Frustrated by office politics and slow decision making, two colleagues decided to break free and set up their own presentation services company, Article 10

Lyndon Nicholson
Dale and I worked together in another marketing agency, in Reading. We ended up working in the same account team and got to the point where we felt it was our own mini-business. If we weren't there, the clients wouldn't talk to anyone else. We thought we should reap the rewards for all our hard work.

You could say we funded Article 10 sneakily. We started trading with a few clients discreetly on the side—they weren't our previous employer's clients—and built a war chest of cash. We worked hard for six months, doing our day jobs and making them a profit, and then going home in the evening and doing the whole thing over again. But that enabled us to leave with no debt and a nice pot of cash. We hit the ground running.

In the first two weeks of starting out we were hit with legal documents by our previous employers—all sorts of scurrilous accusations, which we subsequently proved were untrue. But it was quite a big distraction.

I like the fact that I can trust my gut instinct. What I didn't like about working for someone else was that my ideas had to be run past other people. It took time to make decisions. Now we can make a decision at 9am and it can be implemented by 10am. It allows us to be fast moving. I'd never go back to working for someone else.

I'm commercially focused and into cash and forecasting. Dale's essentially a geek and he'll admit it. He grew up with a computer network in his bedroom and was asked to fix the computers in his school. We both look after the clients. I'm more than happy to express to people how I'm feeling and sometimes get a bit worked up. Dale is completely unflappable. I've known him for six years now and am only just getting to know when he's angry. He's very subtle, I'm more over the top and people know in the office when I'm pissed off.

We don't have strong arguments. I tend to talk louder and get my own way. Dale won't get annoyed and he doesn't respond to provocation. I respect that, but sometimes think he should tell people to get back in their box.

When we set out, it was to have fun. Our only responsibility was to ourselves. Now the focus has become much more serious because we employ other people. We're responsible for their livelihoods.

Dale Smith
Primarily, we wanted to set up our own business because we wanted to work with nice clients and avoid big agency office politics. The various levels of management and reporting channels were all barriers to delivering good work.

Recruitment and IT were the biggest challenges for us as a start-up. We didn't have a lot of capital for back-up systems and had to build our kit ad-hoc.

I'm proud to say we never borrowed a penny. We secured several big contracts before things got moving which allowed steady growth. We then went hell for leather when the money started coming in.

It's nice to be able to pick and choose your own team. We're delighted to spend every day with them. And to change tack and direction when you want is good. There are no tiers of management to go through to get ideas moving.

The reason Lyndon and I got on so well originally was through our shared desire to deliver good work. We were both fired up and desperate to make a good business.

I think I'm more grounded than Lyndon. He's an ideas man, I turn them into reality. He says, "we want to do this" and I say, "how on earth do we do it, how do we put the solutions in place?" But it's great. We need that dynamic.

I think I'm more chilled out than he is. I play the team card, I'm everybody's friend and that's my style. I try to get the best out of people and pull with them.

I think we share an old-style management approach. Black is black. We get on very well with the team and have fun, but everyone knows their boundaries.

Lyndon never ceases to amaze me with his off-the-wall ideas. What would take most people a few days, he can do at the drop of a coin. He throws it on the table, and I pick up the pieces. He's never failed to deliver on one of his epiphanies.

When we started out, our motivation was to get a business off the ground and position ourselves as a credible supplier. Now that we're a growing business, it's about becoming a more polished, premium offering.