Season 9 | Ep16 Logan Naidu: How he made 100 cuts after a £30M deal (and survived the downturn)

Episode notes

Logan Naidu runs Kernel Global-a multi-brand recruitment group with 200 people across London, Hong Kong, Charlotte and New York. We first spoke in April 2021. He had 180 people. The market was about to explode. 2021: £7 million EBITDA. 2022: £10 million EBITDA. Headcount doubled to 300. Then March 2023 hit. Logan closed a second PE deal. Paid out over £30 million to staff. The biggest individual payout? Multiple millions. One month later, he started making cuts. "I remember talking to my father-in-law saying I'm really embarrassed by this. I've just taken on a load of money from new investors and we're already talking about making cuts and the business shrinking." By the end of 2023, Logan had cut 100 heads - a third of the business. But here's what makes this story different: he saw it coming. December 2022. Their Christmas party. Logan stood up and said: "I think we've forgotten how hard this industry can be. We've had a record year, but we're cutting corners. We're taking clients for granted. That's going to bite us if we don't get back to it really quickly." It was poorly received. Then 2023 happened. This week on The RAG Podcast, Logan breaks down the full story.

• Season 9 | Ep35 Oliver Paull: £800K in 3 Years, Solo, From a London Flat59 / 100
• Season 9 | Ep34 Mathew Gollop: 7 to 85 People, a Near Collapse, and the Free Idea That Paid Him Back59 / 100
• Season 9 | Ep33 Greg Fischer: $4.2M Revenue, $1.4M Net - Then He Left With Nothing but a Handshake52 / 100
• Season 9 | Ep32 Paul Strouts: When Growing Headcount Is a Strategy and When It Is Just a Cost
• Season 9 | Ep31 Nathan O'Connell: Building a £1M R2R business on 4 x Retained Clients