Meet Ashley and Thomas Cullen, co-founders of Construct
We’re Ashley (34), and Thomas Gullen (35 ) from London, founders (and brothers!) of Construct – a browser-based game engine that allows anyone to make games without any previous experience of coding.
The seeds of the business were planted in 2007 after Ashley tried his hand at designing his own computer game, but soon discovered that the tools available to him weren’t quite up to scratch. Teaching himself programming, he took the ‘easy’ option and decided to create his own game engine. We officially launched the business in 2011 with the release of the second iteration of Ashley’s engine, Construct 2.
Tom founded two web development businesses whilst still studying for his GCSE’s, including one that helped develop the Official Toyota F1 website. At University, Tom studied computing for Artificial Intelligence and set up an online SMS business which he sold in his second year.
Tom and Ashley’s skills complement each other perfectly, with Tom focusing on business development and managing the website and Ashley guiding the evolution of the platform as it continues to grow.
What does your business offer its target audience?
Tom: Construct 3 provides our users with a market-leading engine that is not only easy-to-use but also runs in-browser, allowing them to make and publish their own games with minimal fuss and without any knowledge of coding – which is a huge barrier for anyone starting out in game development. There’s a perceived friction between no-code or low-code software and we feel we’ve really smashed this barrier to entry. If our users can dream it, they can build it.
Ash: Our aim with Construct was to essentially make PowerPoint for games - a drag-and-drop approach that's as easy as making a presentation, but applied to game development. Despite that it's deceptively powerful with enough features to keep any user busy for years - ranging from timeline animations, impressive visual effects, optional JavaScript coding, and even 3D.
Why do you think your business has had such a positive impact across your industry?
Tom: It was never our aim to target the education sector, but we found more and more institutions were using Construct to help teach game development and coding. I’m extremely proud that Construct is used in educational settings across the globe and that we’ve created something that is inspiring and helping students to learn. Making games doesn’t just teach you how to make a game, it also teaches you how to program, think creatively and work in teams.
Ash: Beyond education, I think we have a positive impact in two areas. Firstly, the optional JavaScript coding means users are introduced to an industry-standard programming language which they can learn at their own pace as they develop more and more games. JavaScript is essential for anyone who wants to pursue a career in software development – other tools just simply don't provide these transferable skills. Secondly, Construct is fully browser-based software, so there's nothing to install, and with the platform fully powered by cutting-edge web technologies like WebGL, we've done a lot to prove that the web is an incredible platform and the best way to develop and distribute software, especially as there's no need to deal with the bureaucracy and fees of app stores.
What’s the single most important decision that you made, that contributed to your business?
Tom: I think we’ve always had the attitude of product and quality first. Every time we get a difficult challenge, we’ve always decided that it’s best to tackle it head-on rather than take shortcuts – anything that is difficult to do is something our competitors might decide to not do so we’ve always thought there are strong competitive advantages to be gained here. It’s not always painful either – it’s extremely rewarding to overcome these challenges.
Ash: Being fully browser-based really is the key to the business. We started with publishing HTML5 games back in 2011, at a time when Flash was a big deal and many thought HTML5 was "just a fad." Betting on the web has worked out better than we could ever have imagined. In 2017 we then doubled-down with the launch of Construct 3, releasing the editor exclusively on the web. That too has worked out brilliantly and whilst many in the industry were sceptical at the time the results speak for themselves – we have proven that browser-based software can meet and even exceed the quality of traditional equivalents.
What are your thoughts on failure?
Tom: In some tech start-up communities I have noticed an almost romanticisation of failure. Failure should never be a goal, but if you do fail you need to make the most of it and treat it as a learning experience. Of course, in business success is essential; but if you do fail try and do it as cheaply and quickly as possible. The reality is that failure is the most likely outcome and if it happens you don’t want to have made huge personal sacrifices that you’d struggle to recover from.
Ash: Releasing a minimum viable product as soon as conceivably possible and then iterating is the key to avoiding failure. As Tom said, if something isn't working out: fail fast, learn lessons and move on. - you can keep reapplying those lessons even if the overall business is doing well.
As a business owner, do you know when to walk away from a sale?
Tom: Yes, for sure but it’s been a learned experience. When you first start out every sale to you is a victory and you want to desperately hold on to each one; however, over time I’ve learnt that on rare occasions some customers simply aren’t beneficial to your business and time and often there are warning signs quite early on. If a customer is causing you undue stress or placing too much of a burden on your time, it’s OK to tell them they’d be better off trying a competitor’s product.
There’s a difficult balance to be struck with sales from large companies. We often find a huge amount of effort is required before they will even engage with you. As a small business it can be very frustrating; but you must make a judgement call – securing large customers is a huge signal of confidence in your product to the market and could lead to larger order volumes, but there is often a fairly significant time investment required.
