Page 226 - James Caan - The Real Deal

Chapter 22

Serial

Entrepreneur

(1995–1998)

‘ The cash I invested was only one component of what was

becoming an increasingly lucrative investment strategy: my
experience was more valuable than my capital. ’

t alexander mann, Jonathan was given the title chief
A executive and I became the group CEO of both Alexander
Mann and Humana. When you hire someone to take over your
company, you take an enormous risk because so much of a
business is about the personality of the founder. When you bring
in an outsider, someone who hasn’t been a part of the Cilla Black
nights or the fancy-dress days, your business is vulnerable: if you
lose the culture, do you also lose the key ingredient that makes
your business successful?
You only have to look at the statistics in the recruitment
industry to see how difficult it is to turn a boutique into a
corporate business. There must be 10,000 agencies in the UK, but

216