"Surround yourself with better people than yourself."
Nicholas Jeffery was VP sales and marketing, European MD / COO, and most recently CEO of several Internet service providers, migrating them all from leased line access only play to managed service businesses creating MPLS, ADSL, managed NAS and SAN, logical security, and e-mail/e-commerce platforms all targeted at the SMB sector. He is also the founder of RAYL Innovations. He recently was the COO of a SaaS company with development teams based in Moscow and sales and marketing in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Nicholas created the business plan and Investment strategy raising $m of first-round funding for the business and then transforming the company from a managed service business to a product-based business with self-provisioning, e-commerce, and a fully supported front and back end web-based billing and version control/security algorithmic platforms.
Nicholas started his career in traditional marketing communications (advertising, design, and corporate identity); he has been a Global brand custodian for some impressive corporate icons. He then moved into the web creating Reality, at its panicle the most reputable and highest-profile web design and build company in Europe. As the Internet became more Intelligent in search and analytics, Nicholas helped create and launch Buzzmetrics, recently acquired by Reed, which is still the most agile and sophisticated “relevance engine” Globally. Nicholas is very in touch with social media and was responsible for driving Digital Realty’s sales and marketing strategy in EMEA, which is seeing a marked increase in activity, saliency, and recall across all social media properties as well as delivering top-line growth from a distressed share price. Nicholas has deep and current contacts in the hyper-scale base at the C-level and procurement base. Nicholas knows how to scale a business retaining agility at the front end while creating stability & predictability at the back end, a growing company from $5m to $500m business through a mix of new product development, organic and acquisitive growth.
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Table of Contents
Let’s start with a brief introduction first. Introduce yourself to our readers.
Nicholas Jeffery: My specialties: Corporate turnaround and growth strategies, operational level P&L management, marketing communications, business development, and is a highly articulate presenter on a Global stage.
Career Highlights: CEO of Uniserve Communications, a publicly-traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX.v), led the business from CND$0.04c to CND$0.67c in nine months from joining.
Co-author of the business development, Investment, and strategic planning document for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), TMT business unit. I was part of the team that took the group from Euro 800m debt to Euro 2.5b equity fund in 6.5 years. COO and Managing Director of PSINet Europe, the Internet Service Provider with full P&L and operational responsibility. Member of the executive team took the business from £20m loss to £11m EBITDA+ position in two years. The company was acquired initially for £9m out of Chapter11, then sold two years later to Telstra / Interoute for a total of £95m. COO of postmark and Worldport, both managed service Internet service providers, where I grew the business by circa 40% in two years before consolidation into PSINet Europe.
Instrumental in the growth of Europe’s first web design-and-build consultancy, The Reality Group up to its ultimate sale to Great Universal Stores (GUS) for £38m. Start-up to purchase in 18 months. I created the StarTrust, “Not for Profit” organization working with the South African Government, World Health Organisation, and mobile/satellite operators to deliver Internet access and content (e-Health and general educational syllabus) to remote and rural schools in the Western Cape. The United Nations awarded me a certificate of merit for contributions to environmental marketing, global corporate governance, and consumer awareness for the StarRats TM protocol.
Our audience is interested to know about how you got started in the first place. Did you always want to become a CEO or was it something you were led to? Our readers would love to know your story!
Nicholas Jeffery: Being a CEO is the top role for many people, and a CEO of a Public Company is one step up. But given the life expectancy of circa 18 months of any CEO, you have got to ask yourself why? I love the fact that the position is not siloed, you have the right to hear both sides of the story and then help in making the decision, you are not decline justified but solution agnostic. You have power but you need to be humble. The skills are transferable once you are in the position so you can move from Industry to Industry as your desire and passion take you. Age helps, you need confidence, and it’s lonely at the top. Vision, futurology, and chessman-ship are critical, but politics should be checked at the door.
“Selfmade” is a myth. We all received help, no doubt you love to show appreciation to those who supported you when the going got tough, who has been your most important professional inspiration?
Nicholas Jeffery: There is no one individual because mentorship for a CEO comes to from all points. The ruthless, Israeli CFO who could spot an issue in a P&L in 60 seconds that had alluded me for days. The Consummate political American that fought me self believe and knowing when to stop ….. talking. Your wife/partner unconditionally trusts you but tells you not to take yourself too seriously.
