Student Enterprise @ Purple Door

Background:

Mathew Brummitt and Neil Wiltshire of Verdicts Ltd came together late 2005 with the idea of turning their existing website into a viable business.  Verdicts.co.uk is a consumer reviews website enabling users the ability to publish their opinions on products and services.

Mathew, studying BA(hons) Computer Animation, began Verdicts in 2004 as an educational project to help him learn how to construct database driven websites with PHP and MySql and registered www.verdicts.co.uk immediately.  With a high volume of traffic on the site and the opportunity to enter the University's annual Enterprise Challenge, Mathew and Neil teamed up to enter.

Neil, studying Bsc(hons) Computer Network Management was enthusiastic to take Verdicts to the next step in becoming a profitable business and joined Mathew in 2005, writing the business plan and handling company registration.

Current:

Verdicts Ltd is currently developing some bespoke advertising software to allow online merchants the ability to place adverts at Verdicts on a pay-per-click basis.

Mathew and Neil continue to build strong relationships with PR Companies who regularly provide prizes on the site, as well as contacting online shops to arrange advertising.

The website continues to gain traffic with approximately 40,000 unique visitors coming to the site each month.

Portsmouth Centre for Enterprise:

Mat and Neil went to the Portsmoth Centre for Enterprise late 2005 with the idea of entering Verdicts into the annual Enterprise Challenge in an attempt to win a cash prize.  Through meetings with Richard Sant, Mat and Neil were able to bid for Seed Funding by presenting the business idea to a panel of University judges and they subsequently received money in exchange for 5% of the business.

The pair moved into their offices at the Centre for Enterprise in February 2006, making new developments having been approved by Natwest to take credit card payments online.  Help from PCE staff and mentors has proved invaluable and working alongside other student businesses in the centre has been extremely beneficial.

Mat and Neil also represented the University at a conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina in March 2006, with Richard Sant and David Hawkins.

Future:

With Verdicts the possibilities are endless.  We have many ideas floating around, but for the foreseeable future, our focus is getting advertisers on board.

Visit their website at www.verdicts.co.uk

Telephone:  023 9284 5153

Email:  info@verdicts.co.uk