Northern Leaders Podcast - Garry Partington

Sponsors: Wildbrook Commercial Real Estate

Garry Partington is the son of a Rochdale butcher who went on to become the CEO of Manchester-based consultancy Apadmi, which will turn over an estimated £40m next year.

The self-confessed tech geek taught himself how to code at the age of 10 and worked three jobs in order to buy his dream computer.

The self-confessed tech geek revealed how a brush with death was the catalyst for turning Apadmi from a lifestyle business into one with global aspirations.

When he was made redundant in 2009 he launched Apadmi with three friends. However, when staff numbers reached 70 and turnover £2.5m, Partington realised Apadmi had become a lifestyle business – until a near life-death experience involving his co-founder Howard Simms changed everything.

It was at this point that the founders came up with their Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) from Jim Collins’s book ‘Built to Last’. The idea was to expand to 1,500 staff in five markets, in five years.

Host: Chris Maguire, executive editor, BusinessCloud

Producer: Ellice Street, What Media

Contact: Chris Maguire [email protected]

Listen to the podcast on Spotify; on Apple Podcasts; or watch the interview on YouTube below.