Rob Dance, a 40-year-old entrepreneur constructed a thriving IT consultancy agency that now rakes in a powerful £10 million a 12 months. But Rob's path to success was unconventional, as he give up college after his GCSEs, armed with a burning want to make his mark on the planet of expertise.

Rob's journey started with a enterprise diploma and a rigorously crafted six-month marketing strategy. In 2008, he launched his IT options enterprise from his dad and mom' storage, funding it by parting methods along with his first automotive, a 1990 Renault 5 GT Turbo, which he offered for £1,000. Little did he know that this humble starting would lay the muse for his future success.

Fast ahead 15 years, and Rob, a proud father of two from Cowbridge, South Wales, is now the CEO of a serious IT consultancy agency with greater than 100 workers.

His firm, ROCK, has garnered recognition from prestigious publications and organisations. Business Leader's 'Top 32 scale-ups to observe' just lately included ROCK, whereas Consultancy.uk ranked them among the many high 40 expertise consulting corporations within the UK in 2023, out of a pool of over a thousand corporations.

Not solely that, however Rob himself has been shortlisted for the esteemed Great British Entrepreneur Awards within the class of 'Technology entrepreneur of the 12 months'.

To have a good time his enterprise' fifteenth anniversary, Rob handled himself to a top-of-the-range Lamborghini.

Reflecting on his journey, he stated: "At school, I didn't really excel, but I was always quite innovative.

"I liked taking aside radios and computer systems, then placing them again collectively once more - I liked out how issues labored."

This passion for problem-solving fuelled his entrepreneurial spirit and propelled him to establish his own business.

In the early days, it was just Rob and one other person handling the administrative and accounting tasks. However, within six months, they secured their first client, and the business began to flourish.

In just 18 months, they had expanded to a team of 30 employees.

And then the COVID-19 pandemic presented unexpected opportunities for ROCK.

Rob said: "Covid actually helped us as a result of after we labored from residence, plenty of purchasers did not have the tech in place so we had all these queries coming in about it."

Rob attributes his company's success to the dedication and expertise of his team. He said: "We actually relied on the workforce to drag it out the bag then - and we really grew in the course of the pandemic and have continued to develop since then.

"Now we're on the trajectory to turn over £10million in a year and have been shortlisted for multiple awards."

Rob has additionally been shortlisted for the Welsh Technology Entrepreneur of the Year for his work.

He stated ROCK is ready to turnover £10m this 12 months, its highest but, they usually have plans to launch globally in 2024.

Rob stated: "It was a gamble back then when we first started, especially during the credit crunch of 2008.

"But we had this wonderful concept and I assumed 'I've simply acquired to go for it' - and the remainder was historical past."

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