When Red Flag Alert announced a 拢4m Series A+ investment in January, CEO Richard West was clear about his ambition: to reach 拢10m in ARR by the end of 2026.
Ten months on, that target remains on track, but the route to get there looks very different.
鈥淪o we’re still on track for 拢10m ARR by the end of 2026,鈥� West tells 老九品茶Cloud in Lisbon.聽
鈥淏ut I think what’s changed in the last 12 months is the strategy. Last year, we did a lot of deep soul searching and analysis of performance.聽
鈥淔ollowing that, we looked at how we could get to where we want to get to quicker, with more efficiency and be more profitable.鈥�
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The Manchester-based business intelligence platform, which provides real-time data on more than 15m UK companies, has grown rapidly since Foresight Group鈥檚 initial 拢3.5m investment.
By the beginning of this year, it had tripled its client base from 200 to 600 since Foresight鈥檚 backing 18 months earlier in 2023.聽
The firm had also nearly tripled ARR to 拢5.2m and expanded its team from 20 to 51.聽
However, West says the business reached a point where growth alone wasn鈥檛 enough.
Focused expansion
鈥淭he biggest challenge most businesses have is that you’re trying to grow quickly,鈥� he says.聽
鈥淭here is a phrase called ‘growth at all costs’ – you just keep landing customers and servicing them.聽
鈥淏ut not all of those customers are good customers and not all of them are the right fit for your technology.鈥�
After analysing the data, West and his team made what he calls ‘some really tough decisions’.
He continues: 鈥淭raditionally, we worked with small and medium-sized companies, lower end of the medium size, with a handful of large customers.
鈥淲e made the bold decision to go all in on medium and large-size customers.聽
鈥淲e鈥檒l still work with small businesses if they come to us organically, but not spend a lot of time marketing to them.鈥�
That shift has upended the company鈥檚 go-to-market strategy, which in January was still geared toward a wide customer base across five key sectors – financial services, accounting, legal, construction/manufacturing and business utilities.
Now, Red Flag Alert has gone from driving traffic and inbound leads to targeted account-based marketing, focusing its efforts entirely on pre-identified prospects.聽
West adds: 鈥淲e鈥檝e already found the businesses we want to work with, and now we鈥檙e spending our money trying to get in front of them.
鈥淎ll of the supporting metrics that help every organisation are improving.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 been switching energy and tenacity for focus, and then being relentless and rigid through that line of path.聽
鈥淔or the first time in our history, we鈥檙e saying no to customers.鈥�
That focus hasn鈥檛 slowed growth, it鈥檚 just changed how it looks.聽
鈥淲e onboarded about 150 customers last year,鈥� he says.聽
鈥淭his year, we鈥檒l probably grow just as much (income-wise) as a percentage – around 40 per cent – but we鈥檒l do it with 40 customers.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 about the 40 customers being the ones we want, rather than saying yes to 150.鈥�
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‘Efficiency doesn鈥檛 mean cutting jobs’
When Red Flag Alert raised its Series A+ round, backed by Foresight Group and Begbies Traynor founder Ric Traynor, West said the funding would support upgrading technology and onboarding bigger, more sophisticated clients.聽
That鈥檚 now in full swing. The company has rebranded to appeal to the mid-market and enterprise space, launched a new website and doubled down on efficiency, but not in the traditional sense.聽
鈥淢ost people think of efficiency as reducing headcount,鈥� says West.聽
鈥淏ut for us, efficiency is about changing the go-to-market strategy, focusing our technology spend and growing with the right customers.
鈥淥ur headcount鈥檚 the same. We鈥檙e using AI and systems to make our people more effective, putting them in the right place at the right time.聽
鈥淲e鈥檒l still grow headcount, but strategically – we鈥檒l be able to hire those with more expertise.鈥�
Bananas to the moon
As is with almost every technology business worldwide, AI is being implemented at Red Flag Alert.
However, it is not being used for the sake of hopping onto a trend.
聽鈥淥perationally, we use AI as an enabler,鈥� West explains.聽
鈥淥ur sales and marketing team use AI agents that listen to meetings, transcribe them and write summaries that can be emailed to customers.聽
鈥淚t saves time, removes admin, and makes our team more effective.
鈥淲e embarked on a project about 18 months ago to modernise the way we ingest data.
鈥淲e鈥檙e fully native in the cloud, we鈥檝e deployed Databricks as our architecture and that鈥檚 going to enable us to put AI into our database to create more predictive models for our customers.
鈥淥ur vision is to use AI in a way in our sector that’s never been used before – actually in the data.聽
鈥淣one of our competitors can use AI in their deep data. They can only use it in the front end.聽
鈥淲e want to use it to create predictive outcomes – to model what might happen next for a business and how that affects its trajectory.
鈥淲e鈥檝e just moved 20 billion pieces of data into a new environment.聽
鈥淚f you stacked bananas end-to-end, you could get to the moon – that鈥檚 how much data we鈥檙e talking about.鈥�
ASCEND
Red Flag Alert is part of 鈥檚 ASCEND accelerator programme, which has entered its second year.
Despite the company鈥檚 growing global footprint West says this trip to Web Summit in Lisbon with the rest of the cohort has been invaluable.
鈥淚t鈥檚 probably the only opportunity I鈥檝e had in three years to spend time away from the business thinking about the business,鈥� he says.聽
鈥淟istening to where the world鈥檚 going – even if it doesn鈥檛 impact me directly – helps me understand where our customers鈥� worlds are going.
鈥淚 also met a really interesting Spanish company working in data visualisation.
鈥淭heir product does the same as one I鈥檝e looked at, but at half the cost.聽
鈥淚鈥檇 never have found them if I hadn鈥檛 walked around this event.鈥�
Future plans
With a leaner strategy, sharper technology roadmap and a stronger focus on enterprise, West says 2026 will be a defining year.聽
He says: 鈥淭here鈥檚 going to be a lot of consolidation in our market. A lack of investment will lead to even more consolidation.
鈥淚 think 2026 is going to be a really, really interesting year for our business.
鈥淚t鈥檇 be nice to get the company to a size where I can say I鈥檝e had enough,鈥� he says.
聽鈥淚f I鈥檝e had enough, it means the company鈥檚 outgrown me and I鈥檓 not adding value – and that would be great.
鈥淚 want to create some financial freedom for me and my family and I want the people who鈥檝e been on this journey with me to have that same experience with their families.聽
鈥淔or our investors, it鈥檚 about delivering maximum value – being able to say someone gave us 拢1 and we gave them 拢3 back.聽
鈥淭hat reputation – if you give Richard a quid, he鈥檒l make you three – that鈥檚 the legacy I want.
鈥淏ut I love being in a crisis. I love something happening and going, 鈥榳hat do we do now?鈥�
鈥淭he sooner you can deal with things, the more effective you are.鈥澛�
鈥淚鈥檓 enjoying the ride. We鈥檝e started executing our new strategy, and I want to reap the rewards of that – then see what the next three years bring.聽
鈥淚 can鈥檛 wait for January already – I鈥檓 counting down the days!鈥