He runs Europe's best business: can David Harrison really be that nice? Newcastle's True Potential is tipped for great success - managing partner David Harrison explains what makes it tick; Newcastle's True Potential is tipped for great success - managing partner David Harrison explains what makes it tick.
Byline: Jonathon Manning
If you are looking for the North East company that might be the next Nissan or Sage, the offices of Newburn technology company True Potential might be a good place to start.
Since its launch in 2007 the firm has undergone rapid growth and last year True Potential's turnover soared 23% to [pounds sterling]69m. In November it was included on the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 list , which brings together the UK's fastest growing technology companies, for the third consecutive year.
Other accolades have also come its way and last month managing partner David Harrison found himself on a stage in the Croatian city of Dubrovnik collecting a rather nice trophy as the company was named European Business of the Year.
Such success, most people would assume, is only likely to have been achieved with a cut-throat dedication to building a business and getting ahead of the competition.
But to hear it from Mr Harrison, the True Potential team are the nice guys of the financial services world.
He laughs about coming up with the name True Potential, which was designed to express how people could take control over their finances.
True Potential has built tech products which are designed to fit around people's lives, such as the impulseSave app, which aims to allow people to easily put money into their pensions. This is done instantly and with as little as [pounds sterling]1.
But the financial services world is not known for its nice guys, and without being pressed Mr Harrison offers up a truth about the business.
"What we are trying to do is democratise financial planning," he says. "We are trying to bring it to the person who really matters."
And who is that?
"The person with the money."
If that sounds rather too bold - in a world where building societies sell mortgages using poetry and bank adverts involve children's tree houses - Mr Harrison is not apologising.
"I won't go into the political palaver of hardworking people, which is just a vote-winner," he says. "We have a business, therefore we have to apply what we are doing to the people who have the money. And make it as simple as possible.
"That is the problem. The people that I talk to don't have a clue about pensions, and they don't have a clue about investments. As soon as you do that, clearly you are leaving yourself open to somebody saying: 'Well I know and I will charge you money to translate it'.
"It's actually quite a simple thing but it builds up in itself, with jargon...
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