Alex tells us more about his career journey since graduating and advice for students and graduates who would like to become entrepreneurs.
Can you tell us about your current role?
I have been working at Spin for 3 years now in a few different job roles which have led me to become the ‘Senior Commercial Account Manager’. Alongside this, I have been working to set up ‘The Cart’ as CEO and Co-Founder for 2 years.
My role at Spin covers a few key areas including Sales, Commercial Agreements and Client Success. Finding, speaking to and signing new businesses and clients who may require our services is key to the continued growth of Spin and therefore the team and I are responsible for hitting relevant revenue targets.
We also stay in close contact with clients who sign at Spin to ensure the team and client have a strong client-agency relationship which is very important to us at Spin.
Secondly, my role at The Cart. My current role as CEO and Co-Founder is mainly to generate investment to build the app at which point the role will take on many different formats. The idea for The Cart came from myself and after weeks and months of speaking to friends, family and colleagues to establish that this was a viable business, I decided to move forward with it.
Although the idea and business were planned out, I lacked a financial and tech-based skillset to be able to bring the business to life. That is when Harry Bailey joined as CFO & Co-Founder, a qualified accountant (along with him being my step-brother) who was the perfect person to join on this journey.
The tech side of the business was supported through an incubator called ‘Hyper’ which helped us understand the tech capabilities and build a prototype.
How did the idea for your business come about?
Having worked at Panasonic and running the headphone category, I was frustrated at not being able to sell the products through our own channels, be it social or E-Commerce, this was the start.
At Spin, learning about the world of social media whilst running multiple E-Commerce brands, I found another frustration of ineffective advertising and abandoned carts. This led me to look at my own and my friends' shopping habits.
What I found from both primary and secondary research was that shopping had become ‘always on’, meaning that we were constantly browsing for items with no purchase intent. When the intent to purchase was there, however, we would find multiple ‘saved’ across platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Photos and Screenshots.
Hence, we saw a clear need for ‘The Cart’ to act as a universal shopping cart.
How do you market your business and which tactics have been most successful?
We use many methods to market Spin Brands and deliver results for other brands whilst showing the company culture and insights into the world of social media. This organic tactic is supported by tactical paid media across Google.
Spin also ranks highly in many directories for social media due to receiving many 5-star reviews from clients.
Marketing efforts haven’t started in too much depth for The Cart due to the need currently to raise funds for the business in order to build the first version of the app.
However, steps have been taken to build out a LinkedIn presence to drive awareness of the business.
How did your time as a student prepare you for your current role?
My placement year gave me the best insight possible into the working world and gave me a chance to understand the key aspects of how to operate in business.
The university CV and assessment centre workshops really helped me prepare in order to make the most of these opportunities.
What advice would you give to students or graduates who would like to become entrepreneurs?
Take on everything.
Every challenge is another chance to learn about a new area of business and subsequently learn a different skill or area of business whether it be logistics, sales, operations, social media management, website design etc.
Be interested.
Find an area you are working in or interested in and step back to look at pain points and then how this can be improved. That level of detailed interest in how something can be improved is vital.
Take initiative.
Nothing moves unless you make it move, is the biggest thing I’ve learnt. You can talk about an idea, and tell people you are going to do it but you need to take initiative and make a step forward, even if it’s wrong.
Finally, what advice do you have for final-year ULMS students who will soon become new graduates?
Linking back to the 3 points made earlier, ‘Take on everything’, ‘Be Interested’ & ‘Take Initiative’. Use these 3 things in whatever you do or wherever you end up and good things will happen.
I never pictured myself working in the social media industry but the opportunities it has presented have been great and I’m excited to see where both Spin and The Cart can go in the coming years.