I hope you’re all having a productive week. Today I’m here to share another exciting Behind the Biz interview with you.
If you’re new to Prettygreentea, Behind the Biz is my weekly interview series where I discover the story behind new and interesting brands.
In today’s interview, I’m chatting with Mark Ackred, CEO at dabbl – a new app that allows you to invest in the companies and brands you love.
Please tell us about Dabbl
Dabbl was founded by myself along with global advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty as a founding partner, in 2015. Two years development of proprietary technology has left us with a ground-breaking application that is set to bring down barriers to personal investing – and in turn deliver significant growth in the number of people building investment portfolios.
The monthly subscription fee offers clients access to three bulk deals per month, executed at 3.00pm each day. One-off purchases are conducted in real time and at an extra charge. Full details of fees can be found at https://www.dabblinvest.com/costs-and-charges.
Over £1m has been invested in the company’s development to date, with backers including OSTC, CEO of EQ Investors and founder of Bestinvest John Spiers, BBH and Sir John Hegarty’s tech incubator The Garage Soho.
Where did the inspiration for your business come from?
Everyone “deserves their share”… ok so it’s a play on words but we mean it! We believe in and stand for the democratisation of share ownership. Our mission is to make personal investing simple, accessible and affordable to everyone.
There is a generation of people who have lacked the confidence, tools and price point to be able to benefit from investing directly in the stock market. At dabbl we’re re-imagining this complex and intimidating experience to make it fair and frictionless.
What did you do before starting Dabbl?
We’re a group of entrepreneurial people based in Soho, London who are determined to disrupt the old-fashioned stockbroking industry. We have extensive experience in financial markets, mobile product development and marketing, and we’re striving to deliver an engaging user experience combined with exceptional value.
How did you decide upon the name of your business?
We wanted something that did what it said on the tin, there were a number of terrible names before we landed at dabbl, and we knew it was right.
Did you always plan to set up your own business?
Yes. I have always felt that need and desire to create something new or to make a change in the world. Dabbl was created to right a wrong, and to give everyone the power to invest, we are creating a movement.
Please share a business high and low with us.
Fundraising; fundraising gives you both extreme highs and extreme lows, with many non organic startups today it is a necessary evil, it takes time away from growing the product and the business and is incredibly time-consuming. Low: We lost out on a million pounds of funding a year or so ago due to a change in circumstances of the fund providing the money after 9 months of work; HIGH: Overfunding by 240% in our recent crowdfund with Seedrs with over 800 investors
What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
Perseverance. Never give up, no matter what other people say or do, if you believe in your heart that you have a good product and good vision when it goes wrong, as it will, pick yourself up, dust yourself down, go home have a good sleep and start again the next day!
Where do you hope to take your business in 2018?
Having tens of thousands of customers, enhancing the product to include shareholder perks, spare change investing, ISAs and Junior dabbl.
Find out more about dabbl and download the app here. You can also support the biz over on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
I want to say a massive thank you to Mark for taking the time to get involved with Behind the Biz. I hope you enjoyed finding out about his business journey and learning more about dabbl.
If you’d like to be featured in Behind The Biz or support the work we do then please leave a comment below or drop me a message over on Twitter.