25 Years of Hardwork

Little did I know what was ahead of me when I started at Koch in March 1993. From the outset I felt Koch was the place that I wanted to commit to. Where you were encouraged to look into the future and remember that any business has to both develop short term business as well as identify the opportunities but also crucially the threats that might make you need to adapt your strategy.

Very quickly I had that learning at Koch International (the music business where Klemens Kundratitz first recruited me into). With interests in CD manufacturing as well as music distribution it seemed that the disc was destined to endure, with both CD audio and CD ROM appearing to have endless growth potential. When CD re-writable discs came along and we were selling them trade for £5 each it should have told me that in every early adopter market there would be a mass market that followed.

Soon after at Koch Media I profited from the CD-ROM, but easily within twenty four months the internet was in full swing and my lead publishing partners (at that time it was Letts revise, Route 66 route planners, and Hutchinson Encyclopedia) were being eclipsed by the online upstarts of BBC bitesize, Multimap, and Wikipedia). An early lesson in looking ahead.

But with the strong financial support of our shareholders, I moved from category to category keeping just ahead of the competition that in the main did not make it. In the UK this journey looked something like this:

Multimedia -> PC utility software distribution -> PC business software -> PC Anti-virus -> Games distribution -> Games publishing -> Nintendo preferred distribution partner -> Gaming accessory manufacturing -> DVD distribution -> Branch office creation in Nordic -> Branch office creation in Benelux -> Film distribution -> Cinema distribution -> Retro Gaming/Gifting category.

I have often felt that I have done multiple jobs at once. Being in the same year at E3 pursuing video game goals, and then at Cannes film festival seeking to establish a reputation in film. Sadly the opportunity to enter the film market successfully as an independent film distributor was too hard. This at a time when the rules of engagement were just not decipherable anymore as the market was being disrupted by Netflix, and other great “binge-content” platforms. Even though we broke into the top 10 distributors releasing in the box office in 2012 it was a market that we could not sustain in the UK. A hard lesson learned. Looking into the future is not always readable it seems. Red carpets film premieres on Leicester Square with Nicolas Cage, Richard Gere and Simon Pegg are pleasing if discombobulating to look back on.

So I have had to reset my belief that hard work always pays off in the end, when in fact hard work, good positioning, great teamwork, can all end in disappointment if not for that most important ingredient of great timing. Don’t enter a market too late, it’s too hard to have a compelling proposition and stand out.

But then again you might re-read my earlier paragraph where it says the last market we have entered is “retro gaming/gifting”. A mature market if there ever was one. Correct assumption, so I add to my epiphany that it’s all about timing, because crucially you might just get success if you have a product in any evolved market that is truly demanded. Enter the C64 mini. Also enter some truly welcome new high street national chains that would not stock a video game, but might just have the nostalgic gift consumer flocking to their stores. Never stop being hungry for that next sale, it might just keep you relevant.