From Rage Quit to Silicon Roundabout: Building a Digital Agency in London's Tech Revolution
The Rage Quit That Started Everything
By October 2003 I'd had enough. After being made redundant from PwC, I'd ended up at a digital agency in Soho. The company was being run badly and I couldn't watch it anymore. So I quit. No plan, no clients, nothing. I just thought I could do it better.
Those first few months were rough. I didn't even have a company name. But by early 2004, things started coming together with two former colleagues. I was sending work to Luke as a freelancer, then David asked if he could join. By May 2004, we'd launched Codegent properly. Luke moved from freelancer to co-founder.
David and Luke stayed with me all the way through to ScreenCloud. What started as me walking out in frustration turned into something that lasted.
Early Days: From Flash Games to Enterprise Solutions
Our early client list was bizarre. The Lovers Guide website? Yes, we built that. Not exactly what you put at the top of your portfolio, but it paid the bills.
We also had two agencies, AIA and Attic Media, sending us their overflow work. Suddenly we were building sites for ABN AMRO and GAP. Not bad for a few developers working out of Clapham.
We ended up specialising in several areas:
- Recruitment websites (we became known for these somehow)
- Flash games (this was 2004-2008, when everyone wanted "viral" games)
- Video streaming and media encoding (interesting technical work with CBS Outdoor)
- Proper web applications (the stuff other agencies couldn't build)
Luke built a team in Bangkok in 2004. That same team is still with us at ScreenCloud. Twenty years later. That's loyalty you can't buy.
The 2008 financial crisis should have killed us. When budgets disappeared and half the team quit, we suddenly had time to build our own products. We used the crisis to change direction. It worked out alright.
The Silicon Roundabout Years: Acquisition and Growth
By 2013, we had an opportunity to buy Thin Martian, another agency with a premium position on the Microsoft creative roster.
We moved to Old Street, right in what everyone was calling Silicon Roundabout. The government was pushing Tech City, Cameron was doing photo ops with startups, and suddenly East London was the place to be.
Our office was above nightclub XOYO. You could feel the bass through the floor on Friday nights. There were mice everywhere. But it felt like we were part of something.
The combined team hit about 30 people. We were doing everything: mobile apps, web applications, digital campaigns. Some decent work came out of that period:
Agency life is hard. Client demands, tight deadlines, scope creep. We'd win a project, celebrate, then realise we'd underpriced it.
The Bangkok team gave us an edge. Quality work at competitive prices, coverage across time zones, ability to take on bigger projects. Some people didn't like the outsourcing angle, but those developers were brilliant.
We made plenty of mistakes. We hired too fast sometimes. We took on projects we shouldn't have touched. But we built something that lasted 14 years and spun out multiple products.
The Exit: Knowing When to Move On
By 2017, it was time to go. ScreenCloud needed all our attention. We'd already spun out most of the products. The agency had done its job.
We sold to the Konekt Group. We didn't get a massive cheque, but it was the right move.
The agency years from 2003 to 2017 were our education. We learned how to:
- Ship on deadline (clients don't care about your problems)
- Manage cash flow (no VC safety net)
- Build teams across continents
- Handle difficult clients
- Spot product opportunities
- Be profitable from day one
It all prepared us for what came next.