← James Reed: all about business
James Reed: all about business
3. How to build a digital empire with Oli Green | CEO of Brave Bison
00:41:35
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- [00:00]
James Reed
Welcome to All About Business with me, James Reed, the podcast that covers everything about business management and leadership. Every episode, I sit down with different guests who bootstrapped companies, masterminded investment models, or built a business empire. They're leaders in their field, and they're here to give you top insights and actionable advice so that you can apply their ideas to your own career or business venture. With AI becoming more and more advanced, it's safe to say that the digital era is truly upon us. But with these new ways of working, businesses face one major challenge. Staying ahead of the game and their competitors. Joining me today on All About Business is Ollie Green. He's the CEO of Brave Bison, a marketing, media and technology company that helps businesses thrive in the modern world. He's acquired multiple businesses over the years, including leading social media company, Social Chain. That's why he's the perfect person to speak to us about building a business empire in the digital era. Ollie, thank you for coming to join me today for All About Business. You're the CEO of Brave Bison. You talk a lot about helping clients get into the new era of business and becoming digital First. That's. That's very much your approach as I understand it. So Digital first, though, goes way beyond how we work, doesn't it? I mean, it's about the delivery of services and how we create new opportunities for people to acquire things.
- [01:38]
Ollie Green
For me, Digital first is about leaning into new technologies, it's about being data led, and it's about taking a modern approach and identifying trends that are changing everything from the workplace all the way through to how customers actually interact with your. Your business. And I think, you know, more and more clients are investing into their digital platforms. They're investing into their digital products and services that allow them to interact and possibly transact or at least engage with customers and users.
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James Reed
So what are the sort of top things you're seeing in terms of emerging trends or themes that companies should be thinking about?
- [02:23]
Ollie Green
I think AI is definitely the. The hot topic and it's, it's definitely a bit of a buz. And there are lots of businesses that are hiring chief AI officers or perhaps they have an AI strategy. I think what we try to talk to clients about is their existing problem or opportunity set and then how we might use AI as a tool to actually provide a solution, overcome some of those challenges, and deliver on some of those opportunities. So if you think of AI as a sort of force for unbelievable productivity, especially when it comes to sort of data processing, at Brave Bison, we're using AI to create content. We're using AI to plan and buy media much more effectively. And so we're still selling ultimately the same things that we were before to our clients, but we're using AI to be more efficient, to deliver our services more quickly and ultimately to deliver better results for our clients and sometimes at a, at a lower cost to them.
- [03:35]
James Reed
We're delighted that you're listening to this episode. Hit the follow button so that we can continue to bring you the best business insight and actionable advice to help your business and or career. So I run a company. I like the sound of all that. How do I find people who can do this though? Because, you know, you're not going to find someone with five years AI experience, typically, because it's so new. How do you sort of recruit and build a team that can deliver all that to your customers?
- [04:03]
Ollie Green
Well, I think that the first thing you need to do is really be very clear on what problems you have and what opportunities you have. And I think that there are a number of stakeholders in every business and obviously you run a very large business and you'll have multiple stakeholders. But I think that the best AI work streams and programs really start off with some kind of workshop where you are talking through business problems, problems and customer problems and thinking about how you might solve them. I think when it comes to delivering the actual AI application, there's lots of ways to do that. You might be hiring teams, you might be using third parties. But I think that the bit that we see as being one of the most important parts is actually setting yourself up for success by creating that program of work and thinking about the strategic problem that you're trying to solve.
- [05:04]
James Reed
Listening to you, I was just thinking there's a new government, huge challenges in public services. You'd think some of this digital first AI approach might be really ripe for this moment in delivering those services. I think there's a huge opportunity there for business and public service delivery to improve, really. Which is quite exciting, isn't it?
- [05:24]
Ollie Green
Definitely. I think that we always promote investment into digital platforms and services because we know that that's where clients, customers are. You'll have seen the, the queuing or the virtual queuing for the Oasis concert that unfortunately didn't, didn't go according to plan. But that's a perfect example of, of, of the new era. Whereas, you know, probably when Oasis was, was touring in the 90s, people might have been queuing for tickets, whereas now they're, they're queuing virtually and, and they're looking to buy on online.
