What We’ve Learned About Growth, Grit, and Staying Grounded

When we first launched PropInvest, it was just Tom and Joe, a whiteboard, and a belief: 

That property done properly with integrity, smart strategy, and long-term thinking could change lives.

Ours.

Our investors’.

Our partners’.

Fast-forward a few years, and we’ve gone from sourcing single buy-to-lets to managing multi-million-pound developments, raising capital from high-net-worth individuals, and running a lean, driven team across multiple projects.

But while the scale has changed, our mindset hasn’t.

We’re still playing the long game. Still learning. Still grounded.

Here’s what we’ve learned along the way, the wins, the hard lessons, and why scaling smart is the only kind of scaling we’re interested in.

1. Scale Means Nothing Without Margin

In the early days, growth felt like more = better. More deals. More investors. More staff. More moving parts.

But we learned quickly: Revenue is vanity. Margin is sanity.

A bigger top line means nothing if you're not protecting your bottom line. We've become obsessed with lean, efficient project management, and ruthless about walking away from deals that look good on paper but don’t deliver the returns we need to meet our standards.

We’ve had to say no to “flashy” opportunities. But it’s those no’s that have kept us solvent, sane, and sustainable.

2. Grit Matters More Than Genius

We’ve seen it time and again, talented developers implode because they underestimated how much staying power this industry requires.

Property is not a get-rich-quick game.

It’s managing slow planners, endless solicitors’ emails, survey results that derail timelines, and finance partners that change terms last minute.

We’ve learned to keep our heads when it all hits the fan. To control the controllables. To stay consistent, especially when it’s not sexy.

That’s grit. And it’s worth more than a hundred good ideas.

3. Good People Will Make or Break You

As we’ve scaled, we’ve brought in team members and partners who now feel like family.

But we’ve also made some bad hires. People who looked great on CVs but didn’t align with our values. Or who created chaos behind the scenes while wearing a smile in the boardroom.

Culture matters.

It’s not just about who can get the job done. It’s about who you’d trust to handle investor funds. Who’ll be straight with you when things go sideways. Who’ll still be there when the pressure’s on.

We now hire slow, and we hire for character first. Skills can be trained. Integrity can’t.

4. Your Reputation Is Everything

In this game, your name goes further than your marketing budget.

We’ve landed JV partners from conversations that started years ago. We’ve had investors recommend us without ever being asked. We’ve salvaged deals just because someone knew we’d follow through when others wouldn’t.

How?

We keep our word. We own our mistakes. We communicate even when the news isn’t perfect.

And that reputation, built over time, deal by deal, is the compound interest we’ll never mess with.

5. Fast Isn’t Always Smart

It’s easy to get caught in the trap of “next”.

Next raise. Next scheme. Next milestone.

But we’ve learned that pace is different to progress. And scaling too fast, without systems, cashflow, or clarity, is a shortcut to collapse.

We’ve turned down partnerships that would’ve doubled our portfolio overnight. We’ve paused to retool systems before taking on the next round of investor capital. We’ve slowed down to speed up, and it’s worked.

Because sustainability beats speed. Every time.

6. Growth Is Internal Before It’s External

One of the biggest surprises? Personal growth and business growth are not separate journeys.

As leaders, we’ve had to develop:

• Emotional regulation (especially under pressure)

• Better communication (internally and externally)

• Stronger boundaries (so we don’t burn out)

• Humility (because we’re always learning)

Scaling a company will shine a light on every weakness you’ve got. You can ignore it, or you can grow with it.

We chose the second.

7. Staying Grounded Is a Superpower

No matter how much we scale, we don’t want to lose the things that made us different:

• Personal phone calls to investors

• Honest updates, even when it’s tough news

• Deal analysis that’s based on truth, not hype

Staying grounded means:

• Celebrating the wins and learning from the losses

• Keeping our feet on the ground even when returns are flying high

• Never forgetting that we’re custodians of other people’s capital

The moment you start believing your own PR is the moment the rot sets in. We’re here to build something that lasts. Ego doesn’t fit into that.

Playing the Long Game

At PropInvest, we’re not interested in becoming a one-hit wonder in the property world.

We’re building a company with depth. With durability. With discipline.

Scaling smart means scaling intentionally, with integrity, insight, and the right people by your side.

We don’t need to be the loudest in the room. We just need to be the most consistent.

Because in the end, the developers who win big are the ones who show up, day after day, and keep delivering.