Nov 28, 2025
In this edition of ScaleUp Radio Shorts, Kevin Brent and Granger Forson distil powerful insights from two recent ScaleUp Radio interviews with:
Kat Wellum-Kent, founder of The Fractionals Group, and
Phil Harding, founder and MD of BBB Drinks.
While their businesses differ in sector and style, finance/HR versus premium drinks distribution, both founders offer hard-earned lessons on how to scale smartly and sustainably.
🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✅ The power of specialisation – Kat’s fractional model brings strategic and operational finance/HR under one roof. Phil, meanwhile, flips the traditional distributor model by offering upfront retainers and full transparency in costs.
✅ Two very different approaches to team building – Kat’s scaling an in-house team with cultural authenticity at its core. Phil relies on a lean, outsourced model supported by dedicated Brand Ambassadors and data-led tools.
✅ Efficiency through structure and systems – From Kat’s time-blocking and letting go of perfectionism, to Phil’s game-changing consignment stock model and custom Amazon dashboards, both founders know how to manage risk and cash flow.
✅ Vision with discipline – Kat aims to build a $7.5M multi-vertical fractional group, while Phil is creating an international machine for bringing drinks brands to market, despite the ever-present funding challenges in early-stage FMCG.
🧠The one key thing: Scaling successfully isn’t about doing more, it’s about doing the right things with structure, focus, and control.
💬 Standout quote:
"Don’t wait for the website or business cards to be perfect – just
go and do it." – Phil Harding
🎧 Listen now on your favourite podcast app by searching for ScaleUp Radio, and catch the full interviews with both Kat and Phil.
📩 Quick heads-up, we’re looking for a handful of
founders to test our new AI-powered Smart90 Lite app. It’s built to
help you stay accountable and actually deliver on your goals, in
just a few minutes a day. It’s free while we’re in testing, and
your feedback will directly shape the final version.
👉 Just email kevin@biz-smart.co.uk to get
access.
👥 Know someone with a great ScaleUp story? Nominate them as a guest for a future episode! Details in the shownotes.
This episode is created with the help of AI