Angel investing

Martin took over from where the founder of IRIS Software left off when the company received its first private equity investment in 2001. As Group CEO, Martin drove the growth of IRIS over 10 years, from a business with £9m in annual revenues to one generating more than £120m annually from its 60,000 business customers. This achievement made IRIS the largest privately owned software enterprise in the UK. The enterprise value grew from £30m to £500m under his leadership. Today, businesses of all sizes and 50% of the UK’s accountancy firms use IRIS accounting software, while 18% of businesses UK-wide rely on its payroll packages. Martin oversaw two management buy-outs before his personal exit in 2011.

This interview was originally recorded by UBS in 2015 with the help of E2Exchange, the entrepreneur network.