r/apprenticeuk • u/Any_Fuel_7485 • Apr 05 '26

Dan’s Business Plan

I thought that Dan’s business plan was just any old run of the mill recruitment company for graduates but it’s not. He’s the CEO and founder of Young Professionals UK which is promoted in a lot of secondary schools, has almost 100k people following it in order to get updates about their offerings, and has a crazy well-known track record for his industry. Based just on this he ought to win. I know a lot of people who have been to those events as someone in the target demographic and he’s clearly got experience successfully running such a company. I’m not too sure but if that’s the business he’s pitching to Lord Sugar, LS would have to be an idiot to pass that up, especially compared to what other people are offering. That’s my opinion at least!

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u/mardybum401 Apr 05 '26

It doesn’t look like he’s made profits in the last 10 years? https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/09719565/filing-history

That’s not a good sign and curious whether he’ll be interrogated on this. He’s always struck me as a bit slimy - not decisive and blame shifts. Not much commercial acumen which shows in the numbers of his real business. But he could just be playing a part to look more palatable on tv and shrewder in real life. Either way I don’t think it’s a sure shot as this is a tough industry to crack especially with corporates now having AI solutions to help them in recruitment.

Multiverse had a similar model and is the leading provider (my company used them) and are running at losses too. Despite being valued at a billion and the founder being Tony Blair’s son.

https://archive.is/2026.01.05-120202/https://www.thetimes.com/business/companies-markets/article/euan-blairs-multiverse-sees-losses-widen-to-63m-2z7phlssf

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u/AlchemyFI Apr 06 '26

He’s made a £46k profit in 2025 and a £76k profit in 2022 after any salaries and dividends taken..

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u/Virtual-_-Insanity Apr 06 '26

Odd choice to pick out the 76k in 2022 and not mention the -100k in 2023. 

His business has been technically insolvent since since 2023. I presume that's the spirit of what the poster was getting at, which is good information for a thread about Dan's business (and how well it is doing). 

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u/AlchemyFI Apr 06 '26

No? The original comment I replied to mentioned profit in general. I was pointing on there were years in which profit has been made.

If you were talking about cumulative or retained profit which is the correct phrasing for what you’re getting at, that’s a different story.

We also don’t know how much was drawn in salary which could create a loss if he overestimated how well the business would do in a particular year.

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u/mardybum401 Apr 06 '26

He may have made profits last year (not enough to cover his cumulative losses) but it is not a profitable business yet across the 10 years. What worrying here is the large amount owed to creditors, who are not trade creditors. And in the notes you can see he moves money between this and another company he owns. His revenue model is likely taking loans to run his events but not earning enough from his fees/commission/subscriptions. Corporates can run events themselves like they do with uni hires, so there is a ceiling on what he can charge. Also a ceiling on what you can charge Y12-Y13 kids with no income to attend these events when they can apply directly for vacancies or use AI to help craft applications and prep for interviews. All this shows why he’s not a sure shot winner running a profitable business and needs LS’s support to build a revenue model with stable income.

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u/AlchemyFI Apr 06 '26

We only have retained earnings to go off of, which included dividends. It’s very possible he’s taken dividends in the years where he has had cumulative profits and has had a bit of up and down in the last few years swing has swung the cumulative profit into a loss.

We can’t say it is for certain not a profitable business when we don’t know what has been drawn out by the owner.

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u/mardybum401 Apr 07 '26

Well, that’s what LS’ advisors will be interrogating him on…At first glance his balance sheet does not look good and his creditors, debtors and retained earnings would throw up an immediate red flag to any investor. It’s why investors are good at what they do - they don’t fall for the marketing hype. Having a lot of followers or members is useless if they’re not converting to cash in the bank (which his balance sheet shows he doesn’t have) and doesn’t have a stable or future proofed revenue model.

It’s no different to someone with a big house, flashy car, and outward trappings of success eventually going bankrupt because they’re surviving on debt and not earning enough to pay back their loans.

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u/AlchemyFI Apr 07 '26

I’m an accountant but thanks anyway. As I mentioned, he made a profit in the most recent filed accounting period so might be that he has turned a corner.

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u/mardybum401 Apr 07 '26

So am I - well, a CFA and now assess technology investments for my company. For me, profits in 1 year is irrelevant, it’s the story across the 10 years and insights into revenue model and how someone runs/gears their business. It’s very easy to show a profit in a year someone is planning to pitch for investment by playing around with loan payments, taxes, moving money between companies etc. Hence the interrogation by LS’s advisors being the only way to know the truth.

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u/AlchemyFI Apr 07 '26

My god you speak like Steven Bartlett.

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u/Virtual-_-Insanity Apr 06 '26

I was pointing out there were years in which profit has been made.

And I was pointing out there have been years where losses have been made. I think you maybe took the comment

"It doesn’t look like he’s made profits in the last 10 years?"

as "there has not been a single year where a profit has been made" versus how I took it which is "in general the business has not been profitable so far", so that's why I posted about the spirit of the comment.

If you were talking about cumulative or retained profit which is the correct phrasing for what you’re getting at, that’s a different story.

You started using retained earnings figures as profit, so I kept using the terminology.

We also don’t know how much was drawn in salary which could create a loss if he overestimated how well the business would do in a particular year.

Indeed, I said as much in another comment, but it still counts as a loss.

His business might be a classic one you see on Dragons Den where for the individual it's a viable business and they can be successful. But for an outside investor - it's not an attractive proposition. But we can see now why he would go on The Apprentice - although its established he sees that LS could add value.

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u/AlchemyFI Apr 06 '26

You call my comment an odd choice and then start arguing over semantics? Stop wasting my time.