This Is Guernsey

By Tom Edwards

Software designer James Rowe. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 0576226)

AN ONLINE briefing system for creative agencies is the brainchild of software designer James Rowe.

The 30-year-old came up with the idea as a way for firms in industries such as advertising or design to be more efficient.

‘At the moment work comes in as a brief in the form of a document or email. It gets printed off and put into a job basket, changes get made and then sit on someone’s desk and either get lost or forgotten,’ said Mr Rowe. ‘With Brief Us, people can log on to a central website and easily manage their workflow. It’s not anything  revolutionary, but I was amazed to find out it has not already been done.

‘Creative agencies seem to have lots of expensive Macs but they’re not using them to their full potential.’

Mr Rowe saw the opportunity for his business idea while working for a marketing company.

A friend persuaded him to enter last month’s Bright Young Things just two days before the deadline after convincing him he stood a chance of winning.

He made it into the final six and worked with mentor and sponsor Julian Winser, the CEO of Schroders in Guernsey.

‘I’ve been working on the idea for the last six months and Bright Young Things seemed to come along at just the right time,’ said Mr Rowe.

‘Taking part has made the whole project much more focused and serious.

‘Julian’s biggest input was on the presentation side and he also put me in touch with some people who have been involved in internet start-ups. Because of the rather specialist and technical nature of the business, I was never going to win because for most people it’s not as exciting as some of the other finalists’ ideas. I was delighted to have taken part and to have made the finals, though.’

The publicity from BYT has been positive and he has already had some interesting discussions, he said.

Mr Rowe walked away with a £2,000 donation from the mentors for making the final and he intends to put the money towards trademarking and marketing costs.

He said he believed there was a real gap in the market for his product. ‘There are tons of creative agencies and I think that they would all benefit from using Brief Us.

‘It’s not just those types of company, but also big firms like Specsavers, for example, that have design or advertising departments within them that could also use it.

‘I don’t know if they already have their own internal systems and I have a lot of work to do before I bring it to market. There are language barriers to consider, but I believe this has the potential to become a global business.’

He said the primary reason for starting his own company was not money but the lifestyle benefits of being an entrepreneur, he said.

‘I’m extremely passionate about this idea and it would be fantastic to be my own boss as well.

‘When you work for yourself, you have the flexibility to do what you want when you want. I also imagine that watching something you started yourself from scratch grow and develop would be very satisfying.’