Scaleup Q&A: Daniel Miller, CoolKit

Daniel Miller is managing director at Blackburn based CoolKit, a specialist manufacturer of temperature controlled vehicles.

The company has been shortlisted for the Made in Lancashire Award at this year's Red Rose Awards, and has received support through the Two Zero's Scaleup Leaders Network and Your Sales Director programmes.

Here, Daniel shares his top tips for scaling businesses.

What is the most important quality of a scaleup business leader and why?

I would say it is agility and resilience. You need to be able to shift quickly between the different hats required to tackle the various challenges that occur in a growing a business.

At the same time, you need to be calm and strong under pressure. If you can show these qualities, the business will survive and thrive in most scenarios.

How have you grown and developed as a scaleup leader?

I’ve learnt quickly that unless you bring your people on the journey with you, it is impossible to scale up. Open communication, discussing the end goal and clearly explaining the reasons why we are doing what we are doing with the entire team has become a critical part of my leadership style.

How do you inspire and empower your people?

I think that empowering people is incredibly important. It’s important as a leader to put people into positions where they can use their knowledge and skills to succeed.

My job as a leader is to give them the tools, training, and breathing space to do their thing!

What is the best piece of business advice you have received and why?

Listen, ask questions, use data and understand before you change something. Too many people rush into change without understanding the nuance of a situation.

What is the biggest lesson you have learned on your business journey, and how has this impacted you?

Despite all the planning and strategy, something can happen that will change your plans. This has led to me working hard to ensure that the business is agile enough to pivot when needed, that we have robust plans in place for recovery and that we manage cash cycles in such a way that we can react when needed to any situation.

What scaleup business do you admire the most and why?

I admire any person who has taken the risk to start a business and then scale it. It requires a certain type of person to make that leap into starting a business. I’m in awe of those people who then have the drive to relentlessly grow the business.

What key metrics do you look at everyday in your business?

We have five key objectives for our business that focus on aggressive growth, achieved in a sustainable way, with a quality product, whist looking after our customers and employees.

From these objectives we generate key results metrics which cascade through the business in the form of actionable targets.

What is the legacy you want to create?

I want to create a business that delivers value for our shareholders and customers whilst being a responsible and effective member of our communities.