Today’s guest is Dave Kelly, CEO and co-founder of Storm Consultancy, Chairman of CiteAB and non-executive director at iAM Compliant.

Storm are a software consultancy that help clients create web apps, digital platforms and website designs to engage their audience, elevate their brand, and ultimately grow their business.

Dave’s story is a truly unique one and having got to know Dave over the last couple of month I knew he’d make a fantastic guest for this show.

Unlike many of my guests who’ve started their businesses having spent years in their field Dave and his co-founder Adam launched Storm, straight out of university, deciding that they’d give it a go and if it all went wrong they’d call it a gap year and go back to the graduate milk round.

Needless to say it worked out for them and Storm is now a thriving consultancy with clients ranging from cutting edge start ups to global brands including Samsung, Yamaha and Ubisoft

 I regularly get messages from listeners considering what to do after they leave university and in this interview Dave shares some great insights on launching your own business and why doing it straight out of university may be one of the best opportunities you have.

This interview isn’t just for new graduates though. In growing Storm Dave and his co-founder Adam have built a successful business based on practices that many would not think could work in Consulting, including not working Friday afternoons and unlimited holiday allowances. We go in to detail on Dave’s management philosophy during this conversation and why practices like these and the principles that underpin them have helped Storm achieve the success it has.

I really enjoyed this conversation with Dave and it was fascinating to hear how he’s successfully built the business that he wants and a business that clients love while shunning the norms of the traditional consulting model. I hope you enjoy it.

Specific things we discussed in the show:

Ryan Carson – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryancarson

Treehouse – https://teamtreehouse.com/

Executive Foundation – https://www.executive-foundation.com/

Shaw & Co – https://www.shawllp.co.uk/

Jim Shaw – https://www.shawllp.co.uk/about-us/our-people/jim-shaw/

Turning the Flywheel by Jim Collins – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1847942555/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_oXH-CbKEK4GXT

Yena – https://joinyena.com/

Storm – https://stormconsultancy.co.uk/

And their address if you want to go and get your copy of Turning the Fly Wheel – https://stormconsultancy.co.uk/contact/