Career Mentor & Business Mentor | making founders & operators the hero of their story

To achieve success you need a clear purpose, disciplined action and a growth mindset.
You also need to tell a compelling story about who you are and where you’re headed.

Are you struggling with a…

  • Career transition or setback?
  • Business launch or growth pains?
  • Crisis of identity or imposter syndrome?

Having survived all these, I’ve learnt to thrive through self-awareness and imagination.

While getting my hands dirty in the Army and startups, I’ve mentored over 100 leaders.
Now I help business owners and operators become the hero of their story.

If you’re ready to become a hero, let’s write your next chapter.


My Story

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


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.


Operators Who Trust Me


Services

Career Mentoring

Clarify your career vision, turn it into an actionable strategy, and tell a story that resonates with those who hold the keys to your dream job.

Show Pricing

    • Described as action-biased but strategic, direct but empathic.
    • 15 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.

    Bespoke programmes – £500/month intensive, £300/month regular
    One-off sessions – £100

    Book a call for a free taster

Business Mentoring

Build a foundation of focused strategy, smooth operations and high-performance leadership to achieve your company's goals.

Show Pricing

    • Described as challenging but collaborative, frank but reassuring.
    • 10 years' experience building and scaling startups and small businesses.
    • 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 specialist operators and functional experts.

    Bespoke programmes – £1000/month intensive, £600/month regular
    One-off sessions – £200

    Book a call for a free taster

Operator for Hire

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

Show Pricing

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

    Flexible retainers – from £1500/month
    End-to-end hiring – hybrid success fee
    Book a call for a free consultation


Founders Who Trust Me


Mentoring Approach

You get a bespoke 1:1 mentoring programme to help you clarify your vision and purpose, act with discipline, and embrace a growth mindset to achieve your goals.

Through self-awareness you’ll learn to leverage strengths, overcome blockers, and confidently tell a powerful story that drives your career or business forward.

Programme CONTENT

Your programme is tailored to your goals and challenges, based on core themes:

Career Mentoring
  • Career vision, hero storytelling, personal branding, networking and performance
Business Mentoring
  • Product-market fit, strategic decision-making, operations and team dynamics
Leadership Development

In parallel you'll develop your leadership style to build competence, confidence and impact. The aim is to scale fast but 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.

Programme Structure

Programmes typically run for 3 months, incorporating weekly or fortnightly sessions and a series of exercises. You can also reach out for on-demand support in between sessions, if a fire breaks out or you need to seize a time-sensitive opportunity.

Once you've achieved your initial goals, if you wish to continue your development, you can choose to extend your programme on a rolling monthly basis.

My mission is to make myself redundant, so you can maintain momentum without me.


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. âś…
  • Healthtech B2C – launched Covid testing product, generating ÂŁMs of revenue. âś…
  • Last mile B2C – incentivised team to optimise operational profitability. âś…
  • Proptech B2C – restructured team management to boost sales conversion. âś…
  • Fintech B2B – redesigned onboarding process to increase retention. âś…
Mentored Founder / Hired CoS
Mentored 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 People Team
Mentored People Team
Mentored COO
Mentored COO
Mentored Ops Director
Mentored Ops Director
Mentored Founders
Mentored Founders
Mentored Founder
Mentored Founder


Community of Operators

Join our community of purpose-driven operators and get support from your peers.


Connect with Me

Career Development & 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…