Author: 3ColoursRule

The world is becoming more tech-driven. Technology operations can affect your margin.

Flavilla is joined by the awesome Paul Tynan, Co-Founder of E2Tech. They are discussing effective technology operations that improve the margin for your tech business.

Briefly, tell us how your journey took where you are right now

With a career working in global financial services for over 25 years, I wanted to take that knowledge and expertise and help other organisations to improve how they run and manage their technology environment. I had worked with Keith before and as he had a similar background and shared my passion to liberate IT teams from the production nightmares, they face day in day out (we have both been in that boat!). We decided to form E2Tech and set out on a mission to help IT-teams.

 

What was your aha moment which led you to create your business?

Many organizations, particularly larger ones, are operating with a blend of modern digital technologies running alongside a patchwork of archaic systems developed over many years/decades.

The poorly-integrated systems which hold valuable data make it challenging for organisations to make informed decisions and in addition to leverage that data to make improvements. Working within a complex environment like this makes it very challenging to run your IT operations in a stable, low-cost and transparent way.

For us, it was clear there was no real commitment or focus on addressing the operational elements of technology. Understandably there was lots of focus on the promise of the shiny new digital and mobile technology, but from our perspective, you cannot have one without the other. A stable foundation is critical to continuously innovate. Many IT teams spend most of their days firefighting old issues instead of focusing on creating new value. We want to change this, that’s why we created E2Tech.

 

Why is your business relevant to the issues you have identified?

Our solutions and services focus on addressing three core challenge most IT organisations are currently facing: complexity, stability and cost. We have made it our mission to help IT organisations control and navigate an increasingly complex landscape. Also, we wanted to help them to put the right frameworks in place to minimise downtime (so their business stakeholders can build confidence in their ability to deliver reliable solutions) and finally open the door to new cost efficiencies through automation and the integration of modern cloud-native solutions.

 

What has been your biggest lesson learnt in growing E2Tech?

You have to be prepared to step outside your comfort zone and back yourself with what you know.

It is necessary to stick to your values and to be prepared to walk away.

You can’t do everything. Build up strong partnerships with other companies who share the same values and passions as you do. Through this, you can offer customers a richer experience.

Tell us about your customer acquisition systems

So far, we have focused on helping organisations we already have a strong relationship with. The reason to do this is to build credibility and momentum and to mature and improve our offering. We have recently relaunched our website with a fresh new look and feel that better reflects the value we can bring customers. Going forward we hope to ramp up our marketing efforts to reach new customers who could benefit from our help/expertise. We have focused to date on the financial services sector. However, our offering is designed to be industry agnostic as most IT organisations regardless of the sector are grappling with the same issues.

 

What do you wish more people knew?

That it’s worth spending the time putting strong foundations in place for innovation to thrive. Cutting corners or overlooking the operational elements of IT will bring you a lot of unnecessary headaches in the future and will hinder you from doing what you want to do. It’s critical to get the right frameworks and approaches in place before focusing time and money on innovation. Large organisations are still spending a significant % of their budgets safeguarding spaghetti-like legacy systems making it impossible to deliver the right business outcomes.

How should people remember you?

We want to combine our technology and operational experience to bring about some really important changes in how organizations view and manage their IT operations. Our desire is, to turn it from being an afterthought to a central part of an organizations transformation strategy. For us, this is not for short term return. Enduring quality and value is something we want to deliver to teams to work in new and better ways. We want to liberate them from the daily drudgery that is holding back progress and innovation.

 

 

About the speaker

Paul is a Senior technologist with over 30 years of experience in both operational and strategic positions in multinational organisations. Moreover, he has significant experience in Technology Operations, strategy formulation and implementation as well as the management of large operational teams.

He is adept at reviewing and defining operating models to optimise efficiency and effectiveness. Paul makes sure to use technology to meet the required business outcomes and has extensive experience in outsourcing and offshoring.

He is a true specialist when it comes to effective technology operations to increase the margin of businesses.

