62. Sideways 6

Founder: Will Read
Founded: 2014 (Launched April 2015)
Website: www.sideways6.com

After securing a graduate job at a large corporate, young entrepreneur to watch Will Read felt he was constantly met with managers who had no interest in any ideas he had on how to improve the company.

Disillusioned by not being allowed to creatively express himself, Read quit his corporate gig and set about creating a ‘suggestion box 2.0’ for large employers.

Finding that the market was saturated with various apps and websites dedicated to such a cause, Read was shocked to discover that one app had listed his former employer as a client.

Convinced something was wrong with the current system, namely that submitting ideas was perceived as too time consuming and distracting for entrepreneurial employees, Read created Sideways 6 – an innovation management platform which integrates with existing applications such as Slack, Workplace by Facebook and Yammer.

Operating on a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, Sideways 6 has already secured the services of Virgin Trains, British Airways, BP and Diageo and is set to turnover £1.2m for 2017 – testament to an already impressive business story.

Always helping businesses look for new and fresh ideas, from any source, the business has helped crowdsourced 25,000 ideas to date and is looking to add a further 100,000 this year.

Intent on doubling headcount in the next 12 months, the start-up says it will grow revenue by 300% to 400% and will seek to obtain 30 new clients.

Read explains why he’s determined to make Sideways 6 a household name business:

“We want to be synonymous with the word ‘idea’. When people think ‘search’ they think Google. When they think ‘social’, they think Facebook. For ‘auction’, its eBay. We want people to think Sideways 6 when they hear the word ‘idea’.”