David Black. Operator Background and Roadmap
This page exists to remove ambiguity.
It defines how I operate, who this work is for, and the conditions under which alignment makes sense.
It is not a personal brand page.
It is not an agency pitch.
It is not designed to persuade.
If you are looking for reassurance, education, or to be sold to, stop here.
If you already know your problem and want it stabilised properly, read on.
Demand Control Is the Business
I built businesses before I built marketing systems.
Paid acquisition became the lever to scale them. Not the product.
I still do this because poorly controlled growth destroys good businesses faster than bad products ever will.
This is not a life story.
It is a record of decisions, outcomes, and direction.
This is not for startups, lifestyle founders, or anyone looking for reassurance.
Timeline
2001–2005
- Full-time college and university
- Built a part-time computer repair business across Central Scotland while studying
- First exposure to pricing, client management, cash flow, and delivery
- Purchased first home in 2001. Sold in 2005
Outcome. Learned how small service businesses actually survive or fail.
2006–2008
- Full-time computer network field engineer
- Continued growing the repair business alongside employment
- First business sold
- Sold first home and purchased second home in 2008
Decision logic. Employment de-risked capital while ownership built leverage.
Outcome. First clean exit. Capital recycled forward.
2008–2011
- Full-time owner of a computer network installation and support company in Central Scotland
- First business acquired
- Second business sold
Failure learned. Technical excellence does not scale without controlled demand.
Outcome. Shift from technician thinking to operator thinking.
2012–2013
- Founded PureRapid Websites and Online Marketing in Glasgow city centre
- First Rapid Group company
Decision logic. Demand control is the business. Everything else is secondary.
2014–2019
- Expanded into affiliate marketing within the Rapid Group
- Multi seven-figure top-performing affiliate across UK, EU, and US B2C and B2B brands
- Scaled PureRapid Marketing into a high-performing Meta and Google Ads partner
- Lived and worked across 20 plus countries while operating the group
Constraint hit. Some offers collapsed under scale. Platforms changed rules without warning.
Outcome. Volume revealed truth. Systems replaced tactics.
2020–2022
- Returned to the UK during lockdown
- Operated through economic disruption while supporting a parent through critical illness
- Fastest growth phase in PureRapid Marketing history
Outcome. Leadership and execution held under pressure.
2023
- Relocated to Bali for one year
- Scaled client accounts and owned Shopify businesses remotely
- Surpassed one hundred million dollars in annual ad spend managed
- Bali villa retained as a long-term home base and operating asset
Outcome. Systems proved independent of location or personality.
2024–2025
- Relocated to Dubai to restructure operations and formalise the group
- Two years to date establishing structure, banking, governance, and scale
- Revenue and profit scaled to all-time highs
- Surpassed £500m in total client revenue generated
Position. Financially independent from any single client, platform, or channel.
Work is selective by design.
2026 and beyond
- Planned time split between established bases and new homes in Thailand
- Regular commuting to Dubai for business and group oversight
- Extended periods driving across Europe tied to a long-standing passion for Porsche
- Additional United States company formations to support growing global operations
- Continued expansion of owned Shopify and TikTok Shop brands
Role. Architect and capital allocator, not account manager.
Direction. Eight-figure group revenue. Clients scaled to multi seven and eight figures.
No planned expansion into extended services, coaching, or trend-led offers.
What I Do Now
I design, pressure-test, and scale acquisition systems.
I deploy capital where numbers survive stress.
I remove volatility before chasing upside.
This work is executed through a defined acquisition operating doctrine built over two decades.
Internally, this is referred to as The Demand Control Doctrine.
Closer to a private operator than an agency owner.
Closer to a holding company mindset than a service business.
Most work arrives through referral from operators already at scale.
Typically brought in once growth becomes noisy.
I provide private 1:1 advisory engagements for established operators.
Reference Class
- Owner-led businesses doing £2m–£20m plus in revenue
- Groups where paid acquisition already works, but control has degraded
- Founders experiencing fragile or margin-destructive growth
If that does not describe you, this is not designed for you.
Boundaries
I do not fix broken businesses.
I do not replace leadership.
I do not manufacture demand for weak offers.
I scale what already works.
I stabilise before I optimise.
Capital Alignment
In selected cases, alignment goes beyond fees.
This can include minority participation or long-term revenue alignment.
Structure follows performance, not potential.
Unfair Advantage
Two decades as a business operator, not just a marketer.
Pattern recognition from hundreds of millions in managed ad spend.
Repeated exposure to scale, failure, recovery, and compounding.
Guiding belief. Control beats optimisation. Every time.
When Contact Makes Sense
If growth has outpaced control.
If spend is increasing without predictability.
If volatility is costing margin or sanity.
Otherwise, do not reach out.
Continuity
The systems are designed to function without my daily involvement.
That is intentional.
Position
I work with operators who want predictable growth they can control.
Not attention. Not hype. Not hope.
Demand control is the business.
If alignment is obvious, you already know how to reach me.