Through his consultancy company, Talksense Partners LLP, Paul Traynor works with private companies, usually to support the business through a period of significant change. He also provides training, investment support and strategic advice to venture capital and private equity firms.

Paul spent 15 years with 3i Group plc, becoming a Managing Director within the UK investment business and a member of the UK Management Committee. A graduate of Oxford University Paul spent 2 years with British Aerospace prior to joining 3i. From August 1996 he was appointed to manage 3i’s operations in the Midlands region consisting of 26 investment executives. This team managed net assets of £700m, (comprising around 550 individual investments) and generated annual profits of £85m.

Paul was one of 3i’s most successful investors, personally responsible for investments such as Teesside Holdings (privatisation of the Tees & Hartlepool Port Authority), Zotefoams (manufacture of specialist foams), Prontaprint (PTP of Continuous Stationery plc), Nottingham Group (educational supplier) and Denby Pottery. Since leaving 3i Paul has invested privately in a number of successful ventures including Imagine Publishing and Acoura. He is also an accredited CEDR mediator and certified to conduct Hogan Personality Assessments.

Paul is also the author of two books. In Search of Thursday is an entertaining and informative personal account of learning to become a venture capitalist in Birmingham in the 1980s. The Cloud of Stuff (co-written with Alice Chapman) is an insightful and provocative treatise on the art of winning venture capital and private equity deals.