At our final Mix N’ Mentor of the year in Dubai earlier this month we took some time to talk to the mentors about their particular areas of expertise. In this video Wamda spoke with Will Hutson founder and CEO of LMTD, a digital agency based in Dubai. 

Starting with how an already set up service-based startup might scale, Hutson talks about how generally businesses scale around three things: the market place, the people in the company, or, the clients. He says that each came with their pros and cons, working with clients in particular could be volatile but also very lucrative. Hutson adds that working with clients also means that you can talk directly with ‘a person’ rather than having forecast market movements. “You can ask ‘how can we better manage your needs?’ and ‘can you guarantee we’ll be part of your plan in three years?’”

Using the regional example of Diwanee as a successfully scaled service-based business Hutson says that this lies in the fact that not only are they providing original video content for the the region, they are in a position, with a strong Arabic audience, to scale globally to the diaspora. Stating that also travel and F&B are strong sectors for the service-based industry.

Take a look at the video to see what Hutson has to say about Cirque du Soleil as a non-traditional service-based business, as well as his tips on what to avoid when scaling.