Out There continues its mission to support 5.6 million local UK businesses and partners with Black Nova Group.
- Alex Hilton, Founder of Out There; from the Doncaster construction industry to Tech Founder
- Out There is a new social business directory app, that bridges the gap between small businesses and customers, providing a platform for sourcing and booking new jobs and increasing exposure on a local level. Out There provides businesses with their own profile and a vast array of features.
- Alex Lennon from Black Nova: “Local businesses are the grass roots of the economy. Out There is empowering them to run more efficiently, whilst exposing users to the wealth of fantastic local businesses in their area.”
Origins of Out There
Alex Hilton has achieved a lot for a 24 year old, and he’s just getting started. At 19 he was responsible for 35-house land development projects in Yorkshire, and running his own construction business. It was during his plans to build his own house that he hit a problem.
“During the planning process I was forecasting down to the £1, constantly juggling providers, estimating prices, and trying to locate trusted tradespeople. I used social media, a handful of apps and websites, but was disappointed with the quality of their quotes and service. I spoke to contacts who were local business owners and they’d had the same problem. They were relying almost exclusively on word of mouth to generate business, managing their day-to-day operations on a maze of tools, and there was a lack of good quality providers.”
This sparked his first thoughts of building a platform to review local businesses, their location, description, recent work, with a live booking system that could process payments and invoices, all at the tap of a few buttons.
The idea kept gnawing away, until one day he decided to do something about it. Out There was born.
Putting local businesses in your pocket
As people’s habits shift to online shopping and ease of use, local businesses can get overlooked if they don’t invest significant money and time into websites, social media, directories and business management tools.
In 4 easy steps a business can sign up to Out There and begin attracting new customers and managing their bookings and reputation. With its strict review system and easy job posting, customers can post jobs or find exactly what they want with confidence and at ease. No-more scouring social media, looking for recommendations and guessing what business is correct for you.
On it’s journey to being the most trusted business directory and marketplace for the UK’s local businesses, Out There has built a diverse pool of users. “We’re supporting florists, barbers, beauticians, gyms, construction & tradespeople, car valet, pet groomers and more. The list of businesses and users is growing daily. There’s a genuine need for local businesses to be more accessible and online, and we’re passionate about enabling that.”
Choosing the right partner for growth
Alex wanted to ensure he’d found the right partner to execute his vision. So what made him choose Black Nova?
“The whole ecosystem of Black Nova is a great fit for what we need and adds a lot of value. The relationship has been built on trust and expertise, and the blend of ongoing support will be invaluable. There’s lots of people who will invest money. But to find people that want to invest their time and knowledge, and support your journey is rare.”
Black Nova Co-founder Dave Theodorou explained; “Out There is at an exciting stage of growth, and we see huge potential in it’s capability to digitise and streamline small businesses effectiveness, and their chances of success”.
What does the future hold?
“When I started my first business and Out There I wasn’t phased by the challenge, but knew there would be a lot to learn. I’m determined to continue to grow Out There so that it can inspire people to launch their own businesses, and help them manage its operations and growth. I’m immensely proud that we’ll continue to do that”.
Out There in Alex’s words is “only just beginning”. They will continue to support the North of the UK, whilst growing across the nation to put everybody’s local businesses in your pocket. They’re targeting the UK’s 5.6million small businesses and ultimately have goals of going global.
Black Nova Group
Black Nova Group is a venture builder that helps companies dream, build and grow technology startups, giving them a launch pad to impact the world. To date our founding team have founded or invested in some of Australia’s most iconic startups, from Donesafe, Whispli and Ezi Debt Collection to name a few. With a core team of 25 we provide strategic advisory, software development, marketing and talent. Combined with our network of founders and investors, this has allowed us to help brilliant startups get off the ground, be heard and make their mark on the world.