LDC Top 50 2025
Jeremy Ranson
Founder and CEO
Praesto Consulting
Jeremy Ranson founded Praesto Consulting, a data-focused IT consultancy, in 2009. After moving back to Darlington for the birth of his first child, he was commuting to London because he couldn’t find a job. “I had a two-month-old and was away six days a week,” he recalls. “I resigned so I could take six months off.”
Fate intervened: three FTSE 100 companies contacted Ranson within three weeks and Praesto was born. “We started with two people, and I emptied my savings to pay wages, and now we have 180, with revenues of £25 million. We’ll double that in three years.”
We have 180 people, with revenues of £25 million. We’ll double that in three years.”
Q&A
What drives you?
My mum worked at the local supermarket and my dad was an engineer. My three brothers and I were taught to make the most of everything, whatever we had. I was a paper boy with three paper rounds when I was nine. By 11, I also had a car-washing business and was employing my friends. I have always had an innate desire to do more.
What’s unique about the culture at Praesto?
The team and team spirit are the best thing about our business. Individuals here are incredibly bright, driven to be the best in the industry. Everything revolves around the team. We let the employees decide when they get promoted. They find a sponsor, persuade them to jointly present their case to the promotion panel. It’s an empowering meritocracy. Someone tried to acquire the business several years and when I said I wanted to keep the culture as we grew, they said you’ll never keep it with 75 people. It was like a red rag to a bull. We have it at 200, and I’ll keep our incredible culture when we get to 500 people.
How have you grown this business?
First, we grew through expanding the range of technologies we specialise in, then we focused on geographic expansion. We now have offices in London, San Diego, New York, Dublin, Lisbon, Paris and Rotterdam. Around 25 per cent of revenue comes from outside the UK and the US has the potential to become the biggest part of the business. Over the last five years, we have been in acquisition mode. We’ll keep targeting new acquisitions every year providing we find the right ones; but I don’t believe in growth for growth’s sake.