How did your journey lead you to become a CEO? What difficulties did you face along the way and what did you learn from them?
Nicholas Jeffery: My first CEO role thought me that you might be there for another reason than succeed, and no matter what you do, or how good the results the cards are stacked against you, and you then only have your moral compass and you prove to yourself AGAIN you should have listened to your gut.
Tell us about your company. What does your business do and what are your responsibilities as a CEO?
Nicholas Jeffery: Grown up start-up in the merchant payment space.
The Power of 3 Platform
RAYL is creating a Perfect Storm for the SME and Micro Merchants in Canada and beyond
Productivity enhancements / frictionless and lower cost transactions / Agile financial services
Supported by interoperable systems, smart data , and artificial Intelligence
RAYL – Through and through RAYL is a payments company… Our Super App enables our customers to be more productive at lower costs and when combined with RAYL. Pay empowers them with immediate funding of the payments they accept.
Payless & get more – Cost plus zero a unique commercial charging takes the market to Zero to the benefit of the merchant
Zero Delay – You don’t have to wait for your money back, RAYL will provide immediate funding to the Rayl Pay car
RAYL is on track to be the leading financial services provider to micro-merchants, a niche market that will thrive and surge as Canada returns to normal recovering from the tragic pandemic ( basically a lot of people went out of business and lost jobs, now that we are “back to normal” small (micro) businesses will grow. ) My responsibility – two ears one mouth – empowering people to believe in their judgment and lead from the front.
What does CEO stand for? Beyond the dictionary definition, how would you define it?
Nicholas Jeffery: The belief in the company and they belief in the individual.
When you first became a CEO, how was it different from what you expected? What surprised you?
Nicholas Jeffery:
Not everyone wants your job. The board does not always have your back. The market does not respond the same way as you would expect if you were impressing your private stakeholders.
There are many schools of thought as to what a CEO’s core roles and responsibilities are. Based on your experience, what are the main things a CEO should focus on? Explain and please share examples or stories to illustrate your vision.
Nicholas Jeffery: The numbers, revenue, and margin. customer insights and team cohesion. If you don’t forecast the P&L accurately missing the numbers you will only get one quarter. Growing by acquisition is never enough to sustain growth on the bottom line. Growing a business by 270% in a year only to be questioned why the core component is struggling should signal alarm bells – I missed it – I won’t again
Share with us one of the most difficult decisions you had to make for your company that benefited your employees or customers. What made this decision so difficult and what were the positive impacts?
Nicholas Jeffery: Having a Moral Compass to do what is right even if it requires you to terminate the consulting contract of a founding partner. Then pick up the pieces and drive real hard when you know you have lost an important part of the story – BUT believing that there are great people out there who can help you and join the business and pick up the reigns and drive the business with even more zeal.
How would you define success? Does it mean generating a certain amount of wealth, gaining a certain level of popularity, or helping a certain number of people?
Nicholas Jeffery: A clear understanding, that while we make numerous mistakes getting to where we believe is the top, there is still more to learn, smarter people around you and you will keep making mistakes, BUT success is a self-assurance that you have done your best.
Some leadership skills are innate while others can be learned. What leadership skills do you possess innately and what skills have you cultivated over the years as a CEO?
Nicholas Jeffery: Creativity, and language as a craft hopefully I possess but I have cultivated my understanding of motive and how numbers make the world go round.
Do you have any advice for aspiring CEOs and future leaders? What advice would you give a CEO that is just starting on their journey?
Nicholas Jeffery: Surround yourself with better people than yourself.
How did your role as a CEO help your business overcome challenges caused by the pandemic? Explain with practical examples.
Nicholas Jeffery: Agility comes from the top down and gets implemented for the bottom up. Giving people space to be creative – a clear understanding that the Pandemic is a shot across our commercial bow and Global warming is following on very fast. Pivoting to add value to customers rather than just spin the marketing. Investing in RAYL. Appetitive and acquiring RAYL.Pay
Thank you for sharing some of your knowledge with our readers! They would also like to know, what is one skill that you’ve always wanted to acquire but never really could?
Nicholas Jeffery: Spell.
Before we finish things off, we have one final question for you. If you wrote a book about your life today, what would the title be?
Nicholas Jeffery: “ENOUGH SAID”
Mike Weiss, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Nicholas Jeffery for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Nicholas Jeffery or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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