Start here

You started a recruitment business to build something. Right now you're just doing every job inside it yourself.

Most founders at 1 to 5 people are doing the billing, the ops, the hiring decisions, and the thinking — all at once. That's not a growth strategy. It's a ceiling. I work with founders at exactly this stage to help them build their first real team and create a business that doesn't depend entirely on them to function.

Tell me where you're stuck

Sound familiar

— You're still doing everything. Billing, admin, hiring, ops. All of it.
— You know you need to hire, but you don't trust yourself to get it right.
— You've tried bringing someone in. It didn't work. You're not sure why.
— Your revenue depends entirely on your own activity. If you stop, it stops.
— There's no real process. It's all in your head.
— You're busy all week, but the business still feels stuck.
— You don't have anyone to think this through with properly.

What changes

01
You make your first real hire with confidence.Right person, right role, right time. Not a gamble.
02
Your process lives outside your head.Other people can follow it. The business starts to run without you holding everything together.
03
Revenue isn't just your personal output anymore.The team bills. You build.
04
You know what stage you're at and what to focus on.No more solving the wrong problem at the wrong time.
05
The business starts to feel like a real company.Not just you, working hard, alone.

The background

2010

Robert Walters, Australia

Started in IT recruitment after a master's in marketing and entrepreneurship. Became a top performer. Moved to Canada to manage a team. That was the foundation.

2015

Doherty Group founded, Guatemala

Founded in Canada, then moved to Guatemala to build it to profitability. A rec-to-rec business placing recruiters in agencies across the world. Early in spotting what mattered: LinkedIn, virtual assistants, automation, process. Built a business that ran close to without me. That was not common in 2015.

2017

Recruiter Startup Podcast

One of the first podcasts where recruiters interviewed their own clients and used it as a brand-building system. That became the foundation for RecWired.

2020

RecWired community

Built RecWired into a community of recruitment founders. Advised hundreds of recruiters through some of the most uncertain conditions the industry had seen.

2023

ORCA launched

The Online Recruitment Coaching Academy. Our training business for recruitment founders and their teams. Built to raise standards across the industry — from first-time billers to experienced consultants.

Now

Gibraltar. RecLabs. BJJ.

Based in Gibraltar, I still own and run all of my businesses: RecLabs, Rec2Rec, RecWired, RSP, and ORCA, our L&D platform and performance coaching programme for recruitment teams. But my focus is simple: helping founders build better businesses. From first hires and operations to tech stack, structure, and what comes next. I also own and coach at Angry Chill BJJ, Gibraltar's premier Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu club. The same principles apply on the mat and in business: discipline, repetition, standards, pressure, and long-term development. Right now, I'm focused on AI, the future of work, and making sure my clients are ready for what's coming.

How I think

I've been early on most things. LinkedIn as a recruitment tool. Automation and virtual teams. Community-led brand building. Each time, the pattern was the same: spot it early, build around it, help others do the same.

The 1 to 5 person stage is where most founders make their most expensive mistakes. Wrong first hire. No process before they scale. Revenue that can't survive the founder taking a week off. I've seen it enough times to know exactly where it goes wrong and what to do instead.

When you describe your problem, I'm usually halfway to an answer before you finish the sentence. That's fifteen years of pattern recognition across hundreds of agencies.

How I help

1 to 5 people

Advisory · RecLabs

For founders at the earliest stage. First hires, first processes, first real structure. Working directly on the problems that keep you stuck.

Scaling up

Build the team · Rec2Rec

When you're ready to grow beyond yourself. Getting the right people in the right seats.

SME and enterprise

Train the team · ORCA

Performance, standards, and training for recruitment teams at any size.

Every stage

The community · RecWired

A global community of recruitment founders and leaders. Peer networking, market insights, founder advisory, free training, and a resource vault. Free to join. Join RecWired

Every stage

Live shows · RSP Live

Intimate live events in cities around the world — Manchester, Melbourne, Sydney, New York, Austin, London. 40 to 60 senior recruitment founders per room. Real conversations, no fluff. Open to all. See upcoming shows

Start a conversation

If you're doing everything yourself and ready to change that, let's talk.

If you want a quick sense check, send me a message.
If you're ready to fix it properly, book a call and we'll get straight into it.

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