The Firebird Story So Far - As told by the partnership’s founders
- The Firebird Partnership
- Apr 2
- 7 min read
Since Firebird’s first days in 2020, its founding partners have used their vision to build a leading ten-person team. With the company marking its recent win as AITO Business Partner of the Year, Ian Finlay and Stewart Lambert share the story so far – and their plans for what comes next.
“In 2004 I asked a bank to lend me £2 million to buy someone else’s business – they found that hilarious”
Ian Finlay: In 2001, after a decade in the children’s outdoor activity industry, I decided I wanted to buy my own business. Not start a business, but buy it. I’d been running somebody else’s, managing staff teams and operations, and knew I had a talent for identifying quick wins and long-term strategic improvements.
I found a business in Hampshire which was looking for an operations director. During the interview I told the owners I would do it if I could eventually buy the company from them. They liked that idea. So I started in the role and took over running it.
In 2004 the owners said they were ready: “You know the business, you understand it, you can buy it. That’ll be £2 million.” Of course, I didn’t have £2 million! So I went to the bank and asked them to lend me the money – which they found hilarious. After that I contacted a local advisory body staffed by volunteers. Someone there told me I should write a business plan and try to get private equity (PE) funding.
I had no idea what PE was. I’d never written a business plan before. But I did my research, wrote one, and found the British Venture Capital Association, which has a website that allows you to compare different PE houses.
I found 15 that matched what I was looking for and sent my plan to them. From that I got just one response, and that response was: “Get yourself an advisor.” After researching and meeting a few – some of whom wanted me to split the business, or go for angel funding – I met Stewart.
Stewart was young and confident, like I was. More importantly, he instantly understood the business and what we could do with it. I appointed him and within two weeks, I had meetings with three PE houses and two banks. All of the PE houses were ones that had previously ignored me – but after appointing Stewart, I got offers from all three.
That taught me a huge amount about the power of Stewart’s network, and the power of his name within that network.
“Working with Ian was appealing: he had a good story about what he wanted to do”
Stewart Lambert: There’s a little bit more to this episode that I remember, and that is that the IM [information memorandum] Ian put together was shockingly bad – just like most client-written IMs are when they haven’t sought guidance! Still, working with him was appealing: Ian and his MD had a good story about what they wanted to do with the business, he could demonstrate he knew how to run it, and demonstrate how he’d improved it so far.
At that stage, I’d already done a few deals in travel – including originating and leading the investment into Travelbag, which I worked on with Peter Wade and Peter Liney. Because of that I saw lots of other transactions, and had started building my network in the travel sector.
IF: With Stewart onboard, we agreed a deal with a PE house. But part-way through he told me to walk; that I shouldn’t do the deal. What this meant was that he was prepared to walk away from his fee. He would get paid nothing, because everything was fully contingent on the deal taking place. Still, he insisted that it wasn’t the right deal for me, so I walked. Soon afterwards we found a better deal and completed on that instead.
“Stewart is the only advisor I know who would rather lose his fee than do a deal that isn’t right for a client”
Six months later I started the process of selling the business with Stewart's support. When we were ready, we went into exclusivity with a large buyer. But just two weeks from completion, Stewart advised me not to sell to them. Again that meant him walking away from a fee. Again I followed his advice, and when the exclusivity lapsed we started talking to another buyer. Again this led to a sale that was much better for me and my team.
The fact that Stewart told me to walk both times made me trust him. Over the years I’ve bought over 30 businesses – either for myself or for other people – and sold God knows how many more. I’ve met a lot of advisors. And Stewart is the only one who would ever advise a client to walk.
SL: My view is that if it doesn’t feel right, you have to tell your clients. I don’t even think about the fee. For me, it’s about building trust, and finding the one deal that will really work for them. Just last year I told another client to walk away one week before completing a huge deal. I did it because it was the right thing to do.
“We knew people were going to need good advice to get through the pandemic”
After Ian and I did our first transactions together we kept talking; discussing potential acquisitions; working on more successful deals over the years. Fast forward to 2020, and roughly two weeks before the first lockdown we sat in a garden talking; generally catching up. By that point the travel ban was in place, and I had about five transactions fall over on one day.
