v3 media - what can be learned?

So once the dust has settled what can we all learn from this? - it's not the first time or the last that a business that looks great on the surface has been built on unstable foundations. Here are my personal thoughts. I'm by no means a business expert, but having transitioned clients to hydrant from a failing Scottish web agency almost 2 years ago and more recently talked to V3 Media about their difficulties, there are certainly some recurring themes. New agencies, established agencies and most importantly clients need to remember what makes a solid, reliable business - profit.

1) You don't get anything for free. Good value is important, but so often suppliers get hooked on winning new business without considering their costs or profit margin. Clients see getting the lowest possible price as a success and a relationship is established on unsustainable services. The more the supplier sells the worse it becomes.

2) Too many cooks. We've seen many web businesses that simply have too many directors, shareholders, non-exec directors. If everyone wants a decent share then everything needs to be so much bigger, the company can no longer be lean when times get hard. More importantly what happens when someone isn't getting their share? Fallouts between directors can rip a good company apart in weeks.

3) Too diverse. We've been guilty of this in the past. Trying to be the one stop shop for too many services. We deliberately dropped print design to become more focussed on what we do best. Yes, there are some very talented individuals around who can design for print, code HTML and project manage 24hrs a day, but they WILL burn out, and what then? I believe long lasting great companies are actually great teams who work together well and where individuals have a progression through the company. These don't necessarily all have to be full time 'employed' staff, but without a stable core team it's like juggling jelly so providing consistency becomes impossible.

4) Built on shallow foundations - Often in the web world we see new companies that rise from the ashes of previous failed companies within days, sometimes with the same directors, staff or hastily purchased client list. Failure is a valuable part of business, but there are degrees of failure and shutting up shop and leaving clients hanging is the worst. Unless the core reason for failing has been properly addressed & no debt baggage is retained then the cycle can easily repeat.

5) Rushed decisions are often the ones that you later regret. Loosing a supplier who is in control of their site forces clients to have to take action quickly, and there are always plenty of companies willing to grab new business or make it super easy for them. Whilst these may be the best option short term I only hope that clients and suppliers also consider the points above to make sure that short term fixes become long term relationships that really work.

Hydrant provide a range of managed hosting services as well as consultancy services to allow clients to host independently, backed up by industry leading, sustainable suppliers. Most of all we're honest and clear. If we can't help or don't feel we can add value then we'll say so. But don’t take our word for it - read what our clients think, or if you'd like to talk just get in touch.

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