- [06:00]
James Reed
So what's a better way of doing that? If you selling tickets for a concert, how would that be better delivered?
- [06:08]
Ollie Green
Well, it's funny you say that, because we've actually just written a blog post on the ins and outs of setting up a queuing system and there's very few technical updates that Ticketmaster should have and still can make to make a much better experience for customers. But one of the things that I actually thought was a missed opportunity is while you had people in the queue for, in some cases, an hour, two hours, possibly show them some kind of entertainment, it's a great opportunity whilst they are engaged, to possibly monetize that opportunity, get brands, get advertisers involved. There are other experiences out there whereby where you're queuing, you're actually engaged and you can play a game or you're taught something and the platform is recognizing that the user is frustrated.
- [07:02]
James Reed
But queuing is not an activity any of us particularly enjoy. But speaking for myself at least, I hate queuing. Surely in the new era that should be something of the past. Can't we use some sort of lottery device or some other way that technology selects people, even at random? You've got a ticket, you haven't. Sorry, isn't there another way of doing.
- [07:20]
Ollie Green
It in the new era? You're absolutely right, queuing does seem slightly old fashioned, but I think that ultimately customers are still buying a physical product in the sense that they're still purchasing a ticket that allows them entry into an arena. And that arena has all sorts of sort of quirks to it in terms of how space and categorization of seats. And I imagine that there's some complexity in how the back end of the Ticketmaster platform sort of processes information. So it's not so much on the customer side, it's more on the sort of stadium and event space side. The sort of, the physicality of it all.
- [08:02]
James Reed
Sounds to me like they should be giving you a call, Ollie.
- [08:04]
Ollie Green
Well, we'd love to work with them.
- [08:05]
James Reed
We'd love to work with them. So give me some other examples. I mean, you don't have to name names, but it's confidential. But the types of service you might be sort of bringing into the new era.
- [08:15]
Ollie Green
So we're, we're, we're big into social media at Brave Bison, we're big believers that the conversation is happening on social, you know, custom customers and users are spending more and more time on platforms like TikTok and, and Reddit and, and X, you know, formerly known as Twitter. And so we we help brands sort of think about how they show up on some of those platforms, how they might target new audiences, new customer groups, as well as some of the existing customer groups that already buy their product or service. And we're also beginning to sort of really think about how social media can shape your sort of overriding brand strategy as a business, given that social is such a good mechanism testing how people react to products or messaging or other forms of sort of alternative use of your product.
- [09:16]
James Reed
So your business. Einstein recently bought Social Chain, which was founded originally by Stephen Bartlett, obviously well known in business and of the Dragon's Den. So if that part of this mix now, is that what they do in particular?
- [09:30]
Ollie Green
Yes. So Brave Bison has four divisions, one of which is Social Chain. And Social Chain was acquired last year, so in February of last year. And it's kind of the definitive original social media marketing firm. I actually met Steve back in a conference in a South by Southwest conference in Texas. I think it was sort of 2017 and he had just been in the Times, I think, for having a slide put into his office. But Social Chain worked with some extraordinary brands and started off as really an agency that was brilliant at making brands go viral, but has since really grown up and it now focuses on helping brands to navigate what has become a very sort of complex marketing ecosystem within the context of social. There are so many different platforms, there are lots of different audiences. Each platform releases a new product or feature pretty much every one to sort of three months. And so, you know, brands want a partner to consult with on, on Best in Class as well as help with things like sort of content production and, and possibly sort of strategies and collaborations that see creators or influencers get involved and partner with brands to, to sort of promote a brand's message or product. So Social Chain is a, an end to end social media agency. And we're currently working with everyone from LinkedIn all the way through to the likes of Jameson's and Shark Ninja and Green King and a whole host of other other brands, including actually some of the platforms themselves. So TikTok and Pinterest as well as LinkedIn actually customer customers of ours.
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James Reed
Very interesting. You said you had four divisions. That was one. What are the other three?
