Sam Tidswell-Norrish: Founder and Chair of Opus

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1:19Chicago won't stop talking. Our improved network backs it up. AT &T. Connecting changes everything. AT &T Fiber. Limited availability in select areas. Welcome to the Jazz Shapers podcast from Mishkondorea. What you're about to hear was originally broadcast on Jazz FM. However, the music has been cut due to rights issues. The world's greatest jazz, soul and blues. From the world's greatest artists. This is Jazz FM. Jazz Shapers with Elliot Moss in partnership with Mishkondorea. It's business, but it's personal. Welcome to Jazz Shapers with me, Elliot Moss, bringing the shapers of the business world together with a musician shaping jazz, soul and blues.

2:05My guest today is Sam Tidswell-Norish. I'm very pleased to say founder and chair of Opus, a global platform supporting early stage entrepreneurs by aiming to supercharge the founder journey and a partner in Access Holdings, a private equity firm. Having spent his early career in finance, Sam co-launched fintech-focused private equity firm Motive Partners in 2015, building the platform internationally and helping raise close to$10 billion. Understanding that successful communities need to be built with real intent, Sam launched Opus in 2020, as he says, a highly vetted founder network, now running over 300 events a year, from intimate meetups to Davos and even, apparently, a private audience with the King of Jordan.

2:45We'll be finding out more about that. and their venture fund Day Zero is built on the belief that VC venture capital should instead stand for value creation, with investors needing to offer far more to founders than supportive phone calls and a seat on their board. It's very good to meet you. I always read a fair amount about the fabulous people I'm going to meet, the overly, overly successful people I meet. And there was a great quote, which I will tell you, because I thought it was absolutely spot on. and the quote was every person I've admired in my life has done a good job ignoring that voice and that voice is the voice that says no it can't be done no there's something in the market and all that tell me about that voice when you left your job at Barclays what was the voice saying to you that made you move from being employed to doing your own thing yeah firstly you've got a face for tv but you've definitely got a voice for radio you really know what you're doing um and and I feel like I need to talk a little bit like you.

3:44Oh, no. This is how I normally talk. We've walked into a spa, and we have to talk in a relaxed fashion. So, what was that voice? You're a very mean man. But I'll do it with a smart. You do. The voice was saying, get out of the bank. You're losing us money. And I was not a very good trader. And so I didn't last very long there, less than five years. and I had a burning desire to build, to be creative. And it feels fitting, sat here with Jazz FM, to say this, but business builders are artists. I really believe that. They are creators. They are no different to a painter or a poet or a writer, but their medium is different.

4:30They are building something that didn't exist before, and I always had that itch to scratch, and it felt like a calling. and it took me a couple steps to get there. But once I got there, it felt like home. And where did that begin? If you can trace back, I read a bit about you going to boarding school, not having a brilliant experience, but learning a bunch of stuff about character and about social awareness and those other things. And those are things I do want to talk about. But I really love your phrase about business builders are artists. When did you realize that you wanted to create your own, that you wanted to create.

5:08That wouldn't have started when you went, even probably before Barclays, you were thinking about that, I imagine. You've read a creepy amount on me. It's quite impressive. I know, sorry. Some of this stuff I remember saying, but I don't know when or where. Or even if it was actually you. Maybe it was just a bot. Maybe it wasn't. But if I ever have a political career, there's a lot of cleansing I need to do with that cupboard. I think it began at school. I think a lot of things begin at school. I was very big on art. I still am very big on art. And I love the creative process. I was never particularly academic.

5:46I probably had some form of learning ability. I just, I wasn't academic. I couldn't focus. But art was something that I really enjoyed pouring my time and energy into and studying. And I've taken that through to today. I collect art and it's probably my single greatest passion outside of business. So I think it really comes probably from that side, drawing that parallel back to artists and creativity. You talked about a couple of missteps after the Barclays thing or you didn't quite find your feet, but I jumped to Motive, which I think was probably the first, I would say, proper thing that you did from the outside.

