Brightstar Group chief executive Rob Jupp has shared how the collapse of his first business left him fearing he would be unable to pay his mortgage or his son’s school fees in a revealing new interview.
In the latest episode of The Two Russells Podcast, with property pundits and former estate agents Russell Quirk and Russell Jervis, Jupp speaks candidly about the turmoil of building up his first venture only to see its value evaporate in the 2008 credit crisis.
Jupp describes how he grew the sub-prime and specialist packager OFM group from a two-man band to a business employing 150 staff before the financial meltdown.
Jupp says: “Back in the early summer of 2007 a now defunct American investment bank offered us just under £40m to acquire the whole group and we just didn’t think it was enough at that time – we thought we were worth a lot more.”
But he says: “14 months later we sold it to Savills PLC for less than £100,000 just to pay for the insolvency costs.”
Jupp says the firm’s downfall came when it lost 92% of its business within a month as sub-prime lenders pulled out of the market or went bust.
He says the responsibility for providing for his own family and the sense of duty towards his staff weighed heavily on him.
“The reality that everything came back to me – 150 staff and their families relied on me – was really difficult.”
Jupp says he bottled up his worries and did not share them with his wife, Claire, which he now regrets – all of which took a huge toll on his mental health.
He says he feared not being able to pay his mortgage and son’s school fees “every day, possibly 100 times a day”.
But Jupp also tells of how faced his fears and used equity in his home to build up his second business, Brightstar, along with co-founders to where it is today.
Watch the full interview to find out what made Jupp delete his social media accounts and how he may move away from the industry entirely when the time is right to sell Brightstar.
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