Career Mentor | Operator for Hire

Whatever your goal, success demands a clear purpose, disciplined action and growth mindset.

I’ve navigated: career transitions, relocations, setbacks and successes; business launches, scaling, pivots and exits; plus a plethora of personal challenges.

Having survived, just, I’ve learnt to thrive by building self-awareness, structure and resilience.

While getting my hands dirty in the military and startups, I’ve mentored over 100 leaders.

I now help business owners and operators avoid failure and become the hero of their story.


My Story

Mentoring Founders & Operators from Startup to Scaleup – Paul David Mather

I’m not your typical tech bro. Born in Salford, I studied at Oxford, worked in France and Russia, led soldiers in Afghanistan, then moved to London as Deliveroo’s 2nd ops guy. After we scaled the business 500x in 5 years, I went freelance, moved to Antigua, and now support people globally. I’m passionate about operating with purpose.


Leaders Who Trust Me


Services

Career Mentoring

Clarify your purpose, turn it into a strategy, then act with discipline and a growth mindset to become the hero of your career story.

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    • Described as action-biased but strategic, direct but empathic.
    • 13 years' experience mentoring leaders, in business and the military.
    • Led teams of 80 and hired dozens of operators at Deliveroo and other startups.
    • Mentored veterans from the British Army, Royal Navy, Royal Marines and RAF.
    • Connected with several thousand startup founders and hiring managers.

Business Mentoring

Build a foundation of focused strategy, smooth operations and high-performance leadership to realise your company vision.

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    • Described as challenging but collaborative, frank but reassuring.
    • 15 years' experience building and scaling operations, in business and the military.
    • Employee 15 at Deliveroo, which we grew 500x in 5 years and exited by IPO.
    • Mentored founders from seed stage to series A, bootstrapped and VC-backed.
    • Connected with several thousand full-time and freelance operators for hire.

Operator for Hire

Get a seasoned operator on board to prepare your operations and people for success, without making a permanent hire.

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    • Described as determined but caring, pragmatic but optimistic.
    • 10 years' experience building and scaling startups and small businesses.
    • 2nd ops guy at Deliveroo and helped write the playbook for expansion.
    • Right-hand operator to several startup founders and business owners.
    • Hired dozens of operators and leaders at Deliveroo and other startups.


Operate with Purpose

Join a community of operators with purpose on Substack, for actionable tips to achieve your career and life goals with a clear purpose, disciplined action and growth mindset.


Connect with Me


Mentoring Approach

I offer a bespoke 1:1 mentoring programme to help you clarify your vision and purpose, then act with discipline and a growth mindset to achieve your goals with confidence.

By building self-awareness, structure and resilience, you’ll learn to leverage strengths and overcome blockers.

The content depends on your unique goals and challenges, based on core themes.

In career mentoring: career vision, hero storytelling, self-productising, personal branding, job hunting and role performance.

In business mentoring: funding, product-market fit, strategic decision-making, business operations and team dynamics.

Another theme we'll explore is leadership development, to build competence, confidence and impact. Scale faster yet sustainably, perform better and feel happier.

You'll get leadership lessons from my military service, strategies from my startup and scaleup experience, and tools and tactics tailored to your situation.

I offer optional on demand support in between sessions, whenever a fire breaks out.

I can also leverage my large network to match talent with companies and vice versa.

My mission is to make myself redundant, so you can sustain momentum after I’m gone.


Startup & Scaleup Results

With actionable mentoring, I've helped over 100 leaders perform and grow businesses.

  • Cleantech B2B – hired & mentored senior operators to streamline operations. ✅
  • Healthtech B2C – launched Covid testing product, generating £Ms of revenue. ✅
  • Last mile B2C – incentivised team to optimise operational profitability. ✅
  • Proptech B2C – restructured team management to boost sales conversion. ✅
  • Fintech B2B – redesigned onboarding process to increase retention. ✅
Mentor Founder / Hired CoS
Mentor Founder / Hired CoS
Mentored Head of Finance & Ops
Mentored Head of Finance & Ops
Mentored Head of Ops
Mentored Head of Ops
Deliver Leadership Training
Deliver Leadership Training
Mentored Founders / Hired COO, GM, Ops Manager
Mentored Founders / Hired COO, GM, Ops Manager
Mentored Ops Leaders / Hired VP Ops, CoS, Ops Managers
Mentored Ops Leaders / Hired VP Ops, CoS, Ops Managers
Mentored Ops Director / Launched Covid Testing Partnership
Mentored Ops Director / Launched Covid Testing Partnership
Mentored VP People
Mentored VP People
Mentored COO
Mentored COO
Mentored Ops Director
Mentored Ops Director
Mentored Founders
Mentored Founders
Mentored Founder
Mentored Founder

Career Development & Business Leadership Advice

How to Land Your Dream Job: 10 Killer Tips

Tips from my 10 most popular LinkedIn posts for job hunters. Based on mentoring, hiring and successfully referring dozens of candidates, and speaking with hundreds more…

Ever Feel Like You Should Have Achieved More in Your Career by Now?

Recently I shared my career autobiography on LinkedIn, with all its ups and downs. Many said you want to try it for yourself. Here’s why it’s helpful to reframe your career failures as valuable experience. Followed by a simple guide how to write your mini career bio. And finally, my own as an example…

Being Shot At Isn’t The Most Stressful Thing I’ve Experienced

Hearing I was a British Army officer in Afghanistan, people often say: “wow, you were so brave!” I appreciate the sentiment, but I beg to differ. I wasn’t brave. I was well-trained, motivated by a clear mission, and supported to achieve it. You can reduce stress in your organisation by becoming a better leader…