Launch. Scale. Exit: Surviving Due Diligence with Jason Franks

Some founders discover their idea in a flash of inspiration. Others get there the harder way – through a failed consumer show, a room full of frustrated exhibitors, and one voice cutting through the noise with exactly the right words at exactly the wrong moment.

Jason Franks spent twenty years running events in corporate life before launching EMEX and UKME. Both sold. One to Mark Allen Exhibitions, one to Easyfairs. Along the way, he built a family-like founding team, stayed lean past £2m in turnover, and survived a due diligence process he describes – without much affection – as having been invented by sadistic lawyers and accountants.

In this post, he shares what he'd do differently, what kept the businesses growing, and why two exits later, he suspects he'll end up building something again.

What inspired you to launch EMEX and UKME?

When I left corporate life, a large portfolio and fortnightly travel, I'd worked out that owning and running just one event could mean a better work-life balance, a better income, and ultimately an asset worth selling. After years of running successful events for other people, I naively thought finding the right idea would be the easy part.

I was wrong.

I launched a consumer event that failed to attract an audience. The exhibitors were understandably frustrated and made their feelings very known. But then an American exhibitor stood up in front of the whole room and said: "In the US, there isn't such a thing as a successful entrepreneur that hasn't been an unsuccessful entrepreneur first!"

I liked hearing that, even if my exhibitors did not. It was the push I needed to stay the course, go back to B2B, back to basics, and look properly at markets that presented a real opportunity.

Oh, and I needed a job and to earn some money!

How did you know it was the right moment to go out on your own?

Sometimes I look back and think I served a very comprehensive twenty-year apprenticeship before setting up on my own. For years I genuinely loved the work, particularly creating new events and developing existing ones. Talking with friends, I always felt fortunate to be stimulated and motivated at work compared with people who were just paying the bills.

By the time I left, I seemed to be spending more time on HR, corporate processes and politics than on the things I really loved. The work I'd been drawn to was disappearing under the weight of everything else.

I would have felt apprehensive leaving sooner. But when I finally did, there was no fear. Just readiness.

What two or three decisions in the early years made the biggest difference?

We quickly realised that customer demand was a better validation of the concept than external investment. Running the business was like riding a bicycle – I knew how to do it, but I also knew I had to keep pedalling or the whole thing would fall over. With EMEX that was on me alone at first; with UKME it became a shared responsibility with the other founders. Either way, it required unfailing belief that what we wanted to happen actually would.

Financial discipline mattered from day one. With EMEX, I delayed paying myself until there was money in the bank, but I always prioritised paying the team and suppliers. I asked suppliers for good deals and made sure everyone was paid ahead of time. If the underlying economics are sound, cashflow becomes much easier to control.

Also, we managed everything ourselves. No internal meetings for the sake of it. No glamorous external agencies. We built our own websites and CRM, ran our own sales, ops, marketing and finance. Even past £2m in turnover, our overheads stayed remarkably lean.

What metrics ended up mattering more than you expected?

We always focused on understanding and serving our market rather than chasing abstract targets. In the early years, the most important metric wasn't revenue, it was whether exhibitors renewed and whether attendees came back. Those two things told you everything you needed to know.

What mattered more than we expected was the quality of the conference programme. By putting genuinely valuable, open-access content on the show floor, we gave people a reason to attend and stay engaged. It also gave our marketing a clear story to tell and made it easier for partners to support the event.

Crucially, we never sold speaking slots. Every session was selected on merit. That built real trust in the programme and that trust built the brand.

What was the hardest part of launching, and the hardest part of selling?

I'm not a patient person, but we needed to build our story before going to market commercially. Everything had to be tangible, and that took time to get right before we could start moving forward properly.

Then came due diligence, which is seriously nasty – invented, I'm convinced, by a bunch of sadistic lawyers and accountants. Every time I thought we'd answered every possible question, another batch arrived. Fortunately, Jo is an accountant and we had Steve and Anna to hold our hands. But we couldn't farm it out, which inevitably hit our focus on revenue at exactly the wrong moment.

What was the most rewarding part of launching, and of selling?

Launching made us a family. Chris, Jo (my wife IRL), Michael and Rupert are among the best people I've ever worked with. We could each be trusted to get on with our responsibilities. That said, Michael and I occasionally behaved like brothers – veering from speaking multiple times a day to briefly vowing never to speak to each other again. If you don't want an emotional rollercoaster, probably don't set up your own business.

Selling made the periods of low or no salaries worthwhile financially. But it also introduced us to two remarkable organisations. Mark Allen Exhibitions bought EMEX and deserve real credit for their ability to build markets and communities. Easyfairs are expanding at a pace that makes Usain Bolt look lethargic, yet their focus on both the big picture and the tiny details remains razor sharp.

What might have sped up the journey from launch to exit?

UKME doubled in size for three consecutive years and became the clear market leader. It felt like it had existed forever, so I genuinely can't imagine that journey being much quicker.

EMEX was stranger. We went into COVID at a point when we'd have liked to complete a transaction, but it emerged with one of its biggest and best editions ever. Sometimes the timing is out of your hands.

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What mistakes would you not make again?

We tried to learn from every small mistake and not repeat them. Overall, we were fortunate, nothing was a fundamental risk to the business, apart from the consumer show. I'd need some serious persuading, and probably mind-altering substances, to go anywhere near that again!

How do you think an event owner might benefit from Manta Media Capital?

We benefitted from decades of corporate experience – launching, improving, buying, selling and managing every aspect of an event. But that slow learning curve delayed our start as entrepreneurs, and even then, our field of vision was quite narrow.

The team at Manta can share their breadth of knowledge with people who have genuine talent and a brilliant idea, right when it feels like the walls are closing in. These are organisers and dealmakers who have seen businesses succeed, fail, grow, merge and exit many times over. I couldn't have got through the sales process intact without Steve and Anna. And now they get to be the architects supporting your journey, working alongside brilliant minds like Doug and Toby.

What's next for you?

For now, I want to travel, spend time with my family, and enjoy watching our children graduate and begin their careers.

Beyond that? I suspect I'll end up building something again. Creating events, bringing markets together and growing businesses is what I've enjoyed most throughout my career. Two successful exits may still contain a fair amount of luck, but if we manage a third, perhaps we'll finally be allowed to claim there's some skill involved as well.