 

About E2Tech

E2Tech helps companies to take control of IT Operations. They help them focus on delivering stable, scalable and robust solutions.

They use deep experience and expertise to help businesses transform how they approach and manage IT Operations. Achieving greater stability at a significantly lower price.

From Strategic Crisis Management to Operating Models, E2Tech works in partnership with you to assess and improve the current IT landscape. They help you by putting your business on the right track to achieve the best outcomes.

 

Liked this article about effective technology operations that increase the margin for your tech business? Then why not read “HOW TO INCREASE CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT FOR MY TECH BUSINESS”

If you have a vision for where you want your tech business to be in 10 years, you need to plan how much money is needed to get there. This requires strong financial models.

Flavilla is joined by the lovely Sara Green, CEO of Canaree, to discuss the key elements for developing strong financial models for your tech business.

 

Briefly, tell us how your journey took you to where you are right now.

I founded my first company at age 16 which opened my eyes to entrepreneurship. Working in several early stage companies across the UK and US furthered that innovative bug. 

 

What was your ‘aha’ moment which lead you to create Canaree?

In 2019 I met my now Co-founders. Coming out of the financial services industry they wanted to disrupt it, knowing first hand the issues entrepreneurs face. With my own experiences founding and being part of early stage companies I was excited to join the mission.

 

Why is Canaree relevant to the issues you have identified?

It’s easier than ever to start a business. But now, they also need more help than ever to get through unprecedented times. Canaree delivers the quickest, most accurate (no code) financial modelling and forecasting tool to assist founders, project managers and financial managers keep businesses on track.

 

What has been your biggest lesson learnt from growing Canaree?

Building resilience is the most important skill to learn as an entrepreneur. Every day can be a roller coaster ride. You’ll often have more to do than hours in the day. It’s important to be able to navigate those challenges and thrive in the chaos. 

 

Tell us about your customer acquisition systems.

We use a mix of acquisition strategies ranging from content and PR to search and social media. The most powerful is word of mouth and network referrals which we’re seeing increase every month.

 

What do you wish more people knew?

That starting a business isn’t rocket science. I hear too many people dreaming of starting something. But they never do it  because they’re afraid of the risk or that they don’t have the skills. In my opinion, we should do more of what scares us to really grow out of our comfort zone. 

 

Thinking about your legacy, how do you want be be remembered?

When I’m eighty looking back at my life I’d like to think I have made a difference and had some impact as CEO and entrepreneur. However, being a good friend, daughter, partner, mother and colleague is more important than anything else. I don’t want to think back of opportunities I didn’t pursue! 

 

About the speaker

Sara Green is a serial entrepreneur, having launched her first company when she was just 16. Since then she started a number of companies as well as community organisations focused on entrepreneurship and innovation.

Danish of origin, she earned her M.Sc. from IT University of Copenhagen and has since worked in both San Francisco and London firstly as a management consultant and later as an innovative entrepreneur.

Not one to shy away from a challenge, her latest venture is as CEO for Canaree, which aims to simplify the world of finance by creating financial models, forecasts and much more for pre CFO startups.

 

About Canaree

Canaree replaces complex spreadsheets with a smarter way to calculate and manage startup finance, so founders can focus on growing their business.

Founders from early-stage to pre-IPO rely on Canaree to help them build the companies of tomorrow. Canaree’s always free version allows pre-revenue startups to plan for growth.

With a premium subscription, founders can easily create, update, collaborate and share their financial plans, accessing automated and on-demand financial advice along the way. 

When companies grow, so does the complexities of finances, Canaree grows along with them.

 

Liked this article? Then why not read ” HOW TO DEVELOP MULTIPLE STREAMS OF INCOME“

It is easy to accept that you are doing well and so you cease spending on R&D and striving for innovation. In the short term, this could make you more profitable because you aren’t investing so much in R&D, but in the long term this will hinder your success and progress.

Flavilla was joined by Matthew Duhig, Co-Founder of FX Digital, to talk about how R&D can make your tech business more resilient.

