The background of base

The background of our CEO 

 

Our CEO and Founder, Ben Foakes, established base 10 years ago, and his drive to succeed stems from his background in extreme sports, particularly freestyle BMX. During his younger years, he toured across the world, doing competitions and participating in film shoots, which helped to build his confidence. His BMX journey also taught him resilience and the importance of getting back up after a fall, lessons that he has applied over the years as an entrepreneur. Early on, Ben filmed, edited, and distributed videos using a VHS camera, leading him to explore the broadcast and media technology industry. After finishing his BMX career in 2004, Ben produced a film that was distributed through Blockbuster Video. This caught the attention of a Channel 4 producer, who invited him to edit a highlight show for World Superbikes. The producer appreciated his work and subsequently hired him to edit for Formula 1 on ITV when he was just 24 years old, where he spent five years as a creative editor. He reinvested his earnings into establishing a post-production facility but faced challenges, including a lack of financial support or mentorship, ultimately leading to near-bankruptcy. Fortunately, a listed media group (one of his customers) acquired the business from the administrators and relaunched the brand, with Ben now working as an employee. These experiences significantly shaped him and contributed to the vision and strategy behind base. 

The ideation of base  

 

After losing his post-production facility Ben created a new business plan, leading to the idea of base, which we can happily confirm is a high-growth, thriving company now embarking on its next phase of international expansion. With everything that he had learned about his previous experience of leading a business as a CEO, Ben decided during the inception of base that he must focus on his obligation to manage finances responsibly, take care of his staff, and prioritize client relationships. Ben wanted to create a scalable company that could grow online without the need for physical buildings or hardware. The vision of base emerged in 2012, a time when the cloud was not widely accepted, especially amongst investors. During this time, he met his now father-in-law, Bob, who is a hugely experienced founder, senior executive and CFO from the telecoms sector. Bob helped Ben refine the business plan, contributed to start-up investment in the business and came on-board as his founding business partner. The rest is history.  

 

The moment base took off  

 

Here at base, we help companies transition their media to the cloud, eliminating the need for physical premises. When the pandemic hit, our company had just five staff members and was generating less than one million pounds in revenue while working to win business. The situation changed dramatically when Ben received a phone call from a friend at the BBC, who explained that they needed to transition all their editors to work from home. In response, our small team of experts built a comprehensive cloud platform for the BBC over just one weekend. By Monday morning, all their producers and editors were working from home. This was a pivotal moment for base as Ben had been advocating for the shift to the cloud for several years. We were prepared and ready, and as a result, many clients signed up for our services. Since then, our company has experienced rapid growth, taking on numerous clients. This moment not only validated our concept but also accelerated the adoption of cloud solutions. We already knew how to execute projects at a high standard, ensure security, and build efficient workflows, so when the opportunity arose, we delivered seamlessly.  

 

Another significant moment occurred during the pandemic while everyone was working remotely, where we received a huge request for proposal. This was for one of the world’s largest media asset management contracts for a major luxury brand. We successfully won that contract, and they have since become a long-term, valued customer. This milestone has elevated us to provide services for major gaming studios, movie studios, publishers, creative agencies, and global media groups.

 

Our company values  

 

As we have expanded over the years, Ben developed a plan focused on defining our vision, what we stand for, our core focus, and where we are headed. This information is shared across the business ensuring that all employees, regardless of their level, are aware of our direction and how we, as an organization, collectively deliver for our customers.  

 

Our core values are: 

• Bold – We stand up for what we believe in and take action to make it happen 

• Curious – We have a growth mindset; we consistently learn, try new things, and push our boundaries 

• Collaborative – We work positively and pro-actively with our team and view our clients as partners rather than just transactional customers 

• Honest – We are fair, transparent, and trustworthy; we do the right thing and treat everyone with respect 

• Empathetic – We put our customers first, we actively listen, and we love to help others 

 

These values are important as they help us stay grounded and allow us to operate with the customer’s best interests at heart. It was noted by Jake Humphrey, Founder & Host of High Performance (one of our key customers), that both sets of company values between base and High Performance are what brought us together. 

 

Our values are integrated into our three-stage interview process. This approach helps us to identify and select the best individuals who embody our values, ensuring our company culture is maintained as we grow. 

 

To find out more about Ben’s journey, check out this episode from the High Performance podcast, where Ben, Jake Humphrey and Damien Hughes discuss what it takes to ‘take leaps’ in business, to work through the ‘messy middle’ and ultimately achieve your high performance goals.

If you’re interested in learning more about how base can help reimagine your workflows in the cloud, contact us here.  

Or if you would like to see what jobs we have open, take a look here. We’re always on the lookout for talented people!