6:30Tell me a little bit about, for those people who don't know, what a private equity firm does, because obviously now in 2026, it's far more common. And I think people even outside the industry have a sense of it. Back then, it was probably, it was relatively well known in those circles. But I still think there was a lack of understanding. Tell me how you describe it, and what you knew about it as you set it up then. The simple way of thinking about the industry is every company is either public or private. Public means you can buy it on a stock exchange. Private means you cannot. The vast majority, 99.9 % of companies are private.

7:08And private equity is the business of raising money from third-party investors and investing that money into private companies, improving them and exiting them to return that money to your investors. Your product is performance. They give you a dollar and you have to give them three dollars back. And how you build that performance is really unique to that private equity firm. And how did you get into it? And what were those first formative months, years like? The industry is full of very smart people. So I wasn't going to walk through the front door. They locked those doors to me. but I met an incredible person, an amazing entrepreneur and business builder called Rob Havert, who through the sale of a prior company kindly invited me to build it with him and a group of others.

8:04And what did he see in you, Sam? What do you think? I think I made good espressos, if I'm honest, and took great notes. And beyond the espressos and the notes, what do you think of this? Maybe charm and charisma, But it certainly wasn't my knowledge of private equity because at that point, I had none. So we embarked upon building Motive Partners together with a group of very mission-focused people to build the world's most impactful financial technology investment platform. And over the next decade, we had a good degree of success. We raised a significant amount of money, invested in venture growth and buyout opportunities, so different stages of company.

8:49And we had some very successful exits along the way, selling companies to JP Morgan and S &P. We took Dun & Bradstreet Private, a very old, 180-year-old data business, if you can imagine. and I had a role going inside that company to help run it and transform it. We relisted that and IPO'd it so it became a public company again. But yeah, I had the most extraordinary near decade there. Couldn't have asked for more. I had some wonderful experiences very early on. And to Rob and the team there, they continue to do a world-class job. But yeah, I'm very grateful for that. But you must have also been, I mean, You know, looking at you, you're a very persuasive fellow.

9:38You even persuaded me before that it was just espresso and notes and charisma and charm. And of course, there's substance. There's a lot of substance that must go into it. If you can summarize in one sentence what you think you learned in those 10 years that you've now ported into your life and will come into Opus and will come into Access and all the other things that you're doing, what do you think was the, if there was one thing, the big thing that you really took away from that period? It's a very easy thing for me to answer. The single most important thing I think in business is relationships.

10:12Very early on, I realized through mentorship and learned experience that anything I'd ever achieved was really because of other people. My career and my successes are not the product of myself. They are the product of those I've been surrounded by. You get a contract under the belt. Someone had to say yes. Someone had to vouch for you on the other side. Someone had to sign it. You raise money. Someone had to believe in you and what you were selling them. Everything I've achieved is because of other people. When you realize that and you work with the flow rather than against it and you recognize that you're not a hero yourself, the whole thing becomes easier.

10:56It also, frankly, becomes more enjoyable because you think through how you can help other people so that in turn they might want to help you. If you go about your career as a single-player game, like I think most people probably do, it's very challenging. And so being part of the formation and launch of a private equity firm was an MBA in that, a real-life experience of building together in a very complex, highly intellectual environment that I was out of place in. I found it very hard, but other people helped me through it, and we did very well because of that. Stay with me for much more from My Business Shape today.

11:40Sam Tidswell-Norish. I'll be back in a couple of minutes with more humility, because what he just said I'm sure is true, but I still want to get under the skin of what it is that people are buying, because they're buying something more than that. Right now, though, we're going to hear a taste here from the Mishcon Innovation Series, which can be found on all the major podcast platforms. Leader Kellett invites business founders us to share their practical advice and industry insights for those of you thinking about starting your very own thing. And in this clip, we hear from Amber Hill, founder and CEO of ResearchGrid, the AI startup automating clinical trials for faster access to life-saving medicine.

