Adam Ward is the CEO of Airtime Rewards and told The Naked Founder podcast about the two events that changed the course of his life.

In March 2023, the collapse of California-based Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) left him fearing the worst.

All of Airtime Rewards' money was tied up with SVB, leaving Ward facing an anxious wait before HSBC stepped in and guaranteed all deposits.

The other life-changing moment came when his son, Max, was diagnosed with the rare genetic condition Angelman syndrome.

The experience prompted Ward to launch the Max Ward Foundation to support other families affected by Angelman syndrome.

In this episode of The Naked Founder, Ward also talks about:

• Swapping a law degree for a career in tech
• Why founders need to prioritise their fitness
• Growing Airtime Rewards into a £40m-turnover business
• The importance of finding the right co-founder
• Why he's not thinking about an exit

The Naked Founder is sponsored by Financielle and produced by Dan Brown of Renowned.

Chapters

00:00 - Introducing Adam Ward, CEO of Airtime Rewards 00:53 - The psychological weight nobody warns you about 01:30 - The 2023 Silicon Valley Bank collapse 04:23 - A weekend of crisis talks and government lobbying 05:58 - Monday: back to work, staff none the wiser 07:36 - Dropping accountancy for a law degree 08:43 - Learning to code 09:58 - Building a mobile ringtone business at university 12:06 - Choosing the business over finishing his law degree 12:47 - Selling Wapfly Technologies to 2ergo 13:47 - Founding Karrot, now Airtime Rewards, in 2014 16:26 - Airtime Rewards today: scale and team 17:24 - Why Manchester and London, and the Wire accelerator 18:16 - Choosing co-founder Josh 20:21 - Bootstrapping instead of chasing fundraises 22:40 - Turning down acquisition offers 23:54 - Son Max's diagnosis with Angelman syndrome 28:10 - Setting up the Max Ward Foundation 29:45 - Where business and parenting a child with additional needs overlap 30:23 - Expanding to Germany, then refocusing on the UK 31:50 - Losing 25kg and putting health first 34:09 - Is there an exit strategy for Airtime Rewards? 34:44 - A letter to a founder on day one