Dean Benson, MD, Visualsoft UK

Jun 8 2010 by Jez Davison, Evening Gazette

Dean Benson is facing a challenge bigger than the one which saw him build a multi-million pound business in Stockton from exploiting search optimisation techniques. JEZ DAVISON tries to keep up with Teesside’s impatient ‘iron man’...

DEAN Benson loves life in the fast lane, but he’ll have to get a move-on to meet his next big challenge.

In July the MD of e-commerce firm Visualsoft UK will jet off to Switzerland to undertake a gruelling 2.5 mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and a 26-mile run - all in one day without a break.

Internet message boards are full of support for the 34-year-old Boro man, who’s trying to raise at least £20,000 for local charities through the cause.

But he’s so worried about his fitness levels that he has abstemiously kept off alcohol and fast food in the run up to the event.

“It didn’t seem like a good idea when I was in the Lakes the other week,” he says.

“I had to have water while the others were having a beer!”

Dean is used to making sacrifices, having worked around the clock to build Visualsoft into an established regional, now national, player in the e-commerce industry.

Since 2008 he has trebled the workforce to 52 and built a client base of more than 300. Revenue and profit figures are kept under wraps, although Dean says annual turnover amounts to a healthy seven-figure sum.

Under the canny stewardship of Dean and fellow techie Richard Bendelow, Visualsoft has capitalised on a surge in online retailing, which has escaped the recession in far better shape than shops on the high street.

Like-for-like UK retail sales fell 2.3% in April but non-food, non-store sales - which include internet and mail orders - were a staggering 15.9% higher than they were a year ago, albeit from a much smaller base.

Visualsoft has been an outlet for this growth, launching a designer clothing portal selling products from more than 70 fashion stores and creating a free alternative payment system in partnership with e-commerce giant PayPal.

But it took time for the Teesside firm to morph into an e-commerce heavyweight.

It started life in 1998 as an online education venture offering free IT, HR and people development training via the web.

“Everyone else was saying: buy our training for £100 or £1,000. We were saying: come and get it for free.”

It wouldn’t be the first time Dean’s goofy tactics would get results.

His Goofbay software application, which helps buyers find eBay items from ads that have been misspelled, generates around £500,000 a year for Visualsoft, and well before search engine optimisation (SEO) became vogue, he had introduced an online marketing service to boost customer visibility on internet search engines.

“We had cottoned on to SEO before anyone had written a book about it,” he says.

For someone who appears to be so far ahead of the game, Dean admits he was behind the curve at school until he discovered computers.

While his peers were playing 1980s favourites such as Horrace Goes Skiing and Manic Miner, he was working out how they were put together.

He went on to study computer science at Teesside University before landing a computer programming job at chemical giant ICI.

During his time on the Wilton complex he met Richard Bendelow, then a consultant for chemical neighbour Dupont.

In 1998, the duo ditched their “lucrative” roles to launch Visualsoft and capitalise on the internet’s largely untapped potential.

“In the early days we had so many ideas and the business went in different directions. We’re a lot more focused now as a national leader in e-commerce.”

He’s confident he can keep ahead of the chasing pack in a market that has become mightily congested, as retailers complement their high street base with an online presence.

But he’s less sure he can keep up when he embarks on his Iron Man challenge in July.

“My fitness isn’t the best so it will be tough - but I don’t do anything by half-measures.

“If I’m going to do something, I’ll put 100% effort in.”

Born: Middlesbrough.

Age: 34.

Family life: Lives in Seamer, near Stokesley, with his wife Nicola and their daughter Neve.

Downtime: Most recently, he’s busy training for his ‘Iron Man’ challenge in July.

Strengths: Drive, determination and technical ability.

Limitations: Impatience - he wants things done yesterday.

First gadget: Sinclair QL.

Loves: Life in the fast lane.

Hates: Kill-joys.