There is no substitute for ‘lived experience’ – but Dean Ward hopes to pass his on to the next generation of entrepreneurs at FUEL Liverpool.
As founder and chief product officer, Ward has grown Evoke Creative 30-40% year-on-year. Now scaling in the United States, he says the business has changed hugely over the years.
Evoke has designed and built solutions including self-service kiosks, signage, sign-in and click-and-collect stations for customers including McDonald’s, JD Sports, Vue Cinemas, Google and Travelodge.
Today it has a cloud platform and apps which link to these digital products, tracking and boosting customer conversions.
“The business has changed so much since starting out as a product design company,” Ward tells TechBlast ahead of FUEL Liverpool next month. “Most transitions have come through adversity and survival, whilst trying to still design market-leading products and have fun along the way.
“We never had a long-term goal, but short-term opportunities to capitalise on and grow. Over the years we found our USP and have focused on our strengths.”
He says goals were “massively shaped by lived experience”, adding: “Learning new disciplines, finance, procurement, challenges we faced through Brexit, COVID, legislation change… all these had a huge impact and made us adapt and grow.”
Ward will speak on the breakfast panel at FUEL Liverpool – supported by Growth Platform and Clockwise – and also offer his expertise one-on-one in the masterclass pods which follow for selected invite-only businesses.
Reserve your breakfast spot here
These pods will see experts explain practical steps to overcoming challenges and maximising growth when building your business, with topics include funding, people, export and growth planning.
Such help can be invaluable, says Ward. “Running a scaling business means your head is down – and it’s very hard to look up and around you. You can sometimes only focus on the immediate issues and opportunities growth brings.
“You don’t – or can’t – look too far ahead, so you often don’t have the experience to know what the next challenges will be and how to mitigate them and plan for them.
“The lived experience of growing a scaling business builds a huge amount of resilience and experience other growing businesses can learn from.”
Ward recently joined the digital and creative board at Growth Platform as it seeks to give business a voice in the wider policy-making process.
“I want to share my experience and add value to the region through first-hand experience,” he reflects. “It’s a great opportunity to work with other like-minded business owners who have shared experiences and can further enhance the region for up-and-coming businesses.
“There is an excellent community now and space to incubate and grow across the region. The opportunity has never been better.”
Asked about the future for Evoke, he answers: “I love what we do; there are still huge opportunities to grow internationally and I still have a fire in me to reach our potential.
“The future is mostly growing in the USA and building more software solutions that can open up new markets.”
On the decision to retain its headquarters on The Wirral, he says: “It’s our home; it’s a unique place and has everything our workforce needs.
“The vast majority of the staff, including me, call this place home – and we would need a very strong reason to move. Access to talent is good and the charm of the area keeps talent local or often coming back to live here.”