Season 9 | Ep28 Blaine Daws: £1.5M Year One to £15M Today. Working 7 Days a Week to Get There.

Blaine Daws started in data centres in 2008 with a stack of papers and a wired phone. By 25, he was billing £475k a year as a solo 360 recruiter. At a family Christmas party in December 2019, he met Karl Chatterjee, a man who had already sold two recruitment businesses for multi-millions. Karl said: "Why are you going to line someone else's pockets?" Four weeks later, WNTD was incorporated. Two weeks after that, the world went into lockdown.Like so many other founders back then, he dropped his niche, went after every market he could find, and started to make money. They grew to 20 people and had a huge office in the post-Covid boom. But lost a foothold in their niche and over a quarter of a million pounds doing it.Then he stripped everything back. Let everyone go. Rebuilt from scratch around the one market he knew inside out: the Nvidia ecosystem and the global data centre buildout powering the AI revolution.WNTD is now 75 people, generating £15 to 20 million in revenue, and running a £100 billion GPU infrastructure deployment across Europe. Blaine is 35, working 7 days a week, with two young children at home."I want to make as much money as possible. So then in five years time, when I'm 40, I don't have to do it anymore."This week on The RAG Podcast, Blaine Daws tells the real story behind one of the most unusual businesses in recruitment.We cover:How a family Christmas party sparked WNTD, launched two weeks before lockdownGoing mass market, losing £250K, and why he told Karl most weeks he wanted to quitWhy stripping back to one niche was the actual growth strategyWhat statement of work really means in AI infrastructure recruitmentRunning a £100 billion GPU build and what that looks like day to dayGetting equity stakes in the partner companies they work withWorking 7 days a week at 35 with two young kids, and what it's actually costingThe question Sean asked that changed the tone of the whole episodeBlaine went from nearly shutting the business down to running one of the most specialised agencies in the world's fastest growing market.If you've ever wondered what it actually costs to build something extraordinary... this episode has the answer.__________________________________________Episode Sponsor: Remote RecruitmentHiring shouldn’t be slow, stressful, or expensive. That’s why there’s Remote Recruitment — the smart hiring partner for modern businesses.They don’t just help you find great people. They help you access elite South African talent that’s ready to deliver. No PAYE. No NI. No bloated overheads. Just trained, remote professionals who integrate seamlessly into your team.Their process handles everything: sourcing, shortlisting, onboarding, and retention. Fully managed. Fully supported. Fully remote.And now, Remote Recruitments has entered a new chapter. From ops to admin, sales to strategy, we’re helping businesses scale smarter with people they trust, at a cost they can afford.Clients have seen:* Up to **60% productivity boosts*** **300% ROI** on BD roles* **30% faster completion** of operational tasksNo overhead burden. No talent shortage panic. Just growth-focused hiring that makes business sense.Remote Recruitment is your flexible hiring solution for the modern era.**RAG Listeners:** Get 5% off your first hire + a free strategy session at www.remoterecruitment.co.uk/rag__________________________________________Episode Sponsor: HoxoEvery recruitment founder is investing in LinkedIn.Spending thousands on Recruiter licences.Building connections. Posting content. Growing networks.But here’s the question almost no one can answer:How much revenue is LinkedIn actually bringing into your business?Most founders have thousands of connections but no clear process to turn that attention into cash.That’s the problem we solve.At Hoxo, we help recruitment founders build predictable revenue systems on LinkedIn, not just noise or vanity metrics.Our clients are turning LinkedIn into £100K–£300K in new billings within months, using their existing networks and a simple repeatable process.To show you how it works, we’ve created a short training video exclusively for RAG listeners.In less than 10 minutes, you’ll learn:- Why most recruiters are getting zero measurable ROI from LinkedIn- How small, niche teams are generating consistent inbound demand- The 3X Revenue System we use to turn LinkedIn into a predictable cash-generating channelSo fill in the form today to see how this system could transform LinkedIn into your agency’s most profitable channel:<a hr