How iwoca helps Mark Natthan build "The Netflix of Cleaning" on his terms.

Mark Natthan was working in IT sales when he noticed something: he could clean the office better than whoever was being paid to do it. His manager called his bluff and Mark called it back.

Within a couple of weeks, he'd quit and gone all in on professional cleaning. His boss told him his old job was there if it didn't work out. His dad told him something else: nothing ventured, nothing gained.

“I think everyone knew I could do it,” Mark says. “I just wasn't sure if I could.”

He went Ltd in 2015. Today, CQD Cleaning Services covers a 45-mile radius around High Wycombe with 35 staff and a subscription-based model that's designed for the next generation of commercial cleaning. 

Nobody else said yes

Mark had his first child at 17. He grew up thinking credit wasn't something you used. So he never built a history, and when he needed funding, nobody wanted to know

Metro Bank and Barclays turned him down. He walked into Santander with £40k in his account and asked for a business bank account. He was told no. "Not only could I not get a loan, I couldn't even get a business account," Mark says.

They'd happily hold his money as an individual, b ut they wouldn't give CQD a bank account.

His accountant pointed him towards iwoca, and Mark finally had his "yes’".

“Everyone else made me feel like I wasn't really doing anything. iwoca looked at what I was building and got it.” — Mark Natthan, Founder, CQD Cleaning Services

“You guys actually understood,” Mark says. iwoca gave him the flexibility to hire ahead of revenue. When cash flow is tight between jobs, he can bridge the gap, then repay as soon as clients settle.

The moment it mattered

Three years in, Mark was doing almost everything alone. He knew to grow he needed a team. So he bought a crew van with his own savings, hired six people and put them in uniforms. What used to take him eight hours, they could do in two.

But now he had six wages to cover, and he couldn't keep self-funding.

iwoca gave him the confidence to hire without relying solely on client payments. As part of his business model, Mark draws £10–20k towards the end of each month when cash flow is tight, then pays it back as soon as his clients settle. It means his cash flow stays steady and predictable, his staff get paid, and his clients stay spotless. Mark has taken over 80 fundings in nine years. £1.4m total, and never a late repayment.

Then COVID hit.

“If I hadn't been using iwoca since 2017, I wouldn't have survived COVID," he says. “That's where you guys really showed up.”

Still 100% his

Mark has had approaches to sell CQD from Knightbridge, and even investors on LinkedIn. He hasn't pursued any of them.

The reason is pragmatic, not ideological. He knows his business has value, but he's just getting started.

Mark still owns 100% of CQD. And he's not selling until there's something worth selling.

“For a long time, I was just trying to survive,” he says. “Now I really know where we need to go.”

The "Netflix of Cleaning"

Mark calls CQD the Netflix of the cleaning industry. The model is simple: subscription-based, no contracts, no five-year tie-ins. If you're not happy, you leave.

Mark is building for the next generation: a few months ago he sat down with a young facilities manager in Milton Keynes and explained his subscription concept. "She told me she'd never sign another cleaning contract again," Mark smiles.

The next 12 months are about building the sales engine to reach more people like her: email marketing, targeted outreach to higher-end clients. There's also a conversation with an AI company that wants to pay CQD to collect cleaning data via cameras. New revenue, and new proof of where the industry is heading.

Mark still calls his iwoca account manager on the last working Friday of every month. If he doesn't, they check in anyway.

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