When British entrepreneur and investor Matt Haycox talks about saving businesses others have written off, it’s not theory; it’s rooted in lived experience. After a high-profile collapse in his twenties, Haycox rebuilt his career and has since arranged hundreds of millions in funding for UK firms. His turnaround credentials matter in 2025 and heading into 2026, when economic conditions are tighter and tolerance for failure is low.
Here are the three core steps Haycox applies when stepping into a failing enterprise. They’re crucial for any business seeking to survive, revitalise and thrive.
Step 1: Diagnose The Real Issue, Not The Symptom
Haycox emphasises that failing businesses often fix the wrong problem: cutting marketing spend when the issue is cost structure, or chasing new customers when the core product is weak. He says: ‘If your model is leaking cash, adding more revenue won’t fix the hole.’
Across UK businesses in 2025, around 47% of SMEs reported cash flow as a top risk, and more than 38% said declining margins were their biggest worry.
In his practice, Haycox conducts a cash-flow health check, margin analysis and management team evaluation within the first 30 days. He prioritises real data over forecast optimism.
Step 2: Stabilise The Business With Small Wins And Structure
Once the real issue is identified, Haycox focuses on stabilisation, ensuring the business generates positive cash flow, builds quick-win revenue and layers in financial discipline. He often works with underperforming firms to reset pricing, reduce high-cost commitments and improve collections.
‘Turnarounds don’t happen by replacing everything overnight, they happen by changing what matters with what you already have,’ Haycox says.
According to recent UK data, late payments affected 62% of small businesses in 2025, with an average unpaid invoice value of over £21k. Addressing receivables is often one of the first ‘wins’ he targets.
He then introduces regular reporting: weekly cash-flow statements, monthly margin reviews and team accountability sessions. This is so the business can nail the basics before re-launching growth. Through Haycox’s business consulting service, he helps founders apply structured turnaround plans that balance urgency with control.
Step 3: Re-Launch With Focused Growth, Not Wild Expansion
After stabilisation, the third step is relaunch, doubling down on a clear strategy, customer segment and scaled capabilities. Haycox urges business leaders to choose one growth lever: new market, new product or operational improvement. And execute it cleanly. He warns: ‘Growth is the reward for running things well. If you run things poorly and scale anyway you’ll just amplify the mess.’
Global venture capital data through mid-2025 shows that while funding rose to about $115 billion in Q2 (up ~29% year-on-year), deal counts dropped 29% and average deal sizes increased. That signals that funders now favour fewer, stronger businesses with proven metrics, not speculative ones. Haycox uses that data to inform his turnaround businesses, aligning their relaunch plans with investor or lender realism.
He also advises that in the relaunch phase the business must preserve flexibility, ‘If you lock the business into overly rigid cost structures, the moment it shifts, you’re back in jeopardy,’ he says.
Why Haycox’s Strategy Matters Now
As businesses enter the last quarter of 2025 and look toward 2026, they face a tougher landscape: rising interest rates, supply-chain volatility and tougher investor due diligence. Haycox’s three-step strategy offers a roadmap for what many advisers call ‘survival-first growth’ rather than growth-first survival.
With more than £1 billion in funding arranged across his ventures, Haycox’s experience gives weight to his perspective. His lending brand, Funding Guru, continues to back UK companies facing cash-flow challenges, pairing finance with hands-on recovery advice.
For companies already in trouble or those anticipating turbulence ahead, applying these steps early may be the difference between a short-term patch and a full recovery.
Final Words
Matt Haycox’s three-step strategy is simple, but not easy: diagnose deeply, stabilise decisively and relaunch smartly. He insists that the businesses which survive the next wave are not necessarily the fastest-growing ones today, they are the ones that used distress as diagnosis, discipline as recovery and direction as growth. In a moment when many firms may need rescue rather than celebration, his strategy offers a timely roadmap.
