OPINION
Meet the leader – Janette Martin
2 Feb 2024
Ask any leader their number one business challenge and they are likely to respond: people. Ever since the dawn of commerce, company bosses have grappled with hiring the right people, motivating teams, and retaining talent. But now, finally, one company has developed a tech solution that tackles this perennial puzzle.
Talos360 is a Warrington-based talent technology business. Its proprietary software leads the way in candidate attraction, hiring, onboarding, and people engagement on behalf of growing companies with between 200 and 2,000 employees. Tech-first, it uses machine learning, AI, and years of talent acquisition expertise to help its customers make the right hire first time and have an engaged and high performing workforce.
Janette Martin was approached to become CEO of the business nearly three years ago. “I came to meet the co-founder, Stephen Rundell, for a quick chat and ended up staying four hours,” she says. “This business really turned my head.” Since taking the helm in the summer of 2021, she has embarked on an ambitious expansion drive, growing annual recurring revenues a staggering 87% in 2022 alone.
Here, we speak to Janette to understand her experience of partnering with a private equity investor to support the company’s growth journey.
The business recognition we have achieved through our partnership with LDC has been phenomenal.”
Why LDC?
In 2022, I was one of LDC’s Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders, so I got to know some of the team through that process. That was really useful, as I was able to understand LDC’s values and approach before I was really looking for an investor. When we started fundraising, I asked to speak to some of LDC’s portfolio CEOs – that’s my tip to anyone thinking about private equity, speak to investee companies who have completed 12 months with a backer.
What does LDC bring to the table besides capital?
It’s like having an extended team standing by whenever you need it. Dale Alderson and John Clarke from LDC are both my investment directors, and are wonderful sounding boards, and LDC also introduced me to my non-exec, Chris Herrmannsen. With Chris, I feel like I have someone who is entirely in our corner, and his industry experience and advice has been so valuable, he is a great asset to our business. One of the biggest things is the value brought by LDC’s marketing team. They genuinely seem to love my business as much as I do and are always finding opportunities for me to promote Talos360.
How will LDC help you to meet your future growth goals?
The business recognition we have achieved through our partnership with LDC has been phenomenal – it’s been so much more far reaching than I could have imagined. LDC is really supporting us on our growth journey. We are bringing new and innovative hiring and onboarding solutions to our customers and are very excited to have LDC support with our M&A goals.
