Traction: The Technology Growth Show

From Dotcom Boom to AI Bubble: Chris Dymond’s Beautiful Life in Digital

At the height of a dotcom boom, Chris Dymond lived in a central London hotel suite, led a thriving digital consultancy, and worked on a £5 million-per-month financial services IT project. But he hated his life.
It took the closure of his business, rekindled love and a move to Sheffield for him to find happiness. And that's where we see him today.
In this episode of Traction: The Tech Growth Show, Chris Dymond – founder and director of Sheffield Digital, the association for Sheffield's digital industries – talks to Pete Hopton and James Taylor about computing, his entrepreneurial journey, innovation, lazy programming, public tech policy, living a beautiful life, and the potential impact of the AI bubble bursting.
Traction is brought to you by Roaring Mouse Public Relations and Venture.Community.
#Sheffield #TechEcosystem #ProcessInnovation #BusinessPolicy #AI #EntrepreneurialJourney #DigitalTransformation #TechPolicy #StartupLessons #Startups 

Paranoia & Perseverance: The Secrets of a Fintech Soonicorn

Bumper was born a decade ago after its founder, James Jackson, “living paycheck to paycheck” in London, was hit by an unexpected car repair bill.
He took that £700 cash flow problem and turned it into one of Europe’s fastest-growing fintechs, a high-flying startup he’s confident will do more than £1bn worth of business this year.
In this episode of Traction: The Tech Growth Show, James Jackson talks to Pete Hopton and James Taylor about:
How he launched “a Klarna for car repairs” and took it to five European markets.
The importance of paranoia and perseverance when building tech companies.
How Bumper raised a £40m Series B round in a challenging funding climate.
Why Bumper chose Sheffield for its HQ.
The prospects for further expansion and even an IPO for the company he hopes will soon be Yorkshire’s first fintech Unicorn.
Traction: The Tech Growth Show is brought to you by Roaring Mouse Public Relations and Venture.Community.
#StartupGrowth #FinTech #Payments #Automotive #ScalingStartups #FundingStrategies #Yorkshire #Sheffield #EntrepreneurialJourney #SaaS #B2BFinTech #AutomotiveIndustry #Expansion #Startups 

Forging the Future: An Inside Look at Sheffield’s Innovation Spine

How do you redesign a city for innovators to thrive? Charlotte Thompson is seeking to answer that question for the Sheffield Innovation Spine, a two-year planning project with a 20-year vision to transform Sheffield and create more spaces for startups and scale-ups to be successful.
The project's partners - Sheffield Technology Parks, Sheffield City Council, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University and South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority - are plotting how best to put in place the innovation spaces, laboratories and specialist facilities innovators need, and unlock investment opportunities that could be worth billions of pounds to Sheffield.
In this video, Charlotte talks to James Taylor and Pete Hopton about removing barriers to growth in sectors such as tech, manufacturing, and life sciences, and the importance of collaborating with partners in Manchester and Leeds to compete on the global stage.
Traction: The Technology Growth Show is brought to you by Roaring Mouse Public Relations and Venture.Community.
#Sheffield #SouthYorkshire #Innovation #StartupSupport #Scaleups #InnovationInfrastructure #InvestmentOpportunities #RegionalEconomicGrowth #CityTransformation #UrbanRegeneration #Entrepreneurs #InnovationDistrict #TechCluster #NorthernTriangle #Manufacturing #HealthTech #LifeSciences

Startup Sorcery: Unleashing Magic & Misfits to Reach £1m in Revenue

Peter Hopton says the odds of taking a startup from ideation to £1m revenue are impossible but believes this milestone be achieved more often than not with the right magic and a band of misfits. He’s already taken VeryPC and Iceotope on the “zero-to-one” journey, and he’s on a mission to advance the development of hundreds more startups through Venture.Community. 
Join us to discover the monster factors founders must overcome to achieve early traction and gain more first-hand entrepreneurial advice to take your startup from ideation to that critical first million in revenue.
Traction: The Technology Growth Show is brought to you by Roaring Mouse Public Relations and Venture.Community.
#Startups #Founders #ZeroToOne #Sheffield #SouthYorkshire #Tech #Entrepreneurship #EntrepreneurLife #TechMarketing #TechSales

Doing Different: Why New Strokes are Needed for South Yorkshire’s Tech Ascent

Tracy Johnson, Project Director at TECH SY, isn’t building a technology company. She’s on a mission to advance an entire tech ecosystem in South Yorkshire that she says is connected, collaborative, and can “move mountains for early-stage entrepreneurs.” In this interview, she discusses public sector involvement in long-term planning and fostering a supportive ecosystem, opportunities in advanced manufacturing, health innovation, and creative industries, and how South Yorkshire’s tech sector can thrive by doing things differently.
Traction: The Technology Growth Show is brought to you by Roaring Mouse Public Relations and Venture.Community.
#SouthYorkshire #technology #TechEcosystemDevelopment #PublicSector #innovation #StartupSupport #ScaleupAcceleration #HealthTech #CreativeIndustries #sheffield #barnsley #rotherham #doncaster #AdvancedManufacturing #economicdevelopment

Simplicity Wins: How FourJaw Cracked the Productivity Code

In just a few short years, FourJaw Manufacturing Analytics has established a global customer base and a big name for itself in the world of smart factories. In this interview, co-founder and CEO Chris Iveson discusses FourJaw’s origin story and £0-£1m revenue journey and how it is helping hundreds of manufacturers address their number one concern: productivity. Join us to explore FourJaw’s focus on simplicity and benefit over technology, the challenges of balancing product development with commercial traction, and the need for continuous learning and adaptation.
Traction: The Technology Growth Show is brought to you by Roaring Mouse Public Relations and Venture.Community.
#StartupGrowth #Manufacturing #Innovation #FounderJourney #Scaling #ZeroToOne #Tech #Entrepreneurship #Productivity #SaaS #ManufacturingDigitization #Sheffield #IoT #IndustrialIoT #data #analytics

Disrupting Hollywood: How Zoo Broke the Mould for Media Localisation

Stuart Green, CEO of Zoo Digital, discusses the evolution of his company from a sports and entertainment-focused startup in 2001 to a leading provider of media localisation services. Initially, Zoo developed interactive DVD games, notably "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," which sold over a million copies. Despite initial resistance, it pivoted to providing services for major studios like Disney and Netflix, leveraging its proprietary technology for subtitling and dubbing. Today, Zoo Digital employs around 500 people and operates in 13 locations globally, focusing on high-quality localisation for streaming platforms.
#technology #tech #startup #sheffield #hollywood #streaming #whowantstobeamillionaire #growth #growthhacking #growthstrategy #marketing #sales #media #entertainmentindustry