The CEO of a fast-growing, “bootstrapped” VAR-MSP has revealed its two USPs as he looks to “put the business out there” for the first time.
London-based Techary made last month’s Sunday Times list of the UK’s 100 fastest-growing private companies, after its revenues hit £23m in its latest year.
The Dell, HPE, Microsoft and Cisco partner generates around 60% of its sales from its financial services-focused VAR business. The remainder comes from smaller managed services clients.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, CEO Tom Stephens said soon-to-be-published consolidated accounts will show Techary’s true scale for the first time.
“All of a sudden, [people will go], ‘hold on, who’s this £25m-turnover VAR who’s growing at 75%?” said Stephens, who founded Techary in 2011 as a two-person web design firm.
“A little bit by design, we’ve been operating under the radar.
“Now we’re at that critical size where we can compete, this is the first time we’ve been going to industry events and putting ourselves out there.”
“Very crowded market”
In an industry where “everyone has the same USPs”, Techary strives to stand out in two ways, according to Stephens.
The London-based outfit now operates 13 entities globally.
“A lot of people use third parties and say, ‘we can get anywhere’. But ultimately [that comes] with a very high cost to the customer. What we’ve done is create our own global business that we own, so we’re able to procure items locally in the US or in Europe – that’s a big advantage,” Stephens said.
Techary’s ability to build its own software – which Stephens said will play a “big part in the next phase of our story” – provides its second USP.
This includes bespoke e-commerce portals its customers can use to order goods.
“We’re doubling down on that in the next part of our business plan and actually making our own software stack, which is modular,” Stephens said.
“We’re trying to create our USPs and value in a very crowded market.”
“Pivotal moment”
Techary’s decision to rebrand from its original ‘Stephens IT’ moniker in 2020 was a “pivotal moment” for the business, Stephens said.
“That was a real catalyst in terms of clients not seeing us as that smaller firm,” he explained.
“The next Uber isn’t going to be called ‘London Minicabs’.
“Everyone in our industry is ‘someone IT Solutions’ – our original name was easy to think of. It took a lot of effort to rebrand and get a seven-letter domain name, but it was a real catalyst for our growth.”
Techary’s “full-stack” MSP business targets SMEs with 20-70 users.
Around 70% of its larger VAR business is derived from financial services customers, thanks partly to its partnership with New York Stock Exchange owner Intercontinental Exchange.
A small acquisition Techary made in 2020 – namely a resourcing firm – contributes less than £1m to its top line, with the lion’s share of growth coming via organic means.
Techary is on course to grow around 57% to £36m in calendar 2025, Stephens said.
It was one of several IT consultancies featured in the Sunday Times fast-growth table alongside the likes of Zenzero (£84m revenues), Swift Strategies (£11.7m) and de Novo Solutions (£9.8m revenues).
“If you’re doing £1m, or doing loads of M&A, it’s not hard to grow at 75%. But to do it off that base is quite unique – and we don’t have external investors or VC funding,” Stephens concluded.
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
