![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/81fea0ad-14ed-4534-bdf0-ebf1876ab2e4.jpg\")
Made in Chelsea stars at the Baftas Alamy<\/p>\nAs a teenager, Chris Donnelly was more interested in his blossoming rugby career than grades. He was so unconcerned with the impression he made on his teachers that he started selling cheap toys from China to his school friends to play pranks during class.<\/p>\n
His rugby aspirations ended with a series of operations when he was 17. But in spite of a realisation that he now needed to \u201cdo the academic thing\u201d, selling laser pointers in class laid the foundation for him to become a founder many times over.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have described myself as [a serial entrepreneur] until recently; maybe other people would. But now I would say there is no way back \u2014 I could never get a job now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Enterprise newsletter<\/p>\n
Advice and inspiration for entrepreneurs in The Times Enterprise Network\u2019s briefing.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tSign up with one click<\/p>\n
Donnelly sold his first business, a marketing firm called Verb Brands, in 2021 to the New York media agency Croud for $25 million. He made nearly $14 million from the deal and has gone on to found three more businesses in the past five years, including Lottie, a comparison site for care homes.<\/p>\n
He and his two brothers drew inspiration from their father\u2019s entrepreneurial lifestyle; he ran a firm that advised retail brands about the best locations to set up shop. Boarding at Wellington College in Berkshire, in part because of its rugby reputation, Donnelly was never academically inclined due to being \u201cseverely dyslexic\u201d, but in his spare time he taught himself to build websites.<\/p>\n
He went on to Warwick University to study politics and economics, but soon his business aspirations took over when he launched The Real University Guide, a university comparison site, with his older brother, Nick.<\/p>\n
Despite reaching significant traffic, the venture failed. \u201cWe probably were just quite inexperienced,\u201d admitted Donnelly, now 35. The failure, though, was the catalyst for his next move: the very next day, he began building websites for local businesses.<\/p>\n
Towards the end of his time at university, he stopped attending lectures, preferring to spend his time on website development, which earned him between \u00a320,000 and \u00a330,000 a month.<\/p>\n
After graduating in 2013, Donnelly rented a small office on Brick Lane, in east London, for \u00a3400 a month to start work on the creation of Verb Brands. Ben Askins joined him as co-founder in 2014.<\/p>\n
Verb Brands originally focused on building websites and then social media profiles for companies. The cast of Made in Chelsea asked Donnelly to build them a website in exchange for some exposure.<\/p>\n
Made in Chelsea stars at the Baftas Alamy<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did a free website for them, which was pretty painful at the time, and they started tweeting about us on their massive Twitter accounts,\u201d he said. \u201cLoads of brands saw us, which led to lots more opportunities.\u201d <\/p>\n
The company landed a contract with Sunseeker Brokerage, a yacht dealership. Verb Brands then focused on becoming a luxury marketing agency, using Sunseeker as a case study to get more work. <\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the best choices we made was to focus on luxury, because they move slower than mass-market brands,\u201d said Donnelly. \u201cWe moved quite fast on things like running social media, SEO and pay-per-click \u2014 [faster] than most other agencies at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Verb Brands expanded in 2017 by acquiring another firm and winning clients such as Bugatti, Aston Martin, LVMH and Harrods.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/7ffc262d-4570-4c02-9cfc-6a4c171a5d5e.jpg\")
Aston Martin was among the big client wins for Donnelly\u2019s marketing firmMARTYN LUCY\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n
The company started targeting businesses in the US and Donnelly spent half his year in New York. By 2020, Verb Brands\u2019 revenue had reached \u00a35 million, but the pandemic stalled growth. Marketing teams began pulling their budgets and, to save the company, 80 per cent of its staff were placed on furlough. Donnelly and Askins started posting on LinkedIn daily about luxury to build their personal profiles.<\/p>\n
Towards the end of 2020, Donnelly said many luxury brands realised they needed to start selling online instead of relying on boutiques. Because Verb Brands had positioned itself as a go-to brand for luxury companies, the phone started \u201cringing all day\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, the financial strain faced by Donnelly during the pandemic prompted him to sell the company. He had \u201cunder-indexed\u201d on paying himself, and after seven years of work, he felt he had \u201cnothing to show for it\u201d.<\/p>\n
While he was making for the exit at Verb, his younger brother, Will, approached him with a new idea born out of their family\u2019s frustrating search for elderly care. \u201cAcross all four grandparents, we had very specific challenges \u2014 from poor home care to bad home choices, to a grandpa who was basically in bed at home for ten years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Together, they launched Lottie, a comparison marketplace for care homes. The business took off, aided by high-profile investors such as Tom Blomfield<\/a>, the co-founder of Monzo. Donnelly attributes some of the company\u2019s success to \u201cfeelgood\u201d marketing \u2014 pink branding and recreating Taylor Swift album covers featuring care home residents.<\/p>\n In the early years of Lottie, Donnelly built up his social media presence and his followers grew to more than one million.<\/p>\n![\"Collage](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2f06e9a6-b221-4a01-9d56-8efa9e97e6f4.jpg\")
Lottie Organisation<\/p>\n