Show notes
Mar 26, 2025
I’m Granger Forson and you can find me at www.bizsmart-gloucestershire.co.uk or on LinkedIn. On this episode, I talk with Steve Mason, the visionary behind Nova Blue Technologies, a remote-first cybersecurity company that grew from a solo startup during the lockdown to a 14-strong international team.
Steve shares how a “kindness is the default” ethos permeates Nova Blue’s culture, creating an atmosphere of trust, flexibility, and empowerment. Fueled by his GCHQ and defense industry background, Steve’s focus on proactively configuring systems – rather than just alerting – sets Nova Blue’s managed service apart.
Their hiring principle of “attitude, aptitude, and appetite” has seen Nova Blue attract dynamic, passionate individuals who fit perfectly into the “Nova Legion.” With 70% of leads coming from channel partners, Steve reveals how they are diversifying lead generation and why they are committed to organic growth before eyeing a potential exit.
You’ll be inspired by the bold international aspirations (Canada, Middle East, Indonesia) that guide Nova Blue’s expansion plans – and the “people-first” approach they’ll keep at every stage. Tune in for insights on building a vibrant culture, scaling organically, and protecting SMEs worldwide.
To ensure you don’t miss any inspirational future episodes do subscribe to ScaleUp Radio wherever you like to listen to your podcasts. Also, you can nominate a guest for ScaleUp Radio if you know someone with an interesting ScaleUp story – you can find how in the show notes. So, let’s now dive into the inspiring journey of kindness is the default, attitude-aptitude-appetite, and bootstrapped growth with Steve.
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Steve can be found here:
Resources:
Start With Why By Simon Sinek - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/start-with-why-how-great-leaders-inspire-everyone-to-take-action-simon-sinek/239994?ean=9780241958223
The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-infinite-game-simon-sinek/185827?ean=9780241385630
The Rest Is Politics podcast - https://www.globalplayer.com/podcasts/42KuSr/
Diary of a CEO - https://stevenbartlett.com/doac/
Microsoft Teams - https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software
Stirling Bank app - https://www.starlingbank.com/download/