Big exit
How to turn £ 700,000 into $ 1.77bn in 14 easy steps
Co-founder of CloserStill Media Philip Soar offers a how-to on flipping an exhibition company for over a billion dollars
t the beginning of
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2009, Andy Center and I put £ 700,000 into the start-up business that became CloserStill. Phil Nelson and Michael Westcott joined us soon afterwards. We had no events, no office, no staff and no money apart from our own investment. Our first launch was The London Vet Show in November 2009.
In May 2026, CloserStill was sold at a valuation of £ 1.3bn /$ 1.77bn. That represents a multiplication in value of a modest 1,857 times in 15 years( excluding Covid years). Apart from the UBM sale to Informa, this is the most ever paid for an exhibition company.
So, for anyone looking to pocket a sum of $ 2bn in 2040, here are 14 simple tips on how to do it.
1. Start with nothing. Illogical as that may seem, it endows freedom. You don’ t have to struggle with legacy shows and legacy staff – these can drain your time and energy. The larger the company, the more it becomes an administration vehicle rather than an entrepreneurial vehicle. Starting from nothing, you decide which sectors to launch into, where to do it and( hopefully) hire whom you like. CloserStill has 24 shows in 2026 with a turnover of more than $ 5m. Of those, 10 were original launches.
2. It helps to find a genius. Phil Nelson was CloserStill’ s. Very focused, driving the sales floor, running the re-books, always there. Never fancy, always down to earth. Try to find one.
“ Almost every show in the UK underprices its product”
3. Give your staff shares. If there is a single thing which is surely unique about CloserStill, it is that over most of our life the staff have been given shares – not share options, but real shares. When the current deal concludes, there will be 370 current and past employees who will receive meaningful amounts. When we last had a transaction, in 2018, there were 63 employees who received more than £ 100,000.
Even though we are projecting £ 100m profit in 2026, the employees of CloserStill still own 36 % of the company. I still think that our shareholding policy has been really special and a source of quiet pleasure for the founders.
I believe that no other UK exhibition company has ever done anything like this( correct me if I am wrong). If there is any way of helping employees believe that they are part of something, it is giving shares openly.
Not all companies can do this. But because Andy and I started the company from scratch, there were no existing shareholders – which meant we could allocate a large block of shares for future employees( on the assumption we would eventually have some employees of course). It is your employees, your show directors, who make the company what it is – never forget that, ever.
4. Choose a silly name. We bought an off-the-shelf company with a meaningless name. Three months later Andy wandered in and told us he had renamed the company CloserStill. Our expressions were pained and bewildered. Apparently Closer and Still were the best-selling albums of some popular music ensemble Andy liked. We raised our eyebrows and moved on. Names don’ t matter much.
5. Understand what the trade show business is all about. What are the value drivers? What will www. exhibitionworld. co. uk Issue 3 2026 15