An interview with: John Ostler of Eight Bit Studios & Unicorn Road

A visionary creator, builder, and the founder and CEO of multiple tech businesses. In 2008, John co-founded Eight Bit Studios - a boutique agency based in Chicago. This year, John made the move from Chicago to Lancashire to begin his expansion into the UK’s tech scene.

We caught up with John to chat all about his experience building startups and making the move to Lancashire.

To kick things off, please can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

John: I was really interested in web development, design and video media back in the mid-90s, right before the first bubble really got going. At that time, if you had any interest in development, there weren't a whole lot of curricula.

So, I started doing web development quite early as a teenager. Doing that meant I could put myself through school to start working professionally as a web designer and developer — and I got some great experiences that way.

After school, I moved from Michigan to Chicago where I got to work at some large digital agencies. At the time, the digital agency space was generally 20 and 30-something year olds because this technology and these capabilities hadn’t been around that long. So, it meant you had a bunch of young people staying up all night, working all weekend, building huge sites and platforms. It was amazing. We got some really hands-on experience with large American and International brands and huge executive team stakeholders.

The group I was working with all went on to be the CEOs of large firms to lead strategy.

Myself, I took a slightly different path. I actually started my first real agency — nearly 15 years ago now.

Having spent time doing design, UX, and web development as a practitioner, it was quite natural to say, “Let’s create a craftsman based agency. Let’s start with the people first and great work. And we’ll work backwards towards all the business and financial aspects of it.”

So, we started doing websites and got into building native mobile apps, which were super new as the iPhone had just come out around the time Eight Bit Studios started. We were working with some really big brands as well as start-ups, helping them bring their digital products to life.

As the agency expanded and we pivoted to working with more big companies, and so much bigger and harder to solve problems. Our team grew and our team leadership with it. Once we operationalised the majority of the business I became introspective and realised , I really missed working with owner-operators of start-ups. So, I started another company called Unicorn Road that focuses on digital products and marketing for early-stage startups and entrepreneurs.

“Having done the research, Lancashire was the obvious choice.”

— John Ostler

While your agency hails from Chicago, you have recently expanded into Lancashire. What made you choose Lancashire as your UK home?

John: My Wife grew up around here then moved to the US at a young age. Her family is in this area. When COVID hit, we went from having a large office in downtown Chicago where everyone came in every day, collaborated, and had meetings in-person to being totally distributed across the United States. We realised how vulnerable we were as a family not being close to our extended family. So, we decided, “let’s move to the UK”.

Having done the research, Lancashire was the obvious choice. There is a great community and lots happening with investment in digital. It’s a great opportunity to get into a totally new environment. It’s been the perfect place to expand and our relocation in January came  together like a jigsaw.

How does Lancashire compare to Chicago? Are there any learnings from Chicago’s tech scene that you can apply here?

John: A lot of what you see in Chicago very much mirrors the North West of the UK. Chicago itself was a built up metropolis. But if you step outside of it, it’s farming and manufacturing — much like Lancashire and other areas of the north west.

Even though there’s a number of HQs in downtown Chicago, you also have a lot of owner-operators who have been building their businesses for 20 to 30 years and have done really well and expanded throughout the US. But they are still making decisions and, for them, digital transformation was a totally new idea. So, I’ve been on the frontline of that, helping businesses both who have been doing digital for decades as well as those who are just planning their modernisation.

The similarities between Chicago and the North West is amazing. From the large cities like Manchester, Liverpool to Lancaster, and then you’re surrounded by owner-operators, manufacturing, farming, and aerospace. It’s a very exciting time to expand. The North West is brilliant and beautiful and I love it here.

Between 2011-2013, Chicago didn’t have much of a heart in terms of digital. There wasn’t a central place. There were a few meetups happening but it was very scattered. Trying to pull people together was really hard but everyone was willing to help. It feels like digital in Lancashire is in a similar space.

My first impression is that Manchester and Liverpool have their own microcosm going on, where there’s not much sharing happening outside of their central hubs. This is similar throughout the boroughs in Lancashire, each doing their part. With all that segmentation of groups, villages, cities, you need a platform or space for education, collaboration and sharing to go into hyper growth mode.

That’s exactly where Chicago was in 2011 with Silicon Valley and New York. Once the connections and knowledge sharing happened, things took off. I can see that happening now in Lancashire.

One thing I’ve seen in Lancashire that I haven’t seen anywhere else yet is that it seems to have the right ingredients in terms of the university as a feeder, Fraser House as a hub, and some great breakthrough start-ups. I think people in places like Manchester or London will realise there’s a big opportunity in this area that’s underserved. And that’s exactly what happened in Chicago with investment and companies moving in Chicago.

You’ve built quite a few tech businesses during your time. What advice would you give for someone wanting to start a tech business?

John: Between my agencies, we’ve worked with close to 500 start-ups, maybe more, in the past 15 years. Some start-ups began from nothing. They hadn’t even done the napkin exercise yet. Every time, and this hasn’t changed over the years, I see the same thing which is there’s often artificial barriers to getting started.

