Episode 7: From Practice to Business - Financial health

In this episode hosted by Carl Reader, Alistair Barlow of Ascendant shares his journey from corporate life at PwC to co-founding and then exiting Flindr — a modern accounting firm built on data, insight, and innovation.

Starting with just £500 each and a blank canvas, Alistair and his co-founder reimagined what an accounting practice could look like. Rather than defaulting to traditional models, they built a business focused on niche sectors, client feedback, and meaningful data-led insights.

We explore the realities of scaling from startup to exit, the emotional complexity of stepping away from something you’ve built, and how AI is reshaping the accounting profession.

At the heart of the conversation is one powerful idea: finance data tells us what happened but accountants can use operational data to tell clients why it happened.

Want to watch the vodcast instead? You can find the vodcast series playlist here.

This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm