In this week's episode we speak to Alex Craven, ex-Founder of Bloom Agency and now CEO and co-founder of The Data City.
Alex tells us about the launch of his first business, Bloom Agency, one of the first digital businesses in the UK, what Alex describes as a mind-bending receivership meeting, getting rid of 385/400 clients and the huge growth triggered by 2008 financial crash.
INTRODUCING ALEX CRAVEN
Alex founded a digital agency and MarTech company in 1999 and sold in 2016, Alex has been pioneering applications of new technology throughout his career and is now CEO of The Data City, a tech start-up that uses machine learning to map the global economy for government and the private sector. Alex is active member of the digital / tech community, regularly speaking at events, judging awards, providing Non-exec advisory services and is also the Chair of web 3 start up ‘Pooldata.io’. Alex is a champion of diversity and inclusion and is passionate about raising awareness around neurodiversity and Entrepreneurship.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
[00:00:00] Where the idea for a digital agency came from
[00:03:00] A mind-bending receivership meeting
[00:09:30] The benefits of a Chairperson in your business and the importance of accountability
[00:14:00] Getting rid of most of our clients
[00:18:00] Scaling the business (through innovation)
[00:24:00] The issues related to setting up an office in Australia
KEY TAKEAWAYS & BUSINESS LEARNINGS
BEST MOMENTS
“I assume you’re not a man of means…”
“We were so early in social media that we went to an awards ceremony and were in a category of one.. And won”
“We got rid of 385 of 400 of our clients”
“The 2008 financial crash was really good for us; it doubled our turnover”
“We won the business because we went the extra mile”
VALUABLE RESOURCES FOR YOU
Website: www.leedsbusinesspodcast.com
Website: https://thedatacity.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-craven-17b1441/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-data-city/
Twitter (personal): https://twitter.com/AlexCraven
Twitter (business): https://twitter.com/TheDataCity
Shout out tags: https://wac.rocks/
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