How we built a business out of recession — chapter 36 — ciao Italia

The story of CitNOW*

This is the 36th chapter about CitNOW, the company started from a kitchen table in Winnersh, Berkshire. If you’d like to read from the beginning, here’s a link to chpt 1. Each chapter is a 5-minute read. It’s an early draft of a book.

CitNOW was founded by Andrew Howells and Donna Barradale in 2005, although the company was only registered in 2008. In February 2018, we sold the company to Tenzing, a UK private equity company. It has been sold again since.

Photo by La So on Unsplash

With the successful launch of two CitNOW automotive apps in the UK, there was a sense that much of the hard work might have been done. It was difficult to ignore that many dealer groups, especially those with German brands on their forecourts, were using both apps. Nissan had mandated Workshop, and plenty of other groups without German support were now using CitNOW across their sites as well.

Volvo was the only significant manufacturer where we struggled to establish a presence. They eventually endorsed Autos on Show, which didn’t mean very much. Honda, ironically, had become another laggard, with little interest and certainly no manufacturer engagement**.

Once we reached this position in the UK, which reminds me of a climbing Everest graphic we used one…