Someone will have this great app or website idea that they want to go to or there's a niche they want to fill and they’ll go down a route of “I need to develop a brand, I need to set up marketing, I’ve got to meet with someone to do all this and that”. And the reality is, the best start-ups we’ve ever worked with didn’t care about any of that. They just go and talk to the future customer.

If you’re building an education platform, go meet with teachers. If you’re building a parking solution, go to parking garages. These things can happen freely. You learn so much in those early days and you realise that the tech actually gets in the way of you solving the problem.

“Forget about the oak tree. Start small. Start with the sapling then grow from there over time.”

— John Ostler

The teams that we found did it best were the ones who fell in love with the problem itself. And you realise you don’t need a darn thing to do that.

There’s two pieces of advice in one: When you fall in love with the problem, you don’t wait to start. As an investor, you see someone who isn’t waiting to start or who doesn’t need your money to find the answers, and those types of people are more valuable. Their train is moving and you want to get on that train.

It has this double effect where you’re not stopping yourself and you’re not stopping investors either.

I used to have a podcast [bytesoverbagels.com] where I interviewed a bunch of CEOs and, in their stories, they repeat the same advice. They focus on not overdoing the tech. They have the mentality of “What can we do today?”

Forget about the oak tree. Start small. Start with the sapling then grow from there over time.

Anything exciting you are working on that you can share with us?

John: In the UK right now, I’m getting involved in aerospace. We’ve done a fair bit of Aerospace before in Chicago, where there’s a lot of large aerospace firms. So, I’m excited about those opportunities.

I’m also excited to get more involved in digital transformation on the manufacturing side through Eight Bit Studios. That’s something we can really sink our teeth into.

There’s also a few companies in the logistics space that we’ve done quite a bit with.

On the startup side, I’m very, very excited about helping spread the information I have about how startups can get from Point A and B to C. I’m hoping to get more involved with Fraser House in Lancaster and other digital hubs.

I’m also planning to move to Whalley where I have the intention of creating a startup entrepreneur ecosystem. I think there’s some real power in that, especially from a talent perspective — bridging the divide between people who have already created the companies and startups to bring the two together. There’s a lot of people who know how to hire, delegate, reinvest, expand, and they have all this technical knowledge but they’re not connected to the people who are interested in the digital space.

Industry disruption has to be led by the people with the experience in the industry and them being empowered by tech rather than being the other way round where the tech is looking for a problem. You need someone from the industry-side to want to solve the problem and find the tech talent to build it. I think connecting the two through an entrepreneur ecosystem will make a huge difference.

Finally, any words of wisdom you can share with digital enthusiasts wanting to start and scale tech start-ups?

John: My overarching philosophy stems from taking care of yourself first.

I think a lot of people who are early in their technology career, or thinking about starting a company in tech, forget that they also need to remain motivated. And that’s critical these days. You need to make sure you are set up to do this.

That might mean starting something with friends who can keep you going or doing the things you find fun, rather than delegating them to someone else. Because those are the things that motivate you and keep you excited.

The largest thing that kills a startup the fastest is a lack of momentum. Make sure there are wins every week. If, for instance, you hired an agency to build something and it’s going to take six-months, perhaps your eyes are too wide. Six months is a long time to hold out for something — and sometimes that six months goes on even longer. So, you need to break the problem down into smaller parts so you can maintain momentum and move forward every day.

“The largest thing that kills a startup the fastest is a lack of momentum. Make sure there are wins every week.”

— John Ostler

I’m conscious that tech is like a foreign object to a lot of people. You almost need to treat it like a personal fitness plan — you need to get a schedule or get an accountability buddy to do it well because it’s so easy to get tired and return to the native state of “I’ve got to get a job”.

With Eight Bit Studios, we’re all about doing a proper research plan and product strategy and showing progress through analytics. We have bigger timelines but it's fast for larger teams. Whereas with Unicorn Road, which is a lot more startup-focused, everything we do is in the name of speed. It’s about seeing how much and what we can build as fast as possible to keep the momentum moving. We break problems down into smaller sprints or user stories.

It all boils down to making sure you’re taking care of yourself first so that you have the energy to do it. It’s energy-taxing but when you realise you are doing the thing you love, and it’s the most counter-intuitive thing but, you will actually have more energy the next morning. Even if you have worked 10 times harder than you did at your last job.

I have personally gone through this in terms of projects or ideas lagging on. When you have little funds or long timelines, it is so easy to kill your favourite idea. It takes the fun out of it and it stops feeling rewarding. So, you need to move at speed with momentum, and you need to take care of yourself.

Move at speed and find your unicorn

John’s story from moving to Chicago to Lancashire and being on the precipice of the tech scene in both areas is fascinating. There is no doubt that he has a lot of learnings from Chicago that he’s brought with him to Lancashire.

You can find John on LinkedIn here, where you can keep up to date with his journey building Unicorn Road and Eight Bit Studios as he lays down roots in Lancashire.

John is also speaking atnext month’s Digital Tech Talks event. Get your ticket and come over to Skelmersdale on 17th May to hear more about John’s stories, experiences, and insights into building successful startups.

Double nomination for tech duo

The Founders of the Brierfield tech company, PatchApp.UK, have both been nominated for prestigious northern based awards.

