Punching above your weight

I think some people have a perception that RookieOven is a bit of a heavy weight. We have a stunning coworking space, our website is pretty nice, we've used an amazing photographer, we're active across social media and get a decent whack of press coverage. So obviously RookieOven has lots of resource, a lot of capital, public support and maybe even a private backer with deep pockets. That's not the case. RookieOven is entirely community led and has managed to do a lot for the Scottish startup community with very little resource. We really do punch above our weight and I hope it can serve as an example to others.

What we've achieved

RookieOven is now 5 years old. Starting as a crummy Wordpress site with a horrific theme and a meetup organised off the back of a few tweets. RookieOven has achieved a lot since those humble beginnings:

• RookieOven blagged press accreditation for major tech events like SXSW and Web Summit
• Michael met the Queen
• We helped organise the first Startup Weekend in Scotland
• Created a strong, vibrant, open and collaborative community
• Opened a fantastic collaborative space in Govan
• Appeared in international press, from German Radio to major US publications.
• Runner up for a ScotlandIS Digital Tech Award

It's that last point that inspired me to write this post. On the night it was RookieOven, largely a team of one, against Nucleus Finance who have a much larger team (and rightly deserved to win). It hit home how much RookieOven has been able to achieve with little resource.

So how did I manage it so far?

It's all about the people

If there's a single piece of advice I would like someone to take from the RookieOven story it's people. It's something I always bang on about. People are at the centre of everything you do.

In the case of RookieOven it's the excellent people that contribute to what we do. From the start people have responded to the idea of RookieOven (creating a better tech community) and that's allowed us to achieve so much with their help and support.

In your own business get this right and you can achieve so much. It's more important than raising money or holding onto your idea. Get a great founding team and continue to work with the best people possible as you grow your business.

Partner up

RookieOven wouldn't have the coworking space without Govan Workspace and Telcom. Govan Workspace work with us to provide the excellent working environment we have in Fairfield and Telcom provide us with one of the fastest internet connections in the city.

It's again down to people, Pat and Rosie at Govan Workspace and Shaun at Telcom have faith in the RookieOven and responded to the idea of creating a better tech community.

In each of these partners they provide expertise and resource in areas RookieOven has no knowledge.

Just do it

Another secret to RookieOven, I just did it. I think a lot of my early drive and passion for RookieOven was fuelled by naivety but regardless of what caused me to do it the fact I actually acted on an idea means a lot.

One night I decided it would be a good idea to start a blog and 15 minutes later had the domain name and a site up. Not too long after I thought getting folk together for a regular meetup would be great too and I fired out a couple of tweets.

I didn't sweat over the details like a logo (still something we don't really have) or the name. I just went on a roll that hasn't really stopped over the last 5 years.

It was really the same with the collaborative space. I didn't know what I was truly getting into but I got off my bum and just did it. I was very proactive and I'm proud that we've now created a true asset for the Glasgow tech community.

Provide value, delight people

With everything I do I always try and provide some value. If that's Ashley taking our photo's I make sure and give credit as much as possible. If that's someone organising an event in RookieOven like Kyle Bremner or Stuart Mains I strive to make sure they're front and centre of it all.

If it's a partner I likewise want to make sure they get value from working with RookieOven. I think over the years RookieOven has consistently been able to provide value and delight people in a number of ways despite not having a tonne of cash or people behind it.

In providing this value to people it's built loyalty, trust and a great reputation for us.

Be ambitious

Be ambitious and keep plodding on. I'm proud of RookieOven but it's by no means finished. We're just setting out on setting up the Academy and I'd love the space to grow and to see Govan once again become the forefront of Glasgow technology.

So let's see where the next 5 years will take RookieOven.