Case study – The Tech Dept
For 19 years, The Tech Dept in Sheffield has been building high-performance tech products for early-stage startups – its mission being to help new businesses ‘do good at scale’.
About The Tech Dept
The Tech Dept started off working with large corporate companies, and then went on to build a fundraising platform for BBC Children in Need as well as digital products for World Wildlife Fund. Now their focus is on supporting impact-led startups that want to outsource their product build.
The company uses a unique method – The Tech Bootcamp™ – which centres on the outcome of the implemented technology, rather than the technology itself, and measures improvement. It was included as a best practice in the 2019 Parliamentary Review.
The Tech Dept’s co-founder Daniel Kirby admits that when they first started out, profit was the primary aim. But in 2017, the business faced challenging times and the owners changed their mindset to instead concentrate on making tangible improvements for their clients through technology – rather than simply focusing on their digital products.
Daniel commented: “We specialise in working with social purpose startups – our aim being to create a global centre of excellence for such companies, based at our home in the Peak District. We’re 19 years old this year, and we hope that the next 19 years will see us continue to help these startups to do good at scale.”
Dan also hosts a podcast called Honey I Blew up the Business, where he interviews entrepreneurs about times when it went off track for them, and what they learned from those situations. It’s now in the top 2.5% of global podcasts, and Dan recently did his first live podcast at a conference in Leeds on the main stage.
Supporting The Tech Dept mission
BHP has been working with The Tech Dept for a number of years, supporting them with tax matters, payroll and management accounts.
Dan said: “BHP was recommended by one of our own clients. We got in touch and immediately felt a good connection with Lisa Leighton and the rest of the team.
“Everyone is very personable, down to earth, caring and extremely competent. I always get the sense that the BHP team truly want the best for our business.”
BHP also attends monthly accounts meetings and regularly provides strategic advice as well as guidance on annual reporting and R&D tax credits.
Dan added: “The BHP team has been invaluable in helping us to improve our internal financial processes and save us precious time. They present clear management information to keep us informed, enabling us to do what we do best and get on with running our business and helping our clients.
“I absolutely wouldn’t hesitate to recommend BHP to other businesses. They have been a great partner through the trials and tribulations of growing and running a small dynamic business.”
BHP has a highly experienced team that works closely with a range of clients in specialist areas such as marketing and IT companies, web development specialists and tech manufacturing companies. If you’re a growing business in the technology sector, find out how we can help you today. Get in touch on 0333 123 7171.
