Jamie Turner - Postcode Anywhere

Entrepreneurs Jamie Turner and Guy Mucklow are proof that there is no single recipe for creating a successful business. They set up Postcode Anywhere, a Worcester-based internet company that builds software services around data, almost by accident after their dotcom start-up for the pub industry failed to take off. “We wanted to keep doing something and generate some income,” says Turner, IT Director. And, using some new Microsoft software, Postcode Anywhere was born.

They had planned their first venture down to the smallest detail, but Postcode Anywhere started life in 2000 without a business plan and evolved as they began to build it. “We ran with what felt right rather than being prescriptive about it. It is the anti-MBA approach,” says Turner. “We became more strategic in the way we managed things as we grew.”

The company, which offers a mix of services from address management and tools for e-commerce such as bank and credit card validation, to intelligent route planning, which cuts journey times for hauliers, and general data capture, has grown by 500 per cent over the past five years and annual sales are now more than £3m. Adding to a list of high-profile industry awards, Postcode Anywhere has been named a regionalist finalist in the 2009 UK National Business Awards.

Turner says there is an element of luck involved in building a successful venture. And part of that luck has come from the team that is in place. “We have a fantastic bunch of people that share our enthusiasm,” he says. Staff numbers have risen by around 30 per cent in the last six months.

Postcode Anywhere is a perfect recession company because it offers huge cost savings from delivering data over the internet, compared with slow, old-fashioned CD based methods. The company now has over 7,000 customers worldwide, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to sole traders. UK customers include The Learning & Skills Council, Oxfam and the British Heart Foundation.

Turner is the IT brains behind the operation. He met Mucklow whilst he was working for the Chamber of Commerce in Birmingham. Mucklow was a member and asked Turner to do some web work for him. Although Turner had always wanted to run his own business he was not expecting to do it quite so early in his career – he was in his early 20’s when they started Postcode Anywhere. “It was terrifying,” the entrepreneur says, though he admits it was much easier to take the risk because he was younger and didn’t have financial commitments like a mortgage. “The scary part is not when you start, it is after a year or two when you are still growing the business and the energy levels fall. You have to keep going as long as you can and believe in what you are trying to do,” he says.

“There is exhilaration when you realise that there is a clear connection between what goes in and what comes out – but if no one gets what you are doing that is a real problem.”

It was clear from the outset that Postcode Anywhere was a volume product, which meant a lot of people had to get what it was about to make it viable. ‘You need a lot of people doing lots of postcode searches to generate cash,” points out Turner. Today the postcode search peak is over 6000 searches a minute.

The company has already evolved to be more than just a postcode search engine. Looking ahead there are two strands that can be developed. The first is to enhance the data capture part of the business and grow the international market. The second strand is to build on the infrastructure on which Postcode Anywhere has been developed. “We are a cloud computing company and people can benefit from all the tech stuff that enables people to run large scale businesses like the one we have built,” says Turner.

Postcode Anywhere is enjoying significant growth despite the recession. It is proof that there is a certain resilience that comes with building a company that is a technology-driven business efficiency service. “There is opportunity everywhere,” says Turner. “One of the difficulties is focusing on those opportunities you can make money from – there are a lot of hot air ideas. You have to be able to move fast so you don’t get left behind.”

Being one step ahead of the market has always been key for Postcode Anywhere. It means they are on the front foot even when new entrants come into the market. “We are deploying our next generation platform,” says Turner. “There is a lot to be said for the scattergun approach of Google. It is about pushing out and seeing what you can commercialise.”