Paul White, who lives in Laneshaw Bridge has been shortlisted for Outstanding Contributor to the North, and 25 year-old Conor Walsh from Clitheroe for the Outstanding Young Rising Star in the Prolific North Champion Awards 2023.

The pair teamed up just over 12 months ago when they raised £250,000 to launch their new tech company, which aims to make it easier to find, book, manage and pay for your Window Cleaning, and it is for this, and other interests, that they have been nominated.

Paul White said “There are some fantastic people shortlisted and it’s just really humbling to be nominated. There’s a whole team that makes everything that we do happen and it’s testament to them all. 

“I have long maintained that if you can make a difference whilst you go about your life, you should and that’s just something that I try to live by”.

Conor Walsh said “I’ve been on a real journey over the past 12 months, and it’s great to think that others have spotted the potential. I’m working my socks off, but I want to help others on the way”.

The awards will be handed out at Emirates Old Trafford on 18th May. They are part judges scores and part public vote. The public can vote at https://www.prolificnorthawards.co.uk/champions/cast-vote-2023

An interview with: Niamh Allen of IoT Horizon

The world of tech is vast, and here in Lancashire, we are lucky to have lots of tech companies working on fantastic innovative solutions. One such company is IoT Horizon, who are paving the way forward with their smart Internet of Things solutions that bridge the gap between wellbeing, carbon reduction, and cost savings.

We caught up with Niamh Allen, IoT Horizon’s Sales and Marketing Director to hear about her experience as a young woman in tech, the amazing work IoT Horizon is doing, and all the ways tech can help future-proof companies.

Introducing Niamh Allen from IoT Horizon 

Niamh is IoT Horizon’s Sales and Marketing Director. When leaving college, Niamh had no idea what she wanted to do or what industry she wanted to work in. She seemingly fell into the world of sales and tech, starting out in an internal sales role helping behind the scenes.

During her time in that company, it was clear that Niamh’s chatty, friendly personality lent itself well to front-of-house customer relations and so she was promoted to a business manager role and became a lead account manager for big brand names like Aston Martin and Heathrow Airport at the age of 20 years old — where she was far younger than her colleagues in the Sales department, leading her to be passionate about supporting other young people in management roles.

After this role, Niamh took time out to travel before joining the family company of IoT Horizon where she has worked her way up to Sales and Marketing Director, having a huge impact on the company’s success over this time.

First, can you tell me more about your role at IoT Horizon?

Niamh: I joined as Sales Manager nearly 5 years ago. After a year and a half, I was promoted to the Sales and Marketing Director.

In my current role, I am responsible for overseeing both sales and marketing operations, as well as playing a key role in shaping the overall business strategy. Since I’ve been in this position, the business has grown roughly 60% in revenue year-on-year which is mirrored in our profit margins.

We started as a small family business, but now we have a dedicated team of ten professionals, including Research and Development, Customer Services, Operations, Research Analysts, and Software Developers.

Can you give a brief insight into what IoT Horizon do?

Niamh: At IoT Horizon, we specialise in providing "internet of things" solutions that enable our clients to connect devices, people, and buildings to the internet, giving them access to more detailed and useful data. Our primary focus is on creating smart building and smart manufacturing solutions that help our clients optimise their spaces for factors such as space utilisation, thermal comfort, and energy use.

We are proud to offer our proprietary platform, Neronis®, which provides comprehensive data visualisation and analytics. We provide a wide range of support services including data analytics support to ensure that our clients can get the most out of the platform and use it to its full potential.

As a one-stop-shop for IoT solutions, we offer everything from helping our clients build their business case to analyse their unique challenge statements. Rather than simply throwing technology at the problem, we take a collaborative approach to ensure that we understand the problem fully before finding the most effective solution. This includes hardware installation, software analytics, and ongoing support throughout the entire journey.

“Personal development has also played a significant role in my growth. I encourage all our employees to prioritise their own personal development, and I have made a conscious effort to focus on my own over the past few years.”

— Niamh Allen

Can you share your experience as a young woman in the tech space?

Niamh: When I first joined IoT Horizon, I experienced a significant amount of growth in my skills and abilities. However, when I was promoted to the role of Sales and Marketing Director, I struggled with imposter syndrome. I couldn't help but wonder why anyone would listen to someone so young. Early on, I found it challenging to contribute to meetings, especially when I was the only woman present in a room full of older, typically white male professionals in manufacturing and other organisations. 

Fortunately, IoT Horizon has been incredibly supportive of my development, and I have since completed a Business Manager degree with UCLan, as well as a Level 6 Chartered Manager qualification. I found that this combination of academic knowledge and practical application helped me gain the confidence and skills needed to excel in my role as a leader. 

Personal development has also played a significant role in my growth. I encourage all our employees to prioritise their own personal development, and I have made a conscious effort to focus on my own over the past few years. I have joined peer groups and networking groups focused on business and leadership in the Lancashire and Liverpool regions where IoT Horizon operates. I have found the Lancashire Digital Hub's Women In Tech Mastermind group to be incredibly helpful. It's reassuring to know that other women in the industry, regardless of age or background, experience similar feelings of imposter syndrome. 

