Newsletters

Get the latest business tips and industry news with my monthly newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time you wish.

RSS Feeds

Get the latest RSS Feeds now.

A brief look at the career and history of Mario Thomas.

The decision I made to start Chapter Eight in 2002 has opened up the most exciting and challenging time of my life. Before that I had always been safely tucked away in the protective arms of large corporations, with multi-million pound new media budgets and the financial resources behind them to always succeed.

Finding myself on the outside, leader of a small but growing band of visionaries, technologists and business professionals I had to grow up fast and learn my lessons quickly in order to survive. These days there are different challenges, but none greater than continuing to innovate and surprise our clients with what we can do for them.

My Early Career

My first real job was in Leicester at the Leicester Mercury - the flagship regional newspaper title of Northcliffe Newspapers - where I worked with Marlen Roberts creating the UK's first online regional newspaper website. Challenging times lay ahead as the Internet was starting to grow and the likes of Yahoo! were coming to the UK to corner the online classified advertising market.

In 1997 both Marlen and I went our separate ways, she started AdHunter (which later turned into Fish4) and I joined SilverPlatter Information (now part of Ovid) in London working on their electronic publishing products. Working in the UK software development team I had several quick wins which meant I got to work on the company's flagship products. But I longed to work in the commercial team, meeting clients and evangelising about our market leading products and services.

Cutting My Management Teeth

In October 1998, Marlen looked me up and said she needed someone with my skills for a job in Leeds. Within a week I found myself working as her number two for Regional Independent Media (RIM) who were the fifth largest regional publisher in the UK. Over four and half frenetic years we recruited 110 staff, opened 11 regional offices and created the first profitable new media division of any of the ‘Big 5' regional publishers in the UK. By the time we had got to 2002 we were turning over £4.4million and were in profit.

In April 2002 the bubble burst at RIM. Johnston Press had bought the company and had decided to close down the new media division. Within four weeks I was sitting at home on garden leave working out my next move. But my mind had already been made up - let's do this on my own, without the finance, without the investors and without a clue about what I had let myself in for.

With six other people from my team at RIM, Chapter Eight was born and the rest as they say is history.

• Bookmark Page
• Print Page
• Send to a Friend