In this bite sized episode of The Inner Entrepreneur, Paul sits down with Brendan McGurgan, co-founder of Simple Scaling, creator of the ScaleX Accelerator, and former CEO who scaled a small engineering firm from 15 people to nearly 700, and from £3M to over £100M+ in global revenue — long before “scaling” became a buzzword.
Brendan believes that if you have a great product or service, you don’t just have an opportunity to grow — you have an obligation to share it with the world. Yet less than 1% of SMEs ever achieve true scale.
Links to Episode:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6Xsb1mJrjUX2T8sFZjzVIG?si=aLfYPXTYTVSUR94BboG1fA
https://youtu.be/LAfqXnofcXk?si=V27Kpa2OCPW49t5e
We unpack: ✅ What scaling really means (beyond revenue) ✅ Why most SMEs never break past “stuck” ✅ The cultural DNA required for exponential growth ✅ How Brendan reverse-engineered scaling success into a proven 10-principle framework ✅ Why scaling without purpose is dangerous ✅ And how SMEs can impact millions — with the right mindset, vision, and leadership tools
Whether you’re doing €1M or €50M in revenue — this is a masterclass in thinking and acting like a scale-ready leader.
👤 Guest Bio
Brendan McGurgan is the co-founder of Simple Scaling and co-author of Simple Scaling: 10 Proven Principles to 10X Your Business. A former CEO who scaled a Northern Irish engineering company from 15 employees to nearly 700 across six continents, he now coaches SME leaders through the ScaleX Accelerator, helping them scale with purpose, culture, and impact. His mission: to inspire and enable millions of SME leaders to scale consciously and change the world through entrepreneurship.
🔑 Key Themes & Topics Covered
- What scaling actually means (OECD definition vs Brendan’s philosophy)
- Why scaling is an obligation if your product creates real value
- How 28,000 scale-ups contribute over 50% of SME revenue in the UK
- The “forgotten middle” of entrepreneurship — why SMEs lack real scaling support
- The DNA of leadership teams that successfully scale
- The danger of growth for growth’s sake (scaling with purpose)
- Creating a shared vision that ignites people
- Why cultural alignment matters more than strategy
- How Brendan built a 40,000 sq. ft. HQ and scaled globally without a playbook
- The ScaleX 10 Principles for Exponential SME growth
- Why a £1M business is just the start — not the finish line
💬 Standout Quotes
“If you’ve sold £1M worth of anything, you’ve already delivered significant value. The real question is: why not £10M… or £100M?”
“Scaling with purpose means creating something that does good for people, for the planet, and for the team who builds it.”
“The businesses that scale are led by teams with a shared vision, not just a hunger for bigger numbers.”
“Revenue is just the echo of the value you’ve created.”
📈 Entrepreneurial Takeaways
✅ Scaling is not just revenue growth — it’s about increasing the impact your product has on the world. ✅ If you’ve hit £1M, you’ve proven value — now it’s about leadership, process, and vision. ✅ Culture is not hired — it’s created by leadership alignment. ✅ Scaling without purpose becomes toxic; with purpose, it becomes transformational. ✅ SMEs are the backbone of economies — scaling them changes lives beyond the P&L.
About the host:
Paul Ryan is an entrepreneur, 8 figure business owner, mentor, podcaster and creator of the 1-Hour CEO and Life Code Program. As a CEO, Paul has a depth of 'real life' experience of what it takes to be successful in business and life.
Connect with the host:
https://www.theonehourceo.com/
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