Ash: I think in the early days I would bend over backwards to try and please everyone; however, over time you realise that nobody's product is perfect, and there will always be people who choose other products no matter what you're offering. It's not the end of the world if a few people turn away from you, so long as the overall business is healthy.
Working with a co-founder can be tricky, so understanding and compromise is important. How have you both found the process of building a business together? What makes it work?
Tom: I’m extremely lucky to have Ashley as my brother and co-founder, there is a level of trust there that doesn’t exist between unrelated co-founders – it makes everything easier. Our skills are very complementary – I’ve always been focused on profitability and Ashley on developing the best software he possibly can and get it into as many people’s hands as possible. We always seem to meet in the middle with important decisions which looking back has generally always been the best place to be.
Ash: I'm lucky to have Tom as well! We occasionally disagree, but we always come to a decision and move on – If we didn’t, Christmases could be a tad awkward!
What’s your best advice for early-stage tech founders getting ready to launch their MVP?
Tom: In the early days, Ashley used to always quote Reid Hoffman: “If you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late” which has stuck with me. You learn as you go from launching uncomfortably early, and these lessons will almost always surpass the benefits of an improved image from a more polished launch. Don’t be afraid of saying no and losing customers either, customer feedback is a powerful tool to help gently steer your product in the right direction, but you should never let them take the wheel.
Ash: Exactly! I think a common mistake is to try to polish something to perfection before releasing it; however, the key rule of business is to make something people want, and the best way to do that is to release something and get real customers as soon as possible, and start listening to what they say.
What movie do you find inspiring?
Tom: I love poker and I’ve spent a lot of time studying and learning the game, so for this reason I’d probably go with the best poker film of all time “Rounders”. I think there are a lot of parallels between poker and running a business, the grind, the (sometimes) shark-infested waters, the ups and downs and the decisions you must make that can be likened to gambling. Thankfully though making decisions in business doesn’t end up in a dingy back room being beaten up – at least it doesn’t in our experience!
Ash: I'm partial to a good sci-fi flick, like Blade Runner 2049 and the new Dune. I guess I like Denis Villeneuve.
What would be your top three tips to fellow entrepreneurs to look after their mental health?
Tom: It can be difficult when you have a mountain of tasks to tackle and it can get overwhelming quite quickly. Starting a business takes blood, sweat and tears; but sometimes you need to take time out – and that’s ok. Burnout and creeping stress is something you really need to be conscious of and avoid, so try and find balance – and always try and eat well! I know that working on your own business can be addictive, and time never feels like it’s on your side – the reality is taking days off and holidays will be unlikely to set you back too much and you’ll be able to return inspired and full of energy.
Ash: Take your weekends off and make time for longer breaks. In the early days I worked constantly, and I just repeatedly burned out. I'm pretty sure you're actually more productive in the long run if you keep a healthy work pattern. Some people glorify running a successful business and working constantly; I think it's even smarter to run a successful business and work reasonable hours. Having a life outside work helps give you perspective too – maybe even pick up a new hobby!
How does technological advancement speak to the strategic direction of your business?
Tom: Improvements in web technology have been a huge driver in the direction of our business. Indeed, without these advancements Construct 3 wouldn’t be possible and everyone would still be playing Flash games. We always try to be ahead of the curve when it comes to technological advancements and take pride in adopting it early ahead of our competitors. This is exciting not only for us but also our users.
Ash: Our whole technology strategy has always been to rely on the web, and as I said earlier, it's worked out better than I could have ever imagined. In fact, it's been an essential part of our success. The amazing thing about it is big tech companies like Google, Microsoft and Apple are all paying hundreds of smart engineers to work on improving the web, and this only benefits us – the web platform keeps getting better, and our product keeps getting better, sometimes without us hardly needing to do anything at all. This has helped us catch up with, or even overtake, bigger and better resourced competitors who are bogged down in trying to develop their own technology platforms.
How do you believe the evolution of tech will impact your industry over the next 10 years?
Tom: I think we’ll see the web browser increasingly being used as an operating system, and more and more software becoming browser-based. It has so many advantages over traditional application development – for both developers and the end users.
Ash: The web as a platform has advanced at such an incredible rate over the decade that my mind boggles at where we’ll be in 2032. The web already rivals traditional app development in terms of technology and all bets are off that it will eventually exceed it. This will encourage more developers to move to the web, but there are several other economic and political factors that will probably slow that down unless they can be solved for the web.
More web-based software might mean more competition for us, but I'll be happy if that helps end the exploitative practices of the app stores. Developers bring huge value to platforms like iOS and Android, but somehow Apple and Google have managed to invert that and claim a chunk of everyone's revenue, sometimes bizarrely arguing that they've done the developers a favour by bringing them customers. But who would buy a phone without any apps? The web is the best alternative we have, and I'm hopeful that the better the web gets, the harder it will be for big tech companies to charge a tax on all their developers.
