INSIGHTS / Blog

Q & A with Swindon Software Agency Fluff Digital.

Scott Gulliver, Founder and Director of Fluff Digital explains how attending a SETsquared Entrepreneurs Workout has helped him overcome some fundamental challenges in the business.

1. What does Fluff Digital do?

We are a software agency based in Swindon. We build software for clients to solve real world problems, we pull together strategy, design, and development to build a great user experience. We will soon be launching our first product Peer, an enterprise social networking software.

2. What’s the most exciting thing about what you’re doing?

This new product is our first foray into building something to really help our own end users as opposed to building for our clients. It’s been nice to apply the same principles we use for our clients but being much closer to the end user. Being in charge of our own destiny and creating the vision we have in our heads is exciting.

3. What are you most proud of so far?

We have only been in business for 2 years, so the pandemic has created a challenging operating environment. Having said that, our industry has been one of the more fortunate industries, COVID-19 has forced businesses to rethink what they’re doing, whether that be delivery or strategy, finding new suppliers or working with a smaller budget. It has presented us with opportunities, and what I am personally most proud of is growing our small team.

4. What have you found most challenging about setting up and running Fluff Digital?

There are a lot of unknowns when starting a business, and some of the basic things are difficult, like marketing and reaching customers – that’s been the most challenging aspect. Thankfully, there are places to go for help, SETsquared have helped us solve some big problems.

5. You recently took part in SETsquared’s Entrepreneurs Programme – how did it help you?

With the development of Peer specifically, SETsquared helped us focus on our business plan. Going back to the core of what we need to deliver in terms of value was fundamental and will be important next year as we start scaling. I expected good, generic business advice, but it was specifically tailored to us, and the experts really took time to understand our problems and provide detailed, specific advice.

6. What will you do differently going forwards as a result of it?

One of the more specific things that we looked at in the course was developing partnerships, collaborating with people in our industry to help build a product that really solves a problem. That’s one of the fundamental changes we’re making right now which will shape how we deliver Peer in the future.

7. Would you recommend it to other founders?

Yes, absolutely! We found the advice invaluable and speaking to other founders going through similar things was inspiring. Whether you’ve got a specific problem that you’re looking to solve, or whether you’re just trying to turn a bundle of ideas into something that can grow and scale in the future, I would recommend this programme.

8. What’s the best thing about being based in Swindon?

We have great local connections, there are lots of inspiring businesses and some big business hubs, it feels like a nice community where we’re not all competing but trying to help each other.

9. What advice would you give to other start-up founders?

I would say to set up good systems from the start, it’s something I’ve struggled with, and we’re still untangling now. As we start to grow in scale, this is quite a big pain point.

10. Where do you think Fluff Digital will be in 10 years’ time?

Firstly, we’ll focus on our core agency model and continue to help other companies achieve their technology goals. Secondly, we’ll continue delivering our own products and use our skills to deliver value not only to our clients and their users but also to industries that need a bit of a shake-up.

Find out more about the Entrepreneurs Workout