PROFILE
T eesside grit – it’ s a quality Stephen Robinson swears by.
Since launching Outrank in 2018, his Middlesbroughbased digital marketing company has won awards galore and become a“ go to” for SMEs wanting to maximise their online impact.
In a whirlwind few months, it was recently named Tech Business of the Year at the Tees Tech Awards, placed in the Top 10 in the Sunday Times Best Small Places To Work survey and Stephen himself was named among the Tees region’ s top 30 business leaders at the InspiraTees event.
But despite his reluctance to be centre stage, to understand Outrank’ s story, it’ s important to delve into the man behind it – and“ grit” is there in abundance.
A Sedgefield lad,“ Robbo” was born with Sturge Weber Syndrome – a rare congenital neurological disorder. And having been through the peaks and troughs of building a business, he’ s also now embracing a new“ superpower” – an autism disclosure he’ s only just learning about.
But as we sit in Outrank’ s smart office in Riverside House, Middlesbrough, reflecting on his business journey, two topics recur – his family and his Outrank team.
Pointing out of the boardroom and into the Outrank nerve centre, he tells Tees Business:“ It’ s about that lot out there, not me – that’ s the way I’ ve always run this business.
“ It’ s extremely humbling and I’ m proud to sit here now and think about what we’ ve created. Not what I created, WE created. The InspiraTees thing made me cringe, not because I didn’ t love it, but because it singles out individuals – but I wouldn’ t be here if it wasn’ t for all of them. As a unit, you’ re the sum of all your parts and I’ m very fortunate.
“ When we were just an SEO agency, we were only good at one thing. Now we’ re great at lots of things because we connect all of the dots. Success breeds success, and great culture breeds great culture. And that’ s what we’ ve got out there.”
From the start, he’ s shown entrepreneurial flair – even at Sedgefield Comprehensive, with a few lucrative side hustles popular with pupils but not so much the staff.
He did relatively well at school but“ flunked” college, where he was supposed to be studying English language, history and politics.
He said:“ I went to about three lessons. Mam took me in every day – she had 100 % attendance, I had none. I needed something different to challenge me than what I initially signed up for. Not everyone learns in the same way. College is a stepping stone to success for some people, but I needed a different path.”
But a work ethic was already being nurtured thanks to the DJing he’ d been doing since he was 13 and various kitchen jobs in Sedgefield where, under the supervision of mentor Dave Owens, he had his first taste of workplace grit.
Stephen said:“ He was a great influence on my life, but quite old school – you know, the only reason to call in sick is death, although I’ m not quite sure that’ s actually allowed. I understood his sentiment, though- although I’ m not sure our culture would have won many awards had we taken that thinking literally.”
In his late teens, Stephen juggled his promising DJ talent with another attempt at further education, this time an AVCE in hospitality and management at Darlington College of Technology where, after a good year topped off by staging a show-stopping Fawlty Towers event, he emerged with top marks.
IN BUSINESS, IT’ S TOUGH SWITCHING OFF AND I SOON BECAME ACUTELY AWARE THIS WAS A SLIPPERY SLOPE.”
The voice of business in the Tees region | 15