We caught up with MD of North East based design agency Biscuit Interactive Daniel Mcskelly for a brief insight in to running a hi-tech business outside one of the normal silicon valley type spots such as London and the Thames Valley.
When did you start your business in the North East?
Actually I didn’t. I founded the company in…the Thames Valley! Reading to be precise, which was where the company was based for it’s first three years. I moved up to Gateshead in 2006 and the company came with me.
So why did you choose Tyneside as a place to grow your business?
I’d lived in Newcastle many years ago and have always had lots of friends here. I’d spent almost a decade around the London end of the country by that point and on a personal level I was getting itchy feet and wanted a change of scene. In terms of the business most of my work is done remotely and can be carried out from anywhere I have an Internet connection, so it made sense to base myself somewhere where things like office rent and the cost of living are much lower.
The average North East business arguably has little use for a web site…do you have many local customers?
Not so much on Tyneside, though we have plenty in the North of the UK. If a web design agency wants to build a purely local client base I say good luck to them, but we’ve got the freedom to work beyond the limits of what’s a car ride or train journey away I think. I know web site design agencies that have staff members spread across three continents and clients likewise. You can make it work with some common sense and the right technology.