In this week's episode we speak to Alex Craven, ex-Founder of Bloom Agency and now CEO and co-founder of The Data City. Alex tells us about the launch of his first business, Bloom Agency, one of the first digital businesses in the UK, ​w​hat Alex describes as a mind-bending receivership meeting​, getting rid of 385/400 clients​ and the huge growth triggered by 2008 financial crash​. INTRODUCING ALEX CRAVEN Alex founded a digital agency and MarTech company in 1999 and sold in 2016, Alex has been pioneering applications of new technology throughout his career and is now CEO of The Data City, a tech start-up that uses machine learning to map the global economy for government and the private sector. Alex is active member of the digital / tech community, regularly speaking at events, judging awards, providing Non-exec advisory services and is also the Chair of web 3 start up ‘Pooldata.io’. Alex is a champion of diversity and inclusion and is passionate about raising awareness around neurodiversity and Entrepreneurship. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [00:00:00] Where the idea for a digital agency came from [00:03:00] A mind-bending receivership meeting [00:09:30] The benefits of a Chairperson in your business and the importance of accountability [00:14:00] Getting rid of most of our clients  [00:18:00] Scaling the business (through innovation) [00:24:00] The issues related to setting up an office in Australia KEY TAKEAWAYS & BUSINESS LEARNINGS You need the benefit of grey hair in your businessGoing that extra mile will win you the businessSurround yourself with a strong management team BEST MOMENTS “I assume you’re not a man of means…” “We were so early in social media that we went to an awards ceremony and were in a category of one.. And won” “We got rid of 385 of 400 of our clients” “The 2008 financial crash was really good for us; it doubled our turnover” “We won the business because we went the extra mile” VALUABLE RESOURCES FOR YOU Website: www.leedsbusinesspodcast.com  Website: https://thedatacity.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-craven-17b1441/  https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-data-city/  Twitter (personal): https://twitter.com/AlexCraven  Twitter (business): https://twitter.com/TheDataCity  Shout out tags: https://wac.rocks/  Want to watch instead of listen? Subscribe to our You Tube channel -  https://youtube.com/@LeedsBusinessPodcast. DON'T FORGET THE LEEDS BUSINESS PODCAST ‘FAIR DEAL’ My half of the agreement; Every week I bring you inspiring Leeds Business people FOR FREE. Your half of the deal has two simple steps; 1) Share this episode with just ONE person who you think will get value from it 2) Post a review of the show at either Apple Podcasts App (a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/leeds-business-podcast/id1695413291" rel="noopener noreferrer"...