MOTOM CEO, Julian Humphreys, recently talked with Andy Follows as part of his CAREER-VIEW MIRROR podcast which offers career lessons from the experiences of senior leaders and rising stars in the exciting global automotive industry.
"Julian is co-founder and CEO of MOTOM, a new technology company servicing the vehicle remarketing sector in the UK. MOTOM is a joint venture with Flipacar of Australia and with support from three close colleagues, Julian successfully launched the business earlier this year.
He has a proven track record in the automotive, automotive finance and asset finance sectors, both in the UK and Europe but, as a school leaver, he decided to start his career in baking.
At the age of 18 he began a 3-year spell learning professional b2b sales in the office equipment sector before his interest in cars led him to join Cowie Interleasing.
He found early success in both new business and account management roles before becoming the youngest sales manager in the business at the age of 28 and building a high performing team. In 1999 the business was sold to GMAC where Julian enjoyed success in growing the business as head of sales to then take on the role of Managing Director, private label operations in 2005. In 2007 he complemented the MD role with the role of European sales development director.
He left GM 2009, when they filed for bankruptcy protection and closed a number of businesses across Europe.
He started an advisory business in 2010 and worked with a number of the world’s leading automotive brands.
In 2013, Julian and a number of ex-colleagues co-founded Maxxia, an asset and vehicle finance business as a joint venture with MMS of Australia. For a time, Maxxia was the fastest growing asset finance business in the UK, scaling from zero originations to £600m per annum in 5 years. In December 2020, he and his co-founding colleagues sold their 50% shareholding to MMS and finally left the business in March 2021.
In our conversation we talk about his preference for learning by doing, those 3am starts at the bakery and the gradual discovery of his career path during those early years leading to a successful corporate career with GM and successful exit from the startup he co founded. We discuss the impact of professional sales training on his skills development, confidence and business results and how he made the transition from high performing contributor to leading a team of his peers.
I found Julian easy to talk to and had fun exploring his story. I’m pleased to be able to share it with you and hope that you find it inspiring. "
