WHO IS
MATT HAYCOX
Most people handing out business advice have only ever sat on one side of the table. Some have never even been at the table! I’ve sat on every side. I’ve begged banks for money and I’ve become the man writing the cheques. I’ve raised capital and I’ve deployed it. I’ve built businesses worth millions — and I’ve watched some of them burn to the ground and take everything I owned with it. Bankrupt at 28. Over £1 billion funded since. Everything I’ve learned has been the hard and expensive way! Now I help others skip the bullshit and get straight to what works.
FROM NOTHING TO EVERYTHING.
BACK TO NOTHING.
THEN BACK AGAIN.
I opened my first bar in my early twenties. I had no business plan, no mentor, and no idea what I was doing — just enough nerve to sign a lease I couldn’t really afford. It worked. Then I did it again. And again. Within a few years I had more than seventy venues — bars, clubs, restaurants, hotels. Fast cars, big houses, the lot. I thought I’d cracked it.
Then 2008 happened.
The crash didn’t trim my business. It erased it. Every venue, every asset, every penny — gone in a matter of months. I was declared personally bankrupt before I turned thirty, millions in debt, with nothing to show for years of seven-day weeks except a phone that wouldn’t stop ringing with people I owed.
I won’t pretend I took it well. I didn’t. But somewhere in the wreckage I worked out the thing that changed everything: I’d spent my whole career as the borrower — the one asking, the one exposed, the one at the mercy of whoever held the money. So I decided to get on the other side of that.
I rebuilt. Not gently — aggressively. Borrower to lender. Operator to investor. The man begging for funding became the man deciding who gets it. Since then I’ve put more than £1 billion into business deals, backed over a hundred companies, and built across three continents.
“The difference between me and most people selling ‘business expertise’? I’ve actually done it. All of it — the wins, the wipeout, the comeback, the bits nobody puts on a slide. And I’ll tell you about all of it, straight.”
WHAT I
ACTUALLY DO
I’m not a coach with a course and a theory. I run live businesses with real money on the line, every day. I work with clients across:
Lending & Finance
I fund businesses from £50k to £5M through my own lending operations. My money, my decision, my risk.
Investment
I take equity in high-growth companies across tech, property, hospitality and more. I only recommend deals I'm in myself.
Advisory
I work directly with founders and CEOs on the problems they can't say out loud — cash, cofounders, when to walk away.
Education
I teach the things I had to learn by losing money: raising capital, marketing, scaling without breaking, surviving the bad year.
Media
Two podcasts, 700+ episodes, and an audience of 500K+ who'd rather hear the truth than the highlight reel.
When I tell you something works, it’s because I’ve watched it work with my own capital at stake — not because I read it somewhere.
THE NO BOLLOCKS PHILOSOPHY
I believe the business world is drowning in bullshit. Gurus who’ve never built anything. Courses that teach theory by people who’ve never tested it. LinkedIn posts that sound clever and mean nothing. I built everything I do as the opposite of that.
Tell the truth, especially when it's uncomfortable. You'll hear what you need to, not what you want to.
Show what actually works — drawn from doing it, not reading about it.
Own the failures. That's where the real lessons live, and I've got plenty.
Give you the move, not the motivation. Platitudes don't make payroll.
Keep skin in the game. I put my own money into the things I recommend. If I won't back it, I won't sell it.
Give away more than I charge for. The tools, the frameworks, the lessons — most of it's free. The people who get value from it are the people I end up working with.
I’m not here to be liked. I’m here to be useful. If you want someone to tell you you’re brilliant, I’m the wrong guy. If you want someone who’ll tell you the truth and help you build something real — welcome.
KEY MILESTONES
First Bar
Opened first bar in Manchester. No business plan, no mentor, no idea what I was doing.
70+ Venues
70+ venues across the UK — bars, clubs, restaurants, hotels. Fast cars, big houses, the lot.
Lost Everything
Declared bankrupt. Millions in debt. Nothing to show for years of seven-day weeks.
Started Rebuilding
Got back up. Took everything I had learned as a borrower and moved into lending.
First £100M Deployed
First £100M in funding deployed. 12 portfolio companies.
Podcast Launch
Launched Stripping Off with Matt Haycox podcast. 700+ episodes later, it's a top show.
£500M+ Deployed
£500M+ deployed. 53 portfolio companies. Operating across three continents.
The Empire
£1B+ in funding. 100+ portfolio companies. 3 continents. 2 podcasts. Building the ecosystem.
BEYOND
THE BUSINESS
I don’t believe a business is successful if it doesn’t allow you a life of freedom. My daughters Harlie, Nele & Indy are the most important things in my life — they’re the reason I take risks, suffer the headaches and the reason I refuse to settle for anything less than extraordinary.
People see the businesses, the podcasts, the deals. But the real motivation has always been simple: build something that matters, create memories that last, and show my daughters that you can come back from anything if you refuse to quit.
SO — WHAT DO
YOU NEED?
You didn’t read this far for a life story. You read it because you’ve got something to build, fix, fund, or scale, and you’re trying to work out if I’m the real thing. Fair enough. The fastest way to find out is to try me.