I was still doing deals outside of travel, but I knew that it was going to be a really tricky time for the sector. People were going to need good advice to get through, however long it took.
IF: I was sitting on a number of boards at that time, and thought there must be something Stewart and I could do together which utilised our combined skill set: me supporting businesses to grow; Stewart either raising investment or helping owners exit.
It was obvious that people would need help surviving. It also seemed obvious that, at the end of the pandemic, the competitive landscape would be very different. We probably thought more businesses would go bust than they did, but even where businesses wouldn’t go bust, we knew that balance sheets would be shot and that many would be left saddled with debt. We knew we could help them.
That’s when the idea for Firebird was born.
“Ian and I have been surprised at how the journey has played out”
SL: Initially we thought our focus through Firebird would be to give strategy advice and help raise rescue finance. Five years on, the situation has obviously changed – and Ian and I have been surprised at how the journey has played out. When we founded the Firebird Partnership, our assumption was we would probably end up with three or four growth clients in our portfolio at any one time, selling businesses when owners and teams wanted that, before taking on new clients to replace them.
But after we launched the partnership we quickly gained recognition within the travel industry. Our portfolio grew and so did our scope. It’s taken a few years to persuade some parts of the sector that we genuinely are trying to help businesses, and aren’t in this to make a quick buck. Instead the work is about improving and building up specialist tour operators by bringing together our contacts and experience.
Overall we’ve been pleasantly surprised at how we’ve been greeted, and the range of opportunities we’ve seen. And it’s been great to be recognised for what we’re doing, by winning AITO Business Partner of the Year.
“The Firebird team has a very rounded view that nobody else has”
IF: Firebird today is in quite a fortunate position. Unlike some of the larger, more brand-centric consultancy firms, we don’t have a big glossy office or give away tickets to major football matches (unless you count our irreverent Firebird Fantasy Football League…)! What we do have are seven brilliant directors with seven sets of specialist skills, and they really know their stuff.
All our directors have been MDs or CEOs. They have extensive experience advising clients, as well as being advised themselves. Among them is Gordon Mathie, who we helped during Firebird’s first summer with an extremely successful management buyout (MBO) and exit of the Teach and Travel Group.
Between us, we’ve sat on all sides of the table, which is what makes our team truly unique. We’re tour operators, we’ve owned businesses; we have run and grown and sold them. We’ve led MBOs, exited, worked with PE – and, in Stewart’s case, worked in PE. That gives us a very rounded view that nobody else has.
We’re also lucky that we work with people we like: we choose clients who we want to see do well and benefit financially. We are able to offer them candid advice, including when to walk away from a deal if that’s right for them – just like Stewart advised me years ago. It still feels like we’re doing good, and helping good people who need what we offer.
“We have an ambition to turn a medium-large independent travel business into the new star of tour operating”
SL: Thinking about the next five years, our plan is to expand the Firebird team with more expert directors who have the requisite skill sets to work with small- to medium-sized travel businesses. We want people who can genuinely add value, move those businesses forward and grow them rapidly.
As well as continuing to support smaller clients, we also have an ambition to work with one or two medium- to large-sized operators. Ideally that would be a £5- to 10-million turnover business we can work with for 4 to 5 years, as we turn it into a £20-, 30- or 40-million turnover business.
There aren’t many independent specialist tour operators of that size out there, but we’re very keen to deploy the whole team to help one or two of them grow, and effectively become the new stars of tour operating.
Even without that, though, travel is a fun sector: there are always lots of really good people to collaborate with. Who doesn’t like talking about holidays all day? So whatever happens next, whichever clients approach us, we know the work will be great.
The Firebird Partnership offers a consulting and corporate finance advisory service specialising in the travel, hospitality, leisure and education markets. Together the team works with businesses at every stage of their journey to deliver rapid growth and take companies forward.
Learn all about Firebird and its services at www.firebirdpartnership.com
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