What connects offshore engineering, inkjet printers, molecular diagnostics and a small workshop in a church in Newcastle?

For Paul Marshall, it’s all part of the same journey: a lifelong fascination with how things work, and a belief that good engineering can solve meaningful problems.

Paul is the co-founder of Rapid Fluidics, a UK consultancy and prototyping company specialising in microfluidic cartridges. What began as a part-time side project; evenings, weekends and two 3D printers in a rented room has grown into a profitable, globally recognised business serving life sciences startups, research labs and multinational pharma companies.

But the part that makes Paul’s story compelling isn’t the technology.

It’s the honesty:

He never wanted to be a founder.

He never set out to run a business.

And yet here he is, leading a team, travelling the world for client meetings, navigating cash flow, BD, branding, and hiring… all while staying open, self-aware and disarmingly human about the whole thing.

In this episode of Why Design, Paul joins host Chris Whyte to unpack the journey: the technical foundations, the unexpected turns, the small risks, the networking habits, the content strategy, the international expansion, and what it really means to grow a niche hardware business without investment.

Don’t just listen. Go beyond the podcast.

Join the Why Design community → teamkodu.com/events

💡 What You’ll Learn

🧪 Why microfluidics is exploding, and how Rapid Fluidics carved out a niche

🎓 How a grandfather, Lego and curiosity shaped Paul’s engineering mindset

🚀 The step-by-step transition from contractor → founder → employer

📈 Why transparency about cash flow builds trust inside a team

🔗 How LinkedIn and trade shows built a global BD pipeline

🇸 How Paul is expanding into the US without losing his UK roots

💬 Why the best founders “make it up as they go along”, and why that’s okay

💬 Memorable Quotes

“I wanted to see how machines work. I wanted to design machines… building things, breaking things, probably more breaking than building.”

“If an engineer can design a solution to a problem, it doesn’t matter if it’s a 36-inch pipe or a 200-micron pipe.”

“Six months in, we hired our first intern… and that’s when I realised: if I’m going to have employees full time, I need to do this full time.”

“I’m making it up as I go along but as long as I’m one page ahead, that’s all that matters.”

“You can’t beat sitting in a room showing people what we can make and watching the lightbulb moment.”

🔗 Resources & Links

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple, YouTube & Amazon → whydesign.club

👥 Join the Why Design community → teamkodu.com/events

🔍 Explore Rapid Fluidics → https://www.rapidfluidics.com/

🔗 Connect with Paul Marshall → https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-marshall-rapid-fluidics/

📸 Follow @whydesignxkodu on Instagram

🎥 Watch full episodes → YouTube.com/@whydesignpod

🔗 Connect with Chris Whyte → linkedin.com/in/mrchriswhyte

About the Episode

Why Design is powered by Kodu, a specialist recruitment partner for the hardware and product development industry.

Through candid conversations with designers, engineers and founders, we explore not just what they build, but why they build it.

About Kodu

Why Design is produced by Kodu, a recruitment partner for ambitious hardware brands, design consultancies and product-led start-ups. We help teams hire world-class talent across industrial design, mechanical engineering and product leadership.

🔗 Learn more → teamkodu.com