12:11The Mishcon Innovation Series. Inspiration from founders of cutting-edge businesses. In association with Jazz Shapers with Mishcon Derea. And what advice would you give to somebody trying to disrupt a market in the way that our grit has done? I think you don't go in necessarily trying to disrupt it. You have a pain point that you're trying to solve or, you know, something that you've experienced in the best case or you've seen and you're, you are trying to resolve that. And then it ends up being disruptive, I think. And I think that's how you have to think about it to actually be able to do it long-term.

12:49Anything in healthcare is going to be a long-term journey. You're not coming in and diving in for three years and getting out like a fintech or something like that. So choose carefully what you want to do. Make it specific enough that you can address it. But I always say to entrepreneurs especially, kind of drive yourself into the spike. So try and kill the idea first. And if you can't kill it, then you're okay. On to something. Yeah. The Mishcon Innovation Series. in association with Jazz Shapers with Mishkondorea. This is Jazz Shapers with Elliot Moss in partnership with Mishkondorea. It's business, but it's personal.

13:34You can enjoy all our former business shapers on the Jazz Shapers podcast and you can hear this very programme again. If you fancy, just pop Jazz Shapers into your favourite podcast platform. My guest today, I'm sure you know this already, is Sam Tiswell-Norish, founder and chair of Opus, a global platform supporting early stage entrepreneurs. and a partner in Access Holdings, which is a private equity firm. We have established very clearly, Sam, what a private equity firm is. And it isn't a big deal, really. It's just, as you said, private companies with investment. You wear lots of hats. And I think by design, and you are a busy man who likes being engaged intellectually and creatively.

14:07So whether it's as a founder, as a partner, there's some board roles you play, you're an investor, you're doing a multiplicity of things. Which hat fits most comfortably for you when you're wearing it? That's a great question. I think I love what I do day to day. If I didn't love it, I wouldn't do it. Put it simply. If I stopped loving any part of my professional life, I would speak to whoever I needed to and thank them for their time. I love what I do at Access. It's creative. It's intellectually stimulating. The team are exceptional. and we're investing in North American essential services companies.

14:51Those are companies that are essential to the core economy. So it's really interesting. Give me a couple of examples. Like a fire and life safety business, like a towing business, like a heavy equipment rental business that builds homes, like a car wash business. Real physical things, big stuff. Exactly. And is that intentional? because obviously the other side of you has been into, and indeed we'll talk about the Opus business as well, and this, what's it, Operator. Is it called Operator, that product, which is far more, it's fintech, it's community stuff, but it's technology. It's not visible.

15:29You don't touch it in the same way. It's a great point. You know, all these businesses, they're called, Goldman Sachs calls them halo assets. That stands for heavy asset, low obsolescence. You look at a car wash business. We invested in a business that was doing$17 million of earnings. It's now far greater than 10 times that. It does 40 million car washes a year. It has a million subscribers that pay a monthly membership. That business is a halo asset because it has a lot of real estate, a lot of physical car washes. But its technology, technology generally is not going to dislocate it. cars are going to still go on the roads and need to be cleaned.

16:14And I like having my car cleaned. A quick aside, I know this isn't completely relevant. It's a pride thing. But A, I'd left it for too long and it was disgusting and I'm like, I'm disowning my car. But B, those machines when I was a kid that used to go in, I don't know what, this is hand or this is machine. Right, so the flexi thing. I went in there the other day and I remembered being a nine-year-old when my dad used to say to me and my sister, let's go out, should we get the car washed? I'm not kidding. I got this massive buzz from that thing. There is something, it's a bit like washing your clothes.

16:47There's something joyful, but it's also the experience. So I'd be one of those subscribers. I'm the same as you. Growing up, we owned a cut wash, my family. So yeah, it was like such a treat at the end of the day at school or on the weekend to go through. There's little machines you think you're going to die. You think it's going to take off or something. You go into another world. But anyway, sorry. So these big physical assets that you're in. But technology can improve them. Of course. When you think about humanoids, people think that's a long way away. Humanoids are not a long way away. Your coffee will not be served at Starbucks in three, four, five years by a person.

