Ross Tulloch

The Growth and Skills Levy: Is It Still the Government’s Most Underrated Investment? Asks Al Bird, CEO at Instep Al looks at the #GrowthandSkillsLevy, #YouthGuarantee, Flexies, meeting skills needs in adults, bridging skills gaps... and could the underutilisation of the Apprenticeship Levy by employers be reversed with the new flexies in the Growth and Skills Levy? Check it out below: https://lnkd.in/eFbfN3N2

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Having a glance at the sample pages of the new Lumina Intelligence UK Foodservice Delivery Market Report 2025. The below is telling. The big players have already invested heavily into their d2c channels. Those that aren't are now behind the curve. Time to catch up. #Slerp

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One of our clients in the oral care space approached us with a strong product lineup and clear demand, but they wanted to scale their performance marketing more aggressively across markets. 🪥 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 The brand sells a range of oral care products including their best-selling Tooth Cleaner, Teeth Whitening Powder and Kits, Electric Toothbrushes (including kids), Teeth Whitening Pens, Toothpaste, Toothbrushes, and Mouthwash. Before we started working together, the client had already tested several growth channels. 📈 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗛𝗮𝗱 𝗔𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 • UGC content from customers and creators • Expansion into markets like USA, New Zealand, and Sweden • Advertising on Pinterest, TikTok, Amazon, and other platforms • A strong “try fast, fail fast” mindset when testing campaigns ⚡ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗪𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗜𝗻 Our focus was on helping them turn all of this activity into a more structured and scalable system. 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 & 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 We worked closely with their in-house content team to guide what type of reels and ad creatives should be produced, focusing on formats that were more likely to perform in paid campaigns. 𝗔𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 Instead of random testing, we introduced a more structured approach to testing creatives, hooks, and messaging so winning ads could be identified faster. 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 Once strong creatives started emerging, we focused on scaling those campaigns while maintaining steady creative refresh cycles. 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 Influencer collaborations were also used more strategically so the content produced could be repurposed across ads and organic channels. This combination allowed the brand to move faster with testing, produce stronger creatives, and scale campaigns more confidently across different platforms. 🚀 👉 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆, 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝘂𝘁! #PerformanceMarketing #EcommerceGrowth #PaidAds #DTCBrands 

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Crown Commercial Service has published a prior engagement notice for a pan government digital marketplace providing a centralised, automated system for sourcing everything from office supplies to medical equipment, agricultural products, and IT services. A tender is expected to be published end Nov. https://lnkd.in/eUSyN3uB

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Fascinating data - the traffic vs. spend split is the key tension right now. Curious whether the uplift in Week 9 correlates with any specific daypart or cuisine category, or if it's broadly spread across the sector? Thanks to the Paperchase team for this data!

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💡 Stopped by the Sona (getsona.com) stand at Hospitality Tech Expo yesterday and caught up with Paul for a sharp 30-second pitch. Here’s Sona in a nutshell: ⚡️ A modern workforce management platform with AI at its core ⚡️ Helps managers focus on what really matters, customers & employees ⚡️ Surfaces problems, spots patterns, and even suggests actions before they become issues Smart, proactive, and built for the future of hospitality teams. Thanks Paul! 👏 #HospitalityTech #AI #FutureOfWork #HospitalityInnovation

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Voice is the most human way to connect & #1 channel for customer conversations. But it’s also the most broken. What if your brand could speak to every customer, instantly, intelligently, and at scale? At Haptik, we’re proud to introduce #VoiceAIAgents, built to power real-time, multilingual, 24/7 conversations that feel human but scale like software. This isn’t a chatbot with a voice. It’s a purpose-built Voice Agent, trained to understand, resolve, and engage with the precision of AI and the empathy of a human. From booking appointments to resolving complaints to converting leads, #VoiceAI is the next leap in customer experience, and we’re just getting started. The result? Better CX, lower costs, more revenue at scale. Learn all about Haptik's AI Agents here and even experience it LIVE! https://lnkd.in/dGr66tzR #AI #CustomerExperience #AgenticAI #ConversationalAI #Haptik

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🚀 Built to Win. Now Available on Kindle After years of building, refining, failing, rebuilding and systemising businesses, I’ve come to one very simple conclusion: Most businesses don’t fail because of bad ideas. They fail because they were never designed to win. That insight became the foundation for my first Kindle book, Built to Win. This isn’t another motivational business book filled with theory and buzzwords. It’s a practical guide to building businesses that actually work in the real world, businesses that can grow, scale and perform consistently without depending entirely on the founder. Inside Built to Win I break down the core principles that separate fragile businesses from resilient ones: • Clear strategy, knowing exactly where you compete and how you win. • Strong systems, creating repeatable performance rather than relying on luck. • Disciplined leadership, building teams that understand the mission and execute it. • Operational excellence, turning good ideas into daily habits that deliver results. • Scalable structures, building organisations that can grow without collapsing under pressure. Too many businesses are built around heroic effort. The real goal is different. Build something that works because of the systems, not because the founder never stops working. If you’re a founder, manager, entrepreneur or leader who wants to build something stronger, smarter and designed for long-term success, this book is for you. 📖 Built to Win is now available on Kindle. And if you’d like to see the systems thinking behind how I build businesses in the real world, you can also see it in action here: 🍕 https://lnkd.in/eB_HexnR #BuiltToWin #Entrepreneurship #Leadership #BusinessSystems #BusinessGrowth 📚 https://lnkd.in/e2eZzUMu

