Late starter company meets true potential

May 16 2008 by Graeme King, The Journal

A TEAM of entrepreneurs have seen their new software business recover from a technical hitch which delayed its launch, and it has already handled £40m in commission payments this year.

Newcastle company True Potential aims to become a £100m turnover business in just three years, but suffered a setback after deciding its key software service was not ready to launch on schedule last August delaying the launch of the company by four months

However, since eventually launching on January 2, the True Potential model appears to be working well, and director Daniel Harrison says it is on target for the projections set out when it was formed.

The financial services software company provides the technological ‘back office’ to link up independent financial advisers (IFAs) with their clients and product providers.

Its aim is to streamline the way IFAs work, make them more efficient and so earn a commission for providing its online system to them.

The company was formed by the same team who built the phenomenally successful Positive Solutions, an IFA which thrived through its use of technology. Entrepreneur David Harrison, his son David and four other senior executives from Positive Solutions are all on board with the new business.

Positive Solutions was sold to Dutch giant Aegon in a £163m deal in 2005, which generated an average windfall of £150,000 for the staff who all had a stake in the business.

Now True Potential is aiming for similar success, having signed up Positive Solutions as its first client and subsequently attracting a further 60 firms as customers.

In its opening trading period, True Potential has already handled £40m worth of gross commission on behalf of its clients, and dealt with payments to 1,850 individual advisers.

Daniel Harrison said: “We are on track, four months in. Things are looking good according to the business plan. In terms of commission, or gross turnover, it’s £40m, but we only take a percentage of that.

“It’s about building it up this year, as a lot of people in the industry are very cautious, taking a ‘wait and see’ approach. We are seeking out some of the braver firms to make the commitment to go forward.It means ripping out what they have already got – and in 90% of firms that means a lot of paper.”

Mr Harrison said True Potential had been delayed in the timetable it originally set out for the business.

He said: “We were going to go live at the end of August last year with Positive Solutions as our first client, but we did not feel it was ready to go live then.

“So we took the hard decision to pull the launch until the quiet period over Christmas. That gave us a week to shut down and switch on again.

“We went live on January 2 and it’s been fantastic since then. We spent the first month or so bedding in Positive Solutions’ 1,700 individual users, to make sure everything was going well for them, then we began switching on other firms who had shown interest.”