While it has been challenging, I have worked through my imposter syndrome and gained the confidence to speak at events and engage with others in the industry. One of the things that helped me overcome my imposter syndrome was reflecting on my past experiences and achievements. I also have found it helpful to seek out female mentors and coaches in the industry who I can look up to and lean on for support. In Lancashire, there are plenty of women in senior roles who serve as great examples of successful leadership, such as Miranda Barker from the Chamber of Commerce, Melissa Conlon from AMRC, and Debbie Francis from LEP.

What have been some of your career highlights at IoT Horizon so far?

Niamh: I'm proud to say that I've achieved quite a few personal and professional milestones since joining IoT Horizon. Firstly, I completed my degree and training which helped me develop my skills and expertise. I was also honoured to be featured in the Lancashire Business View as one of the top 15 leaders in the Sub36 “ones to watch” list.

In terms of business accomplishments, I take great pride in playing an instrumental role in doubling our turnover year on year. This has been a major milestone for the company and a testament to our hard work and commitment. I was particularly proud of securing the AMRC North West tender as well, given that we were the only company in Lancashire to win the tender. This has opened up new opportunities for us and has helped us win other tenders.

Another significant highlight was seeing our platform take shape and evolve has been extremely rewarding.

 Finally, being recognised as a Liverpool City Region tech climber this year was a great honour. It's a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team and reaffirms our commitment to providing innovative and cutting-edge solutions to our clients.

In your opinion, why should companies care about being digital?

Niamh: Customers are becoming more digital and savvy with technology. They want to interact with companies with digital channels. So, businesses need to keep up with that or they will lose customers to competitors that are more digital.

Customers are also demanding more sustainable companies, so they want to work with companies who know exactly where products are from or who are moving towards net-zero. A lot of that is going to be demanded by customers, and tech can help with sustainability.

The workforce is also changing, with people being hybrid, remote, or in the office. That is something we support for our employees at IoT Horizon through digital tools. I appreciate that it is different for manufacturing, but there are a lot of industries where digital tools can help the workforce have a better work-life balance.

How can companies use technology to future-proof their business?

Niamh: Better data helps you make better decisions. Whether that is customer behaviour, market trends, internal operations, productivity, or something else.

As an example, Neronis collects better data on the indoor environment. 90% of our time is spent in doors and yet the indoor environment is 2-3 times more polluted than the outdoors. That can impact things like sick building syndrome which has a short term impact of fatigue, respiratory illnesses, feeling generally unwell, and longer term impacts like respiratory, heart or lung diseases. All of which can massively impact productivity. If your indoor environment isn’t kept at the right levels, it can reduce productivity. So, getting better data on the indoor environment can help you optimise the building environment.

Collecting data can also help you be more agile. If you have more data on your processes and people, you can respond quicker and offer greater support for your employees and customers.

And how can tech help cut back on operational costs?

Niamh: From our perspective, collecting better data can have direct and indirect cost savings.

If, for example, you are monitoring environmental factors such as temperature. If you can see you are heating the building at nighttime when it isn’t occupied, you can make a very quick saving by turning the heating off during those times.

We recently did a project with a school, where we found lots of interesting data. We found that for 17 days over Christmas, no one had been in the building but it was being heated to 24 degrees. A consultant estimated that they could save around £10,000 from that insight.

We’ve also worked with brand new buildings where we saw temperatures varied across the building, staff reported feeling unwell in the workplace. Once we started to monitor the environment, our data and technology has driven a post-building optimisation phase where they have brought the building management engineers back in to improve the building conditions.

Our data can help people understand how many people are occupying the space, how it’s being used, what the air quality is like and energy consumption. There is a lot of data that helps companies get quick wins and improve what they do.

As for manufacturing, there are tools they can use to track machine running time and optimise performance.

Understanding how to improve the building conditions means they can reduce sick days which is especially important for places like schools, where they have to pay sick pay and cover staff, or manufacturing where they will need to get more staff for fulfilment.

Being able to monitor tech remotely also means you don’t have to pay for people to be on-site.

Getting the balance between employee wellbeing, operational costs, and carbon emissions is a key part of what we do. It isn’t just about saving costs, it’s the synergy between all three aspects that has the biggest impact.

For non-techies, breaking into the tech space can be quite daunting. What advice would you give for people (and companies) who want to embrace tech but don’t know where to start?

Niamh: If you're interested in learning more about applying digital technologies, I would highly recommend visiting IoT Horizon in Lancashire, we have a demonstrator and are happy to provide you with independent advice and show you our platform in action.

Additionally, I suggest visiting the AMRC in Samlesbury to gain a better understanding of how to retrofit legacy equipment with digital technologies. They have a smart building demonstrator and offer lots of support, including tours and events. It's an excellent starting point.

I would also reach out to places like the Lancashire Digital Hub, which I have genuinely used as a facility. They run lots of tech talks and meetups. It is a great place for a non-techie person to start.  It is that ability to meet up with a digital community and get an insight into different types of technology and hear from different people in the tech community.

How can people get more involved in Lancashire’s Digital community?

Niamh: Participate in online communities and consider joining online groups related to your interests or career goals. Platforms like LinkedIn and Slack offer a wealth of digital communities where you can engage with like-minded professionals, ask questions, and gain valuable insights. 

Take advantage of training programs too. Lancashire offers a variety of skills bootcamps and training programs to help you upskill and qualify in as little as 12 weeks. Keep an eye on resources like the Electech cluster and the LEP's digital strategy to stay informed about available support. Boost, for instance, is an excellent example of a support program that can provide you with valuable guidance and resources. I’d suggest reaching out to Andrew Leeming and his team as I’m sure they’d be able to point you in the right direction.

“Networking can be very daunting, but it’s an essential aspect of building a successful career in the digital industry.”

— Niamh Allen

Make use of coworking spaces. If you're looking for a comfortable and collaborative workspace, consider hot desking at a digital tech hub like Strawberry Fields. These spaces provide an ideal environment for meeting new people and building professional relationships. There are lots of coworking spaces and business centres focused on digital, and tech across Lancashire.

And lastly, network! In my career, I’m lucky that I have been around experienced networkers. I asked my MD to attend events with me, and listened to how he started conversations. Young people might not have had that experience, especially due to COVID so it can be a lot harder for them.

Networking can be very daunting, but it's an essential aspect of building a successful career in the digital industry. Attend events, speak with professionals, and connect with individuals on LinkedIn afterwards. If you're unsure where to start, consider joining a community specifically designed for younger professionals to network comfortably and confidently.

Is there anything IoT Horizon is working on at the moment that you can share with us?

Niamh: We are really focused on our energy monitoring at the moment. We are working with a nationwide entertainment company on energy consumption monitoring and fridge optimisation. Using our data we’re helping them find the optimal time to turn fridges on, that don’t contain temperature-sensitive goods.

We’re also helping them look at energy consumption across the space. So, when they have different shows using the space, we’re helping them look at the energy consumption differences between a small versus larger show and whether they should charge different price models based on those. We are helping them find out where energy is being spent across the building so they can better optimise it moving forward.

We look at the carbon reduction saving and the cost saving. Different people care about different metrics. So, we build out all areas to help people see the bigger picture.

We were recently successful with AMRC Wales so we are deploying a project for occupancy and asset tracking at their site. That’s definitely something to look out for!

And finally, East Lancashire Chamber of commerce has sponsored IoT Horizon through the RedCAT funding programme. Lots of companies won’t support schools due to the budget. Whereas, we are really passionate about improving air quality in schools.

So, we are using the funding to deploy our technology in a Lancashire school and a Lancashire college. We are running a trial study and working with those schools to understand the data and help them make better decisions. We’ll give them access to the data, help them understand it, and monitor the before and after to see the impact. We are using that data and study to be able to work with more schools and colleges so they don’t miss out.

A lot of studies in the US and Europe show the impact the school environment has on young people. It can reduce their ability to learn, their test scores. So we are keen to get our own data to show that you can improve productivity, reduce staff absences, and make the environment a nicer place for children to be so they perform better. That’s a project that I’m really excited and passionate about.

Before we go, do you have any final words of wisdom you want to share?

Niamh: As a young person in a management role, it's okay not to know everything. Instead, surround yourself with capable individuals and seek external support to fill gaps in your knowledge.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions, take risks and think creatively to challenge traditional ways of doing things.

By seeking out new perspectives and approaches, you can develop a wider range of skills and strategies that will help you succeed. Remember, the key to success is to keep asking questions and be open to learning from others.

Final thoughts — Don’t be afraid to ask questions

As Niamh said, don’t be afraid to ask questions. There is power in not knowing all the answers. Approach things with a sense of curiosity and determination… and remember, you can always look to data for answers too.

Niamh has shared lots of valuable advice on breaking into the tech space and overcoming personal challenges such as imposter syndrome. Her passion for helping others break down tech barriers really shines through. If you would like to connect with Niamh, you can find her on LinkedIn.

If you are keen to hear more about IoT Horizon and the fantastic work they are doing, you can visit their website to learn more about what they do and their data visualisation and analytics platform, Neronis.

Lancashire Tech Summit to Take Place at Highest Point Festival in Lancaster

Lancashire Digital Hub has announced that the second Lancashire Tech Summit will take place on Thursday May the 11th at Williamsons Park in Lancaster, as part of the Highest Point Festival. Lancashire Tech Summit is aimed at bringing together tech businesses, entrepreneurs, and investors to showcase the latest innovations and developments in the industry.

 This year's summit will be held in a unique venue to create a more engaging and attractive environment. The event will help promote Lancashire as a better place for tech businesses and help support the start-up ecosystem.

Rich Dyer, the cofounder of Highest Point, expressed his excitement for the event, saying, "We're thrilled to be hosting the Lancashire Tech Summit at the Highest Point Festival this year. It's great to see such a forward-thinking event coming to our festival and we look forward to welcoming attendees to the Dell stage."

 Daniel Knowles, the manager of Lancashire Digital Hub, said, "We wanted to create a more engaging and attractive event for the second Lancashire Tech Summit. By holding the event in a unique venue such as the Highest Point Festival, we hope to attract a wider audience and create a buzz around the event."

