Being Inspired by the Dotcom Boom to Enter the World of Finance

Ben Gothard has been working in finance for over 20 years. After a brief stint running his own company as a student during the dotcom boom in the early 2000s, he embarked on a career in finance, working for several blue-chip companies and startups, predominantly in the roles of Head of Finance or CFO.

In 2024, he co-founded Path, a personal property co-pilot that helps buyers with the property purchasing process, due to launch publicly in 2026.

Bitten by the Dotcom Bug

Nick Levine: Going way back, what was it that motivated you to plot out a career in finance?

Ben Gothard: I was studying Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics, and in 2000, I saw the Lastminute.com IPO, and I thought there’s something in this internet thing! Web 1.0 was in its heyday, and this led me to start a business called Perfectnightin.com. I taught myself HTML and assembled a team to build the business.

Nick Levine: Was Perfectnightin.com a success?

Ben Gothard: We developed some business plans and ran a beta test in South London, but ultimately nothing came of it. We couldn’t visualise what an internet marketplace was and, perhaps tellingly, couldn’t make the unit economics work. But this led me to try another business called Mind the WAP, which was a location service based on tube stations in London. Building the financial models for these two businesses made me realise that becoming an accountant could be fun because it was all about understanding the levers and key drivers in business.

Leveraging WH Smith to Build Experience and Get CIMA Qualified

Nick Levine: What was your entry point in finance?

Ben Gothard: I joined WH Smith (the stationers) on their first finance graduate scheme, alongside another new starter who is now CFO of the UK business. 

Nick Levine: WH Smith was historically such a large company and a staple of the British high street. You must have built up some diverse experience there?

Ben Gothard: Yes, I did a whole bunch of exciting stuff there. I did my CIMA training mainly in the retail business, but ended up in more strategic and reporting roles in Group Finance. We did a strategic demerger of the retail and news distribution businesses, and I stepped into Treasury management in the simplified Group structure, managing the FX and cash flow. I took my Treasury exams at this time and later became a Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers. This eventually led to working on strategy and investor relations.

Entering the World of Startups

Nick Levine: I know from your background that you also worked at large brands like Habitat and Lego. You then pivoted into working at startups? 

Ben Gothard: I’d spent 10 years in legacy retail businesses, and it wasn’t really something I wanted to do. I was fortunate to be introduced to the founders of Made.com, an e-commerce business that designed and sold products directly to consumers, who made me the company’s first finance hire. I was employee number 12. 

Nick Levine: The experience at Made.com must have been entirely different, as presumably you were designing processes from scratch?

Ben Gothard: Yes, I performed a load of systems work. And lots of work around demand forecasting and analysis of how cash flowed from the orders of customers to paying suppliers. After four years at Made.com, the company was turning over around £50m per year, and I became a fractional CFO—assisting with fundraising and building financial models for fledgling companies.

Overhauling AP for Made.com

Nick Levine: As someone who has been in the industry for a long time, you must have seen considerable changes to processes from the introduction of automation-powered technology. Can you share an example of where you’ve improved a financial process with automation?

Ben Gothard: At Made.com, the business model centered on the timing of payments from customers and then making subsequent payments to suppliers. Initially, we were managing this using spreadsheets.

Nick Levine: I can only imagine how grossly inefficient that was, in terms of manual processing time and putting in checks and balances. How did you resolve this?

Ben Gothard: I built modules in our pre-cloud ERP system, which included all the payment terms. Then, I built a model that created our payment runs, which linked into the cash flow forecast.

Nick Levine: What were the main benefits of this automation project?

Ben Gothard: It gave us better visibility of cash flows and better relationships with suppliers. The enhanced visibility also allowed us to benefit from better discounts from suppliers.

Making the Leap to Founder Again with Path 

Nick Levine: And more recently, you’ve gone back to being a founder again?

Ben Gothard: Yes. Path is building on my experience of working at Strike, where I spent seven years building the UK’s biggest single-brand estate agency. At Strike, we built a technology-enabled estate agent, but we hadn’t changed the way the industry worked. With Path, we are starting by reengineering the process of the purchase journey for first-time buyers. In practice, this works by providing AI-driven guidance on where to buy, how much properties are worth, and what areas best fit the lifestyles of property hunters. We’ll also be offering financial education, mortgage support, and market insights. 

Nick Levine: As co-founder at Path, you’ve now gone full circle, but this time around, you’re armed with significant finance expertise. How do you utilise this at Path?

Ben Gothard: Currently, I’m leveraging more of my commercial finance skills. This includes building the financial model and being able to translate day-to-day activities into their impact on the business. We’re currently in a rolling fundraising phase, so understanding how much we need to raise and when is key.

Ben’s early startup lessons, leading him to a two-decade career of impact and innovation in finance, are one of the many stories we are showcasing in the Next Gen Finance Leader series. Read our other profiles below.