CEO Series: From Swimming to Business Success

By Richard Salt, CEO

People often ask how I went from competitive swimming to building a business. The truth is, the transition wasn't as dramatic as it sounds. The principles that drove my success in the pool included relentless goal-setting, disciplined execution, and the ability to adapt when things weren’t working. These are fundamental to how I approach building Fyn today.

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My background in competitive swimming  

Looking back on my childhood and teenage years, I can't remember a time when I wasn't in the water. Swimming has always been a passion of mine, and that devotion paid off as I was lucky enough to compete at an international level. It's an individual sport you do purely for love, not money. Even whilst training with a squad it's ultimately you against the water. That environment taught me everything about hard work, discipline, and being relentlessly goal-focused.

When I eventually stepped aside from swimming post-university, I started my professional career in auditing at BDO. I expected it to be a change but it was a real culture shock going from being near the top of my sport to being very average in an office full of people who'd never experienced elite athletics. Once I'd adjusted, those years gave me incredible exposure to different businesses and solid financial grounding.

Fast forward five years and I joined fast-growing World of Books that, at the time, was an operationally brilliant business that lacked the parameters around financial discipline and strategic growth. Working alongside the founders we created a route to exit, ultimately selling the business to Bridges in late 2016. This is when my professional growth accelerated and I could see the team effort required to succeed, just like in my elite swimming days.

I was now part of a highly experienced and skilled Leadership Team. Every individual was an expert in their field. As a collective, we spent the majority of 2017 pulling apart every aspect of the business, creating scenarios for discussion and aligning as a unit on the goals for the next 4 years. The collateral we produced included a detailed written business plan, a robust financial model and a summary presentation to the Board - essentially a bible for the next four years that included clear targets and specific initiatives. 

When we eventually exited years later, we'd hit nearly every major target in that plan. The business had transformed from chaotic success into structured and scalable growth, executed by a high performing team that every single member contributed to. Without a plan, goals and defined responsibilities we would never have succeeded.

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The importance of goal setting 

From a young age, swimming taught me that you needed a goal to work toward underpinned by strategy, discipline and incremental achievements. In the pool, every session had a purpose - whether building endurance, perfecting technique, or shaving milliseconds off your time. You learn to celebrate wins and process disappointments, each time building on what you've learned previously. But crucially, those goals had to remain relevant. What worked in my teenage years became obsolete as I matured physically. Training methods evolved, competition standards shifted and standing still meant falling behind.

I've carried that mindset directly into business and now into Fyn. It’s that same structured approach to planning, executing, and adapting, and it’s behaviour I instil in myself, my team and our community of expert CFOs. The parallel is striking: just as swimmers must constantly reassess their training against current competition standards, businesses must regularly evaluate whether their goals still align with market realities.

At World of Books, our four-year plan worked precisely because we built in quarterly reviews and adjustment mechanisms. We weren't rigidly attached to targets that became irrelevant,  we were committed to the outcome whilst remaining flexible on the route. Some initiatives we accelerated when we saw traction whereas others we killed within the fluid landscape. The discipline was in having the plan, the wisdom was in knowing when to adapt it.

This distinction matters enormously for startups. I've watched founders set ambitious goals then doggedly pursue them even as market conditions fundamentally change around them. They confuse consistency with stubbornness but true goal setting isn't about picking a destination and refusing to deviate, it's about maintaining clear direction whilst navigating changing terrain.

As goal-setting is paramount to success, here are three fundamental areas that you can apply this behaviour:

1. Decision-making

Beyond the planning itself, well-defined goals become your most powerful decision-making tool. As a founder, you're bombarded with opportunities daily - potential partnerships, new market segments, product features customers are demanding, competitor moves that feel urgent to match. Without clear goals, you evaluate each opportunity in isolation and end up saying yes to everything, diluting your focus and resources. But when you have strategic goals, they act as a filter. Does this opportunity accelerate our path to the goal or distract from it? Suddenly the decision becomes clearer. 

I've watched founders burn through runway chasing every shiny object because they lacked this framework. The irony is that saying no to good opportunities - because they're not the right opportunities for your specific goals - is often what separates successful companies from the rest.

2. Mental resilience

There's also a deeply personal dimension to goal setting that doesn't get discussed enough. Building and running a company is psychologically brutal. The gap between where you are and where you want to be can feel insurmountable, and imposter syndrome is a constant companion. This is where breaking down overwhelming ambitions into concrete, measurable milestones becomes essential for your mental health as a founder. 

When you're aiming to build a £50 million business but you're at £2 million in revenue, that can be paralyzing. But, if your goal is to reach £5 million this year by acquiring 50 new customers, and you've already signed 12, you have tangible proof of progress. You can celebrate those wins, learn from what's working, and maintain momentum through the inevitable difficult periods. Goals give you objective measures when your internal voice is falsely telling you you're failing.

3. External credibility

Finally, your approach to goal setting can shape how the outside world perceives you, your brand and your business. Investors, potential partners, and even customers are making constant judgments about whether to back you, and one of the most powerful signals you can send is that you know exactly where you're going and how you'll get there. 

Anyone can talk about disrupting an industry or having bold ambitions, but articulating specific, strategic goals demonstrates you're a serious operator, not just someone with enthusiasm. More importantly, your track record of actually hitting stated goals compounds your credibility over time. Each target you meet builds trust as it shows you understand your business, your market, and your own capabilities. That reputation becomes an asset in itself, making future fundraising easier, attracting better talent, and opening doors that remain closed to founders who can't demonstrate that level of strategic discipline.

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The goals I set for Fyn

When I founded Fyn, I'd seen first hand how important it was for businesses to have tangible discipline in place. Strong financial strategy, decision-making, and mental resilience are what separate businesses that scale sustainably from those that flame out despite early promise. 

The majority of founders I meet through Fyn have little to no financial infrastructure. They know their revenue and roughly what's in the bank, but ask them about gross margin by product line or customer acquisition cost by channel and you get vague answers. They're running a business on gut feel, making major strategic decisions without the data to back them up. By the time they realize they need financial rigour, they've often made expensive mistakes that could have been avoided.

That's exactly why I founded Fyn, to give founders access to the calibre of financial expertise that can transform how they understand and run their businesses, providing the clarity and confidence needed to make better decisions and build lasting value. 

If you are interested to learn more about how fractional CFO support can frame your financial discipline, reach out and let’s talk. 

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