Tag Archives: growth

TLA named in Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50

We have been named in the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 – the highly-respected ranking of the country’s fastest-growing tech companies.

The league table was unveiled last night at The Leadenhall Building in London, also know as the ‘Cheesegrater’. Joining us in the room were some of the most exciting technology-led businesses the UK has to offer – including Deliveroo, MiQ and CloudIQ.

Having been named in The Sunday Times Tech Track 100, FT 1000 and Northern Tech 100 earlier in the year, Deloitte’s Fast 50 represented another opportunity to cement our status as a leading technology business in our own right. Previous winners include Just Eat, Notonthehighstreet.com and Sky Scanner.

Having grown by more than 600% over the last four years, we were named as the 39th fastest-growing tech company in the UK. Top spot was taken by the now ubiquitous food delivery service Deliveroo, putting us in illustrious company.

The ranking demonstrates our ongoing commitment to pioneering cutting-edge technology in the customer acquisition space, creating valuable opportunities for our clients to grow and succeed.

Anton Hanley, founder and CEO of TLA said: “As a business that helps clients to grow, we’re naturally thrilled that our success and expansion over the last four years has earned us a place in the highly-regarded Deloitte Fast 50. Alongside our other 2018 placings in the Tech Track 100, Northern Tech 100 and FT 1000, this recognition is a great credit to the continuous improvement, innovation and dedication demonstrated by the TLA team.”

Duncan Down, lead partner for the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50, said: “We are now in our third decade of celebrating the country’s fastest-growing technology companies through the UK Fast 50 awards, and the rate of growth continues to impress. The UK start-up scene is in excellent health, with strong access to talent and funding.

“What impresses me most is the rate of growth, with the time from establishment to ‘unicorn’ status continuing to reduce. I would like to personally congratulate all of the winners and entrants for this year’s awards.”

We couldn’t have done any of it without the trust and support of our clients, partners and staff. Thank you.

TLA named in The Sunday Times’ Tech Track 100

The Lead Agency has been named as one of the UK’s fastest-growing technology companies by The Sunday Times’ Hiscox Tech Track 100.

Tech Track 100

Published in special pull-out in yesterday’s edition of the paper, the 18th annual listing ranks the country’s private technology, media and telecoms (TMT) companies with the fastest-growing sales over the last three years.

We’re a new entry in the table, placing at number 50 for the whole of the UK.

Disruptors and innovators

Tech Track receives applications from hundreds of companies every year representing a range of different sectors. Previous years have placed businesses that have gone on to achieve huge success, including Just Eat, The Hut Group, Shazam, Zoopla, Opta and Skyscanner.

As the companies listed above reflect, being included in the Tech Track 100 is about more than growth alone. Each one of those businesses has disrupted their industry through innovative technology and services, which is at the heart of what we do at TLA.

Team effort

TLA was founded by group CEO Anton Hanley in Wigan in 2002 and later moved to Liverpool, where the company has built one of the city’s biggest digital teams. The company now has offices in central London as well as a sister company in the US.

Commenting on what it means to earn Tech Track status, Anton said: “One of the great things about this form of recognition is that represents the hard work of everyone within the business. Every member of the TLA team has played their part in the growth and success we’ve achieved over the past few years.

“We also couldn’t have achieved this listing without the continued support and trust of our clients and partners. To them, we’d like to say a big thank you.”

Tech Track is our third league table inclusion of 2018, having been named as one of Europe’s fastest-growing businesses by the Financial Times as well as the fifth fastest-growing tech business in the north of the UK by Tech Nation.

Development manager James McDowall discusses his journey to TLA and search for innovative .NET developers

We’re growing. And as a result, we’re recruiting for the very best .NET developers to join us in Liverpool. But what can future employees expect from the city’s fastest-growing tech business?

To answer that question (and more) we’re joined by development manager James McDowall, who arrived at TLA earlier this year from Iceland Foods. He begins our chat by telling us what attracted him to his new role.

