When we first featured Rachel Harris as a 35 Under 35 Winner in 2022, her accountancy firm StriveX had grown from 50 to 500 clients. Four years on, the number has grown again, to 750. However, the more telling change is who StriveX will now take on at all.
“We’ve been able to scale and grow by refining our client profile, rather than take on hundreds of new clients,” says Harris. “We work with the right ones.” StriveX now works exclusively with limited companies turning over more than £1 million, narrowing the scope whilst still increasing its growth.
The numbers today
StriveX now operates from two offices, in Manchester and Oxford, with a 25-person team behind it. The firm is now worth an estimated £2.5 million. Across her platforms Harris has built a digital audience of 500,000 through Accountantshe, and it’s about to launch what Harris describes as a first-of-its-kind financial confidence course for business owners.
Hiring follows the client list
The shift in who StriveX serves has changed who it hires. “We now only hire qualified accountants with a minimum of three years’ practice experience,” Harris says. “You can probably track alignment in our changing client profile and recruitment needs. That’s not a coincidence.” As the client bar rose, so did the bar for the hiring process.
Why the team comes first
We asked Rachel what she’s learned as a leader that she couldn’t have learned as an accountant and the answer comes down to how she treats her team. Every year, the whole StriveX team goes on an all-inclusive holiday together; this year, Mallorca. In additon, gym memberships, private medical and private dental cover are all part of the package.
“It costs a lot, but it’s worth every penny,” she says. “I figured out quite early on that my clients will never love my firm unless my team love my firm.” StriveX has over 200 five-star Google reviews and Harris puts that down entirely to the team, not the marketing.
Hiring in the AI era
AI has changed what Harris looks for in a hire, but not as much as some might expect. “A strong ability to work with AI is a skill that is attractive when hiring right now, but for me it’s not a deal breaker,” she says. Instead, she measures candidates against three questions: do they want it, do they get it, are they competent to do the job. “AI is changing every day, and it’s my job as an employer to guide them through that journey with the confidence that AI won’t take their jobs.”
Advice for ambitious accountants
Asked what she’d do differently if she were starting her accountancy career again in 2026, Harris doesn’t hesitate. “Choose a boss, not a job. Every single time. Your boss will develop you, your CV and your skills more than any job title will.”
For accountants looking to be in a noticeably different position four years from now, her advice is more about the gaps most training doesn’t cover: soft skills, negotiation, and a deeper awareness of the business itself. “Those are the skills that separate a good accountant from a great one.”
What’s next for the profession
Looking ahead to 2030, Harris expects the noise around AI to have settled. “I think by 2030 a lot of the hype around AI will have quietened,” she says, predicting a landscape where business owners and accounting firms use AI to automate repetitive processes and delegate tasks, freeing up time for more meaningful client work.
Looking back at the 35 Under 35 award itself, Harris has no doubts about its value. “Winning the 35 under 35 absolutely helped me to land future opportunities,” she says. “It’s a prestigious title to add to any bio and is something I’m still incredibly proud of.”
Four years ago, StriveX’s story was about scale. Today, it’s about precision: fewer, better clients, a smaller but more senior team, and a leader who’s decided that looking after her people is the whole strategy.
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