 

Briefly, tell us how your journey took where you are right now

FX Digital began as a shared passion between my business partner Tom and I. We designed and developed relatively simple “brochure” websites, while also trying to make ends meet at University. After graduating, we both found ourselves looking for work during a global recession. We took relatively low paid jobs to kickstart our careers in development and visual FX. Not long after taking these jobs, we realised that we would be able to sustain a better living for ourselves if we just pursued our work with FX Digital a little more. It took some time, but eventually we were able to go full time with the business. Moving into an office on Brick Lane, and hiring our first employee, a designer, in 2015.

The second hire we made came shortly after, and this time it was an investment in an R&D specialist. Fast forward to 2020 and that investment in R&D has helped us to expand our offering into emerging technologies, in particular Voice and Connected TV, with a team of nearly 40 incredible people generating annual revenues of over £2.5m.

My journey along the way has very much been in harmony with FX Digital. I have grown with the company, learning along the way and I am now a BIMA 100 member. I am also a Managing Director of a company that I’m immensely proud to be a part of.

 

What was your aha moment which led you to create FX Digital?

I don’t think we ever had one particular ‘aha’ moment, because the company has evolved organically over time. However, there are some distinct memories that stick with me from the earlier days. The first being the commitment from both me and Tom to starting the business. This was after a few beers at the local pub. The next major milestone was our decision to begin working from the Cafe at Google Campus in Moorgate. Then, about a month later committing to our first office space, which at the time we really could not afford!

 

What has been your biggest lesson learnt from growing FX Digital?

Growing a business comes almost entirely down to people and relationships. Most of our work did, and still does, come from the network that we have managed to continuously grow. We’ve gone from building websites for friends and families, to building digital products for global businesses. But in both instances, the size of the project is a reflection of the size of our network at that point in time. Perhaps more importantly, the amazing people that work with us at FX are so effective because of the environment we’ve created as a team and the relationships we all have with one another. Whether it’s clients or team members, it all comes down to people and relationships.

 

What do you wish more people knew when it comes to R&D?

It’s incredibly difficult to sustain a commitment to R&D. Whenever you pitch innovation to clients they ask for the ROI or example successes. The reality is that when working with emerging technology there’s not much evidence of success knocking about. As a result of this, almost all companies are scared of investing in innovation. Buyers of your service or technology need A LOT of convincing to put their neck on the line to back whatever R&D innovation you’re pitching into them. A lot of the time it comes down to your relationship with that buyer, and whether they share your beliefs for the innovation you’re pitching. For this reason it’s tempting to reduce R&D activities in a business, replacing them instead with fee earning activities (project work, sales, etc.).

Really the only way of creating a sustained R&D effort, is to breed a culture for R&D. Allow your team to do that hackathon. Invest some of your profits into cool things that your team are passionate about. Give your team the slack and freedom to explore innovation on their own terms. But don’t have a paddy when something they investigate blows up!

 

Thinking about your legacy, how do you want to be remembered?

I’d like to be remembered as someone that helped others to be happy. I’m happy when others are happy, and I understand how much of an impact an individual’s career can have on their happiness. I’m obsessed with finding out why people are unhappy, and often make it my mission to work out what makes them happy! I want FX to be a place of education, growth, and passion, but most importantly, happiness.

 

About the speaker

Matt started FX Digital as a website development company from his home in 2011, with his business partner Tom. 

As the business steadily grew, the easy option would have been to stick with what they knew – web design and build. 

However, this would not have been true to Matt’s personal philosophy, which was – and continues to be – a steadfast belief that investment in new technology is crucial; not only for his own business but for society as a whole.

Matt has pioneered voice technology and innovative OTT TV solutions in the UK digital scene. His achievements with FX Digital demonstrate both entrepreneurial spirit and drive for change and advancement in the emerging tech space.

 

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Economy of opportunities is all about how can you bring your insights, talents and experience together in order to solve an issue. Whether that be a industry issue, client issue or internal issue.

