I’m Al, CEO and Founder of tr4 Group.

Everything in life happens for a reason, I’m a firm believer of that, and timing is everything. As I found out when my inspirational father sadly passed away in the summer of 2023 following a fall earlier in that year.

Timing is everything though… And just a few weeks before his fall, the last publicly listed company that I was brought on-board to help transform. received a trade offer and we were about to successfully sell and exit. I initially thought the sale was too early, as the offer was about 12 months sooner than I had envisaged. Furthermore, the sale, if successful, would also invariably involve myself and most of our leadership team exiting the NewCo once the transaction was complete, and I hadn't even started to plan my next career move yet! 

In the ensuing months, that earlier than expected sale of the business went through, along with our exit from the NewCo, and on reflection this was an absolute Godsend! It afforded me the gift of time to spend with my Dad whilst he remained with us in this world. Someone once told me that time is the only true valuable resource we actually possess, and I couldn’t agree more. 

My father was one in million, and one of life’s good guys, and the outpouring on Linkedin when he passed away, from the textile industry he devoted so much of his life to, was quite incredible. The posts, the stories and immense gratitude from others he had helped over the years, just kept flooding in.

My father taught me so many things throughout his life and we shared many of the same values; “always treat people as you wish to be treated yourself, work hard, help others whenever you can, and the rewards will always follow”. A simple ethos that I continue to live my life by every day. 

During that period, when my father was in hospital, a couple of timely coincidences happened. The first, was when a friend of mine who was struggling to scale his own business, asked if I could help him grow it, and inspired by my dad, that’s exactly what I started to do. Initially writing the sales strategy and planning from my father’s bedside, sharing my ideas with him, and then more latterly playing a more active role in that business after my father had passed away. The second coincidence, also before my father passed away, was being asked my brother, the CFO of a hospitality business with ambitious growth plans, to take a look at his board report, and their sales metrics and share my thoughts on how best to grow the top and bottom lines to attract further investment. Suddenly the future became very clear….

I was destined to launch my own business, in the legacy of my dad Trevor (ergo tr4), doing what I enjoy most and do best, helping fellow business owners to; 

• grow and scale their businesses 
• solve their sales challenges 
• increase their ROI from Sales and Marketing Activities

Fast forward, past a few months of market research, multiple trips back and forth across the Solent to the isle of Wight, using my father as a sound board whilst I still could, some studying (believe it or not) and even exams (at my age!), not to mention the fortuitous assistance of a start-up incubator, and then not long after my Dad’s ‘Celebration of Life’ party, tr4 Group was born.