A fresh focus on scaling up elements of Exile’s underdeveloped subscription business added long-term value
As an entrepreneur, you are often tempted by shiny new ideas. You might think 'Let's dabble a little here, then maybe a bit over there' - especially if you see early successes. However, this approach can become unwieldy and complicated as you grow.
Entrepreneurial beginnings
Exile Group provides specialist finance professionals with news, research insights and data intelligence. It also connects industry players through engaging, educative and network-building virtual and real-world events.
Two of the group’s founders – CEO Dan Sheriff and CMO Katy Rose – share a background in corporate media. Experienced in media, including events and publishing, but frustrated by the limitations of working within large portfolios, they set up Exile with Commercial Director, Dom Kloiber, and former Editor, Jonathan Bell, in 2013.
“Running smaller P&Ls within a portfolio gave us a taste for entrepreneurialism, but we were just a little bit frustrated with the process,” says Dan.
Between Dan and Katy’s experience of the financial media sector and Dom’s knowledge of export and commodity finance, the three saw the potential to do things differently in the global finance market.
They were focused on building a company that offered both business information and events from day one, so they swapped the dark conference rooms typical of corporate events for venues that were ‘light and fresh and fancy’. “We could try new things and there was nobody stopping us,” says Katy.
Early growth challenges
Brainstorming ideas in the early days was exciting, but the responsibility of business ownership was unavoidable. Dan says there was a lot of learning ‘early doors’, just understanding how the cash flow for the business worked.
“How you charge the right price for your product, how you make sure that money’s coming in on time… especially when you take on an office and employees for the first time. You’re responsible for other people,” he explains.
Exile went from strength to strength through its first decade, enjoying ‘explosive’ growth. However, success brought its challenges, not least maintaining a structured offering.
“As an entrepreneur, you have this shiny-object magpie fever,” says Dan. “You think, ‘maybe we’ll do a bit over there, then we’ll do a bit over there and then a bit over there’. It just gets a bit unwieldy and complicated.”
With too many products, some of which proving to be a distraction, the management team increasingly saw a need to streamline their offering.
Feet to the fire
The pandemic forced Exile’s events business to move online. The business survived relatively unscathed, but the move to virtual events led to the addition of an online membership offer.
Online memberships complemented the company’s existing subscription business. However, Exile had never put the same energy into subscriptions as it had into events. “It was sort of an add-on to everything else we were doing,” says Katy.
The decision to bring in Collingwood was driven by the need to refocus the business, with both Katy and Dan feeling their offering was not as well positioned as it could be. “We came to Collingwood with the idea of, effectively, holding our feet to the fire,” Dan says, “particularly around the subscription part of the business.”
Since beginning work with Collingwood, Exile has developed the operational, sales and marketing capabilities needed to grow its subscription business. “Collingwood basically taught us everything we’ve learned in terms of running a subscription product,” says Katy.
Gaining the confidence to make hard decisions
Having someone there to ‘hold your hand’ on your entrepreneurial journey is key, says Dan. “We’d never sat around as a board and said, ‘What do you want to do with the business?’. When you are in a business, you don’t even think about those questions… you’re just in it.”
Through asking ‘difficult’ questions, Collingwood helped Exile to effectively prioritise and restructure its subscription product. “The whole thing was a mess, from the product to the way that we were selling it. They’ve helped us tidy it all up”, says Katy.
Dan says Collingwood has made a massive difference in professionalising the business. “It’s providing guardrails, making sure you keep on the straight and narrow and stay organised.” He gives the example of a new commission template that has been put in place: “I can now predict how things are going long term. Those little things actually save so much time.”
More broadly, the Exile management team has a new focus on the value that it always knew was in the business but had never really been able to quantify. “Collingwood helped us to measure value creation,” says Dan. “If you can see the value and measure it, you have more self-confidence to push forward.”
Top-line growth
Exile completed its most successful year ever in 2023, delivering top-line revenue growth of almost 30%. Adviser Andy Baker says, “They are well on their way to delivering strong profit margins combined with a higher quality of earnings.”
Collingwood’s work with Exile has concentrated on developing and executing a unifying value proposition that brings together the subscription and event sides of the business. “In addition, developing product differentiation, pricing and packaging, sales and customer success, have driven subscription success,” says Andy.
Collingwood also chairs Exile’s Director team meetings. “We rigorously review the business every month,” says Andy. “But we also step back to help the Director team work on strategy and keep ultimate value creation top-of-mind.”
The focus on a compelling value proposition, supported by operational excellence and improved pricing and packaging, has resulted in Exile's subscription renewal rate rising from 75% to 105%.