At 23, Alan Price was eating a packed lunch in a Manchester office, taking notes on HR war stories from managers twice his age. He didn’t have a degree. He didn’t have the job title. But he had something else: a habit of listening closely, learning fast, and asking better questions. By the end of the day, their stories became his stories—repurposed, reframed, and put to use advising business owners who were trying to avoid their next employment tribunal.
Today, Price is the CEO of BrightHR and Group COO of Peninsula, where he’s built a global platform serving small businesses across the UK, Ireland, Canada, and Australia. BrightHR was launched as an experiment in self-disruption—testing whether small businesses would embrace a digital-first HR model. Price took that mandate and built it out, turning Bright into a standalone product that now spans compliance tools, workplace insurance, health and safety support, and a peer-to-peer marketplace. His aim isn’t just to complement the consulting arm—it’s to make Bright essential, the kind of platform businesses open before they open their inbox.
That mindset came early. Raised on a Liverpool council estate, Price spent his teens taking every gig he could—paper rounds, milk routes, holding ladders for window cleaners—until he landed in retail and, eventually, insurance. It was there he found the trade union, the one environment where he could rise on competence, not credentials. He became one of the UK’s youngest lay tribunal members at 24, then joined Peninsula as a trainee advisor, sitting closer to founders than to formal processes. His learning curve was steep—and self-imposed.
Inside Bright, Price has built a culture that still values speed over ceremony. Sanity checks replace bureaucracy. Software teams ship quickly. Managers sit close to the work. He’s less interested in credentials than context, and he’s stayed focused on the kind of practical advice that actually changes how people lead. “Why did you hire them? What’s changed? Is it you, or is it them?” he’s said. In a space dominated by jargon, Price insists on clarity.
The summit keeps moving. It used to be about buying his mom a car or helping his sister with a house. Now it’s about reach—building Bright into a recognizable brand in markets the group hasn’t entered yet. “Every small business has got staff problems,” he’s said. “But no small business gets up in the morning and thinks, ‘I need HR software.’” He’s out to change that.