17:22It will be a machine that serves you. And the same will be said for car washes. The actual infrastructure is not people with sponges. It's a machine. Even the interior cleans will be done by humanoids. We're doing a study at the moment with the University of Pennsylvania to build the software for humanoids to clean the interior of your car. So every business can be catalyzed, improved by technology, but a lot of them won't be displaced anytime soon by technology. But that intrigue and the interrogation of what could be still propels you, whether it is as an investor or as a founder or whatever else, because it feels like that's the juice that gives you energy.

18:01Yeah, I can extract quite a lot of energy from quite mundane things. You should hear me talk about paving businesses or towing businesses. And why? Why is it giving you so much energy, Sam? Because it's interesting. And I think if you seek to be interested by things you do not understand, you can find a lot of interest in anything. And yeah, I guess it's a fortunate thing because maybe businesses like that wouldn't mean so much to people. I find those businesses much more interesting generally than technology businesses, I think, because I understand them better. I mentioned at the beginning you said venture capital and this neat lovely phrase is not about capital it's about value creation Really?

18:41It sounded brilliant but let's get into that a little bit I mean you would say that wouldn't you? Yeah I would say that it sounded good But I do believe it Early stage business investing is in many ways about laying bets but it's business building. It's hands-on. It's roll-your-sleeves up. And capital is but one part of the equation. It buys you time. It doesn't buy you success. You then have to build the thing once you can pay your people and you can invest in that growth. So, yeah, I believe the more you can do as a venture capital platform to support the growth of the business and the building fundamentals, the better.

19:28and many of them historically have not done that. But many of the VC firms of today do do a better job of that and in many different shapes and forms. Some have venture partner models of previous entrepreneurs and business builders who can support and are on hand. Some have media businesses like Harry Stebbings 20VC that can help build your profile. Some have large networks that are there to support and give you access, whatever you need. And for you, what do you bring to that? With Opus and the DayZero investment platform, it's access. It's access to people and knowledge and rooms that you might not be in when you need them.

20:12And we do that through the communities that we built at Opus and at DayZero. And we have a technology layer called Operator, which is an agentic AI tool that lives in WhatsApp that connects people based on what they need. So Elliot would say, I need to raise money for my fintech business. And you would ask that in WhatsApp to operator. And operator would say, you should speak to these 15 members. Speak to Jimmy, Sarah, Claire. These people all did what you're seeking to do just recently and they can provide you counsel and support. And for you personally, I meet lots of founders. are very lucky in my day job that we meet all sorts of people with brilliant ideas.

20:57At the end of the day, when you leave that meeting, one leaves a meeting with potential, with founder, a lot is on their shoulders, regardless of how much help you give them. They've got to go and do it themselves. Do you get frustrated by not being able to do it for them? Or have you come to terms with the natural gap between if only you, John or Jane, did A, B, and C, you would be at the races? because I look at people who invest in lots of companies and I go, how can they not get really stressed by all these opportunities that aren't quite happening because Sam isn't in the room? Yeah, no, I don't feel that at all because I tend to invest in people that are a lot smarter and building things that I couldn't build.

21:40In today's day and age, anything you can conceive, you can build and it's a lot cheaper. If you and I were to build a business today, Pick a topic. Dating. A dating platform. Ten years ago, it would have cost us$10 million. It would take us two years to put a product in someone's hands. Today, we could build it by the weekend, and we could have a prototype in someone's hands connecting them to the potential love of their life, and it would cost us nothing. The ability to create is now, the barrier is so low, and that's really exciting but the complexity of the environment you're building in is much higher and so yeah I love investing in people who are reimagining industries.

22:31We just invested in an AI for real estate platform. The founder is extraordinary. The platform I believe will disrupt real estate, the world's largest asset class. We're investing as we speak in an insurtech company reimagining insurance, a satellite business that provides the software to satellites that turns satellites into data centers in space. Hot on the heels of SpaceX, a very timely investment. The guy who built it is former SpaceX, the first customer is NASA. It's stuff I couldn't ever anticipate. I can barely wrap my head around the memo we wrote, let alone what he's doing day to day that may well change the world we live in.

