Alumnus of the Month - May 2017
Phil Hardy
BSc Computing, 2010
Phil Hardy graduated with a BSc in Computing in 2010 and two years ago made the leap from employee to running his own business.
Phil is Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Silicon Rhino, a new tech company helping start-ups with their technological needs.
"We started Silicon Rhino in 2015 because we want to help people with interesting ideas get them off the ground. It's a really exciting time for a business and we just love being involved in that. And to be able to help people realise their goals is a great feeling. We first came into contact with the tech start up scene while working on my co-founder's previous start up. Leaving the certainty of a full-time paid job was a little scary, but it was definitely liberating to be playing by my own rules and building a company where people enjoy turning up for work every day.
We're still a small company, so my work differs day to day. Some days are all about planning the software architecture for a new project, some will be about figuring out process or technology direction, and some will be focused on the marketing of our business. There's always plenty to do! That being said, I try to make time for the occasional mid-afternoon game of ping pong.
We're starting to be recognised as a producer of high quality software within the industry, and even being recommended to start ups by some well-known organisations. Going from zero to here feels like a pretty big achievement, and I think speaks a lot about the work we've been doing in the short time since we got started. I think this largely comes from our core values in that we treat every project like it was our own, which I am extremely proud of.
Going through the process to get our messaging right felt tough; probably because we went through so many iterations. But I'd say one of the biggest challenges has been finding the right times to scale the team - just because the work is there now doesn't mean it will be in 3 months, and so being confident enough to take that leap has been hard. Transitioning to a more business-focused mind-set has been crucial for these aspects of running the business.
What I’ve realised is that running your own business takes a lot of determination - there will be good and bad days, so being able to roll with that is important. Organisation helps a lot; it can get really daunting otherwise. And inter-personal skills are important for building relationships.
I owe a lot of where I am today to the environment of my first job out of University - it really gave me the space to grow as an individual and touch on lots of fresh technologies, and this is a quality that we try to distil in Silicon Rhino.
Being a tenant at LSBU allows us to be a part of a larger community of start-ups. After becoming a tenant, I was excited to learn about how much activity the University undertakes in the enterprise space. I was lucky enough to be around when LSBU won Entrepreneurial University of the Year. I would definitely recommend that students looking to start their own business speak to the Enterprise team at the university - I may have been quicker in getting to where I am today if I had access to initiatives they have running at the moment.
If I was going to give any advice to current students I would say figure out where you want to be, and find a way to make it happen - always be prepared to put the time in and learn as much as you can along the way. Also, things tend to be more complicated than you expect, so allow for this.”
Thanks Phil for speaking to us.
You can find Phil and Silicon Rhino: