A tech entrepreneur has said learning to cope with dyslexia is similar to learning to succeed in business.
The UK鈥檚 most famous example of a successful entrepreneur who suffers from the learning difficulty which can affect a person鈥檚 ability to read, write and spell is Sir Richard Branson.
Adam Curtis is CEO of Swansea-based Hoowla, which develops online conveyancing software for solicitors and featured on our聽‘101 Tech Disrupters’ list of the UK鈥檚 most promising tech start-ups.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 really get on well at school because I was dyslexic. Back in the 90s, the Welsh education system didn鈥檛 accept that dyslexia existed,鈥� he said of his childhood in South Wales.
鈥淚 guess my robustness came from being an Englishman growing up in Wales in that system鈥� [but] I was in the remedial set and it didn鈥檛 make me feel back then like I was going to do very well.
鈥淵ou do meet a lot of businesspeople who have struggled with dyslexia 鈥� it teaches you a valuable lesson that they鈥檙e trying to teach everyone now: how to be entrepreneurial.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a set route of doing something and that鈥檚 not going to work for you, so you鈥檝e got to find a way round it. That鈥檚 the same as the system of business.
鈥淢ost businesses that succeed wouldn鈥檛 have succeeded if they had followed the standard route.鈥�
The boss of another successful start-up on our ‘101 Tech Disrupters’ list, Manchester-based Hello Soda, experienced something similar at school in Wales.
CEO James Blake told us that one of his life-defining moments was being told at the age of 14 he couldn鈥檛 do history because he was dyslexic.
鈥淚 was determined to prove everyone wrong and I ended up getting a Masters in history,鈥� he recalls. 鈥淭he teachers were giving up. It was one of those moments in your life when you go one of two ways.
鈥淢y parents sat me down and said 鈥榥obody can define what you want to be鈥欌�� [but] I had to work harder than most people.鈥�
Curtis left Wales to study at the University of the West of England and begin a career as a software developer before returning to Swansea to go into business, founding software development and web design company Clockwork Bear 鈥� which he still owns today 鈥� in 2009.
Four years later, he began Hoowla, which uses tech to make the conveyancing process more transparent and keep all parties involved in a house purchase up-to-date. Already working with 100 businesses, the firm is expanding into family law, wills and probate, personal injury and more.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had serious players try to invest in us but we鈥檙e entirely self-funded,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 a big believer in bootstrapping. By the time I get to the stage where someone would want to buy it 100 per cent, I don鈥檛 think I鈥檇 want to sell it!
鈥淚t becomes your life 鈥� in a good way. I love every single day. I drive all over the country with my business with a big smile on my face.鈥�
He now goes into schools himself as part of the Welsh Government programme Big Ideas Wales.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of emphasis at the moment on how we can get young people to become programmers,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 exactly the same in schools now as it was in the 90s: limited resources, a picture of Bill Gates from the 80s on the wall.
鈥淵ou have to get into it yourself, and having an iPad isn鈥檛 going to help. I was fortunate that when I was at GCSE level, someone I knew taught me how to program.
鈥淲hat I was taught in the 90s is what you need to teach them now. Don鈥檛 teach them the latest flashy framework; teach them about basic building block algorithms. If you learn .net or java, you鈥檒l have the basics you need.
鈥淚n our industry, you鈥檙e always going to have to learn 鈥� what I鈥檓 using now didn鈥檛 exist five years ago. I do worry at the moment that, education-wise, they鈥檙e trying to jump on the latest bandwagon.鈥