 “TLA is a market-leader and a technical innovator. That was obvious right from the outset and I knew it was something I wanted to be part of.”

James’s journey here via the world of frozen foods began with a Computer Science degree at Staffordshire University before roles as a systems developer at Aegon, a contracting position with Alliance & Leicester and five years at Hill Dickinson as a senior IT developer.

The Iceman cometh

At Iceland Foods, where he spent 6 years (most recently as technical architect) James was primarily responsible for leveraging their technology systems and leading a project which added over £1 million to the business in its first year.

“It was a versatile role,” he explains, “I was able to work on many different projects such as HR systems, a supplier financing portal, and labour and schedule planning for the 800+ stores and 26,000 staff that Iceland had at the time.

“Considering the number of technical challenges that we faced, the ability to seamlessly link all the pieces together to deliver a solution that had such a hugely positive impact within its 12 months was a significantly proud moment for me and my career”.

A few months after leaving Iceland, James is in Liverpool heading up our Platform Development team, one of three within TLA alongside Engagement and R&D. His remit covers leading a team of seven junior, mid- and senior-level .NET developers, steering the development life cycle on key projects and working on a major CRM development project.

“My main responsibilities are to apply the right technology fit, and work with my immediate team to deliver the best solutions for the business to further our lead generation activity.

“On a day-to-day basis, they will use bespoke technology to quantify and qualify the leads that come into the business before sending them on to the client.”

Technical innovators

As we continue to grow as a business, James is working with our in-house talent acquisition team to find and appoint .NET developers that have “technical diligence, problem-solving skills, and the ability to articulate technical requirements to non-technical people”.

He believes those new starters will be joining an “innovative, dynamic and progressive” team that “wants to be here and wants to keep improving”.

He cites the studio’s regular ‘brown bag’ lunches as one of the ways, the team push each other to be the best they can be. “One of the developers will give a talk about a subject within IT that they’re passionate about. The talks inspire new solutions, which helps to create a passionate, supportive and collaborative environment.”

James is determined to grow his team with the right people – a vision shared by other departments.

“Anyone considering a role at TLA needs to be prepared for a fast-paced environment where every day brings new challenges and where new technologies are embraced,” he says.

“We don’t just want developers, we want technical innovators with the willingness to strive beyond the norm and help us pioneer industry-shaping technology.”

If you’d like more information on the opportunities within James’s team and across the business, visit our Careers section today.

The Lead Agency’s Anton Hanley interviewed in LCR Business Post

Following our involvement in the International Business Festival’s launch campaign as a Next Level Business, our founder Anton Hanley has been interviewed by Liverpool City Region’s Business Post.

Anton discusses the early days of The Lead Agency right through to the current day as well as his hopes for the festival, which takes place in Liverpool next month.

You read Anton’s interview by picking up a copy of the latest LCR Business Post in and around the city or by downloading the full interview.

The Lead Agency named one of Europe’s fastest growing companies in FT1000

The Lead Agency has been named as one of Europe’s fastest growing companies by the Financial Times.

The FT1000 in association with Statista is one of the business world’s most of respected league tables, ranking companies from 31 European countries based on the highest compound annual growth rate between 2013 and 2016.

We are a new entry in the table, ranking an impressive 363rd overall and as the 56th highest placed UK company of the 158 that made the list.

Immense pride

Topping the FT1000 2018 table is UK-based food delivery service Deliveroo, which has achieved a staggering 107,117% growth rate over the last three years – more than 10 times that of second placed Thermondo from Germany. At the other end of the table, the barrier for entry was tougher than in 2017 with the lowest-ranked average growth being 16.1% higher than last year.

Anton Hanley, who founded the company in 2002, said: “We’re immensely proud of this achievement and would like to thank everyone who has played their part, including staff, clients and partners.

