Paul Allen
Founder-Level Financial Thinking
Paul Allen brings over two decades of experience helping creative, digital, and marketing agencies grow stronger, scale smarter, and prepare for meaningful value events.
As CFO of Unusual Group, Paul is the commercial anchor for founders who want more than spreadsheets and reporting; they want a partner who understands behaviour, opportunity, risk, and what it really takes to build a financially resilient agency.
He works with leaders to create simpler, stronger, and more profitable businesses through clear financial models, operational discipline, and commercially grounded decision-making.
The Work Paul Does With Founders
Paul supports agency leaders who want to grow, but want to grow well.
He helps founders:
- Build commercial models that actually work: Pricing, fee structures, retainer design, scope management, and revenue structures that support sustainable growth.
- Simplify financial operations: Turning complex or over-engineered systems into clear, efficient, scalable operating systems.
- Improve margin and profitability: Finding hidden leaks, identifying performance gaps, and building models that grow revenue and profit.
- Make financially sound strategic decisions: Balancing ambition with commercial reality, without killing momentum.
- Prepare the business for exit: Bringing financial discipline, clarity, and compelling narratives that founders need to maximise value and secure the right deal.
- Get external perspective without the ego: Paul acts as a financial and commercial sounding board, honest, calm, and anchored in experience, not theory.
Founders trust him because he brings both rigour and reassurance, commercial discipline without unnecessary complexity.
Why Paul Does This Work
Before founding Red Dots in 2020, Paul spent over 20 years in senior financial roles inside leading creative and communications agencies, including Naked, Edelman, and Jackie Cooper.
He saw the same story play out again and again:
- Strong agencies held back by unclear financial models
- Creative excellence paired with commercial naivety
- Founders carrying pressure alone
- Operational complexity eroding profit
- Mistimed or misaligned exit strategies undervaluing years of hard work
His time as a Partner at SI Partners, advising on M&A and agency value creation, gave him a front-row seat to how great agencies win, and why others stall.
Red Dots was created to fix this:
Tangible change, commercial clarity, and confident decision-making for agencies that want to grow or maximise value.
That same philosophy now fuels Paul’s work at Unusual.
Paul’s Philosophy
Paul’s work is shaped by four beliefs that guide every founder engagement:
1. Simplicity scales.
If the financial model is too complex, no one follows it, and nothing improves.
2. Numbers tell the truth.
Financial clarity removes guesswork, emotion, and allows informed decision-making.
3. Creativity needs commercial strength.
Great work deserves great margins aligned to clients’ objectives.
4. Value is built long before an exit.
The best exits start years before the transaction.
This is why Paul’s guidance is practical, calm, and refreshingly direct.
Impact in the Words of Founders
“Paul has worked with Tin Man for the past 7 years and has been integral to the growth of our business. He has a remarkable talent for providing great counsel in an encouraging yet honest way. He’s a true part of the Tin Man success story.”
Mandy Sharp, Founder, Tin Man
Paul’s approach blends financial clarity with behaviour change, a rare combination in a CFO.
What Paul Brings to Unusual
Paul’s role centres on giving founders the commercial foundation and financial perspective needed to grow confidently and make long-term decisions with clarity.
He leads on:
- Financial strategy
- Commercial modelling & pricing
- Margin improvement & cost discipline
- Exit planning & value creation
- Financial operations & simplification
- Investment appraisal & strategic decision support
- Red Dots integration across Unusual programmes
In His Own Words
“Agencies move quickly, but their financial models often don’t keep up. My job is to build commercial clarity so founders can grow with confidence, not chaos.”
If You’re a Founder Who…
- Wants stronger financial clarity
- Needs a more profitable commercial model
- Wants their pricing or fee structure to reflect the value they deliver
- Is thinking about exit (now or in the future)
- Wants a strategic partner who can challenge thinking without overwhelming the team
- Needs a commercial sounding board who understands creative businesses deeply
…Paul is the person founders trust to guide their financial future.
Work With Paul
- Explore Unusual advisory support
- Join an upcoming strategic programme
- Build your commercial model with Red Dots’ methodology
- Prepare for future value creation
Paul’s work strengthens the financial backbone of agencies, giving founders the clarity and confidence to scale the right way to achieve their ambitions.