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RELEASE: Tilray Brands is acquiring BrewDog for just £33 million—almost two full orders of magnitude cheaper than its implied valuation when private-equity firm TSG Consumer Partners bought ~22% of the business in 2017. 🔗 Check the links in the comments for the full release, plus my previous coverage on both firms.

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I've seen lots of sobering news this week about the significant job losses in hospitality since the rise in employers NIC in April... I don't know if this was the government's intention or not, but it's clearly accelerating the OpEx shift from labour to tech and consequently, productivity is increasing And as you can see from this Restaurant online article, for those companies who are ahead of the curve it's clearly working from a financial perspective and they're seeing the increase in profitability Honestly, I've got mixed feelings about the current trading environment I think the government is taxing lots of great hospitality companies out of business And I think they should stop and reflect on the importance of the hospitality sector to creating communities, job opportunities and social connection But as someone sat on the tech side of the fence, I think it's also now undeniable that AI is going to fundamentally change the way hospitality companies operate Most back office tasks will be handled by AI agents not people This shift now feels inevitable The question is just about how quickly it'll happen. Maybe in the next 2 years. Certainly in the next 5. And the lesson from the article for me is that you want to be ahead of this wave, not behind it 🌊 🏄‍♂️

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High performance is about delivering at scale, without compromising on quality. Katrina Thornber led the launch of our Innovations journal, delivering a 100-page issue with nine in-depth interviews, including Eric Topol, MD and Ashish K. Jha, alongside expert insight from Wendy Tindale OBE, who leads a national UK network focused on translating health technology innovation into real clinical impact. She also commissioned, shaped, and delivered the content, and even designed the digital twins infographic herself, making a complex concept clear and engaging for readers. Great work Katrina!  If you’re interested in where modern medicine is heading next, it’s definitely worth your time to read: https://lnkd.in/eGN3faJK #HardWorking #Standards #MedicalJournal #EMJ #Recognition 

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𝗧𝗵𝗲 "𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀" 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼'𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝘂𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝘂𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀. Let me say this clearly: the laundromat acquisition gurus flooding LinkedIn have probably never dealt with a broken washing machine at 3am, let alone run a business for 18 years like I have. Yet, somehow, they've convincing people that buying a "boring business" is a shortcut to easy money. It's not. And it's actually insulting to the real operators who've spent decades building and growing their real businesses. Here's what they're not telling you while they're selling you their $2,000 course: every business comes with genuine complexity that can't be learned from a PDF or cheat sheet. Equipment breaks down. Employees quit without notice. Regulations change. Customers don't pay. Cash flow gets tight. These aren't minor inconveniences. They're business-ending challenges if you don't know what you're doing. But here's the real problem: these course sellers have figured out something brilliant. Why risk their own money buying laundromats when they can make more selling the dream to others? They're not in the boring business sector: they're in the hope business. And hope sells better than commercial washing machines, HVAC businesses or window washing routes. After nearly two decades of running a business (and a successful one at that), I can tell you that success comes from understanding your customers, deep industry knowledge, operational discipline, and yes, a sh*t load of luck. It doesn't come from following someone's generic acquisition playbook and getting duped by a sales pitch. So before you hand over your savings to someone promising and easy path to wealth, freedom and independence, ask yourself: would you take medical advice from someone who's never practiced medicine? Then why take business advice from someone who's never run the business they're teaching you to buy? The boring business trend isn't really helping entrepreneurs and potential business owners. It's creating expensive lessons for people who deserve better guidance. If you don't believe me, ask them to provide real evidence of the "boring businesses" they claim to have bought. I have many times. The response? They'll either claim it is protected IP (code for total BS) or 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴.

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One of the smartest uses of AI in hotels right now isn’t guest-facing tech. It’s judgement. The Dorchester used AI to analyse guest reviews and spotted something simple. Guests talked far more about breakfast than dinner, and most orders were already customised. So they changed the service. Less rigid menus, more made-to-order choice. That’s AI working properly in hospitality. Quietly improving decisions, not replacing people. Good service has always been about anticipation. AI just helps teams get there sooner.

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