Fresh out of university, Sean Cowden together with business partner David Lucas, saw a big opportunity to set up shop in digital production. Six years later, London based creative digital agency, Finer Vision, has a growing team that tells a story of successful organic growth. 1. What have been your key milestones and how have you celebrated them? When we first started we had no investment, so our first milestone was to actually turn a profit. We also started out working from my home, so I think eventually getting our own office was another key moment which we did celebrate with a party. Winning those first projects with big brands really announced our presence, while taking on our first in-house creative and developers was also a big step, meaning we no longer needed to do all the creative and development work ourselves. 2. Have you had any setbacks or disappointments along the way and what have you learnt from them? I’m struggling to think of any. Because our growth has been so organic we haven’t exposed ourselves to too many risks. There are the pitches we haven’t won of course, particularly those that have cost a lot of time and effort, but really we’ve been lucky in how the company has grown. Our growth plan has been carefully and strategically thought out so hopefully avoiding as much risk as possible. 3. Have you taken any chances or risks that you feel have really paid off? Initially our business was about the traditional digital space in areas like the creation of microsites, marketing sites and digital sales collateral. Our decision to then really focus on social media long before brands were interested was a big gamble. Specialising in an area that people were yet to be convinced about was quite difficult at first and it took a lot of education to persuade businesses that social media was here to stay. We also invested in our own multi-platform digital toolkit that took a great deal of time and resource but has proved to be a great success. In the beginning finances were very tight and we couldn’t afford to take too many creative risks. Now we’re bigger there is a bit more flexibility to take a risk in the interest of doing something creative and engaging. 4. Tell us about your work life balance? We’ve pulled a few all-nighters and forty hours non-stop on one job is our record. There are some projects that really demand a great deal of time but we’re happy to do that. It’s the way we work. Unfortunately social media doesn’t keep office hours so refreshing my phone constantly is part of the game. Everything is very instant and it’s important to be available for our clients. 5. Where have you taken inspiration from? Our inspiration in a way comes from big brands, as well as larger agencies – seeing what they do and realising that we can deliver what they do or better, as well as being more cost effective for the client. The people we’ve employed have also all brought in new skills and a fresh perspective. Coming straight from university we’ve never worked in-house for a business or agency and that has helped us keep a different perspective on what we can offer. Find out more at finervision.com