourself isn’t an afterthought.

4️⃣ Uninterrupted workspace

A spot where you’re not “just squeezing calls in”. If your home setup can’t give you that, ask your employer about a co-working stipend or remote base. 

Stop working at the kitchen table!

And a bonus that totally changed my mornings was Tim Ferriss’s 20-minute morning routine:

➡️ Meditate, journal, make the bed, water, light exercise. So simple but so effective!

📊 Some context:

🔴 Only 26% of people rate their mental health as “very good.” (Bupa Wellbeing Index, 2023)

🔴 59% of employees say they’d stay longer in a workplace that measures wellbeing. (YuLife study, 2024)

We can’t lead teams that thrive if we’re barely holding it together ourselves.

So take this as a nudge to make your and your team’s wellbeing non-negotiable.

Leaders, make it visible, so your team knows it’s OK to do the same?

What’s one change you could make this week, nature, tribe, blood flow, or workspace?

♻️ Repost to remind your network that balance is strategy.
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for more grounded takes on leadership and wellbeing.

Brand partnership • Exec Team Coach | High-Performing Teams | Leadership & full company Offsites | Management, OKRs & Strategic Alignment Expert | Exited Founder (Pollen8 → PwC)

I’m going on paternity leave very soon.

Scary and very exciting times ahead. 

Going from one to two feels like a big jump, and I know so much is about to change.

As well as so many lessons that are going to come my way.

Reading Jacqueline Suskin’s poem, What I Want Is Family, reminded me why this matters:

Everyone come over, get closer, be casual, stay late and talk about things that matter… kids barefoot, messy, nothing perfect… rely on this warmth.

Aside from being beautiful imagery, it’s such an important leadership lessons.

High-performing leaders create the same environments for their teams: safe, familiar and warm.

Studies show that companies that support parental leave and family presence report up to 25% higher retention and engagement.

Supporting your team members as they grow their families is ESSENTIAL, and strategic.

Employees with supportive leaders who model balance report higher engagement, lower burnout, and better long-term performance.

A few lessons that I’m carrying with me in this period:

➝ Showing up fully. Presence matters way more than trying to be perfect.

➝ Encourage human moments. Messy kitchens, jokes, and barefoot energy are the things that build trust and creativity.

➝ Protect your time. Leaders who model balance give their teams permission to thrive sustainably.

I’ll be home, talking, caring, helping, and working in a different way.

I’ll be learning lessons I can bring back to the teams I work with.

Life is a duality of work and family time. 

Learning to work with this balance is what makes you thrive in whatever you do.

♻️ Repost to normalise leaders taking time for family.
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for leadership grounded in reality, not theory.

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The Battle

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Asif Ahmed's LinkedIn Performance

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