Chris didn't have enough time for admin
How the idea for Forma started
Chris started work as a contractor in late 2015.
With a PhD from Cambridge and working at a top-tier management consulting firm, Bain & Company, he quickly found himself on fast-paced projects.
Chris was surprised by the level of admin required that detracted from his time with family or delivering demanding consulting projects. He felt there should be a better way to find and consolidate the different services he needed.
In 2018, the largest office space provider globally hired him as the Managing Director for the Virtual Services business; with the responsibility of managing the service for over 150,000 customers in over 900 cities.
One thing that stuck out to him was the universal demand that he saw customers had for a simple way to find and acquire business services easily, particularly at the start.
He saw how a lot of businesses had very similar requirements when starting:
Finding how to register their business efficiently with the help of someone who could walk them through the process.
Looking for cost-effective ways to create a local presence. Either through a registered office address, local phone number or a call answering service to help take incoming calls.
Identifying a high quality trusted accountant that could advise them of filing requirements and corporation tax.
Looking for partnership offers that helped them operate or grow their business.
From both a Limited Company Director and Global Virtual Office managing Director, he experienced both the problems and visualised the solutions.
In November 2019 he decided it was time to start Forma.