Carl Reader

Carl Reader is an English author of two business books, serial entrepreneur, and resident business advisor at the Daily Express website. He is also a regular columnist in trade publications, and often featured in the national press.

Reader left school at 16 to start an apprenticeship in hairdressing. He returned to school to take his GCSE exams, and then pursued a career in accountancy.

After leaving school, Reader started training in an accountancy practice, moving to d&t (then Dennis & Turnbull) in 2002. He progressed through the firm, becoming partner in 2010 and completing management buy-outs in 2010 and 2014. He was listed in the Accountancy Age "35 under 35" in 2013, and was a finalist in the British Accountancy Awards Practitioner of the Year in 2014. Having taken his firm to winning the British Accountancy Awards in 2013 and returning as a finalist in 2014 and 2015, he was elected onto the judging panel in 2016.

Reader has been regularly featured in the accountancy press, and is a regular commentator about the future of the profession, having accurately predicted the rise of cloud technologies in the late 2000s. He is regularly featured in journals such as Economia and Accounting & Business, and has a regular column in Accountancy Age. His views are also sought by those outside of the accounting world to understand how a traditional practice can attract well known clients. Reader openly admits that he was a "square peg in a round hole" in the accounting world, and that accountancy was a platform for him to learn and then offer business advice.

He wrote his first book, The Startup Coach, in 2014 which was publsihed in 2015; it was followed by The Franchising Handbook in 2016, both published by Hodder. According to his website, Reader has co-founded Selling A Franchise and The Bear Group, and is a pro bono advisor to The Trussell Trust. He is also an early-stage investor in startups.

Reader was elected as Affiliate Forum Chairman of the British Franchise Association in December 2014 and was re-elected in 2015; however he stepped down in 2016 to put himself forward as a board director, and was successfully elected in December 2016.

Reader has frequently been cited in the media, including national press such as The Telegraph,The Times (Raconteur supplement), Daily Express', The Guardian, Forbes,Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and i (newspaper). He was interviewed by Victoria Derbyshire on BBC Two regarding both the business view of maternity rights, and on BBC News about whether a degree is needed for career success. He was also featured on BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat. He is also a regular contributor to trade journals in both the accountancy and franchising worlds, together with many business focused websites.

Reader was also invited to be a panellist in the 2015 series of The Apprentice; however the panel was changed at the request of contestant Joseph Valente.

In 2016 Reader became a columnist for the Daily Express website, and also provided columns for the business pages of the Daily Mirror and The Sun. He is also a contributor at City AMand several business focused websites. He also has a monthly show on Share Radio alongside Georgie Frost, in which he speaks about a range of business issues.

He was listed in the City AM Top 100 Entrepreneurs in February 2016, entering the list at number 66, and rising to number 36 in May 2016.