The Backscratchers’ Story: An Interview with founder, Jody Orsborn.
The news that The Backscratchers had sold to Working Not Working found it’s way to me over the webesphere and I couldn’t have been happier. I know the lovely Jody from the good old days of Google Campus when a small close knit community from across Tech Hub and the Central Working cafe were starting small but dreaming big. Times change and people move, but with such exciting news I decided it was time for a proper catch up to find out all about it.
Hi Jody! Let’s start at the very beginning — how did The Backscratchers first come about?
I was sitting in class one day for my Masters degree at City University. I was thinking about how hard it was to find the right talent and creative partners for projects (having come from the music biz and always needing photographers, videographers, graphic designers, etc) and the idea just popped into my head. It was one of those eureka moments. There happened to be a business plan competition running at the university so my friend Patrick and I decided to enter it, flesh out the idea and see if it could be a viable business.
At which point did you really start to think, “hey, I’m on to something”?
When we won the business plan competition!
It was pretty crazy. We never thought we’d win. We were just School of the Arts kids competing against Cass Business School MBAs, but we ended up coming in first place and winning £5,000 to start the business. It was a real eye opener for me. Good ideas can come from anyone and anywhere. You don’t necessarily have to fit the traditional “business” model or other people’s ideas of what a founder looks like to be able to create a great business.
Up until then, I’d been planning to move back to California and go back to working in music. When we were chosen, however, I realised that maybe this idea had some legs so I decided to wait it out in London a bit longer and see if we could turn it into something.
We started to go to meetups like Hacker News and one that Mixcloud used to organise to try to learn more about how to run a startup.
I also quickly switched the theme of my MA’s dissertation to be about creative startups in London and used that to go out, network and meet some investors and startups that I really admired like Tastebuds and Mixcloud. In fact, it was Tastebuds who first told us about Springboard, which was one of the country’s top startup accelerators (it later became Techstars London). We applied, got in, and that’s when we started to really take it seriously. Other businesses on our cohort included Hassle (acquired by Helpling) and Tray.io who did a $5m Series A recently. We were in good company.
There is a very strong London tech startup community — how did being a part of that help and were there any aspects that hindered?
We were really lucky to be a part of the London startup community when it was first coming into its own in 2011–2012. It was an incredible time. There was a real buzz around Old Street.
We ended up doing the whole London tech industry journey. In other words, we are very much a product of the London tech industry. We were amongst the very first companies to move into Google Campus (I was there at the launch party before it opened!). We did two tech accelerators, Springboard and then BBC Worldwide’s own startup accelerator BBC Labs. We worked out of the basement of Google Campus before graduating to our own office.
I will forever be grateful to the people that I met around Google Campus and the startup world when I first started out. It was incredible to have a network of companies and people to ask for advice, contacts and emotional support. I met some of my very best friends during those first years and some really important mentors and investors who helped us get to where we are now.
In terms of hinderances, personally I think that there were times that I got a bit too wrapped up in the scene and would feel massive FOMO about an event or a meetup. At one point, I realised that I was going to an event almost every night and I took a step back and was like….are these people actually going to be clients? Is there a real reason I’m here (besides the free pizza or booze…..hey! I was a startup!…and my to see my friends)? I think it’s important to know what you want out of networking and to make sure that it doesn’t get in the way of you actually being able to run your business (Silicon Drinkabout was and is always worth going to obviously).
It was also hard at times to not compare myself to other entrepreneurs and businesses. We’d see businesses that started out at the same time as us raise massive amounts of money or get a piece of prime press. I’m not going to lie, that could be quite hard emotionally to see. I had a great team and great co-founders (Leo and Patrick), though, who would always be like, we are different businesses, we are trying to do different things and go down a different path…we are good.
How would you say the community has changed over the years?
Being an entrepreneur is so much more normal now than it was when we started. The number of friends who have become founders in the last few years have quadrupled. Along with that, however, I think there’s also a bit of fatigue in the community. Actually, fatigue isn’t the right word…awareness or worldliness?
When we first started, there were only a handful of accelerators. Now I hear about a new one almost everyday. I think people are having to be much more discerning / picky about the opportunities out there and aware of the thousands of businesses that have popped up and are trying to make money from the startup world (from co-working spaces and business tools to mentors, hackathons and accelerators) I think people are more wary of investors, too…that’s definitely something new! More and more pals are saying that they are just going to do it on their own and go after clients or consumers directly. It’s refreshing actually. In 2012, there was definitely an excitement and naiveté to the scene with friends often making deals that ended up coming back to bite them. The startup scene is wiser, smarter, more tuned in now. It’s a more mature scene.
Being “a startup” has some benefits but there comes a time when young companies need to shake the label. Was there an obvious moment when The Backscratchers matured in this way?
I think it was more of a gradual transition. At one point, I looked around and had a full team of staff and clients like Red Bull, Twitter and Unilever calling us up on a daily basis. It was then that I was like…oh! I think we’re a proper business now?
Let’s talk about your really exciting news — you’ve sold to Working Not Working! Tell us how that came about; how did you know it was the right time, company and deal for you?
Yes! It’s super exciting. They are an amazing business. Basically, we were looking at our next stages and how we wanted to grow the business when we met the guys from Working Not Working. We heard about their plans to expand their presence in the UK and Europe and it just completely aligned with our vision. Totally a case of meeting the right people at the right time.
For me personally, it also made sense. It meant that I could pass the reigns of this business that I loved and spent years building on to a team that I trusted would treat my clients and talent really well…and who would carry on our legacy. That was important to me.
Have you got any advice for other entrepreneurs dreaming of a successful exit?
Be friends with your competitors. They are the most likely ones to acquire you someday.
Also, create a company that you personally want to work for and can believe in. There was a lot of advice along the way that just didn’t feel right or was like, yes, that would be a great business but it’s not the business I want to run. You are the one starting it. Build what you want to work on. Running a business is honestly too hard if you don’t love what you are creating. If you’re passionate about it, chances are others will be too, and you have a much better chance at getting others invested (both financially and emotionally) in what you’re doing. Passion is extremely contagious.
And finally, what’s next for Jody O?
I’ll be supporting the transition but will also be digging into new freelance projects, including producing and curating a conference in May on the theme of creativity (follow me for more info and updates on that).
I also have a busy summer planned ahead for my band. Somewhere in the midst of doing Backscratchers I managed to start the world’s first all-female Bruce Springsteen covers band (oooh yes). It’s been a crazy ride! We’ve only done a handful of shows but have already been covered in the likes of NME, Time Out, Elle Magazine and more…and our last gig was attended by 500 people! Coming up, we’re playing a big festival this summer (to be announced soon) and will be recording a single for an industry legend. You can follow @shestreetband on Twitter if you want to keep an eye on that.
Jody, you are a force of life, an inspiration, super, super cool and most importantly an absolute pleasure to be around. Thank you for your time and all the best for the future.
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