Alec Dobbie, Co-Founder, FanFinders Startup QA

Alec Dobbie, Co-Founder, FanFinders Startup QA Alec Dobbie, Co-Founder, FanFinders: Startup QA Image Source: FanFindersUK-based startup FanFinders is a performance marketing company that’s ushering in a new way of generating leads. Determined to tackle the problem of how brands can engage markets without “spamming” them, Alec Dobbie, Co-Founder, FanFinders, explains how the startup has shifted the start of the conversation to the consumer, by creating consumer ‘clubs’ whose members benefit from brand offers that are relevant to them.Brands then engage with these virtual communities and create awareness about their products and services. The trio of founding members, Alec, Raphael Marsh, and Nick Hadfield describe this as “the perfect value exchange”, as FanFinders creates the fans, and puts the brand’s campaigns to them. Only club members who opt in to the process get what they need, while the brand gains leads, and insights, from consumers who are interested in them.FanFinders was founded in January 2013 and launched in December of that year, and the best exam ple of the business in action is provided by its first consumers club, YourBabyClub, which has simply exploded into the UK’s fastest growing community for new mums, with approximately 40,000 new mothers signing up each month.Video Source: YouTubeIt’s an inspiring startup story that is even more potent when you consider that FanFinders is entirely bootstrapped. The company has engaged with more than 200 big brands in the baby care sector alone, so it would seem that the firm’s funding mixture of “a few hundred pounds in cash and a lot of sweat equity” is a winning recipe indeed.Alec recently settled into the AGENT Startup Hotseat to answer questions about his career to date. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 1. Very simply, what does your company do?FanFinders offers brands genuine connections with target consumers as well as performance marketing and insight through our own channel of membership clubs. We generate the fans, put brand campaigns in front of them, and then put the fan in the driver’s seat.Unlike other performance marketing companies, our campaigns run via value exchange between the brand and the consumers â€" each party must share something with the other, but it is only the consumer who can activate this exchange. By putting the consumer in control the brand only gains valuable connections and insight from fans who are truly interested in them.2. What was the ‘Eureka!’ moment?Once we had finalized the consumer platform and started marketing, we were at a critical point â€" this was either going to work, or it wasn’t. Our ‘Eureka!’ moment came after a few months of marketing when the number of consumer users signing up to the site was higher than we could have ever predicted. That’s when we knew we were on to something. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 3. What were you doing before starting?I was running my own software company. Raphael Marsh, our COO, was running his own digital design consultancy. Nick Hadfield, our CRO, is a serial entrepreneur who set up the successful airport transfer firm Ski-Lifts. Of our other directors, Adam Gillett, the CCO, was running the commercial arm of a direct marketing company, while Neil Stephenson was the marketing manager for large online retailers.4. How are you funded?FanFinders is 100% privately owned by the five directors and built on a mixture of a few hundred pounds in cash and a lot of sweat equity. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 5. What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs starting their own company?There will be loads of bumps in the road. Building a business is never smooth and doesn’t happen overnight. Knuckle down, believe in what youre doing and enjoy the ride!6. What item do you never leave the house without?Without question it has to be a smartphone, and a notepad and pen. We all have a number of apps that allow us to run and track different bits of the business on the go. It’s i mportant for us to stay connected as much as possible. The notepad and pen is handy, because it allows us to offload and file any ideas we have when we’re away from the desk. When you are managing a startup, ideas come to you all the time, some good, some less so, but it’s important to document them as you don’t want to forget a gem.THE CO-FOUNDERS: Nick Hadfield, Alec Dobbie, and Raphael Marsh   /   Image Source: FanFinders