Engineering boss invents hi-tech rival to LinkedIn to boost city region’s networking
An engineering boss has invented a hi-tech method for companies to do business together and keep work within the Sheffield City Region.
IntraSale, an online business referral platform, has been a decade in the planning for Vince Middleton.
The managing director of Rotherham-based Newburgh Engineering, a manufacturer of precision engineering components and assemblies, said he rarely had time to network or make connections via the thousands of business cards he had amassed over the years.
Middleton says that when he wanted to find a specialist for a job, he had to wade through his drawerful of cards, or call trusted contacts for recommendations.
As a result, he developed IntraSale as a cost-effective, secure, members-only referral and recommendation tool with the aim of helping businesses flourish.
Two other SCR business names have thrown their weight behind the scheme with personal endorsements.
Professor Keith Ridgway, founder and executive chair of the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) in Rotherham, and Alan Lyons, founder of networking group Lyons Den, have invited hundreds of their contacts to join.
Middleton said: “IntraSale members don’t sell themselves or tout for work; via the site they put forward the best people they know to contacts who have a job they need doing.
“If a client needs a service I can’t deliver, why not recommend them to the likes of Forgemasters? It gets me credibility, solves a customer’s problem and brings business to the SCR.”
Primarily IntraSale’s aim is to boost business growth within the region, but Middleton anticipates referrals amounting to over £1bn within the first five years.
He believes the site has potential to go global and eventually rival both LinkedIn and one-seat business groups whose members, he says, do business solely with each other.
Since the soft launch in April, more than 230 businesses have signed up, including universities, property developers, accountants, lawyers, engineering companies, surveyors, a print shop, painter and decorator and a beauty company.
“My sector is engineering and manufacturing but this platform is for anyone in business. We want tradespeople and professional services, digital and creative industries to benefit too,” says Middleton.
Software developer Sean Maloney has developed the complex software and interactive platform and is still involved with the running of IntraSale while also heading up his own start-up Tower DMS.
Sheffield Hallam graduate Felix Barr has been recruited as business development manager and a graduate systems manager and a digital marketeer are being sought.
