Alongside fellow Co-Founder Jake Madders, Lucas has been instrumental in driving Hyve’s phenomenal growth pace - from small-scale startup to award-winning cloud leader in 16 years.
Please introduce yourself and your role.
I’m Jon Lucas, one of the Co-Founders and Directors at Hyve Managed Hosting.
Both my role and my Co-Founder Jake Madders’ role are incredibly varied, covering every single aspect of the business, from top-line strategy to recruitment and cloud architecture.
Tell us about your education and career path
I have a degree in Computer Science and began my professional career as a programmer in the financial services industry.
After 11 years of working in the city, Jake and I saw an opportunity to start our own business together, as our backgrounds are in different areas of tech. While I come from a more software-focused background, Jake has always been more focused on infrastructure. It was the perfect match to bring our knowledge together and start a cloud services company.
Nevertheless, it’s amazing to think that our tiny start-up has grown up to be a hugely successful managed cloud hosting company, with a global customer base.
What led you to this industry?
Both Jake and I had an early interest in computing and quickly developed a background in as many aspects of IT as possible.
We knew each other from childhood, later reconnecting during our university days. We both had similar views – that we could run a successful business together using our IT knowledge – and a passion to be our own bosses alongside an ambition to create an amazing work culture for the people we employ.
We saw a gap in the market, due to expensive competition that delivered poor service, and this inspired us to start our own business.
"We both had similar views – that we could run a successful business together using our IT knowledge – and a passion to be our own bosses, alongside an ambition to create an amazing work culture for the people we employ."
How are you driving digital transformation in your organisation?
We provide our customers with private cloud solutions, enabling organisations to access the benefits of a dedicated server, without needing physical hardware, handing them the ability to embrace a cloud-first strategy as technology evolves around them.
During COVID-19, we did everything to ensure our company felt connected, even if the only platform to do so was digital. This included providing employees with remote desktop products and the latest apps, to help them stay in touch online.
We continue to ensure this level of digital connectivity is not lost. But, we also want our employees to enjoy the office experience and really love coming in and collaborating in person. That’s why we put in place a hybrid workplace model, while at the same time moving into an amazing new office space in Brighton to maintain a positive, buzzing culture for everyone.
What have been the greatest challenges within your role?
We believe the key to a successful business is having the right team needed to scale organically. We both had to learn how to delegate our tasks and trust other people to do their jobs efficiently.
At first, this was a challenge. But, as we continued hiring more experienced individuals, it became easier for us to trust that they would carry out the necessary changes incrementally.
"We both had to learn how to delegate our tasks and trust other people to do their jobs efficiently. At first, this was a challenge. But, as we continued hiring more experienced individuals, it became easier for us to trust that they would carry out the necessary changes incrementally."
What do the next 12 months hold for you and the company?
Our next big step will be to expand services into the US. We’ve already hired a Head of Sales and Marketing (for EMEA clients seeking a US presence) to start facilitating this.
We are also dedicating more resources to reach global customers, leveraging cloud solutions, and deploying in regions based on customer needs (such as Australia and Africa, for example) while pursuing new customers globally.