Age is just a number, and a full bloom can happen to one at any stage of life. Living proof of this is Ben Jeffries, whose first business venture happened when he was only fifteen.

A solo brainstormer, Ben had never been a fan of marketing ads and even noticed the repulsion in thousands of businesses dependent on aggravating advertisement tools.

Taking a major shift from the traditional and into the unordinary, Ben contemplated a whole new strategy to enable brands to market their products ads-free: influencers!

Dropping out of school, Ben remained focused on developing his unique platform that would revolve around building relationships between brands and influencers thus facilitating the marketing of their products. Out of that effort came Ben’s authentic new platform that just kept on giving - Influencer!

Aptly named, Influencer landed young Ben among the most dominant marketing names online, ensuring him longstanding entrepreneurial viability in the modern marketing universe!

Age Is Just a Number

Ben Jeffries, one of the most successful young entrepreneurs in modern times, was born in the mid-90s, in the United Kingdom. Ever since he was a young boy, Ben had been doing things by the book – he excelled at school, was a good son, and kept his friendships alive. That is until he turned fifteen.

Playing in a wholly unsuccessful band made the young teenager feel far too stressed about his career. Tossing ideas around his head every night before going to sleep, Ben couldn’t help but imagine himself opening a thriving business.

Looking at other successful entrepreneurs really gave Ben something to aspire to. His first job ever was as the founder of an agency called AKQA, Ajaz Ahmed. His work was fulfilling and allowed Ben to recognize the tremendously apt impact Ajaz had on society.

Job or not, Ben still held onto the idea of running his own business, an idea he also shared with his friends. He saw himself as a supplier of clothing, and after noticing the huge demand for garments on the market, Ben became even more resolute to make a career out of it.

The Beginnings of an Entrepreneurial Adventure

Collecting funds from his closest relatives and family, Ben acquired the necessary merchandise for his business and began his quest for customers.

After observing ingenious ways to boost sales, Ben created a student-focused Facebook page and politely asked his friends to spread the word to those interested. Astonishingly, his page grew to an incredible 200,000 people within a few weeks, and in 2012, Breeze was launched!

Although Ben enjoyed a large number of Facebook, getting the right feedback was an issue. Since most of the page followers were students, only a small number of members ordered his products, which urged Ben to develop a new strategy in attracting clientele.

Brimming with confidence that his plan would work this time around, Ben explored all the other avenues to market his products. After many sleepless nights, an epiphany suddenly came - getting celebrities to market his products to the world!

The big issue, however, was that Ben didn’t really have any celebrity acquaintances. Yet again, he wasn’t ready to throw in the towel as easily, so he reached out to his favorite football players first. Realizing that he couldn’t get to the elite, Ben aimed to contact those with a moderate fanbase on Twitter, like Chelsea’s bench team.

Ben’s idea was to get the players to post pictures of his clothing brand in exchange for £50 as well as giveaway prizes. As only a few players were enthusiastic to accept his offer, Ben realized that building his network of ambassadors wasn’t going to be as smooth as he had hoped.

After three years of trying to make Breeze work, Ben came to realize that his idea was neither in full effect nor fruitful, so he decided to sell his remaining merchandise, return the money he owed, and learn the business from its core before diving into another venture.

A Successful College Dropout

In 2015, the young intellectual enrolled at the University of Bath to study business administration and management. Even though Ben excelled in his studies, he couldn’t settle for less than creating a brand new enterprise, the idea for which grew even bigger during his sophomore year.

Solving the greatest problem within the fashion industry still felt necessary for Ben, who, after having spotted the enormous gap between brands and customers, decided to do something about it. He then dropped out of college and began working at a pub, to raise money for his venture, which cost him an entire year and a few pricey collaborations with promising developers with whom he occasionally collaborated.

As the saying goes, bad things happen when you trust the wrong people, the developers Ben had worked with robbed him of his last penny and vanished into thin air.

But, Ben was never the one to submit to his misfortunes, so instead of dreading his next move, he applied at Crowdcube - a British investment crowdfunding platform - to raise the funds for launching his venture. Surprisingly, Ben managed to raise over a hundred thousand pounds from hundred investors - and in less than a day!

Using this money smartly, Ben then gathered a trustworthy team to launch his SaaS business. Alas, in 2017, Influencer debuted on the market!

Great Power Requires Great Responsibility

Way before things got better for Ben, they had to get a whole lot worse. Unfortunately, a multinational consumer goods company, Unilever, complained about influencers using fake followers to promote a business, something other brands were quick to blast as well.

This consequently affected Influencer in a way that the company’s clients began doubting whether the platform was a deal worthy of their money. To pave the path for the future of his company, Ben encouraged his employees to create valuable influencer content and solace the issue by inspecting potential fake followers.

Noticing the way Influencer surpassed all its issues, in late 2018, Puma Private Equity invested a ravishing £3 million to continue the company’s explosive growth. With the last funding, the company employed content creators who’d produce top-notch content that would attract the right kind of audience, which also included regular customers as well as mogul names such as McDonald’s, Apple, Pepsi, Uber, and Alibaba.

The following year, 2019, Ben was awarded The Drums Rising Star Award for raising Influencer to become Europe’s largest media and marketing platform. For the promising entrepreneur, the award was a testament to his years-long dedication to the business.

Influencer, Today

Nowadays, the company employs over fifty workers around the United Kingdom, all of whom strive to ensure the company’s continuous development and future progress.

For Ben, Influencer doesn’t only represent a way for influencers to connect with brands but also a way to create lasting bonds and establish a favorable balance and dialogue between the two, thus ensuring all sides are happy with the outcome, the product, and the offers at hand.

What began as a search for refined marketing methods which derailed from the ordinary and known, led Ben to design one of the most interactive platforms that help you promote strategically and market intelligently, ultimately creating win-win conditions for all!