GROWING DIGITAL AND SOCIAL IMPACT IN THE WEST MIDLANDS

Yiannis Maos, CEO of TechWM

Join us as we explore the inspiring journey of Yiannis, the Founder & CEO of TechWM. With over 18 years of experience in marketing and technology, Yiannis has played a pivotal role in scaling innovative organisations. TechWM, his not-for-profit initiative, is dedicated to inspiring the next generation and empowering businesses to grow through collaboration and success. In this episode, Yiannis shares his insights on creating environments where businesses can thrive. If you're a business decision-maker eager to embrace innovation, this conversation is not to be missed.

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Transcription
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Dom: Hello, I'm Dom Wetherall your host of the F5 podcast brought to you by Intercity. Today I've got the privilege of being joined by Yiannis Maos, Yiannis is the founder and CEO of Tech West Mids a not-for-profit Community initiative designed to inspire the next generation.

Yiannis welcome to the podcast.

Yiannis: Thank you for having me.

Dom: Thank you very much Yiannis, the listeners would love to hear about your journey.

Yiannis: Where do we start?

Should we start school?

It's kind of where where it all began.

I guess yeah Yeah, so I kind of I struggled I guess at school academically and couldn't really get to grips with with kind of education and especially kind of the traditional subjects and along the way got bullied and You know found out subsequently I had ADHD which is probably one of the big reasons that I struggled But I guess kind of what became a bit of a safe haven at school was what was the computer department which was built while I was at secondary school. 

And so yeah kind of started off by just messing around on computers as they were back then And and realized actually that my kind of brain was was wired differently So kind of yeah left school and didn't really know what what what to do If truth be told and then kind of liked the idea of traveling the world So I am decided to study leisure and tourism and so for hey that you know, that's a great way, you know Yeah become you know some something to do with tourism and get to kind of see all these amazing countries and Realized it was so far from from that is pretty dry But actually one of the the kind of modules I excelled in was was computing again So ended up doing ICT and information communication technology and doing doing pretty well But I think whatever with ADHD same distractions There were certain things at that age that you you prefer there welcome distractions than education And so kind of yeah left with a kind of mediocre qualification and decided at that point You know qualification really wasn't wasn't for me and I guess kind of what what's what was interesting is You know from a technology point of view I've been thinking about this a lot recently.

I think people of my age, I'm 40 You know, we have a lucky generation.

So we experienced a world without technology. Yeah, right and Lovely time some may say yeah 

Dom: No, I'm glad I wasn't at school with it was certainly a young age with a mobile phone.

Yiannis: Yeah Yeah, and that's it in a primary school, you know, there was nothing.

And yeah I kind of followed my mum and dad into a bit of a career in hospitality at that point actually so left kind of technology and kind of education behind for a period and then Yeah, trained chef, taught me a lot actually about kind of people because I was also front of house and you know How you kind of build relationships and I certainly have taken that you know on in my career And so I kind of left hospitality behind and actually went to the job centre Which is kind of a really humbling experience, but you know, but the rationale behind it was I want to go out with my mates on Saturday I need some money

Dom: Live for the weekend!

Yiannis: So kind of necessity right and so I spent a week Building ladders in this factory soul destroying, you know during one of the lunch breaks.

I was reading the local newspaper And there was an advert for a data entry admin assistant an office literally across the road and so I kind of did this job kind of Almost could do my eyes shut.

It was again very laborious But I started kind of shadowing kind of what was the head of marketing and then he left and so that's kind of where really my career Starts and ended up going to Coventry University through clearing.

I Got matched with a company in Coventry called at the time repeat communication limited Now they'd seen on my CV that I had done some coding Which I had I've done some visual basic.

Yeah ladders visual basic leisure and tourism.

Yeah, I spent two weeks doing that and I was absolutely shit.

I Knocked on the kind of CEO founders door and I said look I'm really sorry if I pull the wall over your eyes and like kind of you know, I Apologize but but this isn't isn't for me.

