Jun 2, 2026 · 24 min · 11 segments
David Watt is a Partner at Kershaw Partners, a consultancy that has spent the last decade working with event businesses across the UK on growth, systemisation and exit. David's career in the events…
David WattGuest
Craig HerdHost
Thirty years, let's say October nineteen ninety-six, you started Creative Breaks, which was your first business within the event industry, which is thirty years ago this year.
You've obviously had multiple businesses since then and been employed, been part of the consultancy.
What are some of the memories that really jump out over the last thirty years? How has the industry changed?
Well, for a start, I'm slightly sort of gobsmacked and a bit depressed that it's been thirty years since I started my first business.
When it came back to, I think nineteen eighty-eight or eighty-nine, had a sandwich business called Tong Sani, which was a disaster.
But Creative Breaks was the first time I ventured into the world of actually properly running a business.
I think essentially, fundamentally, it hasn't changed apart from the fact that everything is so immediate now.
I mean, back when we first started, Giles Tuzie and myself, we didn't have an email address.
And therefore, when you were asked for a quote by a client, they weren't expecting it back within an hour.
So I think that's changed an awful lot, probably for the better, but also it puts much more pressure and stress on people who are trying to work with clients and make sure that they are able to deal with the immediacy of what everyone wants.
Thirty years, let's say October nineteen ninety-six, you started Creative Breaks, which was your first business within the event industry, which is thirty years ago this year.
You've obviously had multiple businesses since then and been employed, been part of the consultancy.
What are some of the memories that really jump out over the last thirty years? How has the industry changed?
Well, for a start, I'm slightly sort of gobsmacked and a bit depressed that it's been thirty years since I started my first business.
When it came back to, I think nineteen eighty-eight or eighty-nine, had a sandwich business called Tong Sani, which was a disaster.
But Creative Breaks was the first time I ventured into the world of actually properly running a business.
I think essentially, fundamentally, it hasn't changed apart from the fact that everything is so immediate now.
I mean, back when we first started, Giles Tuzie and myself, we didn't have an email address.
And therefore, when you were asked for a quote by a client, they weren't expecting it back within an hour.
So I think that's changed an awful lot, probably for the better, but also it puts much more pressure and stress on people who are trying to work with clients and make sure that they are able to deal with the immediacy of what everyone wants.
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