£1m tech firm chief, 29, has beaten cancer twice
DREAMR BOSS SAYS HIS BATTLES HAVE SHAPED HOW HE LIVES
AT 29, Jack Mason has survived cancer twice and set up a £1m tech company.
It is the former which keeps the fire in him lit, a reminder that life is precious and fleeting, and if you want something you have to go out there and get it.
“I’ve always been very entrepreneurial,” Jack explains from WeWork at No.1 Spinningfields, where Dreamr is based.
“When I was six I remember going round people’s houses to see if I could pick rose petals from their gardens to make into perfume. I would then sell that back to them. That was effectively my first business.”
By 17 he was living on his own, working at Woolworths and in a cleaning job to pay rent and bills, all while studying at college.
That’s when he was first diagnosed with a rare skin cancer.
“I thought that was it, my life was over at 16,” he admits. “But I’ve always been strong and able to balance a lot.”
Despite major surgery and chemotherapy, Jack kept his focus and nailed his A-levels.
He enrolled at Manchester Metropolitan University to study Business Enterprise. In that first week he met Mylo Kaye – who he would later found Dreamr with.
It was also a great friendship, one he certainly needed when the cancer returned in that first year.
Again Jack rallied and fought off the disease, allowing him and Mylo to embark on their first venture, a social media platform called YourBuzz, aimed at students looking to start businesses.
Jack said: “My strengths were marketing, sales and business development, whereas Mylo was brilliant at the tech. It was a great partnership.”
After university, the pair launched a website design business called Bamboo.
Their very first client was a balloon company, which paid them £500 and made them realise they had something to build.
Although the website business was successful, it was a time smartphones were becoming a part of everyday life so Jack and Mylo decided to focus on future tech and app development.
In 2014 Bamboo became Dreamr and set off on its journey to create apps for businesses.
Four years later the team of 20 has developed 30 apps and designed 20. It’s turnover last years was £800k and is expected to hit £1.2m this year.
From the start Jack had used his expertise in developing the business, allowing the creative and coding talent to work their magic. Jack increasingly focused on bigger clients and more complex work, and it was a natural move for him to take over as CEO when Mylo stepped away from the business to focus on his charity, Pledge. Jack admits that taking on the top job was a big challenge.
“Nothing prepares you for it,” he said. “I’ve had no mentoring, other than the help Mylo can give, but it has been good. It has taught me to make decisions faster and trust my team to get on with their jobs.
“In the next scale up it would be good to take on non-executive director to help grow the business.”
Jack and Dreamr are in the middle of something special in Manchester,
I thought that was it my life was over at 16 Jack Mason, founder of Dreamr
where technology start-ups are springing up at a phenomenal rate.
With that in mind, Jack is reshaping Dreamr as both a creative enterprise and an incubator for this flurry of new ideas.
Dreamr Ventures offers support, development and infrastructure services to tech startups.
It’s aim is to help them to grow and secure financial investment, and support them with strategy, branding and other operational requirements.
The incubator model also includes Dreamr and its staff taking equity in the start-up.
“I want Dreamr to be an investment powerhouse which will bring in investment to fund it. We can build a bank of 30 great companies we can shape.
“I want to support businesses like an incubator. Our equity is only 5-10 per cent, but it’s about support not the equity.”
The vision for Dreamr involves making Manchester its development HQ and expanding its operation to Leeds and London. Jack is also looking towards the Middle East.
“What I want to be able to do is to speak to clients about how to future proof their app and look long-term.
“We want to push at the forefront of technology and keep that momentum going.”
While Jack’s vision is bold, he is very grounded, aware of the possibility that his cancer could return.
“There’s a fear it will come back,” he admits. “The truth is that I probably check myself four or five times a day. I don’t want to go back through that experience.
“The way I look at things is that I ask myself if I only had a few months left, what can I do to shape Dreamr. I want to leave some legacy behind. Don’t get me wrong I don’t live my life in fear, but it has shaped me.”