So he said right we’re launching a new brand called Rant and Rave new products We need a website for it.

Do you want to take ownership of it?

Absolutely! Ended up winning a Regional award.

I became the West Midlands young entrepreneur of the year through this shell step scheme and upon graduating They offered me a job. Ten years later, I was still there and we went from I think I was employee number seven to 120 people 22 million pounds in recurring revenue and the business got sold in 2017 and so Massive startup scale up journey.

Dom: I think the first time we ever met was at ADVO fest, right?

Yiannis: You see that I did not even know that yeah ADVO fest.

There's a blast from the past Yeah, so advo fest actually was the meeting of two worlds, right?

So at the time I was the co-founder of Hyve we'd launched Hyve at advo fest and At the same time I'd launched Birmingham Tech Week which ADVO fest was a main event at Birmingham Tech Week.

Dom: Mm-hmm.

Yiannis: I had to make the choice and I chose Birmingham Tech.

We got really really glad I did because you know That journey in itself has been phenomenal and and you know lines of my purpose and also impactful.

Dom: How do you think technology the landscape of technology has changed during that career?

Yiannis: It's been an incredible pace What you can do now with technology is both exciting and terrifying.

Dom: Opportunity and risk for sure.

Yiannis: Yeah, and I think we've just got to be careful.

I think we've already opened Pandora's box My worry is the consequences of that and If we're not taking a responsible view on technology, it could be catastrophic However, if used in the right way, it can create a lot more freedom social impacts and Bring people along the journey with it.

Dom: Mm-hmm. Just just on that then How do you how do you think technology can feed into social values and empower societies?

Yiannis: I think we need to work really hard with those communities.

I think that the problem starts with digital poverty So a big percentage, and especially in the West Midlands, but UK and around the world, don't have access to devices or connectivity basic connectivity. So we talk about digital skills.

Well, how are they meant to acquire those digital skills if they can't even get online?

So that's problem number one problem.

The two is absolutely then kind of you know training those people to empower them and give them the options to work in tech and the third one is Creating those pathways into technology and some of those pathways. By the way some of those barriers are Transport and money right if you can't get into the city centre where most of the tech jobs are How can you be expected to work in tech?

So there's a societal Problem that we need to fix fundamentally before we can enable those people to come on the journey with us And a map something that I stay awake and I thinking about and how we solve that and there is no easy answers. I'll give you an example, Google digital garage, which is designed to do exactly this right to help people Get-remember doing that qualification, Like tick-And they put their Google digital garage in on New Street.

Why not in kind of Spark Brook, right? That's where Your audience is.

Dom: Yep.

Yiannis: Not frankly people going up and down New Street And so that's the level we need them to kind of sit up and listen about kind of like work harder. 

Dom: I know Intercity, you know supported a digital poverty initiative during COVD We work with local businesses and one of our customers millennium point in in Supporting school children get connected during COVID.

They couldn't go into school. They had no laptop. And I understand firsthand Although you know, we all want to do more but just being involved in that as an initiative was was so powerful In making us aware of those issues.

Yiannis: So yeah, I totally understand that and we were involved in that. So that since COVID It's almost like the problem doesn't exist anymore.

It's actually got worse because technology is accelerated, you know The need to be online has become greater yet those initiatives of somewhat gone away and the ones that still exist Aren't being empowered supported by government by business in the right way and it's very fragmented So I think there's an opportunity, you know to do something like that at scale Connecting all the dots and enabling that to become become the norm and I think I heard the other day It was somewhere in Ireland Where they were using Chromebooks and that they have a local authority actually bought Chromebooks for every family and that's at the level it needs to be at right to be able to scale it That's a policy change for you to make But we need to yeah, we need to make it the norm.

