AN ENTREPRENEUR who kickstarted his side hustle seven years ago is now in charge of three companies.
David Soffer was began freelance writing when he was 23, and now at the age of 31 has built an eye-watering six-figure empire from his small self-funded business .
1
The business founder discovered his passion for digital marketing and in 2016 created a platform to promote start-ups in a way the industry had never done before.
TechRound was born from David’s vision but it only served as a “loss maker” before growing into the success it is today – working with huge names including Pelaton, Amazon, and Uber.
Founder and Editor in Chief, David, told The Sun Online: “It was a side hustle that started in 2016 and was until about 2020, but now it’s a business in its own right.
“It wasn’t a team before, it was just me, but now there’s a team of four or five of us.
“It’s a side hustle gone good. It was originally just going to be a way to make some money on the side.
“I started freelancing when I was about 23, and very much didn’t go on holidays, friends would be going and I was only earning about £200-£300 a month.
“I just thought I’ve got to work and work and make this happen.”
David explained it was a long and tough road to see his business reach its goals.
Most read in Money
“It was a loss maker for a while, it was a side project and we just tried to keep the losses low,” he said.
“When it started to make profit it was a few hundred here or there. Then it was a few thousand here and there.”
And, the hard work paid off, with David and his team now seeing the business rake in six figures a year.
“It’s in six figures a year. It’s 100 per cent profitable now,” he said.
“It’s a very nice success story so far, no one really truly talks to start ups and discovers them like we do.
“We’ve done things for Pelaton, Amazon, Toyota, Axa, Uber, some really big brands. When we started that was never the intention.
“When we were able to take on some more staff it grew and grew and grew. In 2020 I made the decision to give it more attention because of Covid.”
Speaking about TechRound, the founder described what he loves about the job.
“There are all these start ups that don’t get the attention they deserve, and they can find that through TechRound. National Press will pick them up from us.
“People contact me and they say we changed their lives.
“My favourite part of the business is covering the industry in a way that isn’t done.
“And also growing a profitable business, it’s not easy.”
BUSINESS TIPS FOR FELLOW SIDE HUSTLERS
David offered his golden advice for any potential entrepreneurs like himself.
“Growing a business and seeing the growth is incredibly enjoyable,” he said.
“It is easy to get distracted, everyone is vying for attention, so my advice it to stick with something.
“It’s easy to say you’ve got so many things happening you will just devote a little bit of time to each of them, and it’s equally easy to say you will put everything into something.
“But, both approaches run the risk of nothing being done at all. That balance of saying I will focus but I will spread my bets slightly is very valuable.”
Running three companies means the 31-year-old doesn’t find much time to unwind – a con he warned other side hustlers about.
He confessed: “I don’t get much time to relax, not enough and that is a problem.
“Unless you have someone just funding you like crazy with no strings attached that is the reality.
“I’m proud of the fact TechRound has never had funding, it’s all self-funded and self-sufficient.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
“There is sacrifice. You might see people on social media saying they grew their businesses in six months to a year, but there are things they’re not telling you.
“To really start it from nothing is a long, hard battle but as it starts to play out it’s worth it.”
