Have you ever struggled to come up with a new business idea? Most people have – but Timothy Armoo, founder of social media advertising firm Fanbytes, says that spotting an opportunity might just be easier than you think.
Timothy Armoo is known for having some pretty successful business ideas – having started, scaled and sold his first by the age of 27 – but you’ll never find the young entrepreneur taking the credit for any of them.
In fact, within just five years, the co-founder of social media advertising firm Fanbytes proved it possible to start, scale and sell a business for an eight-figure sum without having an original business idea at all.
“I’m very shameless in the fact that I’ve never started an original idea in my entire life – I’m incredibly proud of that,” Armoo says, shuffling into his chair with a grin on his face.
“I look at things that have already worked elsewhere and then I just match them up to different things.”
His approach seemed to pay off quickly, because Fanbytes – which was snapped up by digital marketing agency Brainlabs in 2022 – made Armoo, now 29, a millionaire by the time he was 30.
The origin of Fanbytes
Armoo co-founded Fanbytes in 2017 as a way to blend together the world of influencer marketing with traditional advertising, and in turn, help big name brands – like Nike, Samsung and Deliveroo – target a Generation Z audience.
The platform uses data collected from social media platforms like Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok to match the two together, which is an idea that Armoo says came from closely watching the growing success of a similar model in the US.
Fanbytes started off because I saw a US company doing the social media influencer thing well, and I was like, we should bring that to the UK, and then even better, we should then bring that to a Gen Z audience.
Timothy Armoo
The blended formula hit all the right sweet spots at all the right times, he adds, especially given that what is now a growing $21.1bn influencer marketing market was only just a seedling of an idea at the time of Fanbytes’ debut.
The thrill of the game
Building a business from the ground up is no easy feat, but the self-made entrepreneur tells me the long-winded journey has been more than worth it.
His goal from the start? Winning.
“I think I genuinely enjoy the game of business, and I think with any game there comes some kind of end of the level,” Armoo says.
“To me, the most interesting thing about the end of the level of business is when there’s some kind of exit and the exit could be your company gets bought, your company goes public [or] it could be your company fails.”
Fuelling your ambitions
Armoo, who grew up on a housing estate, realised early on that a traditional 9-5 was probably not where he wanted to end up.
“When I was younger, I wanted to be a magician… and then afterwards, when I realised I was not that interested, I then wanted to become a journalist and then afterwards I then realised I wanted to become a behavioural economist,” he says.
“I think the common thread between all of them is that I wanted to be doing something where it actually directly influenced people.”
What’s next?
Despite parting ways with Fanbytes in 2022, Armoo is far from finished with the entrepreneurial grind.
He has become something of a brand himself across his own social platforms, which together total nearly half a million of followers, while participating in other various entrepreneurship campaigns and public speaking events as a start-up advisor.
“That feeling of constantly being challenged and constantly finding new adventures and new opportunities I think is what I really want to be able to do for the rest of my life,” he says.
CV
Name: Timothy Armoo
Company: Fanbytes
Founded: 2017, sold in 2022
Staff: 80
Title: Founder
Age: 27
Born: Hackney, London
Lives: London
Studied: Computer Science, Warwick University
Talents: Axe throwing
Most known for: Selling a successful company at a young age.
First ambition: A magician
Favourite book: The Surrender Experiment
Best piece of advice: Don’t find yourself. Create yourself.