Rob Dance, of ROCK IT services, shares secret to success

Rob Dance, 40, quit school after GCSEs where he got Bs, Cs and Ds in ten subjects, to pursue a career in technology - because he had a "thirst for problem solving".

He got a business degree and immediately spent six months on a meticulous business plan.

The entrepreneur launched an IT solutions business from his parents' garage, funded by selling his first car, a 1990 Renault 5 GT Turbo, for £1,000, in 2008.

Fifteen years on, the dad-of-two from Cowbridge, south Wales, is CEO of a major IT consultancy firm with over 100 employees.

Rob Dance followed his dream of setting up at IT business

ROCK has recently been included in Business Leader's 'Top 32 scale-ups to watch', and Consultancy.uk named them in the top 40 technology consulting firms in the UK in 2023 out of over one thousand firms.

Rob has also been shortlisted in the Great British Entrepreneur Awards for the category of 'Technology entrepreneur of the year'.

Last month he bought a top-of-the-range Lamborghini - a gift to himself on his business' 15th anniversary.

Rob Dance now owns an award-winning business

Rob, who lives with his partner, said: "At school, I didn't really excel, but I was always quite innovative.

"I loved taking apart radios and computers, then putting them back together again - I loved out how things worked.

"When I founded the business, it was just me and one other person who did the admin and accounts.

"In six months we generated our first business and it grew from there - in 18 months we had 30 employees.

"Covid really helped us because when we worked from home, lots of clients didn't have the tech in place so we had all these queries coming in about it.

"We really relied on the team to pull it out the bag then - and we actually grew during the pandemic and have continued to grow since then.

"Now we're on the trajectory to turn over £10million in a year and have been shortlisted for multiple awards.

"I got my Lamborghini a month ago - I never felt like I deserved to treat myself, but 15 years is a huge milestone so the time is right."

Rob, who can be found on Instagram @robdance_, grew up in Penllyn, Cowbridge, left school at 16 and got a job working with computers.

Aged 18, he went travelling in Australia, and decided to go to university on his return.

Three years later, he graduated from University of Glamorgan - now known as University of South Wales - with a business degree.

He said: "Straight after graduating, I spent six months writing a 200-page business plan.

"During my research, I came across the revelation that there was a different way of delivering IT support."

Their model was offering unlimited IT support to companies for a flat monthly fee, rather than per day.

He said: "At the start I was doing four or five jobs every day then doing follow-up calls to check they were happy with the work.

"The clients really liked this so I was getting work coming in through referrals."

Rob realised every time three more clients signed up, he could afford to hire a new staff member.

Rob and his team plan to take the business global by 2024

By the time 18 months had passed, he had 30 employees on board, and during the pandemic they gained 45 new projects and clients.

Since their launch ROCK have diversified and now offer a broad range of technology solutions, supporting organisations in both the public and private sector.

He has taken less than a month of annual leave since he started the business because "when you're doing something you love it's hard to take a break."

The company has been nominated for multiple awards this year, and Rob has been shortlisted for the Welsh Technology Entrepreneur of the Year for his work.

He said ROCK is set to turnover £10m this year, its highest yet, and they have plans to launch globally in 2024.

Rob said: "It was a gamble back then when we first started, especially during the credit crunch of 2008.

"But we had this amazing idea and I thought 'I've just got to go for it' - and the rest was history."