Drivebusiness makes 'a number of redundancies' following administration

I just very recently came across the comments regards Drive Business and especially Stephen Ritchie.

I will do my best not to judge the "anonymous!" comments about Stephen. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, so hear are mine.

1. Stephen would be the first to admit he prefers the entrepreneurial side of business to the daily management issues. Especially managing underperformance and incompetence.

2. As for meglomania?...well there is nothing wrong with striving and wishing to better yourself....i do not know a succesful business person who does not have at least a small amount of meglomania in their character...and sometimes over does it.....goes with the territory..don't you think?

I was lucky enough ...yes lucky enough...to work beside Stephen in Drive Business, as a friend and work colleague long before 98 % of you were even working there. Likelihood is when you were first employed at Drive, many of you would have been straight out of uni, worrying about how to get on the ecommerce ladder at a company that was a REAL PLAYER or working for some media/internet company in Glasgow thinking the same...and that London would have to be place where it was at.

Well for all you Mr and Mrs Anonymous emailers out there..i have news for you...yes Stephen like us all... has his weaknesses... are you perfect? ...however, Stephen virtually worked on his own in Drive and previously Enrich for nearly 3/4 years ...with the vision, drive and especially guts to see through some very tough times...very tough....when nobody for long enough, could see his vision, of where e-retailing was heading....certainly in Scotland. Without Stephen's vision..yes vision and networking skills at a high level added to an absolute determination to create what became DRIVE BUSINESS most of you would be working, i would reckon?...just my opinion... in some second rate small media company/internet start-up in Glasgow hoping for better things.

So yes have your opinion....however it is worth noting.... without Stephen, there would never have been an Ecommerce company in Ayrshire of all places... playing with the big boys.....and deep down i think you might agree Stephen made that happen..first and foremost....yes with the help of many exceptionally skilful people...but without Mr Ritchie it would not have provided so many highly skilled and well paid jobs (in Ayrshire terms) for this length of time. FACT! Yes sometimes a company could have been run better this way or that way...i agree...it is business however and sometimes it does not work out as everyone would have liked. Drive will not have been the first and will not be the last. It has many good points to..as some of you have mentioned in your emails.

So enjoy having Drive Business on your CV with all the amazing brands that have worked with the company...won't do your CV any harm, i would think!..... and all the best to anyone who lost there job..i sincerely wish you well. George J

I appreciate Drive and what it done for me in terms of my career progression. I think it's a shame new talent that would be good working as an ecommerce developer or admin aren't going to get their chance to shine at drive and progress to bigger and better things. Kev

I’m sure the staff who lost their jobs feel the same George J!

Come on George J, where are the "many exceptionally skilful people" you mention today? Most will be signing on, now the company has not found a buyer and gone bust, or the 'lucky' ones who saw sense and left the first opportunity they had are now feeling sorry for those who got left behind. I spent some time at DB (both Scotland and London and I will remain anonymous, because I don’t even acknowledge the fact I worked there on my CV) and was appalled at the ‘management style’ SR and his management team. Quite simply, the management team were rude bullies, most of whom didn’t know how to run a business, let alone and ecommerce agency and thought the way to get a job done, was to swear and shout at people and blame others for their mistakes. Yeah, that worked. I saw many staff who were poached from successful roles and within weeks sacked for ‘not performing’ while many inexperienced (and in some cases crap) staff remained mainly due to the fact they were friends of SR. While I’m sure for a handful of those ‘exceptionally skilful people’ who have gone on to bigger and better things, owe some thanks to DB for the opportunity afforded to them, let’s not forget most were exceptionally skilful people, before they arrived! SR thought he was a playboy and lived beyond his means, spending money on numerous cars and property faster than the company made it. I am aware he has ‘other interests’, but unfortunately for his staff they don’t and their jobs were their only means of income. I repeat, their only means of income... So, unless SR (or George J even) is prepared to financially assist those who worked for him in their hour of need, then I think we should close this chapter of ‘how to run a business badly’.

Kev25858, (assuminng you were Kevin the MD): I’m not sure if this was in your contract to say good things about DB and I’m sure you did quite well financially out of the company, but you didn’t make a great MD... If not, then sorry Kev25858.

Anonymous of London

SR was a psycho and fits many of Hare's 20 point checklist.

The management were easily the worst I have ever worked with; hungover, unable to accept responsibilty but able to delegate every task that came to them and generally lacked any real idea of what DB was really capable of (e.g. Pitching huge outdoor light shows when they couldn't stop a site crashing or an email going out with spelling mistakes).

I am glad I worked at DB as it taught me to deal with some frustratingly incompetent people, some hugely talented ones, and never to operate outside of your means.

I still don't know what 'head of knowledge' is.

Anonymous Chris & Ben?

Ive just googled Stephen Ritchie as his name came up in the pub last night. Ive know SR since school ( the best part of 30 years) and seen him blow it many times. I'm part annoyed and part sorry for him. Brilliant for vision and guts but if someone would tell him he's Steve Ritchie not Jobs it would help and that turnover is not profit.

Working at Drive was one of the most peculiar experiences of my life. Genuine excitement at the prospect of furthering my career had reached the point of self loathing and depression after about 8 months. I got out after 10 months, by which point I found Friday afternoons utterly depressing as it meant that Monday was coming up.

I realised that that there were serious financial problems, and the ‘revenue share’ business model was utterly flawed. None of the new clients that I’d been told about ever materialised. The ‘deals’ that were struck with previous clients weren’t based on any particular formula, just idiots (Head of Knowledge???) shaking hands on 25% because that sounded about right. After 9 months I was pretty much at the end – I was working with some very talented people but for delusional idiots who the business acumen of nursery school children. I remember listening to the Commercial Director talking about setting up an office in New York and wondering why, given that we didn’t have any clients there.

The real highlight was seeing someone told by the IT guy that his hard disk was broken and he couldn’t fix it. His solution was: he didn’t have one! Then complaints about my failure to follow the company processes. These changed every month and went from inefficient to highly inefficient to simply ridiculous.

I can laugh about it now, sort of, and though I do feel sorry for the people who lost their jobs at least it forces them to get out.