Sowing seeds of success

They’ve never met in person. They’re based on opposite sides of the planet. But that hasn’t stopped Chris Parnell and Ben Vallack from growing a unique and highly successful website platform for web design agencies.

Rotorua-based Chris Parnell first met Englishman Ben Vallack online while seeking a solution to a scalability issue faced by his website design agency.

Working from his garage in Wiltshire, Ben had already developed an early version of SetSeed, a website development platform that tackles the plug-in problem on websites. It was just the solution Chris had been looking for.

So how hard was it to join forces and get the business underway?

Chris recalls it being relatively easy, thanks to their synergy, the ability to have a 24-hour work cycle and, of course, the Internet. Both directors had mastered the ability to communicate across all the different communication technologies available.

However, tackling scalability, profitability, separating product from service, and earning trust have all proved to be the true scale-up challenges they’ve had to conquer.

“And physical separation just means that a global network of customers and partners is second nature to us,” says Chris.

SetSeed literally means to ‘set seed like a dandelion dispersing’. Ben’s father suggested the quirky name after Ben had explained to him how it’s possible to build hundreds of websites on just one instance of the platform.

It’s a fitting name too, says Chris, “as a number of our agency customers now have hundreds of websites”.

WordPress leads the market, with about 60 percent of the global market, but heavily relies on plug-ins for its functionality,” he explains. “These plug-ins need constant updating to stay secure. Neglecting updates makes your site vulnerable. But updating can also break plug-ins.”

Capability has been built into the SetSeed platform natively and allows customers to configure their deployment however they want. The result is much more robust and secure websites.

Subscription works best

Chris and Ben officially teamed up in 2016 – subsequently shifting from perpetual licensing to a subscription-based model, which led to a surge in inbound enquiries and customers worldwide.

They quickly decided to take on an even bigger vision too – completely rebuilding SetSeed from the ground up, and together they founded a whole new designer/developer framework. One that easily adapts to apps and to AI.

Having the business based on opposite sides of the planet allows the platform to ‘follow the sun around the world’ regarding development speed and connecting clients up to the closest support network at any given time, day or night, says Chris.

As well as the plug-in issue, SetSeed also tackles the multi-platform issue.

“Online website platforms are often very specific,” explains Chris, “requiring you to manage multiple platforms for customer growth and scalability.

“Our focus has been on web agencies and in-house teams, as they typically experience the most pain. While anyone can create a basic website on about 900 different platforms – and growing  –  a website is more than just a digital presence. It’s the heart of your customers’ inbound and outbound activity.”

It’s also important not to get overly focused on the visual beauty of a website – but rather the ongoing engagement of the user, explains Chris. The whole human experience.

Think elegant, think simplified, think scalable purpose, and never forget the two biggest considerations – data security and uptime security.

SetSeed can handle everything on the one platform, Chris adds. That includes content, media, emails, customers, forms, e-commerce, subscriptions, bookings, the intranet, and so on.

“In addition, it integrates with other systems at the API level to bring in data. That differs to other platforms which often send your data out and away.”

Positive feedback, global growth

As SetSeed continues to deepen its collaboration with partners and customers, the rich feedback continues to roll in. Some customers will even pay SetSeed directly to expedite development, reports Chris.

“Other developers are now crafting widgets within our plugin-free ecosystem,” he says. “We’re gearing up to launch a marketplace to empower developers to monetise their ideas – perfectly aligning with our big vision of a WordPress alternative.”

Today the business is scaling up fast. “Some of our agency customers have experienced rapid

growth. One agency in the UK is approaching 200 sites and another in the US is closing in on 600,” says Chris.

“At that size and scale the value in eliminating maintenance alone is worth hundreds of thousands per agency – let alone the value in minimising the need for other platforms.”

Today SetSeed is also demonstrating within enterprise-level organisations, which is another milestone.

“It’s incredible to witness the set-seed strategy unfolding in real life,” says Chris.

Advice for startups

Both Chris and Ben believe the founders of any new business venture must always be perfectly aligned – especially at the values level – and it’s important not to waste time and money on distractions.

“Focus on solving your customers’ problems, and less on your own,” advises Chris. “Understand and believe in the value of what you have created. And when that pure confidence kicks in, it will get you through any door.

“I’ve watched the whole venture-capital world with awe and then scepticism. Now that the wheels have fallen off the hype somewhat, you can see that a sustainable approach is actually really healthy.

“By all means, be ambitious and have a vision to hyperscale, but take your team and your family with you on that journey so that you don’t summit alone.”

Getting the business across the line and growing it consistently has also meant that both founders have had to sacrifice their incomes from time to time.

“That means paying others around us more and sometimes relying on our spouses to help bootstrap the business,” recalls Chris. “But that’s all part of the real-life challenges any business owner must face.”

At the end of the day, the goal is to continue building SetSeed so that it’s a viable alternative to everything else out there, says Chris.

As for help growing the business, he says there have been many people and agencies reaching out and wanting to help.

“But at the end of the day, you’ve got to switch all that distraction off,” he says. “I have a couple of key advisers, people who’ve done the whole startup thing successfully and are ahead of the curve.

“They’re the ones I listen to.”