Show notes
In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, host Kevin Brent is joined by Michaela Cusack, solicitor and co-owner of NBR, to explore what really happens when you acquire an established business and then set about changing its direction.
Michaela and her business partner Matt acquired NBR in 2020. They were stepping into an unfamiliar intellectual property sector, taking responsibility for a long-established team and, almost immediately, dealing with the impact of Covid.
Their rationale for the acquisition was compelling. Through Matt’s work in mergers and acquisitions, they had seen how businesses with well-protected intellectual property could be more attractive to buyers and potentially achieve higher valuations. They saw an opportunity to build a business helping owners recognise, protect and develop those assets.
But acquiring the business was only the beginning.
One of the most interesting lessons from Michaela’s story is what happened when they initially tried to change too much at once. Multiple projects competed for attention and progress stalled. The answer was greater focus: concentrating on core intellectual property services, moving away from non-core activities such as company formations and becoming much more disciplined about deciding which initiatives deserved resources.
Today, new projects are given clear three and six-month review points, with KPIs used to determine whether they should continue.
It is a lesson that will resonate with many growing businesses: doing more does not necessarily mean progressing faster. Focus can be a growth strategy in its own right.
Buying a business without seeing everything
Michaela also talks candidly about the acquisition process and what she would do differently today.
The acquisition was funded through personal savings and business loans, with most of the purchase price paid upfront and the remainder staged through the first year.
Financial due diligence was important, but Michaela discovered that accounts and reports cannot tell you everything about how a business actually operates.
With hindsight, she would have spent more time physically observing the business and talking to the people who understood its day-to-day workings.
That experience has also changed the way NBR approaches suppliers and partners. Recommendations alone are no longer enough. References are checked and greater due diligence is carried out before important relationships are established.
Bringing an established team with you
Another potential risk was the team.
Some employees had worked together for more than 30 years, yet there were no contractual arrangements tying them into the business following the acquisition.
Rather than attempting to manage that uncertainty through control, Michaela and Matt concentrated on transparency.
They shared their plans, talked openly about business performance and worked to build trust with the existing team.
It is a useful reminder that acquiring a company means acquiring far more than its customers, accounts and systems. You are also taking responsibility for its accumulated knowledge, relationships and culture.
Making intellectual property accessible
NBR now operates two distinct service models.
Its Business Zone Protection service provides smaller businesses with an affordable entry point into protecting their trading identity, while its consultative work covers areas including trade mark and design searches, UK and international registrations, monitoring, IP audits, licensing and commercial agreements.
The broader ambition is to make intellectual property easier for SME owners to understand.
That feeds directly into NBR’s growth strategy. Rather than simply selling professional services, the business is building authority through education, including webinars, guides and IP audits delivered with trade associations and organisations such as the Department for Business and Trade.
The principle is straightforward: help potential clients understand the problem before asking them to buy the solution.
Knowing when to say no
Growth has also meant becoming clearer about the clients, suppliers and opportunities that are right for the business.
Michaela discusses the importance of being prepared to decline work when the fit is wrong and of avoiding referral arrangements driven by financial incentives rather than what is best for the client.
That clarity of boundaries is another form of focus.
AI still needs a capable human
Michaela’s thoughts on AI provide another standout moment in the conversation.
NBR is exploring AI carefully, with particular attention to data security and human oversight.
But Michaela makes an important distinction: putting a human in the loop is only useful if that person has sufficient knowledge to recognise when the AI is wrong and challenge its output.
Human oversight is not simply checking what AI produces. The human needs the expertise to question it.
That is particularly relevant in professional services, where an output that looks convincing can still be inaccurate.
What you’ll hear in this episode
Kevin and Michaela discuss:
• Why Michaela and Matt decided to acquire NBR
• What M&A taught them about the value of intellectual property
• Funding and structuring an acquisition
• What traditional due diligence failed to uncover
• Taking over a team with decades of shared history
• Why trying to tackle too many projects slowed progress
• The decision to focus NBR entirely around IP
• Using KPIs and deadlines to stop weak projects consuming resources
• Building trust through education rather than simply selling
• Why NBR carries out more due diligence on suppliers and partners today
• Learning to say no to clients who are not the right fit
• Growing capacity without losing expertise
• The opportunities and risks presented by AI
• Why genuine human oversight requires expertise
The one key thing
Focus is not about having fewer ambitions. It is about making sure the things that matter actually get done.
Michaela’s experience of acquiring and reshaping NBR demonstrates the cost of trying to pursue too many initiatives simultaneously. Their progress accelerated when they became clearer about the core business, set measurable deadlines and became willing to stop activities that were not delivering.
For ScaleUp leaders, that may be the biggest takeaway from this conversation: choose fewer priorities, give them proper attention and be disciplined enough to stop what is not working.
From more, to less, to done
Before we get into the episode, most founders I speak to feel busy but frustrated. There is plenty happening, but they are not moving forward at the rate they want to.
Often, success itself creates the problem. More success creates more options, pulling founders and their teams in different directions.
Here’s what more than 500 interviews on ScaleUp Radio have taught me: the founders who scale choose less, and deliver all of it.
That’s what the G90 Summit is for.
It is a structured half-day where we cut through everything competing for your attention, agree the three to five things that must happen in the next 90 days, and build the rhythm to make sure they do.
From the frustration and chaos of more, through the discipline of less, to the rhythm of done.
Quarterly. Virtual. £97 a seat.
Find out more at Smart90.co.uk/summit.
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Michaela can be found here:
https://nationalbusinessregister.co.uk/
Resources:
Profit First by Mike Michalowicz - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/profit-first-transform-your-business-from-a-cash-eating-monster-to-a-money-making-machine-mike-michalowicz/e25b263b79b27e07?ean=9781399643061
High Level - https://www.gohighlevel.com/