Flavilla was joined by James Herbert, Founding Partner of The Panoply, to discuss “How to build an economy of opportunities and create your tech ecosystem”.

Briefly, tell us how your journey took where you are right now

My journey started in the same way that many older entrepreneurs start. I’m not even sure that I am that entrepreneurial. I certainly wasn’t selling food in the playground from age 8 like so many entrepreneurs say they did. Working in an industry – Government – whose use of technology, data and suppliers frustrated and saddened me so much, I wanted to do something about it. I believed that I could bring about more change from the outside than as an employee. It was this need to try and fix an important thing rather than some burning desire to create a business or some fancy exit plan that first pushed me into it.

 

What has been your biggest lesson learnt from working at The Panoply?

Having sold the business to a listed PLC, I have been on a huge learning curve about listing and what being a public company really means. It does have some challenges but on balance I think I have learnt about the wisdom of the markets. Often, in the short term, the pressure of the markets can feel a bit short term or too intense. But actually, on reflection it leads to you growing up quickly as a business. It forces you to focus and really think about your decisions and investments. I don’t regret doing it and I suspect I will always be a much stronger business person for the experience. economy of opportunities

 

Tell me about Panoply’s customer acquisition systems? And at which stage of a company’s lifecycle should they approach you?

We support clients in their digital transformation efforts, primarily through building products and services on the cloud and through automation. As a company, we are building up our marketing and content presence. But at this stage, most of our work comes via words of mouth, relationships and government frameworks. Panoply is very good at making sure certain types of organisations always need the thing that we are expert in. Our clients are generally medium to large institutions such as public, private and non profit. They tend to need our help with their digital, technology and data goals.

 

What do you wish more people knew when it comes to creating a tech ecosystem?

I wish people knew more about the detail of creating double sided platforms rather than just the headlines. What it takes to build such platforms. How do you get supply and demand to interact over the platform? Are you capable of owning such a platform? Do you have the right conditions in place to be successful? What talent do you need to maintain the platform and the business model etc. In terms of our business model, in a way, we are an eco system of experts in some aspect of modern technology rather than the tech ecosystem. I’ll let you know more about that in a few years when I know more myself. 🙂

 

Thinking about your legacy, how do you want to be remembered?

As someone who was generous in spirit to the people in my life and who was authentic about what I believe to be important in (business) life. As I mentioned in the interview with Flavilla, I would love to bring my knowledge of Government, tech and data to help in the fight against the hideous problem of Lyme Disease, particularly in children. But that might have to be my longer term project. economy of opportunities

 

About the speaker

Prior to his entrepreneurial career James Herbert was a Civil Servant and Local Government Officer. During that time he co-designed, delivered and led some of the most significant technology and data led transformation programs of the last two decades. 

At the Cabinet Office he worked on the original Government Cloud team as co-author of the G-Cloud Framework and Cloud First Strategy. This work has become the default standard for digital government across the world. In Local Government, as a CIO, he pioneered the adoption of cloud technology, agile methods and open data standards. He was also a member of the team that designed and delivered the world’s first Low Code Council.

Since 2015 James has founded 4 successful technology businesses delivering services across Cloud, software engineering and latterly automation. His current businesses, Not binary and Human+ were acquired by The Panoply Group in 2018 and listed on the London Stock Exchange.

James has personally advised and mentored a variety of organisations on their technology and data strategies including Haymarket Media, Salesforce, CP Plus, Cancer Research UK and Ofcom.

In his spare time, James is responsible for business development and fundraising for Lyme Disease UK.

 

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Are you looking to grow your tech company from zero to 100,000? Well our podcast guest, Ivan Izikowitz, can tell you how to achieve this in just 12 months! 

Listen to his podcast to find out how, and read this article to learn more about his journey.

