As Bravand marks its 12th anniversary, Jilly Cross and Ross Musgrove, the husband-and-wife team behind the brand, have been reflecting on their journey. In a recent blog post, they’ve shared how it all started, where they are today, and where Bravand is headed. We wanted to find out a bit more so we caught up with Ross to ask about three key things: moving up north from London (and the loss of 24 hour bagels), how the current economic climate has affected new business generation, and balancing work and family life with a cat and a dog.

Of 12 years, you’ve been in South Yorkshire for nearly two. How did the move from London impact the business, both good and bad?

So, the good stuff first: Being in Sheffield, and more broadly, South Yorkshire, we’ve got a true sense of geographic belonging for the first time and a growing community of people we continue to build relationships with. We didn’t realise we were missing this until we got up here and looked back.

Bad: at any time of day or night I could go into any shop and find Ting in a fridge, and buy filled bagels from Bagel shops. They also sold Chella bread in our local Sainsbury’s…

It’s a tough economic climate; have you noticed changes in the type of work clients are asking for? Are they pulling back on bigger projects or taking more in-house?

It’s definitely been tough this year – particularly for new business. Existing client work is what’s kept us going.

We came back from Christmas 2023 and a few projects landed and we thought, “What a fantastic start to the year! If it carries on like this, we’re gonna be busy!”, then new business fell off a cliff.

There was a bit of a blip / uptick around the time of the General Election, then everyone disappeared for summer, as they do. Again, our existing client projects kept us busy over the school summer holidays but, as a business owner, I was questioning why I was paying me a salary (I’m primarily new business) with very little to show for it. Our Delivery Team closed way more deals than I did this year.

Since summer things have really picked up. A combination of being in the right place at the right time and people coming to us. I think the latter is possibly a result of us getting our message out there. People understand a bit more about what we do, and know us a bit better, so they know what to come and ask us for help on. That’s how our business typically grows; retained / repeat business, referrals and recommendations.

And what type of work are you being asked to do?

I think on the tech side of things, we’re typically brought in to do something that the client can’t do in-house. They just buy the bits they need from us. For example, a tech company that has in-house developers doesn’t need us for coding, but they might not have User Research, UX Design and UI Design expertise, so they buy that bit in. We create them a design system and hand it over so their internal team has a set of building blocks and standards that they can implement on an ongoing basis.

Some clients might be looking for a quicker, cheaper option, and we tend to miss out there because we don’t compete on price. But with tech specifically (as opposed to the creative stuff), it’s cheaper and easier to work with us than do it yourself. Our largest client is a tech scale-up and they have no in-house dev capability. We’re their team. We’re their fractional CTO and CPO.

How are you and Jilly balancing family life with young children and running a very successful business together, plus your extra commitments such as being a See It Be It ambassador and Jilly’s new role on the Sheffield Digital Members Board?

Yeah – life is full! Jilly and I are a husband and wife team. Bravand is 12 and not going anywhere, Fresh Meet CIC will launch properly in Q4 of this financial year, there’s another project / business in stealth mode, we’ve got two young kids (8 and nearly 7), a dog and a cat. There’s some risk tied up in all that!

It’s a challenge fitting everything in, so we run our home a bit like we run a project. Jilly and I are in a similar situation, so on the same page about most things. It’s not a unique situation, but we’re cognisant that it’s not the norm. It’s a privilege.

We’re ruthless with our prioritisation and fiercely protective of our priorities. Each week we sit down and look at what’s coming up over the next few weeks, and plan each week in detail as it comes. We pull in help as and when we need it, and deal with the curve balls as they arise.

Having the right team around you is key in all of this. Knowing the people you choose to surround yourself with have got your back and vice versa, means we’re all empowered to make stuff happen!

It’s great to see Jilly, Ross and the team celebrate this milestone and we’re thrilled to have them as members of Sheffield Digital; in less than two years they’ve already become huge assets to the city’s digital tech scene. Here’s to another 12! Find out more about Bravand in the Company Spotlight and on their website.