From Struggles to Success: Overcoming Dyslexia to Build a Tech Empire! – Josh Bunce
“Do what you love and follow your passion, guided by your gut instinct, if you want to succeed. This is what I did, and I’ve never looked back ..” – Josh Bunce
Today we feature Josh Bunce, the founder and CEO at the iuf Group. We hear their story in their own words, their successes, their challenges and their insights.
Let’s start with learning a bit about you?
Today, I’m the CEO and founder of the iuf Group. My journey to this point wasn’t an easy one, however, as I struggled at school and left at 16 with only 2 GCSEs. I worked as an estate agent for 2 years before leaving to launch my own business – I knew I wanted to start a company, I just didn’t know exactly what, so I went travelling to find ideas, funding it by selling local products through sites like eBay.
During this time, I had to overcome my dyslexia and find my way into the business world. In 2008, I created the full digital signage company Inurface Media and over the course of the next 12 years, grew the business and transformed it into the iuf Group.
The iuf Group incorporates Inurface Media as well as Xi UK and US, Merson Digital, Bauer Digital, ADT and Hubit. The business now supports clients in over 30 countries, employs over 60 engineers and installs, on average, over 1 billion LED pixels every month. Clients range from retail, experiential events, and businesses using one, all or a combination of the Group’s businesses, to ensure their goals are delivered.
A great introduction and start to this interview. Can you please tell us – How and why did you get into the digital signage business
I’ve always been interested in the power of advertising and how brands can make the most of technology to advertise effectively. The idea to sell ad space to a promoter brand and to buy a product in the environment it’s advertised in – such as promoting a certain beer in a pub where you can buy it straightaway – always appealed to me.
When I was in Australia, I remember seeing a screen on the pub’s wall which made me wonder about the potential for using similar screens back in the UK to sell advertising space to businesses that could be controlled remotely. The focus initially was on selling advertising on the screens, but over time the business evolved to enable retailers and brands to promote their own products in-store and to build entire digital experiences, which is what they can do today with iuf Group.
So can you tell us…What does iuf group do and where is your company based?
The iuf Group is London-based and is made up of several tech-focused brands that provide industry-leading AV technology on a global scale. The brands in the Group offer a mix of innovative tech including AV and interactive solutions, IoT solutions and LED and LCD displays.
The iuf Group invests equity in forward-thinking brands, with a particular focus on high-growth and scalable startups that we can add value to across a mix of sectors.
So what’s been the story behind iuf’s success?
I’ve always been fascinated by business and just what makes a successful business. As I said before, after leaving school and working as an estate agent for a short time, I knew I wanted to start my own business – to help with ideas, I travelled a lot and tested business ideas. I gained experience along the way and every encounter helped me with my longer-term goal, with my aha moment very much being that time I saw the screens on the wall in a pub in Australia.
After that moment, inurface was born as soon as I returned to the UK in 2008. My family invested two thousand pounds into the company, and I was off – I started with a couple of screens in a local Bristol coffee shop before enlisting the help of school friend Henry Boydell to support the technical side of the business, and together we started to grow the business.
We were willing to do whatever it took to get the business off the ground and soon after, we set up in a box room in a high-end office hoping to leverage their image and began doing deals with brands on Oxford Street from our Regent Street space. We didn’t look back.
Thank you for sharing that. We know that there are ups and downs in business. What’s been your biggest lesson so far?
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is to trust the team you have in place and the potential value that is lost when you don’t give people room to grow with the business. The team is vital as you need full commitment from people – unless everyone is rowing in the same direction and believes in the core values of the business and where it is going, growth won’t happen.
You have to strike the balance right when hiring – you want the best people but you’re a startup so don’t have the budget to meet experienced people’s expectations. In the early days, I hired a few big hitters and ended up draining a lot of the resources and not achieving my business goals through them. I’ve learnt over the years that often, you’re better off investing in good but inexperienced people who have the passion and drive to grow with the business.
One of the biggest challenges comes in inspiring people to get behind your idea, and your vision, as well as learning to not doubt yourself. There is no way of knowing for definite your pricing is spot on when you get your first deal, but you must feel your way and have self-belief. If ever we were in doubt, we’d adopt an inurface approach, likened to offering to wash someone’s car for free and telling them that if they’re happy with the results they can pay you whatever amount they think is appropriate. You can end up making more money than you expect.
When you have a good product and are surrounded by a good team, the best advice is to throw the beans at it and just go for it!
Hold on to the bigger goal, though, and keep bouncing back, if you want real success.
We’re nearly halfway through our interview so it’s a great time to ask how does your business run. Most businesses need tools, app or services to run. What three tools make your business run better?
The most important tool we use is EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System), and this has helped us run the business successfully and effectively along with over 100,000 other companies using their method. EOS created the Level 10 meeting which has really worked for us, this involves a weekly meeting lasting 90-minutes that has the same agenda each week and after the meeting the team rate it out of 10.
Following this format has improved productivity for our team hugely. We also follow their Rocks method, setting the most important quarterly goals for the company and updating the status of each during our meetings.
Let me ask you, what do you know now that you wished you had known before starting iuf?
You need to build a great team and surround yourself with good people – and I’ve learnt that this doesn’t necessarily mean hiring the big dogs with all the experience, it means finding the right people for your business who you can invest in and help to grow as your business grows. The same is true for operating systems. We use EOS now and I wish I’d known about this from the off as it’s brilliant.
In the early days, I tried to do it all, even in the areas I’m not knowledgeable in. turns out, this isn’t the best approach. Find an expert for areas that aren’t your speciality, as this saves time and boosts success. Talking of success, be prepared for the fact everything takes longer than you expect, and you fail more than you succeed. Hold on to the bigger goal, though, and keep bouncing back, if you want real success.
What has been your greatest or proudest achievement or moment?
My greatest moment came in 2016, when we did our first million-pound deal with a client which then gave us the cashflow we needed to invest in the business and really drive it forward. At the time it came as a bit of a shock as the deal involved putting screens on the sides of dustbin carts, and I never thought it would come off. Another highlight was doing our first away day after growing our headcount by 250%, after the covid pandemic.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Believe in your idea, I would tell my younger self – only you can get to where it is you want to go and so you need to power through and be prepared for the harder times. Know that it’s okay to take a few steps backwards so that you can go forwards again, sometimes. When I was young, I did believe I could do it – which is just as well because I was badly dyslexic and when I left school I was behind my peers with the basics like reading and writing. I had to do my own thing as finding a good job would have been tough.
In my early twenties, I would go to business leaders and successful entrepreneurs to ask for help, and usually, they were happy to. People like to see their younger selves in others and the good ones are willing to help out for little or no money. Never be afraid to ask for help and to be open to learning from others. One thing I’ve not done enough of and would encourage others to do is to enjoy the successes you have along the way and make sure you share these with your team. It’s important and I’m learning to do this now before moving on to the next thing.
What future life goals do you want to achieve and why both for iuf Group and yourself personally?
This year for iuf Group we are focusing on our global growth and how we can become the biggest player in our space. Over the last few years, we have gradually expanded into areas of Europe, and we launched in the US this year, but in the coming years, we want to push our global capabilities. Personally, I just want to wake up and keep doing what I love – to keep growing the business until my last day on this planet. I never want to sell; I just want to keep evolving it.
To finish our questions…”We believe that sharing advice with other entrepreneurs and founders can help inspire others.” If there was one piece of advice you would give to another founder or someone thinking about starting, what would it be and why?
My advice would be to do it and to do it as early as you can. The older you get, the more responsibilities you get, which makes focusing on business harder, so go for it when you’re young. If you want to succeed, do what you love and follow your passion, guided by your gut instinct. This is what I did, and I’ve never looked back—I only look forward to every day of running my business and growing it.
“Thank you it has been great learning more about your founder story and iuf Group”
To learn more about iuf Group Visit https://iufgroup.com/
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