 

Briefly, tell us how your journey took where you are right now

As a technologist I have always been obsessed by the potential of technology to enhance our lives. Another obsession of mine is the constant drive to create solutions, teams and products. All of which have common attributes in that they require a vision and the ability to solve problems. Building a high-functioning team, for example, is like a dynamic puzzle. The profile of the next person you recruit is refined (and sometimes redefined) by the previous one. It’s a similar situation with solutions. Everything we learn during the creation of a component has the potential to inform what happens next. In summary, my career can probably be categorised as a creative engineer.

 

What was your aha moment which led you to create Double Eye?

I wish I could say that Double Eye was the result of a grand vision but, as with a number of my startups, it was more opportunistic and circumstantial. I had just come to the end of a 6 year stint of creating two start-ups (Virgin Net and Citria). Invigorated and tired and with two young children, I was at a point of re-evaluating my priorities in life. I decided to take some time out and spend time with my children. However, I was receiving calls from VCs to do some venture consulting and due diligence. The genesis of Double Eye was merely my vehicle with which to do consulting.

By the way, the name Double Eye came from Cat, my assistant at Citria, who used to call me that. Before too long I was getting calls to do digital transformation projects. The first being the London Tourist Board re-inventing itself as Visit London. It was then I started to build a team and a real business. Fast forward 15 years and Double Eye has delivered projects for some amazing clients including The O2, RSC and New York City and has a development team in Cape Town. 

 

What has been your biggest lesson learnt from growing Double Eye?

A lesson from earlier in my career than Double Eye – people! Find and work with the best, brightest and people who fit into the team. When you have the level of mutual trust in the team, capable people and everyone pulling together the same direction, you have the constant feeling that anything is possible. 

 

Tell me about your customer acquisition systems?

Not really applicable because Double Eye is B2B. Most of our customer acquisition is word of mouth or referrals. However, in Cape Town we have recently brought in a local media personality who has an amazing local network and will expand our reach. 

 

What do you wish more people knew about growing their tech company?

If you want to grow your tech company from zero to 100,000, you should always focus on the value proposition. If you are delivering genuine value and/or utility to your customers you are already halfway there. Technology is just the tool. Resist the urge to over-engineer, it just has to be good enough!

 

Thinking about your legacy, how do you want to be remembered?

A resilient problem solver who loves working with people more than technology 😉

 

About the speaker

Ivan Izikowitz is the founder of Double Eye. They are a company that develops strategic technology plans to address business challenges and then implements them.

With a degree in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Distributed Computer Control systems, Ivan has had a varied career spanning hardware and software development, telecoms, and has spent the last 25 years working on Internet-based businesses and solutions. 

Ivan’s entrepreneurial adventures started in 1995 with the founding of Virgin Net, the first consumer ISP in the UK and now part of Virgin Media. Since then, as well as creating a number of other companies, he has worked as Business & Technical Leader and Advisor across a range of sectors – from early stage to established businesses

Ivan has also developed a reputation as a “technology firefighter” and is often called upon when technology projects and/or organisations go wrong.

In the last couple of years he has started to focus on investing his energy in the green economy and activities which help tackle the climate crisis.

 

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In our episode with Dr. Robert M. Learney, we discussed “New thinker vs risk adverse – How can they work together to develop great technology”. In this article you will find out a little more about Robert and his journey. He will also tell us his biggest lessons learnt and what he wishes more people knew. 

Briefly, tell us how your journey took where you are right now

I began my career in 2003 as a medical doctor working in the NHS. I really enjoyed learning everything at University and thoroughly committed to my first few years. But I soon realised that it wasn’t for me. However, it took me many years to make the decision to leave and forge my own path. I always wanted to ‘invent things’ and make a difference on a larger scale. So in late 2009 I returned to university to study a MSc in Biomedical Engineering. This was followed by some time trying to start my own business, and learning a lot along the way. I was fortunate enough to then win funding from the Dyson Foundation to undertake a PhD. It was during this time that Bitcoin was first emerging onto the world stage.

I started reading about this invention and everything I could learn about it, and the whole field just made complete sense to me. But here I felt I could actually try to make a difference. As a result, I co-founded a research centre at Imperial College with a Professor in Computing and a colleague from the Business school. After a couple of years of monitoring emerging projects in this space, I made the move to Digital Catapult where I could try to have a more widespread impact on the adoption of these technologies in the UK.

