Founder2Founders with Syd Nadim

What must you know to grow a business successfully? The Founder2Founders series asks successful leaders to share their lessons and experience.

Syd Nadim founded digital agency Clock in 1997 with a ￡3,000 Prince’s Trust loan, and built it into a UK top 100 agency. Here, he discusses sleeping on the office floor, the fortune-changing pitch that took three years, and why he will never sell Clock.?

Take us through the start-up years

I had two ‘proper’ jobs in advertising agencies and got made redundant from both. I was 23 and thought I’d start my own company –? I didn’t have many options, and desperation was a good motivator.?

The bank told me to bugger off as our family home had been repossessed and I couldn’t guarantee a loan. They pointed me to the Prince’s Trust, which gave me a ￡3,000 loan and a ￡500 grant, so I founded Clock! I got a tiny office in Watford and slept there on a rolled-up mattress for the first five months – when you’re starting a business, it’s all or nothing.?

If you’d met the 23-year-old Syd, you would have said (as my mother did), “What are you doing?” I didn’t have a clue about running a business and I had to learn Illustrator, Quark and Photoshop very quickly.

Who was your first client?

I still have the cheque! I did the branding and website for a friend’s business called 1-2-1 Fitness. Then, through a friend, I pitched to create an intranet for Barclays Personal Banking Business Unit. A meeting like that wouldn’t happen today, but it was a new world. Half the time was spent on how this thing called ‘the internet’ might catch on.?

Who was the client who reversed your fortunes??

Our breakthrough was the pub chain JD Wetherspoons - a pitch that took three years! They started with 25 agencies, then slowly whittled us down. We also worked with the comedian Eddie Izzard, who spent time with us to make the website sing. This led to a lot of awards and put us on the map.

What advice would you give to other founders about leading a team?

There’s a book called the E-myth that says a leader’s biggest challenge is to work on rather than in the business. I’m lucky, even if I wanted to do the things my team do, I can’t! It forced me to work on the business and focus on providing an environment for people to be brilliant.

How do you create that environment?

You’ve got to find the right people, get them excited, offer the right rewards, and empower them to crack on. There are four businesses that I’m involved with, and I’m not the principal of any of them. A leader needs to set vision, values and goals, but it's up to your team to achieve them.

Many people start businesses because they are good at something, but I realised early on that my skill was investing in people. We have shareholders, but it’s about building something and sharing the wealth – we give 50% of our profits to the team.?

How do you find the right people??

Young people are looking for businesses with purpose. We recently qualified for B-Corp. It’s a mighty badge and signifies you’re not just in business to make money. On that, if you want to find good colleagues, find people who’ve done volunteering. It’s a good interview metric as it shows they’re not just self-centred. It’s helped us attract and retain our best staff.?

What about retaining talent??

It’s essential to give your team clear metrics so they can keep track of their performance. Sometimes, there were people in our organisation that were not quite right, and I thought I was kind by keeping them on. However, it’s much better to help those people find something else.?

You are a strong believer in paying success forward

I love The Prince’s Trust and chaired the fundraising committee for Hertfordshire for eight years. I’m also involved with the EOB e-sports academy, which allows young people to learn about video game creation and esports online or in real life. Suddenly maths becomes interesting as they have to build 3D models for games, and English becomes interesting as they need to write a script. The confidence growth we’ve seen has been tremendous.?

Clock is over 25 years old now, have you ever been tempted to sell??

A few friends have sold their businesses and asked me why I don’t do the same. I may not be as financially wealthy as them, but I’ve been very fortunate: I have a good reputation for being kind, and that’s worked out well. It never feels like work, and I’ve managed to surround myself with talented, exceptional people. It feels like I’m winning in lots of ways.?

Your turn - are you ready to scale?

Take the 2Y3X?four-minute self-assessment?scorecard to highlight your strengths and critical weaknesses. It identifies quick wins and shows you where to remove roadblocks as you prepare to scale.

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