For Tarek Nseir the past few months have been magical. His digital agency has created Pottermore.com, the online world of Harry Potter, for the author JK Rowling.
Projects like this have helped to build Think into a business that employs more than 100 staff and is expected to turn over £11m this year.
The youngest of four children, he was born and brought up in Esher, Surrey, where his parents, both from Beirut, had settled in the 1970s. His architect father walked out when Nseir was four, leaving him and his siblings to be raised by their mother, Nahla. She set up a business providing security services for affluent individuals and companies.
As a child, Nseir loved taking things apart to find out how they worked. “I was very inquisitive,” he said. “I would spend ages breaking things open — toasters, telephones, anything.”
When he was 14 his mother bought an Amstrad computer. Soon Nseir was earning pocket money by helping her and her clients with their computers, installing software and setting up servers.
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In 1999, during his first year studying information systems at Newcastle University, he decided to pitch for a £20,000 contract to design the website of a trade body where he had installed a computer system. He had no design skills, so he put up posters at the neighbouring Northumbria University, which had a creative department, asking for designers at £30 an hour.
Fourteen students applied but there was a catch: “They sat in my lounge and I dropped the bombshell that I wouldn’t be able to pay them unless we won the contract.” Three stuck with him and their pitch was successful. One of them, Gary Glozier, is creative director of Think today.
By his second year Nseir was ready for another project. He got the job of creating a website for a menswear shop, with a £70,000 budget, and once again hired students to help. But it was less fun than he had expected. “There were weeks when all that would happen was we would get sent box after box of clothes to photograph on mannequins,” Nseir said.
His enthusiasm undaunted, in his third year he set up Revelation Design to create websites and brochures, buying computers with his £2,500 student loan. He hired Glozier and another student to help, paying them a small wage.
Although work came in, Nseir failed to get to grips with the paperwork. One day he awoke to find a £13,500 Vat demand waiting for him and an empty bank account. Fortunately the taxman agreed he could pay in instalments and some clients settled their bills, so the venture survived.
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After graduation in 2002 Nseir decided to give his business a proper go. Using savings of £5,000 he started a design agency in Newcastle upon Tyne with Glozier as a partner, renting desk space from Cravens, an advertising agency. When he hit cashflow problems, Cravens invested £20,000 for a 20% share.
In 2004, Northern Rock, which had its headquarters in Newcastle, asked Nseir to create a website and help with online marketing. Within two years his eight-strong team had expanded to 65 people.
“We grew as Northern Rock did,” Nseir said. “It was a fantastic time but it was also dangerous because we had one customer that accounted for 60% of our revenue.”
Fuelled by the income from the bank, the agency moved into new offices and took a new name: Think. Also, Nseir bought back the equity held by Cravens.
Then Northern Rock crashed in September 2007, pulling the plug on business worth £2m to Nseir.
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He faced a stark choice: downsize and run the agency as a small venture or move to where there was more work — in London. He chose London. Initially he commuted and ran a small serviced office.
Think almost went under when, in the haste to secure business, it took on a fixed-price contract that proved to be tougher than expected. “We ended up spending the whole budget just figuring out what we needed to do,” Nseir said. “The contract was signed without anyone properly reading it.”
Fulfilling the contract cost the agency £1m, and left it short of cash. “Every time we had a growth opportunity we didn’t take it because we didn’t have the cash in the bank to sustain it,” Nseir said. “I was really frustrated.”
To shore up the business, he raised £1m from Beringea, a venture capital firm, in return for a 20% stake. Today, as well as JK Rowling, its high-profile clients include Sony, the BBC and Lloyds TSB.
Now 30 and married, Nseir has a 50% share in the company. He attributes the growth of Think to his determination: “I like to succeed at everything I do.”
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He gives this advice: “Always talk about your business as though it is six months further ahead than it actually is. Be confident about your momentum and your direction, and then everything else will follow.”