鈥淎fter graduation we went back to our lecturer who helped us with business plans, grant proposals and business links. Without BU behind us it wouldn鈥檛 have been so easy 鈥� the support was huge.鈥澛�
You don鈥檛 expect to end up going into business with the guys you live with at university, but that鈥檚 exactly what Ben Story, Luke Williams and Will Gunaratne did.
Although Luke and Will were close to turning away when they first met Ben, and life would have been very different if they had.
Ben, Luke and Will all graduated from BU's聽Software Engineering Management course in 2005. The three then went into business together and founded in Bournemouth in 2006. In 2015 the company expanded and opened a US office in Florida, which Ben now manages.
Luke jokingly recalls the moment they first saw Ben who had replied to an advert he and Will had put out for a housemate.
鈥淲e鈥檇 agreed to meet outside McDonalds and it was 50/50 at that point. We walked down the road and saw this loud, slightly obnoxious, guy on the phone. I remember he was wearing Bermuda shorts on a freezing cold day 鈥� we weren鈥檛 sure if we wanted to live with him at that point鈥︹��
But Ben quickly won the boys round and it soon became obvious聽that they had a lot in common, not least their course.聽
Will and Luke fell in love with Bournemouth when they came to visit for an Open Day. Will remembers enjoying lunch in the sun overlooking the sea.
鈥淚t just seemed so nice compared to some of the built up concrete cities of some other universities we鈥檇 visited鈥�.
Ben even developed a tagline when he moved to the area. 鈥淚鈥檇 say 鈥業鈥檝e got no reason to leave鈥� and it wasn鈥檛 until this opportunity in America came up that I did leave," he remembers. "I do miss Bournemouth though, but we stay in touch a lot over messages so I鈥檓 always in the loop.鈥澛犅�
The three friends still use skills they learnt on their degree now: 鈥淓verything we did in our degrees helped us get to where we are now. The usability section has really stuck with us 鈥� we鈥檝e always seen that as really important. We learnt a lot about pushing ourselves through university, which we still do now. We learnt a lot about ourselves.鈥�
Like many BU courses, Software Engineering Management offered a placement year, which Ben describes as 鈥渋nvaluable - the placement year in industry changed the way I looked at university. The first couple of years I saw as an extension of A Levels and it wasn鈥檛 until I had that placement experience that I thought a bit more practically. It gave me the opportunity to work with real customers. I鈥檇 advise students to make the most of that year鈥�.
Will also recalls learning a lot through his placement year at Microsoft: 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 until I got to my placement that I would start to put myself in situations where I was challenged, and sometimes I鈥檇 fail. Before then I was always scared of failure, I would only push myself as far as I knew I could succeed 鈥� but if you鈥檙e not failing you鈥檙e not pushing yourself hard enough.鈥�
The three friends work well together and their business style has evolved over the years. Ben admits that they have their differences, but will always remain friends.
"The nice thing is that we鈥檝e had conflicts within the business walls but then we can happily go to the pub afterwards and still be best mates.鈥�
Luke agrees and adds that聽they "play devil鈥檚 advocate with each other, which I think is healthy. If someone brings an idea to the table it鈥檚 our job to critique it鈥�.
They do agree on many things though and one thing is that it鈥檚 important for current students to get out there and make the most of meeting people.
鈥淕et out there and don鈥檛 be shy," recommended Ben.聽
"Go to events -聽there are some great networking events in Bournemouth. Try and get involved in as many things as possible and if you want to work for a company then send the CEO an email or a letter. Do something to stand out and don鈥檛 be afraid to be different.鈥�
Another thing they all agree on is how much they enjoyed their course and that it鈥檚 something they鈥檇 recommend to others. Ben didn鈥檛 have a computing background like Will and Luke but thrived on the management side of the course: 鈥淚 loved the management side of things; it鈥檚 what I still focus on now. The staff were great and we鈥檙e still in touch with some of them.鈥�
Luke agrees 鈥淭he teaching style was really good, really on point. The resources were always there if we needed them. We always felt like there was support available if we wanted it.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 a sense of pride in being a BU graduate and that鈥檚 why we鈥檙e happy to be involved with this. We never say no to helping out the university and giving back.鈥澛