‘We welcome Renters’ Rights Bill. It’ll make us up our game’: Goodlord CEO William Reeve
Each week, we dig into the memory bank of the City’s great and good. Today, William Reeve, CEO of Goodlord and founder of Lovefilm and Secret Escapes, tells us about his career, what he loves about the City, and the Renters Rights’ Bill in Square Mile and Me
CV
- Name: William Reeve
- Job title: CEO of Goodlord.
- Previous roles: Co-founded Fletcher Research (now NASDAQ:FORR), Lovefilm.com and Secret Escapes. Formerly chair of Nutmeg, Graze and Dunelm. Currently chair of LSE-listed VC firm Augmentum Fintech
- Age: 52
- Born: Oxford, UK
- Lives: Hampstead, London
- Studied: Engineering, Economics & Management at Oxford University
- Talents: Investing in tech businesses
- Motto: I don’t have one!
- Biggest perk of the job? I don’t get perks, which suits me fine.
- Coffee order: Flat White
- Cocktail order: Gin & Tonic
- Favourite book: Shogun by James Clavell
What was your first job?
Software programmer – I worked as a 15-year-old for a local networking company in Cambridge as a summer job. Not exactly a paper round, I realise!
What was your first role in the City?
Depends a bit how you define it but my first graduate job was as a business snalyst at McKinsey & Co, the management consulting firm, in London.
When did you know you wanted to build in the City?
I sort of stumbled into moving to London as an 18-year-old when I went to work for IBM on the South Bank pre-university. I loved my year there, and being in London, and never really looked back. London was always where I saw the best opportunities and where the people I liked hanging out with seemed to want to be.
What’s one thing you love about Canada?
I absolutely love the City. I love its blend of deep history – some of the most interesting in England – and modernity, again up there with the best in the world. The City is both timeless and bang up to date, all at once.
And one thing you would change?
As a cyclist, I would love to see better provision in the City for cyclists. In my opinion, it’s the perfect way to travel around town and we should make it easier. It is improving, but parking bikes can be a real pain. It’s almost impossible near the Bank of England, for instance.
What’s been your most memorable interview?
I remember interviewing a candidate in the late 1990s for a research job. He was quite experienced – something of a name in our field – but I was a bit concerned about his numeracy. So I asked him (in a roundabout way, I concede) what 2+2 was. He couldn’t answer the question. The interview didn’t last much longer.
And any business faux pas?
I remember being invited to Wimbledon by American Express. They had a senior big-wig stand up to say a few words. I didn’t know who she was, so I asked my host “who is this lady?” “Oh, that’s Virginia Wade, you know – the former Wimbledon champion…”
What’s been your proudest moment?
For me, my proudest achievements aren’t ‘moments’. They come about from years of work.
For instance I’m proud of what I’ve helped Goodlord achieve. I joined the business in 2018 when it faced some survival questions, and now it is leading the way in improving the residential renting experience across the UK as a thriving, profitable business. What makes me proudest there is how many of the key people making it happen now were there when I joined – it’s really their success story, not mine.I just helped them to make it happen. And we have a lot we still want to do!
And who do you look up to?
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan. He is not only a great leader, but he tries to lead the rest of us, via writing 70+ page shareholder letters really just targeted at business people all around the world. He has a pedagogic side to him which I really admire.
What’s the best business advice you’ve ever been given?
Be more ambitious. I received that advice when I thought success at Lovefilm looked like £10m annual revenues. I took the advice and raised my expectations. When I left the business, it was doing more like £100m revenues. It was a critical mindset shift that I’ve held onto ever since.
And the worst?
Actually it was from the same person – it was to lay some people off who I thought I needed “because if you’re right, you can just hire them back again”. That’s not how good leaders treat their teams.
Are you optimistic for the year ahead?
I’m optimistic in places. Certainly for Goodlord, the company where I’m CEO. The Renters’ Rights Bill is forcing a lot of change in the rental sector – Goodlord likes change because it forces us to continually up our game and think about how we need to innovate to stay ahead and drive value for our customers.
However, the wider capital markets in the UK are a problem and the crystal ball here is very murky. I try to remain an optimist, but there’s a lot to do.
We’re going for lunch, and you’re picking – where are we going?
Assuming it’s a working lunch, then Som Saa on Commercial Road – Thai meets Shoreditch.
And if we’re grabbing a drink after work?
In the summer, the Culpeper Roof Terrace if it’s open. In winter or rain, the speakeasy Designer Suit Company. Both are right around the corner from each other, and Som Saa.
Where’s home during the week?
Hampstead, NW3.
And where might we find you at the weekend?
Often in Dorset, near the sea. I like being near water, and Hampstead doesn’t offer much of that.
You’ve got a well-deserved two weeks off. Where are you going and who with?
It would be with my wife of 23 years, Fiona. If it’s two weeks off, it’s to Australia – where she’s from. We go to Melbourne every year for a ‘summer’ break to bring in the new year.