“The last few years have seen us make strong progress as a business – not only in terms of revenue growth but through our recruitment, innovative use of digital technology, vertical expansion, client base and partnerships. However, we’re fully committed to building on this success and excited about what’s in store over the next few years.”

Our FT100 success follows last month’s fifth-placed ranking in the Northern Tech 100, a league table of the fastest-growing tech businesses in the north of the UK.

The Lead Agency named one of the north’s five fastest growing companies

We are over the moon to have been named as the north’s fifth fastest growing tech company as part of the Northern Tech 100.

Tech North’s ranking of the north’s fastest growing tech companies, sponsored by GP Bullhound, was announced last night (Thursday) in Edinburgh alongside the Northern Tech Awards.

The list consists of companies from a wide range of tech-based industries from cities such as Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Glasgow as well as towns throughout the north of the UK.

Companies are ranked by their turnover growth over the last three years, so we’re thrilled to be named in the top five.

You can read more about the Northern Tech Awards and Northern Tech 100 via BusinessCloud.

Paul Dowman joins The Lead Agency as tech architect

We are delighted to welcome CRM and .NET architecture specialist Paul Dowman to The Lead Agency team.

Paul joins us as technical architect with a remit to take responsibility for technology selection, system architecture, quality of code and adoption of best practice across all of our development teams. His initial focus will be to progress our Dynamics CRM implementation – an area of expertise Paul has outstanding experience in.

Paul has earned an exceptional track record for integrating Dynamics CRM with legacy systems, facilitating rapid roll out of new capabilities in complicated IT environments. Two of his previous implementations were, at the time of launch, the largest Dynamics CRM implementations in the UK.

His career has included senior positions at Entrepreneurial Spark, Lookers, ISS Facility Services, London Borough of Newham, Manchester City Council, 2e2, Avanade, HBoS and Moneysupermarket.com.

‘Palpable sense of innovation’

More recently, Paul has been operating as a consultant working with a number of different businesses – including The Lead Agency. However, he is delighted to have made the move permanent.

“I’m really excited to join The Lead Agency at a time of rapid growth and expansion for the business. The Lead Agency is unashamedly ambitious, wanting to lead the market, not follow it. That ambition is driving a palpable sense of innovation and vitality throughout the organisation.

“The technical team are keen to understand the latest technologies and collaborate well to help each other find the best use of the technology to deliver business value. On the business side, the team have a proven track record of delivery and growth, never resting on their laurels always looking to improve performance and drive further value.

“With innovative business ideas and cutting-edge technology there is a dynamic synergy that is very exciting to be a part of. Across the whole company there is a strong sense of quality, high standards, and most of all inclusion – everyone has an important part to play.”

‘Meeting of minds’

Our chief technology officer Edward Clark said: “Paul is widely regarded as one of the foremost authorities on Dynamics CRM solutions and has a proven track record of leading major projects for a wide range of ambitious organisations.

“During his capacity as consultant, it became clear that there was a meeting of minds regarding our vision for The Lead Agency and that Paul was the right man to help us deliver it. We believe he will be great addition to our growing development team.”.

If you’d like to be part of our ambitious and innovative business, visit our Careers page for the latest roles.

 

The Lead Agency features in International Business Festival campaign

Later this year, Liverpool will host the International Business Festival – a gathering of 30,000 business owners, decision-makers and professionals from around the world.

The event will consist of nine high-growth sector-themed days running between the 12th and 28th June that aim to help organisations scale-up and fulfil their ambitions.

To help promote the event, The Lead Agency was approached by the organisers and asked if we’d like to be featured as a Next Level Business case study – an invitation extended to just three UK businesses.

We were naturally honoured and welcomed the organisers’ film crew at our Liverpool HQ towards the end of last year. As well as capturing footage of our office and surroundings, our CEO and founder Anton Hanley was interviewed.

Watch the film below to hear about our success to date – from a standing start in 2002 to becoming the UK’s number one new car lead generator – as well as with Anton’s ambitions for the future and hopes for the Festival.