Jack Mason has established a new Manchester group, having acquired Fast Web Media and mobile app development business, Cuhu.
Inc & Co is headed up by Mason, alongside Tech Director, Dave Antrobus.
The company has been founded to help integrated agencies by providing collective resources, including business development, financial and HR support.
“This is an unbelievably exciting development for Manchester’s tech and digital marketing scene. By bringing these agencies together under the Inc & Co umbrella, we can offer a strong proposition for our clients and our teams,” said Mason.
“Running a small agency can be challenging, especially when dealing with fluctuating cash flow, growth pains, and large city-centre office rental fees, but being part of the same group means we can offer a much more robust proposition, shared resources, talents, and a wider range of collaborative services for our clients.”
The group also includes former Dreamr Director, Lynne Makinson-Walsh as Head of People; Carla Gonzalez, who was Senior Marketing Manager of Fast Web Media has been named Head of Brands, while Fast Web Media’s Head of Finance, Jack Walsh takes up the same role in the new company.
Mason is aware of the challenging nature of running small agencies as he’s also the CEO of Dreamr, another Manchester agency, which is currently in a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA). This was voted for by creditors earlier this year, to enable the company to continue trading, while paying off the £248,438 it owes, over a fixed period of time.
Prolific North questioned Mason about this and other companies that he’s been involved in, including RedFishMedia:
“Running an agency in the current climate is tough and I don’t hide behind any past struggles. I feel that my experiences have put me in the best possible position to give advice and support on cash flow and growing pains, especially after my experience running Dreamr. There were many hard lessons learned that I have grown from and will use to my advantage to avoid making the same mistakes going forward. By joining forces with an experienced leadership team, and by having access to investment and a robust operational structure in place, including a permanent Financial Director, we are fully protected against any future issues or instability,” he said in a statement.
“Dreamr came into difficulties during the end of 2018 when two clients liquidated. I made sure I did the right thing to honour the debt we accumulated, and I am committed to paying 100% back. I had the chance to liquidate like most companies choose to, and also had the chance to pay back only 60% of the debt – instead, I wanted to do the right thing morally, which was to pay for the decisions I made. We have already paid 45% of the CVA and I will continue to honour the payments until the debt is cleared.
“RedFishMedia was a company that I stepped down as Director of 3 years ago. It’s not a business that I had anything to do with during its struggles and subsequent liquidation.”
Mason was appointed a Director of RedFishMedia in 2015 and resigned in September 2016. Winding up commenced in September 2017. Dreamr was originally a registered trademark of Redfishmedia, until it was incorporated as a separate company in June 2017.
Mason remains a Director of Dreamr Ventures Ltd, which continues trading.
He explained that while the registered address of Inc Co is London, the team will be based in Manchester’s Spring Gardens.
