When James Lighton was three months into the planning of the first clinic of his now-six branches of Hello Vet, he and co-founder Alessandro Guazzi spent a few hours imagining what it would feel like to be a dog walking through the door.
They didn’t quite get on all fours - but “we worked out every single detail of that experience," says Lighton, 33, who lives steps away from Hello Vet's London Fields clinic. “Right down to how we could reduce the anxiety for the animal.” He reckons that's helped word-of-mouth recommendations fuel his scale-up.
Vet care in the UK is dominated by private equity-owned firms: six companies now control 60% of the UK's pet-care market. But over the past four years, Hello Vet has opened six clinics across London and the South East, hired 100 staff, secured £21 million in funding.
It started with the duo organising hundreds of conversations with vets, nurses and pet-owners. One, veterinary surgeon Oli Viner, became their third co-founder. Their idea, when Hello Vet's first branch opened in July 2024, was a model built around a large, collaborative hub clinic surrounded by four smaller satellite sites, so pets and owners could travel less while vets had a large team and pool of research and investment to share. Their innovations include owners able to stay with their pets during anaesthesia and recovery from surgery, and a free digital ‘triage’ service via WhatsApp to help owners work out whether a problem needs an in-clinic visit at all.
"A trusted recommendation cuts through in a way that an ad never will," says Lighton. He says Hello Vet has now completed its 1000th procedure with pet owners present and providing comfort, “and prevented 1000 in-clinic appointments” through its free digital service.
Funding came from fifteen senior vets, as well as growth-stage investors Addition and Future Positive. “Both take a very long-term approach to investing,” says Lighton. “That's the kind of backing we need.”
The first ten hires were all former colleagues who knew each other or the founders, and maintaining that culture, and protecting it through unhurried expansion, worries Lighton. Hello Vet waited a year before opening its second branch, and the same for its third: “we want to grow, but we think the only way to do that properly is to get things right first. We'd rather do it in four years well than one year badly." Enfield is next, with more in the pipeline; Lighton says AI has expanded what his small team can do.
Asked for scaling tips, Lighton pauses. “I'm cautious about giving any, as we haven't got where we want to be yet. While there's a huge amount you can influence, some things are simply beyond your control. When something amazing happens, it's not entirely down to us. When something bad happens, it's also not entirely down to us. Keeping that in perspective is helpful.”
5 things scale-ups can steal from big business when it comes to hiring - by Jess Woodward-Jones, founder of recruitment platform Vizzy
Scale-ups are often told that growth means professionalising hiring: more systems, more process, more structure, says Jess Woodward-Jones, of recruitment firm Vizzy. "But large employers are learning the downside of over-engineered recruitment," she says. "Endless application funnels and impersonal candidate experiences have made hiring feel transactional - and damaging to employer brands. The best are now rediscovering what startups do well: making hiring feel human again. Here are my tips on hiring while scaling:
"1. Stay selective
Don't rush to increase headcount because you've just raised or revenue is growing. You've got to this point with the team you have. Early hires shape culture, pace and decision-making; stay just as protective when scaling.
2. Treat hiring like a brand exercise Every job advert is marketing, and candidate experiences are brand experiences. Generic descriptions attract generic applications. Companies like Virgin stand out because their hiring content feels conversational and aligned to their values. Strong candidates notice immediately.
3. Prepare for application overload
Growth brings visibility, and visibility brings volume. Scale-ups should get ahead by introducing better skills-based questions - 'Why do you want to work here?' no longer tells you much in the age of ChatGPT. You'll be tempted to use AI to filter CVs quickly, but think 'more haste less speed'. Use a filter that genuinely gauges motivation.
4. Build smarter hiring partnerships
LinkedIn and Indeed generate volume but often with low signal - and it's pricey. Larger businesses are investing in universities, local communities and specialist partnerships to reach more aligned talent. We're part of a careers event this week bringing Imperial College London students and scale-ups together in person - exactly this kind of partnership in action. EY Foundation and JABARI are also worth exploring.
5. Don't ghost candidates Poor communication is one of the biggest complaints about enterprise hiring. Scale-ups can differentiate simply by being responsive and respectful throughout. People remember how a company made them feel. It's horrible sending rejection emails - but it's always worse not hearing anything."