 Highest Point Tickets are on sale now. Anyone wishing to attend Lancashire Tech Summit can pre-register for discounted tickets that will allow access to the summit and then afterwards into the music arena to watch headline act Hacienda Classical. Those who have already bought tickets for the day or weekend can use them to enter the Tech Summit.

 Don't miss out on this exciting opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals in the tech industry, explore new opportunities, and have fun at the same time. Pre-register for your ticket now at lancashiredigitalhub.co.uk/techsummit and join in Lancaster on May 11th.

 Contact: Media Relations Lancashire Digital Hub dan@danknowles.co.uk

An Interview With: Maya Ellis from Lancashire County Council

Here at Lancashire Digital Hub, we love checking in with Lancashire’s leading people in the digital and tech space!

We recently caught up with Maya Ellis, Lancashire County Council’s Innovation and Digital Lead. Keep reading to hear why Maya is passionate about Lancashire’s thriving digital ecosystem and how Lancashire County Council are working hard to create a supportive environment where digital and tech businesses flourish.

Introducing Maya Ellis from Lancashire County Council

Maya Ellis heads up the Innovation and Digital team within Lancashire County Council’s Economic Development service. In her role, Maya drives forward the development and delivery of economic policy for Lancashire County Council, working closely with Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool councils, and the Lancashire LEP (Local Enterprise Partnership).

Everything Maya does is centred on making sure every person and every business across Lancashire has the tools, skills and infrastructure they need to make lives and products better through technology and innovation. Maya has been involved in some pivotal projects and I really enjoyed catching up with her to hear all about the projects she has been working on and how Lancashire’s digital and tech scene is gaining momentum.

To kick start the conversation, can you tell us about the work you do with Lancashire County Council?

Maya: I’m the Innovation and Digital Lead in Economic Development at Lancashire County Council. I’ve been in this post for about four and a half years now. At the time of starting, it was a new post that was established as Lancashire was starting to look more at the digital sector and innovation.

The county had written an innovation plan with the LEP in 2017 when the term “innovation” and what that stands for had really started gathering momentum around the UK, especially in the bigger cities. Off the back of that plan, the LEP and the county council both saw strong opportunities for developing the digital and innovation economy in Lancashire.

So, when first starting, my role was focused on putting that innovation plan into action. We’ve spent the last four years trialling various things to see what works while also moving bigger projects forwards. So, for example, on the innovation side of things, the Innovation Plan put forward a recommendation to create an Innovation board as a sub-board of the LEP (Local Enterprise Partnership). That board has now been in place for about two and half years.

After establishing that board, we agreed to refresh the strategy which we started working on around a year and half ago. From that strategy, we have developed a five-year plan that gives us some tangible targets and plans to run with. We’ll be publicly launching that five-year plan very soon, probably around April once budgets are approved.

Going forward, that plan will incorporate a lot of other sectors, making sure we aren’t just looking at the digital sector on its own. We’ll especially be looking at the plan called “smart specialisations” where different sectors currently exist and where they crossover to create new, innovative areas of exploration that brings those sectors closer together and supports their growth. Everyone’s goals and outcomes are interconnected so we’ve really focused on the key stakeholders, assets and organisations to find a common ground that can support everyone’s mission. One of our main roles in the public sector is to act as convenors and align people so they can work together to achieve their outcomes.

That’s the broader picture of what I do as Innovation and Digital Lead. Within that, there’s been lots of projects which are focused on building the digital and innovation ecosystem, bringing people together, and building a buzz.

“If your company is already working on something and you want to further grow it, come to us and ask how we can support you.”

— Maya Ellis

One of the big projects I led was the development of Fraser House Hub. To me, the Fraser House Hub project was critical. It’s not just a physical building; the community managers and all the people working behind the scenes there are critical for building the buzz and excitement around Lancashire’s digital ecosystem. All of which helps those businesses and the wider economy thrive.

One of the big motivations for building Fraser House came from a report commissioned by local businesses called Nowhere to Grow. This research looked at businesses in Lancashire and why they were leaving and ultimately found that they needed growing space. So one of the main aims of Fraser House was to make sure businesses in Lancashire had a dedicated Grade A office space that was big enough for growing businesses.

Now that some of those projects are completed with other projects still underway, we’re starting to see the proof that they work with investment groups now looking at Lancashire, where previously they may have overlooked our county for larger cities in the North West.

A big mission for us at the moment is to prove the market and mitigate some risk for property developers by showing that Lancashire does have an established digital community and property demand… which is already starting to happen. I want to make sure people, including investors, look at Lancashire and Fraser House and think “Wow, this is actually working in Lancaster and there’s something successful there” and use that as proof of the market and motivation to explore Lancashire more as an option.

What makes Lancashire such a great place for the digital and tech sector?

Maya: There’s two main audiences — those who are looking to locate their business in Lancashire or open a branch of their company here. Then there’s the audience on the employee-side, who want to know if they should look for a job here.

On the employee-side, Lancashire offers a strong quality of life in terms of being near the hills, beaches, family-friendly environments and exploring opportunities. But, for me, it is also a great county for being in the mix of things. Lancashire is really well connected to other parts of the county. It’s only a 2-hour train from Preston to London — which we don’t market enough, and the M6 goes straight through us.