Why is your business relevant to the issues within the technologies sector?

Digital Catapult is a truly great place to be working on these types of cutting edge digital technologies. We have the opportunity to neutrally observe and try to gently guide where industry should be heading through deep exploration and experimentation. We currently have a broad range of projects underway in DLT. This ranges from exploring the circular economy, nuclear waste management, airspace routing, to improving the trust in your sandwich. All of these are consortium efforts. They are fundamental for anything involving distributed systems or DLT.

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learnt from working at Digital Catapult?

The world needs bridge builders. These are people who can understand the gaps between different specialisms. As well as this, they can bring parties together to build a better shared future. Working at Digital Catapult allows us to connect with academia, traditional industry, exciting and risky start-ups, government and investors. All of these contribute to the success or failure of advanced digital technologies and innovations. Our neutral position allows us to help them discover and work side-by-side.

What do you wish more people knew?

In general, I wish more people knew how money works, and how the economy works. Furthermore, I wish people know how it’s mostly all stuff that humans invented rather than deep unchanging universal truths. We made the rules and we can change them.

Thinking about your legacy, how do you want to be remembered?

As someone who helped out.

About the speaker

Dr. Robert M. Learney is a technology enthusiast and qualified doctor who studied medicine at Oxford University and Imperial College. He later left the NHS to return to research and completed a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College, funded by the James Dyson Fellowship.

In 2014, Robert co-founded the Imperial College Centre for Cryptocurrency Research and Engineering, to create a cross-disciplinary academic focal point for blockchain research in London. He has worked in this sector ever since.

As the Lead Technologist in Blockchain & DLT at Digital Catapult, he manages a team engaged in multiple collaborative projects aiming to improve the UK’s economic position through the appropriate use of this technology. These span aerospace, FMCG, food & drink, oil & gas, the nuclear industry, and construction.

 He is also a recognised international speaker on the transformative potential and uptake of blockchain technology.

 

 

Liked this article “New thinker vs Risk Adverse“? Why not read “The scaling power of a Tech Collective”?

Flavilla spoke to Kate Patton, Entrepreneurial Engagement Manager position at Tech Nation, about the scaling power of entering a Tech Collective. Here is a little bit more about Kate.

 

Briefly, tell us how your journey took where you are right now

My journey to where I am now is not a linear one. I have lived on 3 continents and held a variety of positions. These include marketing, key account management, International Business Development, and Sole trader. However, the one consistency is that all of these interactions included technology. The sectors varied, but what has held the same is the ability to be creative, resilient, and to hold onto the belief that disruptive tech is the way forward for all of us. For us to build a better future.

 

What was your aha moment which led you to create your business?

When I was a business owner, it was because I had the desire to push myself out into unknown territory. I had to learn the hard lessons in success but also in failure. Being an entrepreneur is the quickest way to know your own strength. It also lets you know how to survive despite the lack of a guarantee.

 

What has been your biggest lesson learnt from growing your business?

I always knew that customer service was at the heart of my businesses. But it taught me more than ever before that one of my greatest skills is brokering lasting relationships, listening and not just doing what I thought was best, but more what is best for my customer and myself. Finding that balance was essential.

 

What do you wish more people knew? 

I wish people knew how to say no more in their businesses as part of that listening skill. Because you need to know what isn’t best for yourself, your capacity to deliver. Additionally, that money is not the only end goal.

 

Thinking about your legacy, how do you want to be remembered? 

That I lived a life filled with passion, purpose, and never lost the ability to be kind.

 

About the speaker

Kate is a native Texan who has made the UK her home. She has over a decade of experience in the dynamic Scottish tech scene. Now, she utilises her varied and substantial 20-year experience in her Entrepreneurial Engagement Manager position at Tech Nation. Kate strives to identify tech business founders in Northeast England and to support their ambitious growth plans to rapidly scale their businesses.

 

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