How to build a business for the second time

What is it like building a business the second time round? What do you do differently. And what stays the same? 

That is the subject of our latest podcast episode with Alex Depledge, one of the leading female founders and chief executives in the UK. Depledge and her co-founder Jules Coleman sold Hassle.com for nearly £30m and then launched a second business, Resi, which uses technology to make it easier and quicker for people to add extensions to their homes. 

Depledge introduced Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, ahead of her speech at the Labour party conference last week and is also a non-executive director at Persimmon, one of the largest housebuilders in the UK. 

There are two key takeaways from the episode I want to share with you. First, this was Depledge’s brilliant answer to my question about what is different in building a second business. 

“It's a bit like when you have children. With your first one, you're like: ‘Oh my God, everything's dead exciting.’ You're so in love with it. You really cherish all the stuff, and you try to do everything properly. 

“Second time around, you're like: ‘Let’s get on with it.’ You are not as emotionally attached. Which bits actually move the needle? You don't need to feed your kids properly pureed food every time. They can have a bit of off-the-shelf stuff.  

“I think it's the same with running a business. The first time is very emotional and you're a bit afraid of it and you just want to make sure everything's perfect. The second time, you understand you're not that emotionally attached to it. You know which bits move the needle and which bits don't. I think it's easier from that point of view.” 

Second, Depledge talked about the strength of her relationship with Coleman. “Fundamentally we've got the same belief system,” Depledge says. “We see the world in the same way, and we've got totally opposite but complementary skill sets. I don't think that comes along very often. It's like a marriage is the only way I can describe it. We've been working together for 15 years. I think I'd be really lost if we didn't run businesses together.”