Apart from common goals, values and aspirations - and a pretty great office - what else links the companies in the Forward group?
For starters, while each company takes responsibility for their own business success, sharing the skills and know-how that exists elsewhere in the group has led to some amazing results; sometimes, the best ideas or the ideal solution can be found closer to home than you think.
We also all love working in a focused and dynamic environment where the energy and drive of a start-up is complemented by the financial muscle of an established business. And above all, we all believe that the internet has the power to really change people's lives for the better.
Say hello to some of our team
Dr Alex Farquhar
Senior Developer, Forward
Why did you decide to join Forward?
I knew some really smart people who
already worked here, and my initial attraction was the technical culture that they described to me. It’s a very experimental place, and we're always trying out new technologies, evaluating them using real data and scenarios. I’ve never yet seen us fail to use a new approach if we think there’s a chance it will improve things. Working here means freedom from most of the restrictions you find in other companies, and it leaves you free to expend your energy on doing totally useful things in the most cutting edge technologies. As a techie, it doesn’t get any better than that!
What does a typical day look like?
Most mornings I’ll spend half an hour or so reading interesting blogs and technical articles, and kicking a few ideas around with the rest of the team. Then I’ll crack on with some real work – it could be Ruby development on one of the 10-ish webapps that our team looks after, writing a spike in an untested platform, or some data crunching with my latest obsession, the R stats language. In the afternoon I’ll discuss some upcoming work with Carl, and try to get an idea of where he wants to go with it. Then it’s back to coding, either solo or in a pair, depending on the type of work/mood of the team.
What do you enjoy most about working at Forward?
I’d say the great people and the freedom. Either one of those is good, but it’s very unusual to have both. Coming from a consultancy background, being able to have the leeway to investigate and explore technology is a breath of fresh air, but it’s also very pragmatic. You need to keep innovating in technology, and you can’t do that without some freedom to take a chance. After all, even if you fail, you’ve learned something.
What cool projects have you worked on at Forward?
Too many to mention! Most recently I’ve been working on a way to visualize some of our vast datasets using R. That’s starting to bear fruit, and it’s a great feeling to see your work being used immediately. In general I’m really into the whole data science approach, so as a sideline I’m working on some neural network coolness to help us with some text categorisation.
What has been the most amazing experience you've had at Forward?
Everyone’s going to say Vegas, and it’s certainly an amazing experience. But on a day-to-day basis I’m always amazed when someone discusses an idea, and within a day there’s code in production proving the value (or otherwise) of that very same concept. It takes some getting used to, but now I couldn’t consider working in any other way.
Claire DeVillers
Senior Analyst, Forward3D
Why did you decide to join Forward?
The small size for a start! Working
somewhere where everybody knows each other and where there is a sense of community really appealed to me. I also liked the idea of Forward's AGILE working practices which was something I had read about, but was keen to see in practice. Coming from a larger organisation, with lots of red tape, I moved to Forward for more freedom in my work.
What does a typical day look like?
Usually the first thing I do in the morning is to check the Cardwall for my accounts. It's our bespoke task management system, which amongst other things shows me yesterday’s performance data, as well as new opportunities within the accounts. For example, we have alerts linked to Google Insights, the weather and TV listings. It's really useful as an analyst. For instance, did you know that certain TV shows impact your account's performance? The rest of the day is usually spent improving the accounts, and speaking with clients.
What do you enjoy most about working at Forward?
Certainly the people, but you can't forget the perks! I really enjoy working with smart, enthusiastic, down to earth people and with every third person being a developer, it means that you can pair on some really interesting tasks and feel like you are making a real difference on your accounts.
Perks
are great too, breakfast, snacks, massages, annual trips to Vegas. What more can I say?
What cool projects have you worked on?
Working with The North Face has been a pleasure. I was lucky enough to be able to use my search knowledge to make recommendations for the redesign of their site. The meeting was also at their office in Switzerland which meant I got to see some amazing views on the way!
What has been the most amazing experience you've had at Forward?
Nothing beats the Forward Christmas Party... Flying through the Grand Canyon in a helicopter with the theme from Top Gun music blasting on the way to a champagne picnic was definitely a highlight.
Matthew Wheeler
Entrepreneur In Residence, Forward
Why did you decide to join Forward?
