entrepreneurs 27


Pictures by Angus Thomas


how we work. Steve is very much the operations guy, making sure we keep doing what we do best, whereas I focus on the strategy, looking at where to take the business.


Is it gratifying to win so many awards?


The awards are a great recognition of what the business has achieved, but it’s our employees who are making the sales and developing our amazing product. Entrepreneurs are shareholders first and foremost; my job as CEO is to grow the business and surround myself with people who are far better than I at their particular area of expertise. I just have to find good people.


What’s the secret of your success?


I don’t believe in original ideas, for me it’s about doing something better than what is out there


already. Execution is key, what we did, we did better than the others that were already in the market. Rather than having one big site like, for example, match.com, we have thousands of different niche websites with our partners around the world. By outsourcing the marketing to them, we de-risked our own business and of course, when it comes to targeting customers, they know their niche areas far better than we ever could.


Having said that, 15% of our revenue is from our own B2C websites, such as justsingles.com, where we outlay some £3-£4m a year on marketing, so there is an element of risk that we’re taking too. I think that helps keep us balanced. We know our product has to perform for our own websites and that ensures it works for our partners too. No more than 5% of our revenue comes from any one site, which helps keep the business stable.


Where do you go from here?


We have over 36 million people worldwide on our database and that is one of the elements which makes our business so attractive. We own all that data, but at the moment we don’t really use it to best advantage. In the future it’s where I see the growth potential in terms of generating more advertising for our partners. If we want to, we can target people by any demographic – age, education, income, even hair colour. That’s all information they give us when they sign up online because obviously they want to find their best match.


We are also very focused on international growth, in particular over the next five years in the US, where currently we just have an office in California. They don’t really have the same white label concept there and no-one can provide the same level of customisation as we do, so the opportunities are huge.


Who do you admire?


Those people in business or politics who regularly have to make “less bad” decisions, the ones where


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – SEPTEMBER 2014


there really is no right answer and you just can’t win. Often it’s a question of making the decision which causes the least pain; I regularly have to make decisions like that for the business and it can be difficult.


What’s your best piece of advice for someone starting out in business?


Whatever you do in life, nothing is handed to you on a plate. You have to go out and work hard if you want to succeed.


Is there a “feelgood factor” about what you do?


It’s incredibly gratifying to know that what we do is responsible for tens of thousands of people finding the love of their lives and having families together. I’ve been dating someone for six months who I met online and I think it’s very important that we really understand how our business works from both sides.


And yes, we’ve had a few weddings and sent flowers – there are thousands of success stories and people who have found love online, it’s always lovely to about hear them.


When you’re not helping others find the love of their life, what’s your escape?


When you love what you do, the idea of taking time out doesn’t really appeal. I spend my downtime reading business books and thinking about new ideas. Having said that, I love to travel and I have a house in Provence where I enjoy spending time in the vineyards and running, swimming and cycling. I have a private pilots’ licence – which I need to revalidate – but my real passion now is cars. It’s not about going fast, I love the sounds, the smells and how they handle. Given the chance, my ideal would be to take six months off and drive around the world. Not bad for a one- time trainee pilot.


Details: http://globalpersonals.co.uk www.businessmag.co.uk


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