Martin Port on philanthropy and entrepreneurship

Planned departure 

When Martin Port was running Masternaut, the vehicle fleet management business he founded in the UK in 2002, he had a clearly defined exit strategy from the start. He wanted to build the company while giving away as little equity as possible to investors, sell at the right time, and use some of the proceeds to provide a new home for his family and secure a comfortable future.

Port, a serial entrepreneur who is also a philanthropist, is a direct, matter-of-fact interlocutor. Before founding Masternaut, he had built a bakery business in the UK and US, but decided to move into software because he believed “that’s where the future was”.

He raised £500,000 for share capital for Masternaut when he founded it, and says, proudly, “I never raised any more money until we sold the company” in a £60 million deal that concluded in 2011. Port says his time with the company gave him valuable experience in three separate areas he considers essential for any entrepreneur: “how to raise capital, how to do acquisitions, and how to build, manage and motivate a team.”

Entrepreneurial traits 

Like many entrepreneurs, Port says part of the motivation to build his own business in the first place was a reluctance to work for anyone else. “I always found it difficult working for other people,” he says. “I’m the kind of person who is constantly thinking outside the box, more of a leader than someone who just follows instructions.” From someone else, this might sound arrogant, but from Port, with his keenly analytical view of business, it simply sounds factual. 

Port also says that, while he was always focussed on a successful exit, he was never particularly interested in the trappings of wealth that came with it. “I’m not interested in driving nice cars or having boats or planes. Some people are out buying jets – that’s just not me. My main priorities in life are more spiritual or religious and, above all, my family is number one.”

But what did he do after selling Masternaut? Like some who have exited business, he was unsure at first. “The day I got the final pay out, I had no real idea what I was going to do next.” 

Port was approached by an Israeli company selling computer systems for trucks and heavy vehicles in the engineering sector, and became their European distributor for a few months. “But that made me realise that I really wanted to get back into software. That’s where my passion was.”

Planning and birth of his next project

So he developed the idea for his next big project: a company that would help businesses plan, schedule and track their mobile workforces. “It would take everything I’d built in the previous business and bring it all together. I wanted to build something new from scratch.”

He bundled different proprietary software aimed at managing logistics and movements for clients vehicle-mounted computers, and named the company BigChange “because we created big change for our customers, whether they were plumbing companies, electrical firms or engineering businesses.” He raised a significant amount in share capital, with Port retaining control with 55 per cent of the company.

BigChange started trading in January 2013 and Port says he used the lessons he learned from running his first enterprise to his benefit. His plan was to “keep building, keep growing”, hitting certain targets over the years such as strong revenue growth, a stream of new customers, growing the number of licenses and keeping customer churn low: always with a sharp eye on increasing valuation for an eventual exit.

In 2021 a private equity company bought a majority stake in BigChange in a transaction that valued the company at £100m. Port remains involved in the company as a shareholder, and recently BigChange was sold again, at a valuation of £330m, to a global software-as-services (SAAS) firm.

Philanthropy and entrepreneurship

Since his most recent exit, Port has become a multiple investor, as well as a philanthropist. He and his wife set up a foundation supporting more than 60 charities, primarily for “people living in poverty, people with disabilities, and in the education sector”. Through his company, Port Growth Partners, he supports young entrepreneurs with advice and investment: he says he has a particular passion for supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs. 

And then, in 2024, at the age of 62, Port began building his fourth business, Build Concierge. A customer engagement platform, it was created to help businesses struggling with the sheer volume of customer enquiries across multiple channels, from email to Instagram. Port believes this could be his most successful venture yet.

Port says he works up to 18 hours a day, six days a week, taking Saturday off. He did not allow the heart attack he suffered in 2024 to slow him down: instead, he says he focussed on losing weight and getting fitter.

How does he reflect on his personal journey through life? “When I look back,” he says, “the most special moments have always been shared, with my wife by my side.” He says his wife played a “huge role” as moral support in his businesses, an active partner in his philanthropy, and in the family – something Port values enormously. “ That’s what really matters,” he adds.