Norwich for Digital Startups | News

“The digital community in Norwich enables you to build a network very quickly. It’s a great place to live and work, gives you a great lifestyle, along with a lower cost of living (compared to other counties in the south). Access to a talent pipeline via the universities and colleges. Access to business incubators such as Akcela. It’s a small city, so we are naturally clustered, which creates serendipity.”

We interview John Fagan, CEO at Scribe – Premium Cloud Software for Local Councils, Co-founder of the Tech Startup community SyncNorwich, and the annual business startup event called Sync the City.

How long have you worked in Norwich, and what made you come here?

“I arrived 18 years ago when I was 31 years old. I was commuting to London, then to Luzern (Switzerland), and eventually established an office in Norwich.

My wife started studying at UEA, so I moved up from London and commuted. I was reluctant to move here, but the house prices were a big attraction (I was looking to buy in London at the time!). I soon fell in love with Norwich. Later we moved out of Norwich near the coast.”

What did you love about working in Norwich?

“It was my ability to cycle to work, ability to go for a run at lunch and reach the fields, ease meeting people for a coffee or beer after work, and attend local tech events. When I was working for the Swiss-based startup, we invited our colleagues from all over the world (Europe, USA, Russia, HK, Australia, and Namibia) for a week in Norwich. They absolutely loved it for the food, pubs, bars and medieval vibe.”

Why is Norwich a great space for digital start-ups?

“The richness of the community. Norwich has quite a few networking groups that support the digital and start-up community. They are not only attended by a diverse set of people but they are also sponsored by local businesses.

Here are a list of some local groups:

SyncNorwich – Norwich’s Tech + Startup Community
Hot Source Norwich
Ministry of Testing – Norwich
Norfolk Developers – nor(DEV):
Norfolk Game Developers
ProductTank Norwich
Norwich Hackspace/Makerspace Meetup
Norwich Atlassian Community Events
WordPress Norwich
WomenInTech Norwich
Norfolk Women’s Marketing Network
ETHAnglia
Norfolk Network
SearchNorwich
Akcela
The Marketing Meetup: Norwich
Tech East
codebar Norwich
CEO’s and Founders of Norwich

And here are some colleges and universities that regularly engage with the tech community:

University of East Anglia (founding partner of Sync the City)
Norwich University of Arts
Access Creative College
East Coast College
College of West Anglia”

Describe the digital sector in Norwich at the moment.

“In terms of companies, it’s quite diverse. We have a lot of digital agencies, particularly specialising in marketing. Aviva is the largest employee of digital folk, with a great graduate program. There are quite a few EdTech businesses, namely TechEducators, Bedrock Learning, Developing Experts, PupilAsset, Phonics Hero, Studious Digital Education & e-StudentTracker.

Then we have a mixture of businesses operating in FinTech, InsureTech, AI, RetailTech, Sustainability, E-commerce & HealthTech. Most promising are probably Pikl, EposNow, Rainbird, Tech Educators, WATR and Scribe.

We also have had a fair share of acquisitions: FXHOME, ubisend, PupilAsset, SessionCam, Wiggly-Amps and more.”

What are the main incentives & opportunities for operating or starting a digital business in Norwich?

“The community (described above) enables you to build a network very quickly. It’s a great place to live and work, gives you a great lifestyle, along with a lower cost of living (compared to other counties in the south). Access to a talent pipeline via the universities and colleges. Access to business incubators such as Akcela. It’s a small city, so we are naturally clustered, which create serendipity.”

If you could give one piece of advice to someone thinking of starting up a digital business in Norwich, what would it be?

“It would be the same advice for any startup. Get out of the building and talk to as many of your potential customers as you can, first validating the problem, before validating the solution. Given Norwich’s close community, it might be easier than in other cities to find and talk to the right people.”