For me You know, if you look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs It needs to be kind of you know, right there now at the top So, you know, it's a it's a human right for me now to be online.
Dom: So we spoke about your career and your journey up to the point now that you're the CEO and founder of tech West Midlands What journey of tech West Midlands been on since it was founded in 2019?

Yiannis: Yeah 2019 crazy idea Through through Rant and Rave I was extremely lucky to have kind of like travel the world So even though we were based in Coventry really a lot of our work was in in London That's where a lot of our clients were and then I'd also you know in between Rant and Rave and You know Birmingham Tech Week had spent some time in San Francisco and other kind of major tech hubs around the world Really exciting vibrant places, you know great opportunities to start a business Lots of opportunities for people to get into tech lots of inspiration So I came to Birmingham And I was like what's going on?

This is the second city and yet I can't really see a tech ecosystem So what's going on?

And my initial view was there isn't one And I was I was somewhat wrong, but not completely wrong.

So there was things that were going on because you can see it Initially, you can point to it and reception is for sure nine times of the truth and it's exactly that so And I was like I I feel that I'm you know now well educated I've been through this kind of startup scale up journey.

I You know have seen ecosystems this shouldn't be this hard.

Dom: Mm-hmm.

Yiannis: It should not be this hard And so when I kind of like it is not front and centre.

Dom: It's not accessible it doesn’t exist, right?

Yiannis: If it's not accessible, it doesn't exist and frankly and there was there was pockets of it.

There was meetups there were events and but it was all What I would describe as somewhat mediocre.

Dom: And siloed.

Yiannis: And siloed Yeah, even when you'd find organizations that should be working together For the greater good of that business or that person they were actively working against each other and making it hard for that person or business to understand and navigate the ecosystem So that was kind of problem one problem two was I was like there was no inspiration There's there's no nothing I can look at in Birmingham and go kind of That's my north star.

That's where I want to You know exceed or kind of match that business or individuals and so I kind of wanted to do something about it It really it was something I couldn't shake and so Created a website Birmingham tech week comm Created some kind of initial marketing and then all I really did was on the Monday Put a post out on LinkedIn saying kind of I'm gonna launch Birmingham tech week in October.

Now at that point the idea was two to three hundred people And I was actually also thinking well actually Hyve I can connect into Birmingham tech week and maybe we can kind of you know create a platform to help us get our message out there and then it snowballed and then I started using the Hyve methodology around brand advocacy and ambassadors and community to start to activate Birmingham tech week and so we fast forward from July 2019 to October 2019 and the first tech week five thousand people came and A lot of them were fringe events.

Dom: Did that exceed your expectations?

Yiannis: Oh massively And I think it exceeded a lot of other people's expectations as well I mean, I got told at the start of this journey obviously tried this business been done before People have tried this.

It's not going to work like you know, you're wasting your time and For me that is the biggest kind of sign that it's going to work because I'm like, okay When did it happen?

How did it happen in what context?

With what data with what insight?

timing so I Was like I'm guy I think I know how to do this So yeah when we when we got there and and and just so but what it did for the city actually the three Reasons I created it was to inspire the next generation to celebrate success and To encourage collaboration.

Dom: Mm-hmm.

Yiannis:And so that clearly happened during that week So forget the numbers ever vanity metrics, right?

It was the impact that I could see happening Now I also made the point during Birmingham Tech Week if this was just a week of activity won't forget it Because this isn't gonna solve the problem, right?

We're gonna go back to our ways Yeah, maybe Birmingham Tech Week will happen but actually, you know, it's just another event.

Yeah And that was almost a quarter of a month.

That was a quarter ones for you know a lot bigger organizations within the ecosystem to step forward and take ownership of you know What I could see as an emerging area, you know, the way the world was gonna go and that never happened and so I became frustrated again and decided in the January of 2020 what 2020 to create Birmingham Tech has the organization that would oversee Birmingham Tech Week and a number of initiatives designed to grow the digital ecosystem Then Covid happened.

