Rounding up the tech unicorns with David Soffer

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Launched in 2016, TechRound has set about filling a hole in the technology and start-up market: “In 2016 Startups were being massively under served. The UK is a powerhouse for startups and there was just no one who could service the industry fast enough, so we stepped in,”  explained David. The company grew steadily, with David keeping TechRound targeted and true to its niche and areas of expertise and experience – something he will continue.

By 2019 the waves TechRound were creating hit home, as they reached 3,000 readers per month and became a valued research resource for technology companies, national media and start-ups from every sector: “We built TechRound through strong SEO, organically tracking Google, we had no paid traffic, but we started receiving interesting press releases and the readership grew, shining a spotlight upon TechRound”.

This spotlight caught the attention of some of the larger fishes in the proverbial pond and TechRound was threatened with legal action by a large technology publication, to try and squeeze them out of the market. It did not work and, spurred on, David continued to achieve success on minimal, self-funded budgets.

Nestling between 200,000-250,000 readers per month, TechRound is now a well-established medium and David believes content has been a catalyst to the platform’s triumphs.

TechRound is now seen as the go-to authority on startups and technology in the UK and increasingly, Europe and further afield, with business people of every kind pouring over their articles, insights, interviews, top 10s, listicles and how-to-guides for startups, as well as industry specific campaigns, and their eagerly awaited annual TechRound100. The site is independent, a knowledgeable voice with an audience reach of investors, venture capitalists and multinationals through to new startup businesses run from home. This means companies and even national press and government departments with an interest in startups and innovation can use TechRound to reach startups and equally, startups can use TechRound to reach technology companies. It has become both a learning loop and powerful platform.

In 2022 the number of tech sector companies operating in the UK was the highest in Europe and third highest globally, bringing in a combined market value of £1 trillion¹ leading to the UK tech economy being seen as a source of global innovation, with the UK dubbed as a ‘European Silicon Valley’¹

And with 44 Unicorns in the UK alone in 2022, (47% of these in Fintech) ² it is easy to see why.  This market growth forecast is exceptional, with the UK technology industry potentially adding a further £41.5 billion to the UK economy and creating a further 678,000 jobs by 2025.³

As with any business startup, when TechRound launched, the chances of failure were real, yet mitigated by the sector’s needs and strength of TechRound’s offering and the digital marketing skills of its founder: “TechRound was a start-up in the purist form – but over 80 per cent of startups fail, and some just drift too far away from being a real business. I stripped everything back and when making decisions ask myself ‘does it add value, does it solve a problem?’ and I find that as we have something to offer of value, people gravitate towards us. In the past I have tried and failed loads…with ideas based on funeral plans, finance ideas, insurance propositions, and even a hair transplant business plan – you name it!  I have learnt from all this and have also discovered along the way what makes a good business partner and what doesn’t.”

When Covid hit in 2020, TechRound was in a fairly unique position. Servicing a niche – the tech startups - turned out to be a strong place to be in: “When Covid hit, the number of startups increased enormously globally, and content demand went through the roof. We jumped up by 30,000 readers, and I met with all sorts of businesspeople who wanted to work with us. Times are, and have been recently, very tough but opportunity is there.

“I remember being 23 and going into the offices of clients whose businesses were worth millions and even billions, with huge offices, knowing the CEO and shaking their hands, and everyone looked at me oddly thinking ‘how is he sitting down with the CEO - he’s practically a child?’  I simply reached out to them, I engaged with them because I knew I could provide them with value and solve their problems.”

David is a busy man who has also co-founded GlobMed, a company offering an alternative to private and public healthcare, and DSR Digital, an SEO consultancy specialising in digital marketing and online reputation management – a hugely accelerating sector.

The companies seem unrelated until you look into David’s background: “I graduated from Westminster University in 2014 with a 2:1 in Biomedical Science with a particular interest in oncology and orthopaedics, which led me into starting GlobMed, but on leaving Uni, I met someone working for a digital marketing company who needed a digital marketer - so I joined the team.  It turned out I was very good at it and SEO in particular!  After working there for six months, I left and co-founded my own successful SEO company.  I just got my head down and worked.”

When invited to go travelling with some friends for a summer away, not long after starting his initial SEO business, David declined, thinking instead that the quiet summer months provided the perfect opportunity to build on what he was already achieving.  He simply worked through.

At 31 years old, David believes that growing up at a time when technology was only just becoming easily accessible to the masses may have helped him see the best of both business worlds: “It wasn’t until I was in year 9 at school that camera phones really came out…that is when everything changed and continued to do so - video phones followed a year later. Then the BlackBerry, followed by smart phones. Now everyone wants to be in front of people and in everyone’s pocket, but you have to have something of true value.

Working hard has always been David’s ethos.  Taking TechRound from a small proposition with huge prospects through to a global news platform servicing the largest and smallest businesses and most exciting startups in the world all at the same time, has been a journey David is still very much in the centre of. “I started this and I work on TechRound every day.  The further away any business travels from its roots, the more it morphs away from the niche, and we must always stick to the niche.”

TechRound has always been self-funded, keeping the fundamentals of business at its core.

With a small team of five working both remotely and from an office in Fitzrovia, London, they have overachieved and worked with tiny companies through to Unicorns and Decacorns as clients.

David describes his team as simply brilliant: “I employ people based on their aptitude – I ask myself do they fit the vision and are they capable of learning and building this? The team who works at TechRound are really important.  They prove themselves just like I did, and I work largely with new graduates, a demographic I feel are overlooked and need investing in.”

TechRound has become the voice for the tech and startup industries, proven by a couple of recent interviews David did with Nigel Farage on GB News following a scoop by his editorial team.

More is to come, as David explains: “TechRound is a bridge to tier one press and to people who have a true interest in startups and tech as well as those who want to transform the industry; a route to much bigger things. TechRound also appeals to journalists across the spectrum. If you want to know what’s happening within start-up and tech in the UK…that’s us.”

References

1. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-tech-sector-retains-1-spot-in-europe-and-3-in-world-as-sector-resilience-brings-continued-growth

2. https://www.beauhurst.com/research/unicorn-companies

3. https://www.mollearn.com/about/news/what-is-driving-rapid-growth-in-UK-tech-industry