Space Between’s Scale Up Ashford Journey

Since joining the second Scale Up Ashford cohort in April 2018, Luke Frake, director at Space Between, and his fellow directors have been able to grow as business entrepreneurs thanks to the Scale Up team’s expertise.

Luke explained: “The team at the Scale Up unit has really been pushing us forward, forcing us to be more accountable, more actionable, faster and quicker thinking.”

They have primarily focused on developing their company culture, turning their original manifesto into a proper culture piece. They have now shared it with their team and made sure everybody was on board with their new approach. The next step will be embedding it into their organisation including sharing it with their clients to get them excited about working with Space Between.

Another key aspect of Space Between’s work with Scale Up Ashford has included streamlining processes. Instead of diluting energy on different ideas and projects, the team is now focused on picking the right ones and developing them. They have also created specific squads within their team: the conversion rate optimisation (CRO) team and the web design and development team, which has allowed them to boost their productivity and team spirit.

“You can see the ownership in people. You can see a much better attitude to people when they’re taking on work and they own that work themselves. They get to make the decisions and really push it forward. It’s really great seeing them interact with the stakeholders and work in that sort of way.”

Thanks to the programme, Space Between has been able to mature as a business, but also develop strong relationships with other local businesses. The initial Scale Up meeting was a unique opportunity for Space Between to get to know other companies.

“Since doing the Scale Up programme, we’ve made really good friends with the Six Two team. […] We’ve been able to talk them much more, generally get to know them and how they’re getting on with the process.”

And, not only have they been able to share and discuss their Scale Up Ashford experience, but they have also collaborated on events organised by Space Between such as Kent Digital Meetup.

All of these actions, meetings and networking sessions have allowed Space Between to mature as a business.

Luke explains: “I would say our baby has grown into much more of an adolescent now. I think it’s much more controlled in some ways, but we still have that creative edge that I think makes us different.”

They can still make decisions really quickly, but the process is preparing them for the next steps and is giving them to keys to growing from a 15-employee business to a 50 or even 500 business in the future.

If you’d like to learn more about the Scale Up Ashford programme and apply to join the next cohort, visit our dedicated page here.