Tell us a bit about you and your business.
My name’s Aidan and I’m the Founder of Flektion.
Flektion is a digital product management consultancy. We work with startups, SMEs and public sector businesses on digital transformation and software development and implementation.
I started out as a self-taught software engineer and realised early on that technology needs a human context to realise value. This became my passion and so I created Flextion.
What’s your biggest business achievement so far?
I’ve only been running Flextion for 10 months. Prior to this, I was working within companies so my biggest achievement is going independent and becoming my own boss.
What challenges have you dealt with?
It’s no surprise that COVID-19 is one. It’s been brutal for the consultancy industry and a lot of work stopped as a result.
Despite this, I landed two chunky contracts. One was advising a company which was entrenched in a difficult software development programme. It was sucking up money and they didn’t know what to do.
I worked with a colleague and interviewed the project stakeholder such as the CEO. I was able to then convenience them to switch to an agile way of working. This was difficult at first but I was able to get it done.
Another success story is with a startup. I’m actually just embarking on a journey with a startup which is looking to transform the road haulage industry. Small haulage firms are in trouble because of COVID-19 but the work this startup seeks to do is to try out innovative technology that could revolutionise road haulage firms. This startup also won a government grant to trial this innovative technology.
Each project has its challenges and difficulties but I enjoy switching my approaches, from being hands on to mentoring.
How was Rocket Lawyer able to help you?
I’ve found Rocket Lawyer incredibly helpful.
I’m familiar with contracts and company law from my business experience. I’ve written and reviewed contracts over the years but it’s very time consuming. I was looking for a solution that will help me reduce time spent on stuff like this.
Rocket Lawyer helped me with this. When I was setting up Flektion, I had lots of administrative things to do but being able to shortcut a lot of that through Rocket Lawyer was great. I needed these documents quite quickly and anticipate to use the service more in the future.
What did you think of our products?
The documents are excellent! I’ve found the Referral agreements, Sales agency agreements and NDAs a massive time saver.
All the documents I’ve used have pretty much everything I wanted and appeared to be up to date with legislative changes such as GDPR.
Coming from a tech background, I really liked the format and how the business has used technology. It made the customer experience smooth and shows the power of technology when harnessed well.
This stuff is important to me. I appreciate the ease of use and I don’t want to have face to face meetings with people if stuff can be done instantly.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned since you’ve started your own business?
Working alone isn’t for everyone.
If you’re at your desk all day every day and only ever interact with people through calls as well as having no colleagues, it can get lonely.
So, the biggest lesson I’ve learnt is don’t underestimate the value of working with people and bridge that gap using technology.
I make use of video conferencing where I can. If we can’t have physical contact then the second best is virtual visuals.
That being said, I knew what I was getting myself into with Flektion and it didn’t come as a surprise.
But my overall advice would be to ensure you’re being agile and don’t be afraid to use tech. Busyness isn’t business and the more efficiently you can do things, the better.
What are your plans for the future?
To grow. To build a team. To be in a gang. To build a brand and reputation specifically in the tech consulting arena.