I joined Forward as a recent graduate
when there were just 2 other employees! What attracted me at the time was the vision and enthusiasm of a tiny company and where that might take me. It was a gamble committing to such a small company but it's turned out to be a brilliant decision. What's amazing is that the small company culture and passion to succeed still exists despite the huge growth since I joined. It feels like this is still only the start for Forward with much more to come.
What does a typical day look like?
No day has been the same for me at Forward. The agile culture means I find myself working on new opportunities daily. For me this is anything from analysing conversion journeys or launching a brand new product.
What do you enjoy most about working at Forward?
Forward has been an amazing place to learn and develop my skills. In just 5 years I have touched on an amazing amount of the web. The culture rewards innovation and allows you to push the boundaries of your job spec. This has enabled a very fast progression of my career. There are no penalties for age, status, or time spent at the company - if you demonstrate ability and work hard then doors open.
What cool projects have you worked on at Forward?
I originally headed up a paid search team at Forward and saw an opportunity in the mobile phone market. Armed with this I was given the opportunity to found and run Omio.com which became one of the biggest mobile comparison sites in the UK. It powers sites such as TechRadar, CNET and uSwitch.com where I now work as Product Director across all the different product areas of the site.
What has been the most amazing experience you've had at Forward?
For me it was the day Omio.com launched. To see one of my ideas come to life and watch the first users interact with it is an amazing feeling, especially given the brilliant response from the people who used it. We hooked up a matrix style log and watched people clicking around the features. To top it off we celebrated in style in Las Vegas that year for our Christmas party!
Michael Patricios
Senior Developer, Just Shops
Why did you decide to join Forward?
After several years of consulting and
helping other companies to deliver successful software projects, I saw an opportunity to join a small team and to share in the strategy, vision and success of the business. I liked that Forward embraced agile methods in a practical way, without being dogmatic and that some of the best technical people I knew worked for the company.
What does a typical day look like?
Each day generally starts with the morning standup, involving the whole team. From that point onwards, no two days are alike. We regularly get together as a team and identify our priorities, which can change depending on business factors, new ideas we've had, new technology. No day would be complete without deploying enhancements to our production systems, sometimes several times a day!
What do you enjoy most about working at Forward?
I enjoy being challenged on a daily basis and being able to take an idea from inception to production in a matter of days rather than weeks or months. I enjoy being surrounded by amazing people and being able to mentor as well as to learn from each and every one of them. The perks are great too!
What cool projects have you worked on?
I've worked mostly on the Just Shops team, on a custom backend system which is used to manage the multi-niche ecommerce sites. I've also done some work on the ecommerce sites themselves and dabbled with some new technologies.
What has been the most amazing experience you've had at Forward?
It's hard to beat being taken to Las Vegas a week after joining the company! Other highlights include seeing the first few transactions on each newly launched niche ecommerce site and going to a games development conference in San Francisco.
Emma Bush
Product Manager, uSwitch
Why did you decide to join Forward?
I joined uSwitch as a graduate in 2007
as I was looking for a job that offered me variety and a chance to dive in at the deep end, picking up “real” work on the first day rather than spending weeks in training. The size of uSwitch appealed to me because it was small enough that I knew that I wasn’t going to be another nameless face in a crowd but still big enough to have a strong brand presence in the market. I also thought the fast pace and dynamic nature of an internet company would be a good challenge for me and I certainly wasn’t wrong there!
What does a typical day look like?
A lot of my day is spent with other teams around the business to make sure we’re all heading in the same direction. I work closely with our development team to test new ideas to improve customer experience and site performance. It’s important I understand how the energy channel is performing so we can quickly identify and maximise any positive trends and find the cause of any negative changes so I’ll spend time looking over daily stats. I also need to be reactive in my role so throughout the day I keep an eye on what’s going on in the industry in case any opportunities arise.
What do you enjoy most about working at Forward?
As a product owner I am lucky enough to interact with most other teams around the business on a daily basis and often my product is at the centre of the activity buzz which is exciting. However, the people are the best thing about Forward and I’m very fortunate to work with people who I not only like on a personal level but I have respect for professionally. There are many people I work with who I have learnt a lot from but also constantly remind me that I still have so much more to learn!
What cool projects have you worked on?
