Phil Fraser speaks to Richard Flint, the man who built SkyBet into one of the biggest tech companies in Leeds.
Richard explains how SkyBet’s 'wrong' decision to focus on interactive TV in the early days actually ended up making the move to mobile betting a speedier success as well as the importance of integrating SkyBet products into SkyTV AND the multiple reasons why SKY plc eventually sold 80% of SkyBet.
Richard also talks through how you build a company culture as well as the various stages that a business owner goes through and how to manage those changes.
He also gives us his secret tip for those looking to source angel investment.
INTRODUCING RICHARD FLINT
Richard Flint is currently an Investor and Chair of three businesses:
* Butternut Box - Europe’s leading online subscription dog food business, specialising in fresh dog food
* Seat Unique - the UKs leading premium ticket marketplace offering VIP tickets to hundreds of sporting and music events
* Ryde - a high energy indoor cycle and barre studio based in Leeds and soon to launch in Manchester
He is also a Non Executive Director of Ladbible Group plc and Flutter Entertainment plc, and an angel investor in a number of other start up and scale ups.
Richard was Chief Executive of Leeds based Sky Betting & Gaming from 2006 to 2018, during which time he grew the company from around 100 employees to over 1700. He led the company through its £800m spin out from Sky, and then on to its acquisition by The Stars Group for £3.4bn last year, before The Stars Group was in turn acquired by Flutter Entertainment plc.
Richard was Glassdoor’s Chief Executive of the Year for 2018. He holds an Engineering Degree from Oxford and a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
[00:02:20] – the importance of coaches and mentors
[00:12:00] – the upturn in the performance of SkyBet
[00:15:10] – the cultural changes made in SkyBet
[00:17:25] – the opportunity that interactive TV gave SkyBet
[00:26:15] – the £800m sale of SkyBet
[00:31:30] – the learnings from going through the sale process
[00:40:00] – what you need to know as a successful business owner
[00:43:15] – how to build company culture
[00:49:00] – what should companies do who are looking for Angel investment
KEY TAKEAWAYS & BUSINESS LEARNINGS
* Get the right people on the bus for cultural change
* The (wrong) decision to go with interactive TV was a key point in Sky’s strategy
* Having their own software and platform allowed SkyBet to lead the market
* Summer football tournaments affected Sky PLC and their year end reporting
* There are lots of different skills needed at different stages of running a business
* Reach out informally to Angel Investors if you are looking for investment
BEST MOMENTS
“Truth be told, when I took over I didn’t know how to go about it.. and I didn’t do a very good job of it for a couple of years”
“We had to move the whole company away from old style telephone betting to new style product marketing”
“Sky didn’t want to tell the stock market every few weeks that they’d missed targets by say £20m because SkyBet had lost a few weekends in a row”
“We became too big to ignore but too small to well understood”
“The sale was emotionally difficult as I felt my baby was going to a home that wasn’t a suitable home”
VALUABLE RESOURCES FOR YOU
Website: www.leedsbusinesspodcast.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-flint-803762/
Twitter (personal): @YorkshireFlint
Shout out tags: www.rydestudios.com
‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins
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ABOUT YOUR HOST
Phil Fraser went from an accidental kitchen table start up, with no investment, all the way to multi-million pound sale to a PLC 18 years later. He’s travelled the full SME business journey of launch, growth, scale and exit.
As well as hosting the Leeds Business Podcast, Phil now works with ambitious SME-owners as a Business Sounding Board (think somewhere between Business Coach and Business Mentor). In simple terms, he’s ‘a pair of ears and an extra pair eyes’ for SME Owners helping them to be better at what they do. Phil’s mantra is It doesn’t need to be ‘lonely at the top’. He helps Business Owners to be better business owners, by helping with their clarity and focus.
As a Business Sounding Board, he gives SME Owners the time & space to regularly discuss their challenges and opportunities, with no sense of judgement or bias, and in complete confidence. This allows them to explore their options in full, culminating with a list of issues to address/clarify, a clear target in mind, a roadmap to success, and a renewed enthusiasm and confidence for the challenges ahead.
Phil has appeared as a guest on over 60 podcasts, webinars and interviews, from around the whole globe, talking on a variety of business subjects. You can view them all at https://philfraser.co.uk/watch-hear-phil/.
LEEDS BUSINESS PODCAST
Flutter, Sky TV, SkyBet, Leeds, Leeds Business, Business in Leeds, Nous of Fraser, Business Sounding Board, Business Coach, Business Mentor,
Email: phil@leedsbusinesspodcast.com
Mentioned in this episode:
Pre roll November
As November is my birthday month, I've got three special offers for you.
If you can say yes to the following four points, you qualify.
You have to be a business owner, have three to 15 staff, a turnover of between 350, 000 and 3 million, and wanting to develop and improve yourself and how you run your business.
