In January 2024, Unspun Digital officially launched, spinning out from Impelling, a well-established IT services company. While Impelling set out in 2012 to provide both IT and web services, the focus inevitably shifted more towards IT. This prompted the need for a distinct entity dedicated to web development, leading to the birth of Unspun. Ed Hardie, co-founder of the new company and director at Impelling, shared more about Unspun and how things are going seven months in.

“IT just got bigger and bigger and that’s where the money was,” explains Ed, reflecting on the motivations for launching Unspun. “People were coming to us and saying, ‘You look like an IT company. Are you sure you can do websites?’ We thought it would be better to spin everything out, allowing each company to have a stronger, clearer message.”

Ed’s passion for websites teamed with the creative and technical skills of Neil Carpenter, underpin the new company. Neil, who expanded his skills in graphic design to include web development whilst at Impelling, was integral to the web services side of the business for over a decade. “Neil was brought on at Impelling as a graphic designer as he’s a really talented artist,” Ed recalls, adding, “He went from showing an interest in the web and teaching himself to code, to pretty much running that side of things single handedly. And now, he’s way better than me!”

Ed and Neil’s complementary skills form the foundation of their successful client engagement strategy. “We go to all customer meetings together. I ask questions to understand what they want, and Neil absorbs it all. When the client asks, ‘What now?’ we assure them we’ll deliver a design they’ll love, and Neil nails it first time, every time.”

Early success

Unspun kicked off the year with a big project that has kept Ed and Neil busy, delaying their ‘official’ launch and marketing efforts. Ed says,

“It means that financially we’re off to a good start because we’ve done this huge job. But now it’s time to focus on marketing, letting people know that we’re here and getting more work in.”

Based in Catcliffe on the edge of Sheffield and Rotherham and operating throughout the UK, Unspun targets complex web projects requiring bespoke functionalities such as online payments, booking systems and secure logins. Initially, the duo are hoping to make an impact in the training sector, where they already have a long standing client and their expertise aligns well with requirements.

Keeping things simple

Whilst keen to tackle the complex, the company’s approach is anything but. A core value of Unspun is simplicity. Ed explains the philosophy behind this: “When scoping out a web project, I always think ‘It’s just a website’. Even with complex elements like booking systems and custom checkouts, or if it needs to integrate with HubSpot, it doesn’t need to be complicated.”

He shares an example of this approach in practice: “A client wanted to add a section to their website to share jobs. While other providers missed it, we asked if they had an existing recruitment platform, which they did. So it was as simple as linking it up to pull through this information. We solve the problem but we try to do it in the easiest way possible.”

Finding the simplest solution comes from listening to the client with an open mind, says Ed, and really getting to know their business. 

“You can have a chat on a personal level and not go in there with the mindset that you need to engineer something. We ask how they do things already, and then we fit the website into that system rather than just trying to replace everything. That’s definitely something we have been guilty of in the past, and have learnt from.”

Growth and doing good

Whilst the immediate focus is on business development, Unspun hopes this will lead to team growth. Ed outlines their ambitions: “We would like to hire at some point, ideally someone younger who we can teach things to. A dedicated sales function would also help us to scale up, but the priority is to get enough work to afford that person first.”

The company wants to maintain a manageable size, prioritising quality and strong client relationships. They take pride in long-term client engagements, visiting customers to address ongoing needs and, often, simply to catch-up.

Unspun is also committed to community involvement and supporting initiatives that they believe in. Ed wanted to join Sheffield Digital because he likes the motives behind our organisation, explaining: “I don’t really want anything out of it. Sheffield is close to my heart and technology is close to my heart, so an organisation that brings the two together and promotes tech within Sheffield is a good thing.”

Unspun recently launched a competition to build a free website for a local charity. “We wanted to use this bit of quiet time to do something good, get exposure, and show what we’re about,” says Ed. And whilst the initiative was designed to have one winner on a ‘first come, first served’ basis, Ed and Neil were quickly convinced to partner up with two worthy charities, showing that they really are just two nice guys, doing what they love doing. We’re thrilled to welcome Ed and Neil to Sheffield Digital with their new venture and we’re looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Unspun. Find out more about the company on the website: unspun.digital and stay up to date on LinkedIn and X.