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Ollie Green
So we have a division called Brave Bison Performance and that is a digital media agency that plans digital media on platforms like Google and YouTube and TikTok and Amazon. And effectively we drive sort of bottom of the funnel conversion so we help clients spend money online to drive revenue and drive conversion on their websites or apps and in that division we work with the likes of Curries and New.
- [12:01]
James Reed
Balance and the other two.
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Ollie Green
So we have a division called Brave Bison Commerce and that is a sort of quite tech and delivery led business that helps retailers and e commerce businesses think about their digital e commerce experience and really upgrade it and level it up. And there's a sort of a new wave of technology called Composable which sees businesses build platforms using lots of different technology components. We're experts in composable Commerce and we consult and actually implement new solutions for customers. And our last division is actually a media network. So we own and manage a portfolio of channels across the likes of Facebook and YouTube and TikTok and Snapchat, some of the channels that we own ourselves. So we own channels called say what? And the Hook and we also run channels on behalf of rights holders or companies that have IP. So we're running the US Opens YouTube channel. We work with the Australian Open, we work with the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.
- [13:17]
James Reed
So listening to it sounds like there are a number of different ways you can go if you want to be digital first or the number of different strategies you can take as a business. And the one that's right for you, or several of those might be right for you. Depends on the nature of your business and what you're doing, I suppose. I mean, we've worked with you over the years. We've done campaigns, we've built websites and we've found that experience, I'm pleased to say, very positive. Because you've got another business, something you called Tangent. And my recollection is Tangent started out in printing. You were doing quite a lot of printing, but you took that. You've literally walked the talk because you took that business into a digital first business too. Tell me a little bit about that journey.
- [14:03]
Ollie Green
So Tangent is a sort of digital product and experience agency. So we help large enterprises to really sort of reimagine. We help large enterprises reimagine their digital experiences. And typically that involves a sort of upfront piece of consultancy and thinking about their business and thinking about their customer groups. And then it usually results in some kind of digital products transformation. So the actual design and build of some kind of website or app or chatbot.
- [14:37]
James Reed
So you're the CEO of Brave Bison and you're also the chairman of Tangent. So you're involved with two companies. You know, you built up what is an impressive business empire over the last decade. What are the steps that, you know, lots of entrepreneurs listening, need to think about? I mean, every Business is different. Every journey is different. But what did you have in your mind when you went about doing that and what were you looking to accomplish and how did you move forward?
- [15:07]
Ollie Green
I think I've always been very interested and aware of my competitor set and companies that are growing within. Within my space. And I think that, you know, reading and sort of research is so important and following companies on LinkedIn and going to event, be it trade events or conferences. There are some incredible events where you can go and hear from people that are doing interesting things. And some of them might be competitors, and some of them might be partners, and some of them might be suppliers. But there's a sort of. The business ecosystem is incredibly diverse and I've always found it really useful to sort of to read and follow and also to meet people. But I mentioned south by Southwest, which is a sort of tech and media conference in Austin. But that's a great place to go and learn and reflect and think and network with both entrepreneurs and big businesses that are successful in their field and are thinking about the future and thinking about disruption and thinking about how to get ahead. And I think that it's probably not a coincidence that south by Southwest is based in the U.S. i think that in the U.S. there is a very strong determination to succeed. And I think that success is celebrated in a really fantastic way.
- [16:47]
James Reed
So it sounds like a voracious learner. You really want to know what's going on? You're very curious.
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Ollie Green
Yeah, I think learning is important. I think definitely not afraid to copy and to follow. I think that it's a big market and sometimes you can something better than someone else can, either because you have a particular sort of platform or client, or perhaps you have more capital. But I think there's. I'm a big believer of that there's nothing truly new under the sun. And so the answers are out there. You just have to find them.
- [17:23]
James Reed
So in this technology space, there are certain people who have certain expertise, you know, who are very good at certain things if you want to bring them into your world. I imagine you're making acquisitions or buying businesses to do that sometimes as well as hiring people. Is. Is that your model? In part, yeah.
- [17:41]
Ollie Green
So Tangent made one acquisition and Brave Bison has made four so far. So acquisitions have definitely been a big part of. Of. Of of. Of business building for me, as well as organic growth and as well as expanding relationships with existing clients and, and winning. Winning new clients. But as a public company that wants to be bigger, Brave Bison will inevitably make more acquisitions.
