Auction business IAM Sold is set to announce a £12.7m turnover for last year, and plans to more than double in size over the next three years.

Currently employing 70 people, it plans to take headcount to 150 and double the number of estate agencies signed up for its auction services, including the Modern Method which gives buyers 28 days to exchange contracts. There are currently 1,300.

It also has a target of raising annual revenue to over £25m.

The business was started by two 24-year-olds, Jamie Cooke and Ben Ridgway, who are still only 31, and who met at university while studying for real estate management degrees.

The firm was named in the Sunday Times FastTrack 100 list in 2015 as the 23rd fastest growing company in the UK.

The pair borrowed £10,000 from family and friends to start their business, which they ran from the living room belonging to Cooke’s girlfriend – now his wife.

In the eight years the business has been going, it has sold over 10,000 homes through its partnerships with agents.

The enterprising Cooke and Ridgway also have a conveyancing panel business, Medway Law, a development company, and a new online business under development called Check My Property.

Cooke said: “There are 20,000 agencies in the UK so we want to double our reach at least.

“We’re market leaders in online auction, under a centralised brand that doesn’t compete with the agencies, but seeks to sell their properties.

“Our vision and mission as a business is to try and create the modern method of auction as a viable method of sale for houses.”

There is more in an excellent interview in the local paper.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/business/business-news/how-two-university-pals-turned-12725104