That quality of life and connectivity is crucial on the business-side too. For a lot of people, where we work and how we work is a lot more flexible so you can build that into your company. There are so many reasons for why you should choose Lancashire for your business.

“Lancashire is worth taking a risk on.”

— Maya Ellis

There is a growing amount of talent here in Lancashire. Big cities are getting saturated with a lot of technology companies. There is potential for companies locating to Lancashire to find more talent as there is less competition. With Lancashire’s digital economy being up-and-coming with a growing critical mass, it puts businesses in a strong position to attract talent and makes sure those employees still have a choice of companies to work for.

Lancashire is worth taking a risk on. The digital economy here is clearly growing. Cranes are going up in places like Lancaster and Preston in a way that they were in Manchester 10-15 years ago. So that growth is definitely here and there are lots of companies who will want to be on the precipice of that growth as they nurture talent and their place in the community.

There’s the economic side of things too. The offices and properties available in the likes of Preston and Lancaster will be at lower rates with just a 2-hour train ride in London or 40-minutes to Manchester. For international companies that are looking to set up a UK office, Lancashire can be a viable option thanks to its great connections.

There’s already a lot of great things happening here and so much more growth and potential on the horizon.

How can businesses get involved in Lancashire’s tech community?

Maya: Different businesses have very different needs, which is something I’m very aware of working on the public sector support services side of things.

We have some great business support services including long-standing support through Boost, our growth hub which is always evolving. We’re starting to add to that with more specialist support around digital and innovation. There’s some really exciting stuff to come in the next couple of years there.

Networking and the events, like the ones run by Lancashire Digital Hub, Innovate Lancashire and at Fraser House Hub, talks and lectures are always good from an inspirational perspective for leaders who aren’t sure what they want, need inspiration or want to have conversations with people they can bounce ideas off. Those networking opportunities can be really powerful.

One thing I would encourage businesses to do more now is to drive themselves forward. Public sector can only really be there to catalyse or support. If your company is already working on something and you want to further grow it, come to us and ask how we can support you. Reach out and share it with us because we may be able to link it with other projects and support.

A great example is the Electech Innovation Cluster in Morecambe that started out as a group of companies. One of our early interactions with them was that they didn’t have enough of the skill set they needed so we were able to support them in putting a bid in for the Fast Track Digital Skills fund, which was the start of Tech Lancaster and has now evolved.

The original Lancashire Tech Talks at Graham & Brown is another programme we, alongside the LEP, backed with sponsorship to help them plan a year worth of meetings.

If you take the initiative and have already started something that has clear passion and energy, we will be there to see how we can facilitate your growth.

There is more we are doing now than we have done in the past so if you have previously reached out to us looking for support, please reach out again. There’s a good chance we will be able to help you in some way or point you in the direction of support.

What can companies do to foster greater diversity in the digital and tech sector?

Maya: This is something that I am really passionate about and I’m also aware that it’s very nuanced. When looking at increasing representation within companies, I like to look at the business case and the fairness case.

A lot of businesses and SMEs may oftentimes find it hard to justify hiring for what may seem like hiring for diversity-sake, which isn’t the case at all. The business-case for hiring diverse talent is that it fosters positive and productive cultures where new ideas are welcomed and there is an innovative mindset. If you have diverse voices, opinions, and people, it’s going to improve that environment and make it more innovative. But, that isn’t always easy.

Getting a diverse workforce isn’t hard. The challenge comes with making sure you have the right culture to start with. Creating an innovative culture in which diversity and new ways of thinking can thrive is hard. So, businesses first need to challenge themselves to improve their culture — which I think all businesses need to be doing if they want to survive in 10-20 years.

Once that culture is in place, then gaining diverse perspectives and voices should be the obvious next step. But, if you don’t have that culture, just making some “diverse” hires will fall on its face as those people won’t be supported to thrive.

From a fairness angle, I think a lot of businesses in Lancashire are a part of their community. If you care about your employees and the people around you that care needs to extend to the inclusion-side of things. Companies need to make sure they are creating family-friendly and religion-friendly, for example, policies. If you have a company that wants to make a broader contribution to the world than just making profit then some of that contribution comes down to how you treat your employees and how you embrace different types of people and ways of working or living.

One other thing I challenge myself and our services to do is to think more innovatively and broadly so we can grow more diverse talent and business owners.

For example, we have a Manufacturing Growth Fund which in the past has gone to very typical manufacturing companies in an industrial park.

We did an event where we had Steve Wilkinson from the Manufacturing Growth Fund talk to The Growing Club where at least one woman got grants for her company. Many people in her cohort came from non-typical manufacturing work environments like working from their kitchen and that event was really eye-opening to make sure we weren’t falling victim to our biases.

That event helped align those women with funding opportunities that they may previously have dismissed as not being for them, or that they may have been overlooked from as they didn’t fit the “typical” manufacturer stereotype. As a public sector support service, it’s on us to remove those blockers from those businesses and help them grow.

I really think we can support women and diverse groups by meeting them where they are and making sure they have access to business support.

Are there any exciting digital/innovation projects or develops on the horizon that you can tell us about?

