This week on The RAG Podcast, I’m revisiting my episode with Ben Wallin and Dan Cox, founders of Edison Smart. When I spoke to them in August 2022, they’d already hit £1.7m revenue and built a team of nearly 20 in just over a year. One year later, they scaled to 31 employees, expanded into the US, put boots on the ground in Dubai, and built a structure that no longer relies on their own billing. We talk about: How they built an operational and leadership team that runs the agency Why they hired experienced recruiters while others were letting people go The rebrand to Edison Smart and its focus on smart technology How they achieved 40 percent growth in 2023 What it takes to truly work on the business, not in it For any founder asking how to become more operational and scale sustainably, this episode is a clear roadmap. Chapters 02:58 Edison Smart's Growth Journey 06:01 Operational Structure and Leadership Dynamics 09:11 Market Challenges and Strategic Responses 11:57 Hiring Strategies and Team Expansion 15:09 Navigating Market Changes and Client Relationships 17:58 Headcount Growth and Recruitment Strategies 22:03 Geographical Expansion: US and Dubai 25:10 Branding and Rebranding: Edison Smart 27:47 Operational Working Arrangements and Company Culture 30:57 Key Takeaways and Future Vision __________________________________________ Episode Sponsor: Atlas Your memory isn’t perfect. So Atlas remembers everything for you. Atlas is an end-to-end recruitment platform built for the AI generation. It automates your admin so you can focus on the business tasks that matter. How many conversations do you have every day? With clients. Candidates. Your team. Service providers. Now how many of those conversations can you recall with 100% accuracy? How many hours a week do you spend making notes to try and retain as much as possible? And how much is still getting lost along the way? Traditional CRM systems weren’t built for the type of recruitment business you’re running right now. They were built to rely on the structured, tagged, categorised, and formal data you could feed it. Manual processes that needed you to input specific information, based on specific questions and answers. But what about all the other conversations you’re having every single day? Atlas isn’t an ATS or a CRM. It’s an Intelligent Business Platform that helps you perform 10X better than you could on your own. How? By removing all your low value tasks, acting as your perfect memory, and providing highly relevant recommendations to impact your performance. Learn more about the power of Atlas – and take advantage of the exclusive offer for The RAG listeners – by visiting https://recruitwithatlas.com/therag/ __________________________________________ Episode Sponsor: Hoxo Recruitment agency founders - this one’s for you. What’s your plan for the rest of 2025? If it’s based on more cold outreach, referrals, or hiring more recruiters… we’ve got news for you. That’s not where the smart money is going. The market has changed. AI is everywhere. Noise is louder than ever. So if you want to scale profitably this year, you need to do things differently! It starts with what you already have. Your experience. Your network. Your voice. And we are showing you exactly how to use it in a brand-new, FREE Masterclass - built specifically for recruitment leaders like you. You’re going to learn: Why your LinkedIn content isn’t working - and how