23:12And so I love investing behind people that have that kind of imagination, energy, and drive to change the planet. Stay with me for our final chat with my guest there, Sam Tiswell-Norish. And we've got some Jacob Collier in the mix too. That's in just a moment. Don't go anywhere. This is Jazz Shapers with Elliot Moss in partnership with Mishkondorea. It's business, but it's personal. Sam Tiswell-Norch is my business shape and my innovator here today. The future is pretty extraordinary what's going on right now. The confluence and again I will quote you back at yourself but it's not you're not the only one saying it.

23:55AI technology going north very fast across everything impacting whether it's the asset heavy businesses or it's pure tech plays and at the same time a whole bunch of young people coming out of university and there aren't any jobs. and you said, and other people said, go create your own job. What does that look like for you over the next few years if you're going to be ensuring that this group of people, the swathes of people will be creating their own jobs? What role are you going to be playing to help them do that? Yeah, it's not meant to sound Margaret Thatcher-y. No, no. But I do believe that we will get to an environment where people take it upon themselves to create their futures.

24:37and graduate recruitment at the moment is at I think a 10-year low. Unemployment in the UK, five-year high. These aren't good trends for employment and so rather than being employed, employ yourself. That's an easy thing to say, hard thing to do. What you have to give people is knowledge and confidence and if we can help educate and provide that confidence, the support, the safety net to our next generation, we could unlock the most innovative generation the UK has ever seen. And that's not just the UK. I hope it happens globally. But as I said earlier, the cost of building has never been so low.

25:21You and I come up with an idea earlier. We go on to Lovable and we vibe code and create it overnight. My assistant built a website over a weekend, not something she thought she would ever be able to do. She did it on Lovable. So there are so many opportunities that I think can open up this new creative age of entrepreneurship. But it does require confidence and knowledge, and that stuff doesn't happen by accident. And that's what we want to do with Opus. If people want to understand more about what it takes to be a founder, I would even suggest subscribing to our newsletter. It's free. it comes out once a week, the sole purpose of it is to inspire people around entrepreneurship.

26:06Wow, that person's doing something cool. I could do that. And if you go on the website, joinopus.org, you can click and subscribe. It hits your inbox every week. It's my favorite moment of the week. I have a coffee on a Saturday morning. I read it and I feel pumped because I believe that anything is possible because there are amazing entrepreneurs out there, young people building companies that will change the country we live in. It'll change the way people lead their lives. You've had some of them on this show. Most people in the UK have got bold beans in their cupboard. Some of the best beans out there.

26:40I didn't know a bean could change the world, but Amelia's doing a really good job of it. She is, and there have been hundreds and hundreds of people who are just doing amazing things. I was going to ask you, but you've answered the question, the energy, is it going up or down as you move into more and more, you're surrounded by creative people, people making things the way you described that you love to make but i think i think it's a rhetorical question because it's pretty effervescent your energy mr tidswell nourish um thank you so much for spending some time with me uh just before i let you disappear probably to a call with someone important in america no doubt what's your song choice and why have you chosen it my song choice today uh elliot is lean on me by bill withers um he wrote this song when he moved to a new environment.

27:25He moved to Los Angeles from West Virginia. He felt out of place. He didn't have community around him. He wrote a song that gave him comfort. It's about friendship. It's about mutual support. And it's about human resilience. And all those things are things I believe Opus embodies and building a business kind of embodies and requires. and so as people listen to that yeah think about perhaps what you could build um everything's possible in today's world and thank you for having me Elliot this has been a a true privilege bill with us with the iconic lean on me the song choice of my business shape today sam tidswell nourish business builders are artists i love how he felt that was true and i do believe it is true and i met so many at the privilege of meeting so many over the years the single most important thing in business is relationships.