- [18:09]
James Reed
So this Is really interesting me, because you've done five times as many acquisitions as I have in my career. We did one and it wasn't very successful. And you seem to have developed a technique for doing it much more successfully than ours. What are you looking for when you see a company and you begin that journey? What originally sort of gets you thinking this might be one for us and, and then how do you sort of evaluate those companies?
- [18:36]
Ollie Green
So I think that, you know, first of all, you know, we, we probably look at anywhere between 30 and 50 businesses a year to, to buy and we probably end up doing one, maybe two acquisitions. So there, there are people in the market and especially in my space that, you know, buying much more aggressively, seeing.
- [18:57]
James Reed
A lot of frogs.
- [18:58]
Ollie Green
Well, I, I would say that we're meeting a lot of interesting businesses and sometimes the timing isn't right and sometimes you think it's a great business, but you just can't, you can't quite work out how you would buy it or how you would actually create value by buying it. I think that when we look at businesses, you know, we, we really think about everything from the, the clients that they work with, the markets that they're in, whether, or a complementary capability to ourselves, or is it sort of more of the same? I think we try and get a good sort of temperature for the culture of the business as well. Is it founder led? Is it sort of mission driven? How corporate is it? Because these are all things that will have, I think, a big impact on any kind of integration planning that you might want to, that you might want to have. I think for us, so far we have not bought a business and left it in the corner. I think you can do that. I think if that business is of scale and it has the right management team and has the right plan, then you are able to do that. But I think the businesses that we've bought, we've bought because we've had a vision that one plus one is going to be more than two. It's going to be three or four or five. And so the acquisitions that we've made today have all been integrated into the Brave Bison platform. And what does that mean? It means, you know, they, they effectively, you know, we, we Brave Bison operates as one company. So we have, you know, one Christmas party, we have one Slack channel. There is a board meeting every month with, with one leadership team. There might be, you know, different departments, different business divisions. There might be even different leadership teams for each one of our divisions. But it looks and feels like one company.
- [21:00]
James Reed
So that's prompted a couple of questions. You said you look for companies that are founder led, mission driven, corporate. Are those positive things for you or are they things that depends on the founder and the mission? I suppose, but talk me through that a little bit more.
- [21:15]
Ollie Green
I think we look for companies where we can see ourselves working with people. I think that, you know, people.
- [21:25]
James Reed
Do you want the founder to stay or not?
- [21:28]
Ollie Green
It kind of depends on what their agenda is. In, in, in, in recent cases the, the management teams have all come, come into our business but the founders have actually exited. That's not to say that we wouldn't love to work with founders. I think it just depends on, on their journey and where they are sort of on it. I think that though, you know, as well as looking at sort of the underlying business like the, you know, the technology and the client contracts and the financials, I think we really think long and hard about can we work with these people, you know, do we want to speak to them every day, week, hour, whatever it is, do we want to be on planes with them? Do we want to be sharing, you know, hotels with them? Because ultimately, you know, we are a people based business and I think every business is a people based business.
- [22:20]
James Reed
I'm your host. Jamie is Reid, chairman and CEO of Reed, a family run philanthropy company. If you'd like to find out more about Reid, Visit us@reid.com thank you. So some people listening will be thinking, I want to build, I'm a founder, I want to build a business and sell it to someone like Ollie. Yeah, because I suppose the psychology of lots of founders is they, they want to realize again and maybe do something else afterwards, which I can see why they don't necessarily stay. What sort of tips would you give someone who' the earliest phases of a journey in terms of building a business that is acquirable, desirable, you know, attractive to a company like yours? What would you say you need to get right?
