Fifteen women answered. I spoke with every one of them.
Three rose to the top, and they are extraordinary.
One is a director at a top 10 accounting firm. One is a seasoned finance leader who has worked on large international transactions across several continents. One is an accountant of thirty years who runs her own practice. Three very different women. Three very different paths. Each of them, in her own way, already lives the things this business stands for.
Meeting them has been a privilege. It has also stretched my thinking about what Add then Multiply could become, far beyond anything in my original plan.
Which is exactly where I nearly went wrong.
The mistake I nearly made
I’m a big-picture person. It’s a strength, and sometimes it’s a trap.
Somewhere in these conversations I got excited. Really excited. I stopped thinking about choosing one of these women and started imagining bringing them together. All that talent, all those networks, all those clients, building something far bigger than I could alone. I let myself run with it. I began sketching a grand plan.
Then I had a call with a mentor I trust. He listened, and he said the thing I needed to hear: that big idea could be a 2027 project. It is not a 2026 project.
He was right. I’d let my enthusiasm sprint ahead of the discipline. I was trying to build the cathedral before laying the first stone.
So, I reined myself in. I went back to the simple, honest question: what is the right next step, this year? Not the grandest step. The right one.
Showing the workings
I’ve decided to do this properly, and slowly.
That means taking my time rather than rushing to a decision I’d regret. It means real diligence, not a gut call dressed up as one. I’ll be asking the candidates to complete a set of psychometric profiles, so I understand not just what they’ve done but how they’re wired to work. The same profiles we’ve taken as a team, so we can see how they would fit. And rather than interview my way to an answer, I want to do real work together first. A small, well-defined piece of work tells you more about a partnership than ten more conversations ever could.
I’d rather find out now whether we build well together than discover it after we’ve both signed something.
None of this is how a normal recruitment process runs. But this was never a normal recruitment process. It started with me telling the truth in a newsletter. It’s only right that it continues the same way.
What these conversations have taught me
The thing that has stayed with me most is this: there is no shortage of brilliant, ready, mission-driven women. There never was. The problem has always been a shortage of doors being opened and capital being offered. The talent exists in abundance. What it has lacked is access.
The other thing I’ve had to face is closer to home. My own excitement is not always my friend. Vision without discipline is just a daydream, and the people around me who tell me the truth are worth more than the ones who tell me I’m clever. I needed to hear that this month, and I’m glad I did.
The rest is simple. Doing this with integrity matters to me more than doing it quickly. The next CEO of this business will guide deals that change people’s lives. How we begin our own relationship must reflect how we’d want those deals to be done.
Why I’m doing any of this
If you’re new here, let me say plainly what sits underneath all of it.
For seven years I’ve worked alongside female founders, and I’ve watched how much harder it is for women to raise capital and to be taken seriously in finance and dealmaking. Less than 2% of venture funding in the UK goes to all-female founding teams. That number has barely moved in eighteen years. That is not good enough.
One day, Add then Multiply will launch a fund that invests in female founders. It will be the bleeding heart of this company. The woman who takes over from me won’t need that explained to her. She’ll already feel it in her bones.
The personal bit
I turned 64 last week. My father-in-law, who is 91 and blind, is not getting better, and we’re holding that as a family right now. Our grandchildren turn 2 and 4 in September, and I want to be far more than a passing face in their lives. My wife and I take the long view. We fully intend to dance at our 80th wedding anniversary one day (to “In Between Days” by The Cure), and you don’t reach a milestone like that working seven days a week and missing all the years in between.
That’s the real reason for all of this. Not to step away from work I love, but to step toward a life I love even more, while handing the day-to-day running of this business to someone who can take it further than I ever could.
Your last chance to raise your hand
The door is still open. But not for much longer.
If you’ve been reading these newsletters and quietly wondering whether I might be describing you, if Add then Multiply resonates somewhere deeper than your CV does, this is the moment. Don’t wait for a better time, because there isn’t one coming. Write to me at dbh@addthenmultiply.com.
Three sentences: who you are, why this resonates, and why now is your moment. Then we’ll talk.
I’m not looking for a CV. I’m still looking for a signal.
David B Horne
Founder of Add Then Multiply & Funding Focus
Add Then Multiply is a fractional finance and business scaling consultancy helping founder-led businesses at £1M–£10M+ to Fund, Acquire, Consolidate, and Exit.