Yep Launched an event great Now everything shuts down.

And I doubled down on this.

So from a personal point of view, I was like, right I'm all in.

Yeah, you know Put it all at risk put it all at risk because I Believe in this ended up carrying it on getting it ticking over Working for a company at the same time in San Francisco But virtually a company called Copper Comm and so my day my typical day would be getting up in the morning Kind of working on Birmingham Tech and Birmingham Tech week, you know, no one knew what October would look like So it's kind of like zoom started to become a thing.

So I guess we can get you know people online But yeah kind of just trying to create some kind of plan around Birmingham Tech weekend and Birmingham.

Dom: And then starting your day about three o'clock. I've worked for an American company before exactly that Right.

Yiannis: So so yeah kind of back online kind of you know meeting slack, you know everything and then you know working until Typically one two in the morning and then getting enough sleep to then start again Doing that for the best part of six months and then my wife became pregnant And so I'm like, oh, wow, okay This now really needs to work so this isn't like kind of you know, I kind of dream anymore You know this other works or it or it doesn't and and it was really interesting So we we got to Birmingham Tech week in 2020 did it all online.

Really interesting because we managed to get access to a lot of speakers that we wouldn't otherwise be able to get access to and the quality especially because Just zoom in right zoom in to a webinar and no equipment Absolutely, and people wanted to give back.

There was that sense of wanting to give back So actually the quality certainly went up that year Numbers went down because I think get everyone was just fatigued with it.

Dom: We had that with webinars for sure.

Yiannis: Yeah, we always knew that was going to be the case, but actually You know because the quality was retained for me It was a big win and I had a big decision at the end because Copper offered me a full-time position They essentially wanted me to lead on on UK operations And I turned it down.

I believed he believed in it I think sometimes you have to sometimes you have to kind of double down on yourself and say You don't believe in yourself who is going to believe in you.

So I turn that down and and when for it and started to then Really do initiatives that were going to impact the ecosystem So business support ran an accelerator did a lot work around digital skills 2021 did a hybrid event and then in 2022 we won the mandate and contract from the West Midlands Combined Authority to lead on the digital economy and And so at that point we were like we were called Birmingham Tech, but we are now representing the entire West Midlands Let's rebrand to Tech West mids and that's where we are are today really and Tech week last year was you know A huge success and it's great to have Intercity involved in it.

I know now you've joined as a patron You know, we can do so much more together much 

Dom: Looking forward to that partnership.

Yiannis: It's gonna be exciting Yeah, really really excited.

And and so yeah, we're kind of you know for me you know to see the Ecosystem mature, you know, we were But why describe as middle lower table?

When it you know, we started out on this fastest growing tech sector largest number of emerging tech companies outside of London most Investment going into startups and scale ups in the UK.

Dom: Why do you think that is? Why is the West mids the fastest growing tech sector?

Yiannis: We’re believing in ourselves more. So there's a cultural shift. So there is a belief now that We're second to none.

We're not the second city anymore, you know we’re the centre of the UK We could be a central hub for the world. Commonwealth Games has certainly helped with that belief - if you then get down to some of the kind of foundational elements Skills talent people right the human side of tech We've got it better than anywhere with the most super diverse city region in the UK Maybe Europe, right That is a superpower Because that's what is needed to create innovative exciting future facing technology companies So nowhere else in the world can offer that we can, eight universities, you know all about talent coming out There's not the brain drain anymore There's a net positive of people moving from London to Birmingham than Birmingham to London.

So we're retaining that talent as well Investors starting to see the potential and so investing more in the businesses So we have set that foundation now and for me, but there's a one way You know build on that we build on it.

We realize our potential and we become you know, you know Our mission is that by 2030 the West Midlands is a global tech superpower.

Dom: You mentioned something earlier and just want to I suppose dig into it in a bit more detail: The ‘Future Fest’, I know you've been in in Texas fairly recently on another R&D mission And I've seen some some launches on social media.

