Unusual Group, a collective of specialist agencies focused on helping founders build exit-ready businesses, today announced that its founder, Luke Tobin, has signed with Pan Macmillan to publish his first book on performance in high-pressure environments in the second quarter of next year. Aimed at anyone who wants to push to their next level in demanding situations, the book will draw on Tobin’s experience in fast-growth businesses and boardrooms and complements the support Unusual Group and Tobin Capital provide to founders.
Luke Tobin is a British entrepreneur, investor, and three-time-exited founder. He is best known for scaling Digital Ethos into one of the United Kingdom’s fastest-growing digital agencies before its multimillion-pound sale. Across his career, he has built and exited businesses with a combined exit value of more than £20 million. Through Unusual Group and Tobin Capital, he now focuses on helping founders build businesses that are both healthier to run and more attractive to buy. With content reaching tens of millions of people each month, Tobin has become one of the most-followed and trusted voices on business growth, leadership, and the realities of building companies that last. His straight-talking style and track record as a three-time exited founder have positioned him as a key figure for leaders who want practical insight rather than hype..
Performance in High-Pressure Environments
The forthcoming Pan Macmillan book marks Tobin’s first major publishing project and will distil lessons from his experience building and exiting multiple businesses, as well as his work with founders and leadership teams across the Unusual Group portfolio and wider network.
Rather than offering a step-by-step formula, the book will explore what happens to people when the stakes feel high, and what often separates those who stay stuck from those who keep progressing. It will examine how ambition, pressure, and opportunity collide in modern work and leadership, and what that means for anyone trying to move forward.
“Most people who want to achieve more in their work or business are already under a lot of pressure, whether that is from investors, clients, teams or their own expectations,” Tobin said. “This book is about helping them see that pressure more clearly and understand the patterns it creates, so they can keep moving towards what they want instead of being quietly held back by it.”
The book is intended for a broad readership of people responsible for results who want to move to the next level, including founders, executives, and senior operators across sectors.
A Challenging Landscape for Agencies and Services Businesses
The announcement comes at a time when Tobin believes the operating environment for agencies and other service businesses is becoming more complex.
On the surface, conditions for growth appear favourable. Capital is available, technology is more accessible than ever, and there are numerous playbooks for scaling. In practice, Tobin argues, many founders are feeling the strain.
Artificial intelligence and automation are transforming clients' expectations of agencies and professional services firms. Standardised tasks are easier to automate or outsource, which can push fees down while salaries, office costs, and compliance costs rise. Clients expect more value, faster delivery and clearer accountability. Many of the retainers that drive agency revenue were scoped for a different era.
Inside the business, founders are carrying a heavy mental and operational load. Many agencies are busy but not bankable. They show growth on a revenue chart, while the underlying margin remains thin and dependent on a handful of key clients or key people.
“I speak to founders who have built impressive revenue numbers yet feel further away from a real exit than ever,” Tobin said. “They have a job, not an asset. They have activity, not a system. And they are tired. You cannot spreadsheet your way out of a broken model.”
“There has never been more advice for founders, but very little of it comes from people who have actually built and sold businesses,” he added. “That is the gap we are trying to close.”
Connecting Capital, Infrastructure and Human Performance
After exiting his own businesses, Tobin found himself in regular conversations with founders who were wrestling with similar challenges: strong top-line growth but weak margins, overreliance on key individuals, and limited visibility into how to build a company buyers would value.
Unusual Group was created to address those issues. It is a collective of agency owners and operators who have built, scaled and exited businesses. The group focuses on three core areas: back-office infrastructure, practical growth support and peer learning between founders.
On the infrastructure side, Unusual Group helps agencies strengthen their finance, legal, technology and operational governance so they can withstand scrutiny from buyers and investors. On the growth side, it supports founders with pricing, new business systems, service design, productisation and the intelligent use of AI inside delivery teams. On the human side, it provides decision support and a network of peers who understand the pressures of agency leadership.
“Founders need people around them who understand their model and share what has really worked, not just theory,” Tobin said. “Our role is to bring capital, infrastructure and lived experience together so they can build businesses that are both resilient and valuable.”
Backing Mission-Led Founders Through Tobin Capital
Alongside Unusual Group sits Tobin Capital, Tobin’s investment vehicle for backing visionary, mission-led founders across sectors. Tobin Capital combines founder-friendly capital with operator insight, supporting businesses with proven momentum, clear differentiation and leaders committed to pushing the boundaries of innovation.
“We champion visionary founders who are driven by a distinct mission and dedicated to pushing the boundaries of innovation,” Tobin said. “The role of capital is not just to accelerate growth, but to help founders build something that lasts.”
Tobin noted that regardless of sector, the foundations of sustainable growth remain consistent. These include building for real profitability, creating repeatable operating systems, strengthening leadership depth early and protecting the decision quality of the founder as the business scales.
“A company cannot stay strong if the person leading it is burned out or paralysed by doubt,” he said. “Founders are often treated as if they are indestructible. In reality, they are usually the most fragile part of the system.”
Extending the Message Through Publishing
For Tobin, the forthcoming Pan Macmillan book is a way to extend the message he has been delivering in boardrooms and founder sessions to a wider audience.
“My work now is about helping founders and leaders build organisations that buyers want, without losing themselves along the way,” he said. “Publishing this book is one way to make that support available beyond the founders we work with directly.”
Unusual Group will continue to expand its collective of agencies and shared infrastructure, while Tobin Capital focuses on backing services businesses that want to combine ambitious growth with discipline and resilience. The book, scheduled for publication in the second quarter of next year, is intended to complement that work by offering readers a different way to think about performance in high-pressure environments and what is possible for them.
Founders and leaders can learn more at luketobin.com or explore partnership opportunities via unusualgroup.com.
Read more about Unusual Group: "From founder to exit partner: How Luke Tobin is backing the next generation of agency leaders"
About Unusual Group
Unusual Group is a collective of specialist agencies helping ambitious brands achieve sustainable, exit-ready growth. The group brings together creative, strategic and digital expertise under one ecosystem, providing investment, shared infrastructure and strategic support to agency founders. Founded by Luke Tobin, Unusual Group continues to expand across the UK and Europe, building a network of high-growth agencies that combine human-led innovation with commercial discipline. To learn more, visit unusualgroup.com.