- [23:05]
Ollie Green
I think, you know, your management team is really, really important and showing that the business doesn't just run off your blood, sweat and tears. I think it's really important to have, you know, a strong cfo, a strong, a sort of head of marketing. I think that the senior team is incredibly important. I think that trade brand is really important and making sure that you have a good reputation in the industry both amongst prospective staff as well as prospective clients or customers. I think that technology and having some kind of proprietary systems or platforms is definitely something that people value because they know that building them from scratch can be difficult. I think there's lots of things that you can do. I think you might want to have a good advisor, maybe a member of the board or possibly a more formal advisor. But I think that if you do get to a process, process of sale, it's useful to have someone that's a little bit more removed because I think that those few months where the transaction is being sort of undertaken can be very stressful and it's useful to have support. I think, during those times that's very helpful.
- [24:39]
James Reed
I'm sure people listening would find that very useful. You also mentioned about integrating. You said that the companies you bought hadn't been left in the corner, they were integrated. That's not easy necessarily, when you're putting two cultures together. Are there certain things that you feel are must dos when you're integrating a new acquisition?
- [25:00]
Ollie Green
I think that when we sort of buy a business, the integration plan always looks a little bit different. I think we try and get the sort of basics pretty consistent. So, you know, we have one staff handbook and there's one sort of. There's one policy for things like holiday and we do pay rises twice a year or we do sort of appraisals twice a year. So there are a few things that we sort of look to encourage the business that's being integrated to sort of take up. But I would say that every acquisition has been a bit different and we've only done four brave bison, so I'm sure it will continue to. Integrations are challenging. You're not buying a property or a sort of a warehouse. And so you've got to think about roles and responsibilities, you've got to think about trade brands, you've got to think about customer relationships and client relationships. You've got to think about even, you know, technology. And, you know, for example, quite a few of the businesses that we've bought have been on. They've been Google houses and we're a Microsoft, Microsoft house. And so actually porting people over from Google to teams.
- [26:21]
James Reed
Have you actually done that? Yeah, because we've got one business, we've got Google and teams in our business, which grown organically. That was my fault.
- [26:28]
Ollie Green
Yeah.
- [26:29]
James Reed
So how did that journey go? Because I'm thinking of doing that myself.
- [26:31]
Ollie Green
It was tricky and we compromised because whilst we use Microsoft Teams for all video calls, we actually use Slack for instant chat. So rather than using use Microsoft's instant version, we've got a fused version, we use Slack for instant instant messaging and we use teams in the most part for video calls. Unless clients demand that we use other technology.
- [26:57]
James Reed
So I've observed, you know, one of the reasons we've pursued, I suppose, an organic strategy over the years, I think it suits recruitment because if you're buying a recruitment company, you're buying people effectively and they can all walk out the next day if they don't like it. So the sort of culture is very important and developing a culture that people want to be a part of and enjoy. When you, when you buy a new company, you're putting two cultures together. Does one tend to be sort of consumed by the other or do they fuse in some way? What, what happens culturally?
- [27:27]
Ollie Green
I think they do fuse because I think that, well, certainly for a business like ours, our culture is always evolving and it evolves based on, on the clients that we work with. It evolves based on the new staff that come to work for us. And so I think that our culture is always evolving. I definitely do think that when you integrate a business, you do have to leave some stuff at the door, but at the same time you also gain stuff. But I think culture is one of these things that transcends pretty much everything you do. And so it's very difficult to, to plan for it and to consciously make edits to it. I think that having a sort of long term view for your business and having someone or some people that are sort of responsible for driving it and growing it with a view to thinking about the long term really helps create a certain ethos and you'd see that ethos and in a business that is private and family owned like yours, and I think that you see similar sort of essences in businesses that maybe are founder led and are sort of mission driven and sort of very sort of purpose driven that might be venture capital backed. So the capital structure could be very different, but I think the cultures can always be similar.
- [29:01]
James Reed
So what have you found difficult about sort of building this growing business, you know, both by acquisition, organically, one of the most sort of challenging things you've had to deal with being the, you know, are going to be things that other people, this thing might experience that.
- [29:18]
Ollie Green
Well, certainly, you know, integrations of businesses are always really difficult. I think that, you know, my brother and I are business partners and he tends to focus more on the acquisition side of the business and I tend to focus more on the sort of people side of the business. But then we also have the actual existing business to worry about. And as a public company, forecasting is really, really important. And making sure that we hit or even exceed our forecast is really, really Important, so I would say over the last few years is we've had various different sort of global and national challenges that have an impact on advertising and have an impact on consumer confidence. And it hasn't been the sort of the easiest time to trade an advertising and marketing business. And at the same time, when you're managing acquisitions and having to forecast within an inch of sort of 10%, give or take, that does present a bit of a challenge. Yeah.