We’re undergoing a complete redesign of our energy channel and it’s been great to start from scratch and overcome some of the barriers that have been holding us back. As part of the project we’ve launched a new process to help Home Movers switch to a cheaper energy plan based on feedback from our call centre that this group of customers were struggling with the standard switching process. It’s nice to know we’ve improved the situation and are helping more people save money.
What has been the most amazing experience you've had at Forward?
Walking into the train station in the morning and seeing the front page of a newspaper with a PR story I’ve worked on and a number I’ve calculated is an exciting way to start the day!
Hannes Ortner
Director of Linguistic Services & Technology, Locaria
Why did you decide to join Forward?
As a linguist I have always been
interested in the online world, in particular SEM and SEO, because of its many multilingual channels and language complexity. So, I was extremely excited when I got the offer to become Linguistics Analyst at Forward. It gave me the opportunity to develop SEM/SEO skills and combine them with my linguistics expertise.
What does a typical day look like?
My work is extremely varied. Some days I might focus on analysing foreign-language campaigns or work out strategies to improve and expand them. Other days I might collaborate with others in the company to prepare for a business pitch. I also spend a lot of time initiating discussions with my fellow team members, in order to highlight any new opportunities or ways we can optimise our work flow .
What do you enjoy most about working at Forward?
I love working in a culturally diverse environment, alongside people from a large number of different countries. This eclectic, multicultural atmosphere means that I have access to a variety of ideas and ways of thinking. I thrive on this enrichment; it broadens my horizons on a daily basis.
What cool projects have you worked on?
So many different things, I would not know where to start. I generally love being involved in any project requiring multiple language presence. I have helped several clients to expand their campaigns internationally. I was also involved in the development of multilingual keyword generation/filtering and text extraction tools, which was linguistically both challenging and interesting.
What has been the most amazing experience you've had at Forward?
It has been amazing to observe how quickly Forward has developed from being a company focusing on SEM with a group of 30 people (when I first started) to a company with over 150 people, and a diverse range of businesses. I love being given the opportunity to work with people from different countries to further enhance my linguistic skills. For me, embarking on a new language and culture is always a new and unique experience.
Robin Landy
Founder, InvisibleHand
Why did you decide to join Forward?
Initially it was the lure of being
involved in an interesting project that would solve a real problem for lots of people. But it was actually the interview process that convinced me. The questions were so in-depth and the discussions were intriguing. I came away with the impression that a company with such a rigorous interview process and so many smart & interesting people must be a great place to work. It is.
What does a typical day look like?
I start by reviewing InvisibleHand's performance from the previous day. How many downloads did we get? How much cash did we help our users to save? Then triage some emails and prepare for standup. Standup gives the team an opportunity to discuss what we did yesterday and what we're going to work on today – and exchange a lot of knowledge in the process. Then I'll work on wireframes defining new functionality for InvisibleHand. I often have meetings & calls in the afternoon to discuss partnerships so that we can make InvisibleHand even more useful. Before leaving in the evening, I answer emails from users. It's a great way of getting feedback on what people think about our product & how they use it. A user emailed me today to say that he'd rather go without Google than use a browser without InvisibleHand!
What do you enjoy most about working at Forward?
I like the expectation that there is always a better way of doing something or a new idea to try. Having the resources & support available to actually execute those experiments gives us an unusual freedom to innovate. InvisibleHand was a result of those experiments, and every day it's thrilling to work on a product which does things that nobody else has done before.
What cool projects have you worked on?
InvisibleHand is – obviously – close to my heart, and is what I've been doing for the past few years. Before that, I did a lot of work on omio.com (Forward's mobile phone comparison site) and some experimental projects – including a nightlife review site, a keyword management tool and a resource allocation web-app.
What has been the most amazing experience you've had at Forward?
Two moments stand out. Seeing InvisibleHand show its first product notification – that was phenomenal. Knowing that we had created this incredible tool that would give millions of people a better web experience and save them a fortune – it was a nice feeling. Secondly, landing in a helicopter in the Grand Canyon during Forward's Vegas party: that was pretty cool.
Andrew Nesbitt
Developer, Forward
Why did you decide to join Forward?
One of the main selling points of
Forward for me was a big company that felt like a collection of small startups, combine that with one of the best teams of developers in London and a lot of cool technology to play with how could I say no?