Maya: The 5-year plan we’re working on will hopefully be published in April which will detail more of the actions we are doing.

There will be a lot of focus on property and how we are aligning interested property developers and investors into some of the schemes being developed like the Lancaster Canal Quarter and Preston Station District and other towns across Lancashire. And, of course, we have Fraser House Hub’s expansion which will create even more space for digital and tech companies.

The learnings we take from the work done in Lancaster is so valuable for continuing to build the community across Lancashire. In the next coming months, we also want to make sure we have more people on the ground to create those connections around innovative businesses.

We are starting a startup pitching event for Lancashire, which we have done in different capacities before, but we’re going to create a more established, further-reaching event series to help get more Lancashire companies in front of investors. We are also investing more in marketing, particularly a PR plan, to make sure we are being vocal about all of this great stuff that we’re doing and pulling all of that together into innovation marketing coverage, reports, events and campaigns.

Before we go, do you have any final words of wisdom you want to share with Lancashire’s digital/tech community?

Maya: I am proud and excited to be in Lancashire’s tech community. I have spent time in both Manchester and London’s tech communities, but I grew up in Lancashire and I love seeing it evolve here.

For anyone who works in tech or any businesses here, if you like being at the start of things, Lancashire is a really exciting place to be. I can’t wait to look back in 10-15 years and see how it evolves… in the same way that I love looking back at Manchester now and thinking how I was there quite early on and how things have changed since then.

I’m also really excited to see what the uniqueness of Lancashire is going to bring to how we grow our businesses. I have talked to a lot of people about this and I feel like our strength is the fact we have lots of small areas, we don’t just have one centre or one leader. The way the world is going it’s leaning towards dispersed power, coming to agreements as a collective, and making sure everyone can play to their strengths rather than one central leadership. I think Lancashire has an opportunity to be an area that makes the most of having dispersed power and talent, and I believe that technology can actually feed into that and make Lancashire a stronger place.

Final thoughts — Lancashire is the place to be for digital & tech

From speaking with Maya, it is clear that Lancashire County Council are committed to building a strong digital and tech community. The digital and tech sector in Lancashire is growing at a rapid pace right before our eyes, which makes it an increasingly attractive location for businesses, talent, and investors alike.

Thanks to work facilitated by the likes of Lancashire County Council, the LEP, and connectors within our community, our red rose county boasts a skilled and diverse workforce, as well as a thriving digital ecosystem, and a wide range of support networks and services.

Keep up to date withMaya on LinkedIn to be the first to hear about the projects she is working on and follow Lancashire County Council for more updates and opportunities.

Young Lancashire entrepreneur receives national innovation award

Conor Walsh, 24, from Clitheroe developed the tool for electricians to reduce waste when they are wiring, promising to make the world a better place.

Hailing from Clitheroe, 24-year old entrepreneur Conor Walsh has developed an innovative tool that electricians can use to reduce waste when wiring, promising to make the world a better place.

A trained electrician, Conor has been recognised with a Young Innovator Award from Innovate UK, an arms length public body of the UK Government. 

He created ReelHelp, a tool for electricians to reduce waste when they are wiring. The device clips to the electrician’s belt so they can pull out the exact length they need.

The young entrepreneur is also the Founder of the Patch App, the tech company which raised £250,000 from investors in the second half of 2022, and aims to connect customers with window cleaners. He founded the business alongside Paul White, who came up with the idea for The Modern Milkman. We recently caught up with Conor and Paul to discuss their founding journey with Patch, which you can read all about here.

“It’s been an absolute whirlwind, but it shows, when you have an idea and you put your mind to it and crack on, you can totally change your life”

— Conor Walsh

The Young Innovators competition received almost 700 applicants and Conor will take a share of the £1.25 million prize fund. He was also previously a winner of the Lancashire Innovation Challenge in 2023.

He joins 92 other young people aged 18 to 30 with business ideas that could change the world and will benefit from a grant, one-on-one business coaching and an allowance.

Just ten months ago, Conor was still working on site as an electrician at Hanson Cement in Clitheroe. Commenting on the last year he said “It’s been an absolute whirlwind, but it shows, when you have an idea and you put your mind to it and crack on, you can totally change your life”.

On the Award he said “This Award is not just a great recognition of the idea, but it provides some great support and mentoring which will help me get the product to market over the next year”.

Conor’s entrepreneurial spirit continues to shine. He is keen to help other young people in Lancashire too, who might have their own ideas, adding “I want to bring this knowledge back to the County and encourage others to do well too, and I’ve set up a community to help share what I learn, at www.letsgetit.uk. We’re a great County of makers, and I am really keen to encourage others like us. 

Indro Mukerjee, chief executive of Innovate UK, added: “The Innovate UK Young Innovators program is an important part of our many activities to strongly develop the talent pipeline needed to further drive our innovation nation.”

"I warmly congratulate all the Young Innovators Award winners and look forward to keeping in touch as they progress."

The business is based in Pendle, and Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson CBE MP said “Conor is a very bright young man, full of energy. It’s great to see that he’s bringing his innovations to Pendle and I look forward to continuing to work with him”.

Follow along with Conor’s entreprenurial journey on LinkedIn.