- [30:26]
James Reed
I mean, if you forged a business over the last five years, I mean, in the past, we'd have said that would place you well for the future because it's going to get better, for sure. But it's hard even to know that now. It's that we have to be so adaptable in business. I feel exactly the same way as you. You mentioned you work with your brother. I mean, there are lots of successful examples of brothers and families and siblings working together. How do you. How do you make that work yourself? Because. Because I think there's some strengths in. I mean, you can duplicate yourself in a way with someone you trust.
- [30:57]
Ollie Green
You can duplicate yourself. I think that that trust is unbelievably strong. I think that Theo and I are very complementary. You know, we have very different skills. I think we both, you know, respect one another and appreciate one another's skills. He's unbelievably clever. Other very financial, very strategic, very analytical, and also has a hazard, has an eye for operations. I think I'm slightly more people focused and I. I love being a bit of a recruiter myself, actually. I. I love thinking about how great people can fit into our. Our organization and then working with Theo. And we have an unbelievably strong CFO that helps us to deliver on what we set out to deliver at the beginning of the year from a financial and commercial perspective.
- [32:00]
James Reed
So that's what I would call a triumvirate with two brothers and the cfo. Is that how you come to decisions? Because if you and your brother disagreed on something, how are you going to decide? I guess you could pull rank. Or do you involve the cfo?
- [32:14]
Ollie Green
I mean, we're usually very aligned. So we are the three executives on the board, Myself, Theo and Philippa, and then we have two non executives on the board who are both independent and they also have a really important part to play. And they are very good at questioning elements of our strategy and ultimately signing off as a board on any acquisitions or investments we're going to make. But I think that the plan that our business has is a Robust one that is fairly consistent. Despite the fact that we have to reinvent ourselves so often. I think the business plan is the same. It's just sort of maybe the trade proposition and the sort of the capability focus that maybe evolves. So I think it's myself, it's Theo, it's Philippa, and then Matt and Gordon who sit on our board.
- [33:07]
James Reed
So you mentioned this word, reinvention. I mean, you're in an incredibly competitive space where technologies are changing all the time. How do you make sure you stay, you know, competitive ahead of the game? How do you do that? How do you keep reinventing?
- [33:23]
Ollie Green
I think there are, there are lots of ways to reinvent yourself. I think that, you know, you have to be well informed and, and to be well informed, you have to go to the trade events, you have to keep an eye on your competitors, you have to speak to clients about what they're seeing and how they're trading and what problems they, they're sort of encountering. I think that there are, you know, there are lots of social media platforms to be all over and I, I certainly look to America and certainly the, the west coast for sort of technology advancements and it certainly feels like it's not a coincidence that some of the sort of most compelling AI companies and machine learning companies are based on the West Coast. Obviously you've got all the venture money there as well, but I think the level of innovation and hunger and ambition and so sort of technical capability, frankly is really quite phenomenal. And so keeping an eye on what the US is doing and also trying to think about just sort of more, I guess, more macro and making sure that you're at the same time as sort of reading around your industry and any emerging trends. You're also trying to work out how they play into the more, more sort of global macro environment and what's happening around the world.
- [34:58]
James Reed
So one way of staying ahead in the UK at least, is importing the latest ideas from America. That's worked well as a strategy. Has it?
- [35:07]
Ollie Green
Yeah. I think that being observant of what these unbelievably innovative, fast growing digital first businesses are doing, I think is always interesting and is always relevant. I think lots of the founders or the CEOs or the execs are well worth listening to on podcasts or lots of them have books out and I think that they're great sources of knowledge and inspiration as well as, you know, looking at competitors and making sure that you're signed up to newsletters and you're following people on Instagram and you're, you're looking on Twitter because I think there's, there's information all over the place.
