Peter’s story
“At the very least, you need to be slightly unhinged to start your own business. If I had read the manual when I started, I would have run a mile.”
Peter Jones certainly possesses a daring spirit. Founder and now CEO of large-scale events company Nineteen Group, his journey has been characterised by many highs and lows, and therein a bucket load of challenges overcome.
Peter started out in 2002 selling a heady mix of tradeshows that straddled the worlds of security and chocolate. Growth was rapid, but Peter fell into the trap of running before he could walk.
“I went bust in my mid-20s,” he recalls. “The problem was we had no infrastructure or solid foundations to grow from. My bank manager put it rather well – he said we had a good business, but it was like a skyscraper built on a sandy beach.”
Despite the huge sacrifice and loss, Peter knew he was onto something. Undeterred, he put everything he had into starting again and learning from his past mistakes, selling virtually everything he (and his supportive wife) owned in the process. A bookkeeper was hired, an unsung hero, helping to ensure the cash was properly accounted for.
He got it right this time, growing sustainably to the point where he could exit and start again. With Nineteen Group, however, Peter did not want to let go.
“I didn’t want to start up from nothing again,” he says. “Doing everything on a shoestring and putting out fires 80% of the time was draining and stopped me doing what I’m good at, which is sales and being in front of people.”
From entrepreneur to leader
Private equity investment soon became the obvious answer, and it was Phoenix who took an interest in 2017.
“I recall Kevin Keck, a Phoenix partner, calling me multiple times and I was convinced he was trying to sell me life insurance,” Peter muses. “I almost missed out. Fortunately, I called him back and we arranged a lovely sushi lunch. 31 meetings later, we finally reached completion on Phoenix’s investment. They have been excellent – others might focus solely on the numbers, but they really invested in our vision, people, and culture.”
“I knew bringing on Phoenix was the right option. They gave me the resources to hire the right people and to incentivise them in the right way. Previously I couldn’t afford to pay people what they were worth, and this is a business that you win or lose based on how good your people are. I also knew that private equity backers would free me up to back my talent and do what I love doing.
Phoenix officially came on board in November 2018. Since then, Nineteen Group has never looked back, growing from a team of eight people and one government security tradeshow to an international organisation of 150 employees and 20-plus expos on its books.
Nineteen Group and its partnership with Phoenix has been a huge success for all concerned, not least in how Peter has executed the transition from being an eccentric start-up founder to an emerging CEO of a large enterprise.
“Phoenix has trusted me and my fantastic team to run the business,” Peter says. “I have to mention the contributions of Group MD Alison Jackson, CFO Jon Lacey and Chairman Phil Soar, without whom we wouldn’t have been in a position to grow like we have.”
“The journey from founder to leader has been the toughest challenge I have ever faced,” he says. “If you were to tell me five years ago that Nineteen Group’s greatest enabler would be its culture, I probably would have laughed.”
“Culture is what allows us to get the very best out of people,” Peter continues. “I get asked how we managed to find 150 of the brightest people in the business. It isn’t about finding them necessarily, but doing what you can to create an environment where people can thrive.”
A calculated risk pays off
The pandemic threatened to derail Nineteen Group little more than a year into its journey with Phoenix. International travel was shut down, large-scale gatherings were prohibited, and the events sector lost a huge amount of its workforce as companies migrated to the virtual world.
Peter and Phoenix bucked the trend. “We didn’t pivot to virtual,” Peter explains. “Instead, we kept the entire business together and made zero cuts. Phoenix backed this plan fully with additional investment, which was all about getting ready to fly out of the blocks faster than anybody else when face-to-face events made their return.”
Come September 2021, this is exactly what happened. People flocked to Nineteen’s first big show in Birmingham – it was a huge hit, and now the company is in a stronger position than ever, targeting sectors such as security, cyber, and emergency services, technology, manufacturing, energy and infrastructure which are resilient to economic downturns.
Looking ahead with his team, Peter is hungry for more and ready for the next challenge, which is to oversee a doubling in headcount to 300 over the next few years with a footprint that spans multiple continents.
“We have just opened a Singapore HQ and are already looking at the US,” he says. “I want us to become the Virgin of the events world with the Nineteen signature synonymous with the best and biggest global tradeshows out there.
“It will be another big challenge, and far different to what I am currently working with now. If we can progress well through phase two of our plan, retain the special culture we have curated to this point which allows people to flourish, and still all be working so positively together around the boardroom table with Phoenix, I’ll be a very happy CEO!”