Lee, Adam and Andy came to Jewson Live to tell us about the On the Tools story. If you missed it, here’s what they said!
In July 2014, Lee Wilcox and Adam Barrie were having a BBQ in Lee’s garden. They got onto the recruitment problem in construction, as Adam was struggling to find a plumber to work with.
After a bottle of Morgan’s Spiced rum, On the Tools was born.
The idea was an app to solve the recruitment problems in the industry, but there was still the issue of how to get people’s attention.
The solution was the On the Tools Facebook page, with the funniest on-site videos and pranks.
This was definitely Lee’s cup of tea, as he is (by his own admission) “A man who spent a lot of time on the internet in his room.”
In the first few weeks, the page got 50,000 followers while the app was in creation in India.
But, as you may know if your apprentice prank has ever gone viral – “likes don’t pay the bills.”
The next step was creating the shop, which Adam stepped in to help with. They were so unprepared for the demand that their first orders were sent out in green bin bags.
As shop sales began to slow, they got the app back from the designers.
It didn’t work and they found they hardly had enough money to pay themselves.
Therein lay a problem. They didn’t want to annoy their loyal followers with adverts and promoted content but they needed to make money while the app was in redevelopment.
Enter: Andy.
He came with the idea of creating funny content for brands that followers will enjoy, like our absolutely unforgettable “apprentice strikes back” video.
And in September this year, they hit 1 million followers.
With their app set to (finally) launch in February 2017, it’s clear that these lads are no tools.
Just watch this space.
