I went bankrupt at 27. Nobody told me the truth. Here’s the book I wish I’d had.
I’ve talked a lot on this blog about funding growth, and building businesses. But this one is different. This one is about what happens when things go wrong and why the system that’s supposed to help you when they do is, in many cases, designed to profit from your downfall.
I’ve written a book. It’s called RIGGED: The Directors’ Survival Manual. It’s free. And it might be the most important thing you read before your business ever hits serious trouble.
I Was Bankrupt at 27. Nobody Told Me the Truth.
Let me take you back. I was running what looked like a serious business empire – multiple companies, real revenue, a lifestyle most people would be envious of. Then it collapsed. Millions in debt. Bankrupt. The name on every piece of bad paperwork was mine.
And when it all fell apart, I did what anyone would do. I called the professionals. The accountants. The solicitors. The Insolvency Practitioners. I sat in their offices and trusted that these people – who charged by the hour and earned from the process – were there to help me get the best outcome.
They weren’t. And I wish someone had told me that before I signed anything.
Two decades later, I’ve raised over £250 million, invested in 100+ businesses, and provided over £1 billion in funding to UK businesses. I’ve seen the insolvency industry from both sides of the table – as the director in crisis, and as the adviser watching what happens to directors in crisis. What I’ve seen, consistently, is that the system isn’t built to help you. It’s built to process you.
The Insolvency Industry’s Dirty Secret
Here’s the thing nobody tells you when your business is in trouble and you pick up the phone to an Insolvency Practitioner: that IP has a direct financial incentive to recommend the most expensive option. Their fees come out of your company’s remaining assets. The bigger and longer the process, the bigger their payday.
Liquidation pays them more than a Company Voluntary Arrangement. Administration pays them more than an informal rescue. And the accountant who referred you? There’s a decent chance they’re getting a kickback for that introduction – something you were never told about.
UK company insolvencies are running at or near 30-year highs. HMRC has returned to enforcement with a posture that many advisers describe as the most aggressive they’ve ever seen. Hundreds of thousands of Bounce Back Loans are being called in. The system has never been busier. The IPs have never been more profitable. And the majority of directors walking into that system have never been less informed.
That’s not an accident. It’s a feature.
RIGGED is my answer to that. 200+ pages of plain-English truth about how the process works, who profits from it, and what your actual options are – including all the ones the industry hopes you never find out about.
What’s Inside the Book
Nineteen chapters. No jargon. No hidden agenda. No IP firm selling services on the back of it. Here’s what RIGGED covers:
- The Three Tests of Insolvency – how to know if you’re actually insolvent or just stressed. Most directors panic-hire an IP when they didn’t need one.
- The Shark in the Suit – the IP’s business model exposed. How they make money, why they push liquidation, and the referral kickbacks your accountant hopes you never discover.
- The DLA Timebomb – how to audit your Director’s Loan Account and find the credits your accountant missed. One director I know reduced his DLA from £87,000 to £6,000.
- The Personal Guarantee Fortress – how to challenge, delay, and settle PG claims for pennies on the pound. The ILA loophole. The limitation defence.
- The HMRC Steamroller – Personal Liability Notices, Crown Preference, the Taxpayer’s Charter defence, and why filing everything and paying nothing beats silence.
- The CVA Option – rescue without liquidation. How to write off debt, keep trading, and put the IP on a short leash. Including the Part 26A cram-down.
- The Phoenix Strategy – how to restart legally without triggering successor liability or a career-ending conduct report.
- Pre-Pack Administration – the director’s nuclear option. How to buy your own business back for pennies on the pound.
- The Conduct Report – how to avoid the director ban, the four defences, and how to turn a 7-year ban into a 2-year leash.
- The New Horizon – life after insolvency. Rebuilding credit, the Fortress business structure, and why going through this makes you a better entrepreneur.
Plus a full mental health chapter – because the psychological damage of business failure is real, and nobody talks about it honestly enough.
The Controversy – And Why It Exists
I’ll be straight with you. This book didn’t arrive quietly. The insolvency industry is worth billions. The people who profit from it have lawyers, trade bodies, and PR operations. When a former bankrupt starts publishing a guide telling directors exactly how IP fee structures work, how referral kickbacks operate, and what the alternatives are that nobody ever mentions – people get uncomfortable.
Good. That discomfort is exactly why the book needed to exist.
Let me also be honest about something else. My own history with the insolvency system isn’t simple. I was disqualified as a director for 12 years following an investigation in 2010. I’ve faced legal proceedings and court judgements that have been reported extensively in the press. I’m not going to pretend otherwise, and I’m not going to hide from it.
I’m not writing this as someone who got everything right. I’m writing it as someone who got a lot wrong, who sat through every part of this system that can go wrong, and who knows – first-hand – what directors don’t know when they walk into those meetings.
The information in this book doesn’t become less true because the messenger is imperfect. Every fact, every strategy, every legal reference stands on its own. Read it. Check it. Use it.
The broader argument in RIGGED – that IPs are financially incentivised to recommend liquidation over rescue – is not a fringe view. It’s supported by the structure of the Insolvency Act itself, by academic research, and by the experiences of thousands of directors who’ve been through the process. The book just says it plainly, in language that doesn’t require a law degree to understand.
What the Press Has Said
Since publication, RIGGED has been covered across UK business media. Here’s some of what’s been written:
- London Loves Business described the book as “200+ pages of plain-English explanation of an industry that has spent decades profiting from the silence of the people it claims to serve” and called it the book I wished had existed when I first sat across a table from an IP.
- Need To Know asked the question directly — “Do Insolvency Practitioners Have a Conflict of Interest?” – and concluded that the entire system is “Rigged” against directors, reporting on how IPs earn bigger fees from liquidating companies than rescuing them, leaving directors badly misled.
- Today News reported that RIGGED has become “one of the most widely read pieces of business writing among UK directors in financial distress”, covering the 30-year-high insolvency figures and the systemic case the book makes.
- Coverage has also focused on “the controversy around RIGGED” – noting that the book’s central claim about IP incentive structures is what the industry objects to, not the tone.
Further Reading
If you want to go deeper, these are the strongest places to start:
- RIGGED: Full Book Download (Free) – get the full 19 chapters, the 9 tactical appendices, and the Partner’s Briefing. Free, no catch.
- Insolvency.World Blog – articles, industry exposés, and director guides. The written version of everything I’d want you to know.
- What Are My Options? – Free Diagnostic Tool – step-by-step guide to the right insolvency option for your situation. Takes five minutes.
- 60-Second Insolvency Test – quick diagnostic to find out if your company is actually at risk.
- Matt Haycox Press Coverage – the full record of media coverage, interviews, and features.
Don’t Walk Into That Meeting Blind
The most expensive conversation of your life is the one where you don’t know what questions to ask. I learned that the hard way. You don’t have to.
If your business is in trouble – or if you’re advising someone who is – get the book before you speak to a single IP. It could save you tens of thousands of pounds, your sanity, and possibly your business.
Action beats ideas every time. Get started.
