Alex Craven - ex-Founder, Bloom Agency

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, ​w​hat 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

• You need the benefit of grey hair in your business
• Going that extra mile will win you the business
• Surround yourself with a strong management team

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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