Young Eastbourne brothers win award from Dragons’ Den member

Fifteen-year-old Jack Knight and his brother Harry, 12, won the small business award from Dragons’ Den star Theo Paphitis in November 2020 after forming Animate Our Logo during the first lockdown.

Jack and Harry said, “When schools closed down earlier in the year, we saw this as an opportunity to follow our dreams and start a new business.

“Lockdown meant we had more time and we wanted to reclaim this time and put it to good use. In March of last year, we were already exploring the idea of home schooling so when the lockdown happened it was natural for us to progress.”

The boys’ father David Knight recognised that, with so much time wasted at school in a day, home schooling allowed for a lot more free time to be used productively.

David said, “After we realised that we could home school for four days, we spent one Friday working together to create a business. We locked ourselves in with pizza and figured out a business plan – with the boys eventually deciding on an animation service for logos.

“With a passion for business trends and skills from a web design agency, they were able to recognise that, the way in which social media algorithms work, videos appear in front of people first when users are scrolling.”

Animate Our Logo is a service that turns a logo into an eye-catching animation for use on social media, YouTube and marketing videos.

“As the business grew, we looked at upselling,” David added.

“Products like explainer videos were upsold with the logos and we had a subscription service where the boys send an animation for their company every year.”

The business continued to grow until last November when Mr Paphitis picked Animate Our Logo as Small Business Sunday winners – personally chosen by the entrepreneur.

The boys got a place on the retail magnate’s website and were invited to an online networking event.

David said, “It was never about making money for us. It was always about using the time that home schooling gave us to further develop the boys and give them transferrable skills they can take into the future.

“They’re not just talented animators, they’re businessmen first and foremost – building relationships, networks and confidence that will put them in a great position.

“We’ve been able to work the business in around their studies with that time that they could have wasted in school being claimed back for valuable personal development they’re having which is going to carry them into the future.

“Contact with people such as The Apprentice winner Joseph Valente, who did a LinkedIn post about the boys, continues to give them a great starting point to build new ventures and form lifelong partnerships.”