- [35:58]
James Reed
I mean, forgive me saying this, but you obviously work really hard because you're in your leisure time, you're looking at all these other channels and reading and I mean, is that a big part of what it takes? You have to be a grafter?
- [36:10]
Ollie Green
I do, I do believe in working hard. Yeah. I think, I think that's, that sometimes that is, is mooted as old fashioned and, and I, I don't want, you know, people not to have a work life balance, but I think that if you want to be successful, you, you, you do have to work hard. It's, it's, it's that simple.
- [36:31]
James Reed
Well, I've been around a while and that's something I've observed. You know, the people who work really hard, the more you put in, the more you get out. I think of it sometimes as work life integration. I think if you enjoy your work, then what's the, what's the, what's the issue as long as your family doesn't mind?
- [36:47]
Ollie Green
Yeah, exactly. I think that, I think probably to work very hard, you, you do have to be sort of passionate and you do have to be interested. And if you are those things, then as you say, you know, there are parts of your work that will be more enjoyable that might, that might not mean, mean that all of your work is enjoyable. And if you're, you know, working on a investor deck or a presentation, you know, late at night, that, that might not be the part that you enjoy, but you might be really interested. You might be, you might really enjoy a podcast by, you know, a sort of AIVC that's just come out.
- [37:25]
James Reed
Yeah. So, yeah, there's a mixture of ups and downs in any job, but I think being passionate about what you do, and that's why we talk about Loving Mondays. You know, it's so important you talked a little bit about being a public company and I'm interested in just exploring that with you a minute. What are the positives, as you see it now, of being a listed company in London?
- [37:46]
Ollie Green
So I think that, you know, we've had a really good experience being a public company. I would say one of the big positives is access to capital. You know, we, we've done two successful fundraisings, both have been oversubscribed. Those fundraisings took about three weeks to complete. If we were a private company and we wanted to raise money from a private equity firm or a venture capital firm, then the process could be, you know, six months and there would be all sorts of investor committees. I also think you have to forecast very, very well for a public company because you effectively have to declare if you are trading plus or minus 10% versus what the market thinks you are supposed to deliver. And I think that that's an important skill. Being able to forecast how your business is going to perform is really.
- [38:45]
James Reed
Why do you think that's an important skill?
- [38:49]
Ollie Green
I think that, you know, if you put together a forecast that is overly ambitious, you know, you might end up with a, a problem with cash flow or you might upset your private investors because you've, you've promised something and then you've, you've not delivered. I think it's, it's very easy to put together a, you know, a deck of slides that talks about, you know, market potential and strategy and what you're going to do. I think it's more difficult to actually do. I guess it, it forces you to think about things very clearly and forces you to be honest with yourself about how things are doing and how things are going.
- [39:43]
James Reed
What gets you up on a Monday morning?
- [39:47]
Ollie Green
Well, I love listening to, you know, loud music in the shower and on the way to work. So really quite. Sometimes even like heavy. Well, there's, there's. This is slightly embarrassing, but there's a German heavy metal band called Ramstein that has a couple of very aggressive tunes.
- [40:11]
James Reed
That gets you going.
- [40:13]
Ollie Green
That really gets me going. Before, before a fundraising or before any kind of bed. I certainly listen to that once or twice.
- [40:23]
James Reed
So that gets you up on the money. And the second question is, where do you see yourself in 5 years time? This is an interview question that many people get asked. But as an entrepreneur and business leader, where do you see yourself?
- [40:34]
Ollie Green
I think that my brother and I are very keen to build Brave Bison into a much bigger company. I think it will have more divisions, it will be in more markets. I don't think it will be inherently different in terms of. I think it will be a technology enabled digital advertising and technology services company. But I think it will be bigger. I think it will be more famous. I think it will be working with more CEOs, more CMOs, more CTOs, across the same sorts of programs that it's currently working. So more of the same, but bigger.
- [41:14]
James Reed
Thanks very much, Ollie.
- [41:15]
Ollie Green
Thank you.
- [41:16]
James Reed
I think I'll leave you alone now. Thank you to Ollie for joining me on All About Business. If you'd like to find out more about Ollie and building a business empire, Followey.