Yiannis: Future fest taught us future fest is an idea that I've had for for a couple of years I'm inspired by South by Southwest I've always felt that actually That it's for some of our parts that's the most exciting for the West Midlands not technology Technology is just the enabler actually it comes down to again people, right?

We're you know creative we're innovators, you know We led on the Industrial Revolution, you know, we've certainly got that capability in our heritage and currently now When you look at music film the arts, you know, Hippodrome Most popular in terms of footfall Theatre in the UK It's phenomenal Stephen Knight Peaky Blinders writing the new Star Wars Okay, and we've got the BBC Studios coming at Digbeth Dock as well at the same time And then yeah music heritage All of a sudden you can see that you package that up in the right way and you create this festival of Vibrancy that captures the imagination of the world It's the place you come to see what the world's gonna look like in 20 30 years time.

That's the vision for it And so yeah, we went over to to Austin to you know see first hand what what, you know, something like that could look like It was good it was good was it remarkable No, so I think kind of you know, we could absolutely, you know push the boundaries of what's possible But if you look at the history of that I started in the 1980s as a music festival I then started to layer things on top Well, actually we've already got kind of the sum of some of those parts.

We've got Birmingham Tech Week We've got the design festival. We're out there.

Dom: We're out the blocks, right?

Yiannis: We're not starting from from nothing hundred percent.

You then look at some of the cultural assets I've just mentioned as well and the people we want to make sure that but it's built from the community, you know It's organic.

It's authentic.

That's how we make this really succeed That's that's the kind of stuff we want to do, you know be exciting future thinkers skys the limit.

Really is it really is so yeah, that's that's what we want to want to work on over the next kind of two to three year.

Dom: So in summary, yeah, what is tech West Midlands’ vision for the region?

Yiannis: So I mentioned it earlier.

I believe that By 2030 we can be true global tech superpower And if I'd have said that I think I'd have laughed at myself.

I've said about five years ago But everything I've mentioned, you know, we built the foundation.

We're starting to realize our potential I'm not sure there's anywhere else in the world That can lay claim to the potential that we have with all of the things necessary To become a modern tech superpower Is it gonna be easy?

Absolutely not but actually, you know I think now the belief is behind us and we've got to have that North Star and for me that's that's ours Not an exciting exciting opportunity.

Dom: Watch this space.

Yiannis: So one of the things that will enable us to get there and realize that vision is having a strong narrative and For me again, you'd appreciate this as a as a fellow marketeer, you know The brand of a messaging is so important and so we've crafted something and say-we in the Royal we-the ecosystem You know over a hundred businesses and people contributing to arrive at this message of we Make tech succeed in the most human of places That human bit is so important because it isn't about technology.

It's about people and People and design technology in the best way.

Dom: I’ve got one final question for you something we ask all our guests. Is there someone that you'd like to see on the F5 podcast anyone you'd recommend that's inspired or influenced you or I've got a really good Story to talk to about the human side of tech. Who would you recommend?

Yiannis: I'm gonna go with Eben Upton So not everyone will know that name but Eben is the founder of Raspberry Pi And so Raspberry Pi for me is a great example of exciting innovative technology, but with a human social purpose, so that device has been used by children and adults all around the world to show them the possibilities of technology it's accessible and So yeah, I think Eben has a phenomenal story.

He's got I know he's got links to the region as well And so I think I for one would love to know You know how he kind of arrived at that point.

Dom: What fantastic recommendation. I really hope we can we can make that one happen. Thank you very much for joining us today.

It's been a pleasure to hear your your early days your journey and a new career and all the fantastic stuff you're doing at Tech West Midlands and Birmingham Tech Week and myself and Intercity are really Pleased and proud to be working with you in supporting these fantastic initiatives and long may it continue So thanks again.

Yiannis: And thank you for being great host and thanks for Intercity for supporting us on our mission.