Spotlight: Edward Kerr - Founder

 

I wanted to take the opportunity to put our leader in the spotlight and ask him a few questions about how he started up the company, and what his plans are for the future, in order to gain an insight into what it is like to work here at Corvita.

What attracted you to the idea of heading up your own agency?

I've always wanted to run my own company, and while I (like many, I am sure) want to be rich, that is not my primary motivator. A good friend of mine once told me: you can pay a man £100,000 to dig holes with a shovel, but it is still digging holes with a shovel! I am driven by creating an organisation rather than a business, where people are excited to turn up in the morning and this enthusiasm wears off on our clients. I like being surrounded by like minded people too.

I think people assume that the main motivator behind becoming your own boss is the freedom and self-determination it gives you, and while that is true to some extent, you have only shifted the direction that the pressure on you comes from. Yes, it is pressure that you can create yourself, but you still need to work hard to provide your services. The difference now is, it is not coming from above, from someone who doesn't understand (or care?) what is involved to get the job done. They can make the easy decision because it is within their power to do so, rather than consulting their staff and making the right decision. I think ultimately, I set the company up to save other people like me, who don't have time for managers and intermediaries that just say yes to everything.

How did you come up with the name for the company?

Back in 2012, about 6 months before I was due to be married, I had a cardiac arrest. Pretty traumatic time as you can imagine but actually became something of a making for me. As clichéd as it sounds, it makes you realise how fleeting life can be. With that in mind, it made me want to do my own thing and become far more the controller of my own destiny. This had a large impact on the name of the company but the name means a lot more than that.

When Guinness and Grand Metropolitan merged back in 1997, they chose the name Diageo, which is the concatenation of two words, the Latin 'dies' meaning day, and the Greek 'geo' meaning world. They chose these to illustrate that they give pleasure everyday, everywhere. I really like this analogy and also love classics so my heart was set on this course. Aside from this, I wanted a word to which no preconception would be applied. I wanted the name to be a blank canvass onto which the personality of the company could be imprinted.

So, with heart being an integral part, the rest came together quickly, 'cor' being heart in latin. 'Vita' is life in latin, and in this context is about putting your whole heart into life. Like all great words, what I see in it might be different to others, but it encompasses doing the best you can and always striving for more.

What made you choose the core values for the company?

I think core values are an incredibly important part of how a company presents themselves. Not only does it give your client an idea of the type of people you are, it helps your employees understand what they are being asked to do within a company. I've worked in companies before that view mission statements and core values as fluff and clichés, but it is clear they have no direction or community spirit. That's not to say that only mission statements and core values can provide this, but it goes a long way to helping people work collectively.

In answer to the question though, I did not choose these core values on my own. Right from day one, it has been a collaborative effort by those involved within the company, so we can all be a part of how we see the business moving forward.

I suggested honesty because I have worked in companies in the past that put money before anything else. It always felt like they tried to do as little work as possible for the greatest amount of money, but presented a straight face to the customer. Yes, business is built on making profits but it is also built on strong cashflow, and I have always found that an honest and loyal approach to clients far increases your chances at personal referrals. I for one know I like to trust people with the service they are providing and this only comes from openness and honesty.

For enterprising, we talked through some ideas of who we were as a company and the service we provide, and the paragraph we came up with is included on the about page under enterprising. We chose this particular word because it encapsulated that paragraph so well. We didn't really have to spend too long on our core values because they were already there, defined and in place, they just required labelling.

Finally, brilliant. As it turns out, we all have a passion to be brilliant. We want to just produce the best products we can, and we want to make sure our clients are smiling and happy.

Where do you see Corvita in 5 years time?

With offices in Sydney, Hong Kong, London and New York!

Ha! Seriously though, we are working hard everyday to provide the best we can for our clients, and new and exciting clients are coming on board all of the time. It has always been apparent to me that endeavour rises above talent, and we have set out goals to strive for that will take us forward and we are working hard to that end. In five years time we want to be supporting more staff members and continuing to provide services to some of the biggest companies in the country.

If you could travel back in time to when you first started out, what one tip would you give yourself?

One of my favourite quotes is from Gandhi (amongst a lot of other quotes by the great man): 'Be the change you want to see in the world'. There are many ways to take this comment, perhaps trying to be a change in the entire world and make a difference, but I have always liked to think of it as being the change I want to see in my world, the world around me that I interact with. So for me, this says: make the difference, stand up for what you believe is the right thing to do, never shy away or hide, be strong and confront any hardship head on.

If I could go back in time, I would share this quote with myself in order that I might begin to address the hard decisions in the correct frame of mind and stand up for what I believe is right. This isn't necessarily political issues or anything on a world scale as I say, but when I believe a boss is making the wrong decision and I can present a strong argument for the case, even if he persists in saying no, I can rest easy knowing I did what I could to make sure it was the right decision. I value this in everyone I work with.

Sometimes the easiest route is not the right route, and I think that is something too many people forget. I always think to myself: do the right thing.

What's the one piece of advice you’d pass on to anyone just starting out?

Whichever route you come through to get into digital, be that programming, design or another route, it is important to understand what you are trying to achieve. Each and every part that a person plays in the production of a website is only a smaller part of a holistic system. If there was anything I would pass on, it would be: understand the bigger picture.

Don't add a button in a certain place because you like it there, or indeed set a system up to ask for unnecessary detail if it is not required. Understand who and what you are producing the website for and let this guide your thinking. This requires a greater collaborative effort upfront but saves an immense amount of time in the long run because you are not adding things in or changing them.

What's your biggest frustration about the digital industry as a whole?

I think my biggest frustration is the 'half service' that I see being provided. We really pride ourselves on the process we follow in producing our websites, and making sure that they are providing a measurable performance for the company. Too often have I seen or worked with agencies who offer 'digital services', and they, and more often than not the client also, get too caught up in what the website will look like. This lack of awareness of the digital channel as a whole is what causes websites to fail, and means clients are re-designing their website more often than they should, and inevitably repeating the same process again!

Which super hero do you most relate to?

Definitely Ironman.

Once I had my ICD fitted, colleagues and family joked that I was Ironman, but the infatuation ran deeper before that. I have always built and tinkered with systems and software, and I think we all secretly want to be Tony Stark. After seeing Ironman 3 at the cinema, I returned home and used my Raspberry Pi to set up a home automation system with bits I had lying around the house. Using voice recognition, you can control the television and the lights, and it also ties into Siri on your phone. Next is a system for watering the garden and an automatic cat feeder!

Finally, what would you be doing if you weren't a Director at Corvita Digital?

I'd definitely be doing what I wanted to be doing, that's for sure! Probably running a brewery or a restaurant, both things I've always enjoyed.

 

Got any questions for Edward? Get in touch with us, or send us a tweet!

January
January