There aren’t many entrepreneurs who have won two Oscars, an Emmy and a Grammy – but Mark Crabtree OBE is not your typical entrepreneur.
He’s the managing director and founder of AMS Neve and has worked with an array of stars including Snoop Dogg, Bee Gees and the late, great Whitney Houston.
Crabtree has just been included in BusinessCloud’s inaugural Northern Leaders list, which shines a light on the leaders who have made – and continue to make – the biggest positive difference to the North.
He launched AMS in the mid-1970s while working as a graduate for Lucas Aerospace designing a digital engine control system for Tornado aircraft.
He sold his first piece of audio equipment to Sir Paul McCartney and his firm’s digital mixing desks have been used on countless blockbuster films since blazing a trail with Titanic.
AMS Neve’s music consoles continue to be used by some of the world’s biggest names in music.
Today the company employs 94 people and has grown turnover to £13m, with export accounting for 85 per cent of their business.
Explaining his philosophy he said: “I want to do something that is interesting and that’s why I started the business as I have an interest in music and electronics. It was to be self-employed really.
“I also say ‘would I want to buy this product I’m making?’ You don’t just do it because you’ve always done it. Is it interesting?
“I think I read a lot later that Richard Branson said: ‘Would people like us buy this?’”
Crabtree said having the right culture was crucial to AMS Neve’s success.
“We’re a very integrated business,” he said. “Everything is done here. We’re really integrated from the designers to making prototypes to doing the marketing and the service.
“We have a really close relationship with our customers, and we bounce ideas backwards and forwards with them all the time.
“I’m running it (AMS Neve) now as I ran it in the first instance which is I tend lead it and not manage it. To me managing is getting somebody to do something that they wouldn’t normally do unless you were pushing them.
“I spend a great deal of time selecting everybody from the top to the bottom of the organisation.”
Crabtree still interviews everybody who joins the business and knows the names of all his staff.
The entrepreneur is approaching half a century in the business and admitted he gets a ‘letter a week’ from people wanting to buy him out – but he has no interest in selling.
“The question is ‘what would I do if I wasn’t doing this because it’s really interesting?’ My wife said ‘I married you for better or worse, not for lunch’.”
AMS Neve recently received the King’s Award for Enterprise and Crabtree remains a passionate supporter of Burnley’s vibrant business community.
His one piece of his advice to would-be entrepreneurs is to pick an area that really interests you rather than ‘start a business because you can start a business’.
- The headline sponsor for Northern Leadersis OBI and it is joined by partners KPMG, Co-op Live, CG, GM Business Growth Hub and Rochdale Development Agency.