What does a typical day look like?
The day always starts with a standup, then working on a variety of technology challenges. Often I have lunch with other developers to stay in the know with what’s happening around the company, followed by more coding with continuous deployments throughout, and then catch up with the team over a game of pool and free snacks in the afternoon.
What do you enjoy most about working at Forward?
The best thing about working at Forward is the awesome group of people. Everyone is incredibly experienced and full of energy and great ideas, they make every day an exciting challenge.
What cool projects have you worked on?
So far at Forward I've helped build a complete multi-niche ecommerce platform and launching eight new sites on top of it. I've also helped to scale the InvisibleHand browser extension into new verticals and worked with uSwitch to redevelop their energy and home-mover websites.
What has been the most amazing experience you've had at Forward?
The most amazing experience so far has to be the Christmas party in Las Vegas. How many other companies do you know that would fly 150 people half way across the world and put them up a five star hotel?
Yannick Roux
Investment Analyst,
Forward Venture Partners
Why did you decide to join Forward?
I have been with Forward since September 2010.
I have a financial background and web startup experience. Back then I was looking for a highly entrepreneurial and stimulating environment where I could stay in close contact with people that really understand the web and build online businesses; at the same time I wanted to work on the buy-side with an investor. Forward is just the ideal place.
What does a typical day look like?
I spend my days searching for online businesses that Forward can invest in or acquire. I then work on the whole investment or acquisition execution process from start to finish. I also look after some of Forward's existing business, participate in board meetings and contribute to the internal innovation drive, helping out from idea generation to strategy and execution.
What do you enjoy most about working at Forward?
I come from an industry (investment banking) where it's a lot more about the looks than about the actual substance. I love being surrounded by entrepreneurial people that know how to cut to the chase and to get things done. The culture is nothing like I've seen before. Innovative, fresh, young, stimulating. For instance, everybody is granted 20 days a year of "innovation leave" that can be used to explore any business ideas. Yes, everybody!
What cool projects have you worked on?
As soon as I joined Forward I dived into a thorough research of a particular online vertical. Three month later we are at the final stages of acquiring two of the companies I have identified. That's pretty cool.
What has been the most amazing experience you've had at Forward?
With the risk of sounding repetitive, the Las Vegas trip was quite amazing and a great way for me know get to know everybody since I was one of the new joiners at the time.
Heidi Cooke
Contact Centre Manager, uSwitch
Why did you decide to join Forward?
I joined uSwitch in June 2005, long
before Forward acquired uSwitch in December 2009. I wanted to join uSwitch because I felt that the service it offered consumers was of real value. I initially joined as a Contact Centre Team Leader, when the team only had 4 members. uSwitch has grown significantly over the years and the team now has 20 people. I take pride in how many consumers we manage to help and in the way we do it.
What does a typical day look like?
My days at work vary a lot which is good because it keeps work fresh. Some days I start with a certain agenda but end up working on something completely different, I like this flexibility in my role. My priority is always my team and improving performance so I spend a lot of time with them, reporting and analysing stats, implementing incentives, updating on performance and making plans with my Team Leaders.
What do you enjoy most about working at Forward?
The best thing about working for Forward is undoubtedly the people. The company has employed a really interesting mixture of people from different backgrounds who know how to work very hard and play very hard too. The senior management team are incredibly supportive and encouraging and this means that it is not only a pleasure coming to work to mix with a great bunch of people but once you get into the office, you feel free to be creative and able to put your ideas forward.
What cool projects have you worked on?
Implementing online chat across the energy channel was a really good project for me. Our customers really love being able to get help whilst online and the team really enjoy communicating in this way. Hopefully in the future we can develop this function and give extra value to our customers online. One of my favourite things to work on is incentives, I love running quarterly incentives for the teams and seeing what they can do when they really push themselves.
What has been the most amazing experience you've had at Forward?
It’s hard to pinpoint one amazing experience for me. 2010 has definitely been my best year at uSwitch, I have really enjoyed getting to know everyone at Forward and I have had the pleasure of working with a great team, together we have achieved amazing results beyond expectations and I look forward to the challenge of trying to exceed this in coming years. Our 2010 Christmas party in Las Vegas was the trip of a lifetime and a great way celebrate with my team and the rest of the business.
