The Curve is a fast-growing Sheffield tech company whose success is underpinned by sustainable expansion, an inclusive culture, and a commitment to innovation. As a software consultancy, The Curve helps organisations build and enhance business-critical systems, embed connected devices, and leverage software to create new commercial opportunities. Based at Oxo House, a newly renovated Modernist landmark on Sheffield’s riverside, the company is setting a precedent for how small businesses can successfully scale. We last profiled the company in 2020, when founders Paul and James Ridgway were less than a year into their new venture and the team stood at five members. Today, that number has grown to 25, with projections to reach 34 team members by 2025-26 and new hires focusing primarily on tech lead consultants, developers, and QA specialists.

A team built for success

The Curve’s leadership team consists of founders and brothers, Paul and James Ridgway – who remain hands-on in the project delivery side of the business – and Mai Mai Steele, more recently appointed as Chief Commercial Officer. To support its continued growth, the company is building out its leadership structure with Leadership Partners, including Jake Appleyard, who heads up the company’s marketing, and Farrah Welch-Turner, HR and Business Services Manager, and technical experts including QA engineers, developers, a project manager, and a senior designer.

The company has thoughtfully redesigned its workspace to create specialised ‘pods’ for development teams, sales and marketing, management, and flexible hot-desking – an approach that optimises collaboration while managing expansion. Despite steady growth and the creation of more leadership roles, The Curve has retained a relatively flat structure, ensuring every team member has a voice in shaping the business. 

Farrah, who is leading on efforts to refine the company’s people processes and further enhance employee engagement, says, 

“In terms of maintaining the culture, it really is about keeping a flat structure and empowering everyone to be decision makers in certain elements of the business. We know how important this is as it’s been in place from the start, and it’s crucial we maintain this approach as we grow.”

The company takes a highly strategic approach to recruitment, ensuring they get the right people in at the right time. “We’re very careful with bringing in new people and making sure there’s enough work and it’s therefore sustainable,” shares Mai. “We don’t want to be in a situation where people join only for the short term. So there is a lot of consideration that goes into it, making sure that the projects are stacking up and it is a long term position.”

Keeping recruitment primarily in-house and under Farrah’s remit, The Curve has a record of finding exceptional talent in what has been a very competitive market, particularly for mid to senior-level developers.

“Whilst we have hired through direct applications in the past, our preference is to headhunt people ourselves,” Farrah explains, “We use LinkedIn recruiter, and this allows us to be a little bit more specific and targeted with our searching. If there’s a particular skill set that we’re looking for, we can approach people in the passive market and build a network there.”

This approach not only allows the company to find people with specific skills, it can also help to ensure their new hires align with the company culture.

“We’re always very careful and thorough with our processes, making sure that we test the technical abilities and to see if they’re the right fit for the business. It’s a challenge, but we seem to find good people.”

A focus on innovation for future growth

Whilst the company doesn’t consider itself to have changed its core offering over the past five years, they have worked hard to communicate a better understanding of what The Curve does. Jake reflects, “We’ve been through various iterations of how we present ourselves to the world. In terms of what we do, that hasn’t changed, but we’re not selling a product so it’s often quite difficult to explain how somebody might need us. It depends on how they’re set up, what they’re using currently, where they’re wanting to go with their business.”

The company delivers entirely client-centred services, constantly learning and innovating in order to deliver tailored, cutting edge solutions. This has helped them to identify two key areas of development to support their future growth: IoT and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

“We took on a project in Microsoft Dynamics and Business Central this year and it was the first one we’ve done using that technology,” explains Mai. “The client had something in place that wasn’t usable for them so they asked us to re imagine how it all works. In doing this, we learned a lot and now have capabilities there to lean on in the future.”

The Curve is currently in the R&D phase for an IoT project, which has been accepted for Innovate UK funding. Again, this area of focus was conceived through expertise built on a previous piece of work. “We’re learning all the time,” says Mai,  “The IoT research is something that came out of work we did in partnership with FourJaw, then used that expertise to consider where else our skills can be applied; the different problem areas and solutions that we could propose.”

The company’s strategic approach has attracted significant partnerships, most recently including a major account with one of the world’s largest global ITAD (IT Asset Disposition) providers. What began as a single discovery project has expanded to potential collaborations across US and European teams, demonstrating The Curve’s ability to deliver value beyond pure development work.

Investing in a pipeline of future talent

Student placements aren’t just a tick-box exercise for The Curve. The company takes a committed and careful approach to work experience and this dedication recently earned them the accolade of ‘Placement Provider of the Year’ from the University of Sheffield.

“It’s always been a highlight for us that we can offer placements and opportunities to students,” says Jake, “because a lot of them have told us they’ve sent around so many CVs asking for placements, and they just don’t get replies.

He continues,

“We always try to take them on wherever we’ve got opportunities and can give them that real world environment, so they know what to expect after they’ve graduated.”

Students are given meaningful projects, hands-on mentorship, and opportunities to grow within the company. Jake explains that the team will usually set an internal task to determine where the skills are and what extra support they need, and then put them on projects that are best suited to them.

Some placement students have returned to work at the company, whilst others have found opportunities elsewhere, no doubt boosted by the real-world experience they gained at The Curve.

Speak to The Curve

With new branding and website launching in March 2024, and all growth funded organically without external investment, this company is definitely one to watch, and learn from. By staying rooted in the values that motivated them to start The Curve, Paul, James and the team are scaling, innovating and making a big difference to the tech talent pipeline in our region. If you’d like to talk to The Curve about any of these principles, or you’re interested in partnering with them on a project, or want to see how they can help your business, get in touch: thecurve.io/contact/.