Timothy founded and sold his first company at the tender age of 17. He then held a number of roles before founding Fanbytes in 2017, a social and influencer agency that specialises in helping brands work with Gen Z.
Who is your digital hero?
My digital hero is a guy called Russell Brunson, who is the founder of ClickFunnels, one of the world’s fastest-growing, non-VC-backed companies.
What has he done to win hero status in your eyes?
Russell has taken what is broadly seen as landing page software and he’s turned it into a movement called Funnel Hackers. Through this, he has built a huge following of entrepreneurs and his personal brand has become so defensible against any others. I admire people who can really tell stories and bring a lot of personality to their business. He epitomises that. There is so much to learn from him.
What’s the biggest issue we need another hero to solve?
Science and technology are only going to become more important in the future of marketing – there’s no doubt. But we are still seeing issues with skills gaps and lack of diversity, We need to get more young people into areas like computer science and within that, we need to ensure diversity. I think when it comes to grassroots talent and nurturing the future leaders of the marketing world, the responsibility must lie not just with educators but business owners and senior leaders too. We need people with power and influence to play a bigger role here.
What’s your most heroic personal achievement in the industry so far?
I’m proud of a lot of things I’ve accomplished. One that easily sticks out is building an award-winning marketing agency at such a young age. I was 17 when I built and sold my first business, Entrepreneur Express, which taught me a lot about everything that was to come with Fanbytes. With Fanbytes, I was in my second year of a Computer Science degree at University and dealing with a lot of the pressures life throws at you when you are that young. I was studying at Warwick, so had to juggle my studies there while also travelling into London three to four times a week to focus on Fanbytes. Looking back I can see how much I was taking on, but in the moment when you have your sights set on something, you just put your head down and work as hard as you can, and learn as fast as you can. I still managed to do very well in my exams, and 5 years on Fanbytes is entering into an incredibly exciting stage of growth. I think I’ve always had this steely determination in me to achieve certain things and I’m proud of that and what has enabled me to accomplish.
