Hot seat: Paramjit Uppal, founder and CEO of AND Digital
AND Digital was named one of the UK’s fastest-growing private businesses in The Sunday Times 100, sponsored by Barclays Private Bank. Founder Paramjit Uppal talks about the tricky task of scaling the company while holding on to a small business ethos, and why he sets ‘big, hairy goals’
Things are getting a bit tougher but there’s loads of opportunities out there, particularly in the mid-term
Paramjit Uppal
When Paramjit Uppal started his technology consultancy, AND Digital, in 2014, he asked himself a simple question: how can I grow a people-centred business at speed without losing the essence of a small company?
At the time, Uppal had recently sold his previous company to an American firm and was looking for a fresh entrepreneurial challenge. His big idea was to help clients bridge the digital skills gap that was emerging as software and data became central to the way businesses operate.
“I had a clean sheet of paper to design almost the perfect company that could scale really fast and solve this problem,” Uppal says. “It was a great opportunity.”
Eight years on and that opportunity still very much exists, helping AND Digital into the ranks of Britain’s fastest-growing private companies. It reached number 83 on the 2022 Sunday Times 100 list, sponsored by Barclays Private Bank. With revenue last year of £91.7 million, the company’s annual sales growth over three years comes to 49.02 per cent. It now employs more than 1,700 people in the UK and Europe, a number it aims to increase to 5,000 by 2025.
“If the UK is going to stay competitive in the world, it needs more people who can build stuff,” says Uppal. “Every organisation faces this challenge. If they don’t address it, some little start-up somewhere with a bit of money and smart engineers will rewrite their business model tomorrow.”
Uppal is not afraid to set himself and his company what he calls “big, hairy, audacious goals”. They include having up to 60 clubs around the world by 2025, with about 30 in the UK and more than ten in the US. By that time, he wants AND Digital to make annual revenue of £500 million.
To help it achieve those goals, AND Digital received an initial investment of £11 million in 2020 from Business Growth Fund, the small business investor. Uppal says the cash has given him the “additional horsepower” to accelerate the company’s growth. “To hit ambitious growth plans, there’s only so much you can do through investing retained profits,” he says.
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views and information have not been endorsed, issued or approved by Barclays.
Any views expressed in this article are not those of Barclays.
Barclays offers private and overseas banking, credit and investment solutions to
its clients through Barclays Bank PLC and its subsidiary companies. Barclays
Bank PLC is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by
the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority
(Financial Services Register No. 122702) and is a member of the London Stock
Exchange and NEX. Registered in England. Registered No. 1026167. Registered
Office: 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP. Barclays Bank PLC, Isle of Man Branch
has its principal place of business at Barclays House, Victoria Street, Douglas,
Isle of Man, and is licensed by the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority.
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Unlike with his previous business, Uppal has no plans to sell AND Digital, at least not in the traditional sense. Instead, he is examining long-term sustainable corporate structures, such as employee ownership trusts, that will see the company staff retain a stake in its future.
“That is something we’re really keen to explore over the next few years; that’s the direction we’re moving in,” Uppal says. “The thing I’m not interested in is selling the company in a trade sale. In a business like this, where people are at the heart of everything, no matter how brilliant the acquirer is, it’s never the same.”
With concerns mounting over a potential recession, Uppal is able to fall back on his experience of running a business through previous economic downturns, including the 2008 financial crisis.
“Things are getting a bit tougher, there’s no doubt, but there’s loads of opportunities out there, particularly in the mid-term. Technology is driving the world and if you concentrate on that and investment in technology driving value, then you are in a good position.
“It’s important to keep your head while others are losing theirs. In the space we’re in, when there’s so much opportunity, it’s important to stay positive.”
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Growing at such pace poses a challenge to Uppal’s pledge to retain the small business ethos as the company expands. To prevent it from becoming an identikit large corporation, AND Digital operates with a series of autonomous business units known as “clubs” that open up in a city or region to serve local clients. Each club is run by its own leadership team, has about 90 staff and operates from its own premises. There is no centralised human resources function and each club employs a mix of senior and junior staff.
“We designed a highly scalable, distributed and loosely coupled organisational model,” Uppal says. “Once you amass much more than 90 staff, you start to lose everything that is good about a small business. You don’t really know the people, clients don’t really know you and there are too many layers of management.”
AND Digital works with businesses to provide them with the knowledge they need to unlock the full potential of technology. Its clients range from small companies to big multinationals.
The digital skills gap in Britain is well known and ranges from a lack of basic computer literacy to a dearth of engineers with the programming skills to help businesses thrive. It is the latter issue that AND Digital works with clients to improve. Indeed, failing to address the gap can be an existential threat.
All information within this article is produced by The Times. While Barclays Private Bank sponsored the Sunday Times 100 list of Britain’s fastest-growing private businesses, the views and information in this article have not been endorsed, issued or approved by Barclays.
Barclays offers private and overseas banking, credit and investment solutions to its clients through Barclays Bank PLC and its subsidiary companies. Barclays Bank PLC is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Financial Services Register No. 122702) and is a member of the London Stock Exchange and NEX. Registered in England. Registered No. 1026167. Registered Office: 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP. Barclays Bank PLC, Isle of Man Branch has its principal place of business at Barclays House, Victoria Street, Douglas, Isle of Man, and is licensed by the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority.
Find out how we offer a fresh perspective
in a fast-changing world.
At Barclays Private Bank, we support entrepreneurs with their financial planning before, during and after a sale – because each of those stages is a key stepping stone to a brighter future.
Large windfalls: why patience is a virtue
Family matters
Investing for your future
A time to give back?
Structuring your wealth
Covering five core themes, this exclusive guide for UK entrepreneurs is designed to be provocative in the best sense, to spark ideas, to raise important questions and to excite business owners about the opportunities ahead. The chapters include:
Thinking of selling your business?
Then this short, punchy guide is for you
the Guide for
entrepreneurs
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