Founder
Hi,
I’m contacting to see whether I might be a suitable guest for Meet the Mancunian. Our business, PatchAppUK operates in Greater Manchester, and exclusively employs and retrains Armed Forces Veterans from here. I previously Founded the Modern Milkman, with the aim of reducing plastic waste.
I have included my full bio below:
Having previously Founded and exited the Modern Milkman, the UK’s fastest growing company, Paul has now Founded PatchAPP, and instant book home maintenance service valued at £4.3million.
Paul's story is one of resilience and Leadership. Prior to working in business, Paul was in politics where he was one of the youngest Council Leaders in the Country. He's been something of a revolutionary, and on his first day in office was told he'd have to see the Council CEO so that he could tell him "what he wouldn't be able to change". He changed everything he wanted to within 12 months. Whilst Leader of the Council, he also ran a local Marketing Agency.
One Sunday, hungover on the sofa, Paul was watching David Attenborough's Blue Planet, where a baby whale was choking on plastic. He knew at that moment that the plastic reduction movement would begin and he went out and bought the village Milkround. He was handed a tatty old book, and the keys to a battered truck. He was selling glass bottle milk, but Millennialls didn't know that the Milkround still existed. He advertised it on Facebook, and the Modern Milkman was born. Paul teamed up with three co-Founders, built tech to modernise an old fashioned industry, and the business boomed. Paul exited the business in 2020 when the business had hundreds of thousands of customers.
Unbeknown to everyone else, Paul had been diagnosed with Grade 4 Heart Failure, and he saw a life in the Country waiting. Farming part-time, with a newly fitted defibrillator, Paul also mentored other budding Entrepreneurs. One of these was 22 year old Conor Walsh, an Electrician who wanted to reduce the amount of plastic that Electricians used. As soon as Paul met Conor, he knew he wanted to get back into business.
Paul had the idea for PatchApp while at the Modern Milkman, and knew he would only do it if he met the right person to do it with. Conor was that person, and Paul convinced him to leave his job, and the instant book tech platform was born.
The pair borrowed £50,000 from a local businessman to get the idea off the ground, with a promise (and a guarantee against Paul's house) to find a way to pay the money back within three weeks. They took the gamble and it paid off.
The pair have faced numerous challenges in getting consumer brand PatchApp off the ground but have been determined to make it work, and they now have thousands of paying monthly subscribers across the North West.
They put their determination down to a lack of fear, and the fact that everything they have is in it, with guarantees close to half a million pounds against them personally, and Paul having sold his house to fund it.
In their launch year, Paul had to undergo life saving open heart surgery, which he only took 24 hours off work for, so. the business would survive.
They exclusively employ Armed Forces Veterans having found that traditional window cleaners were so unreliable the business would fail. They do a lot of work encouraging other Entrepreneurs, and speak candidly about how you have to be prepared to die to make it work. The dynamic works well, with Paul being a seasoned Founder, and this being a first time experience for Conor.
Paul was called to faith through business, and speaks on how faith helps people to make a success of the business.
Paul and Conor are willing to appear together.
There is come further reading at:
-I almost died juggling the Modern Milkman: https://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/feature/i-almost-died-juggling-modern-milkman-with-politics-now-im-building-the-uber-for-home-maintenance/