Meet the team

Quentin Lister

Managing Director

Trust and honesty are the two key values held by BitBox’s Managing Director Quentin Lister, who has built the company from the ground up since 1993. These have been a fundamental part of the business from the outset, contributing to its position today as a leader in the design and manufacturing of electronic hardware and software products.

Quentin knew he wanted to run his own business from a young age, and it was almost by chance that BitBox was created. The engineer was working for a company in Cambridge making optical discs, before relocating to Basingstoke to be with his girlfriend, who later became his wife. However, he was dissatisfied and frustrated with his new job and so when he received a phone call from the company he had just left asking him to design them a CD recorder using technology from Philips, he jumped at the chance.

Quentin spent two years from 1993 to 1995 on the project, which became a huge success, with the CD recorders selling for £2,000 each. “It was a big deal back then,” explained Quentin, “CD recorders were a new thing. I had never designed a product before and it was the steepest learning curve, but it was very successful.”

From there, BitBox was formed, with Quentin’s wife coming up with the name inspired by his design of the CD recorder, essentially created by putting ‘data bits’ inside a box. “It threw me into running a company and designing things for people,” said Quentin, who initially advertised for further work in the Yellow Pages.

In 1995 a local company based in Bramshill called Sondex saw his advert and asked BitBox to assemble and stress test their oil exploration products. The client has remained ever since, becoming BitBox’s longest customer and highlighting its strong game in client retention.
A key milestone for Quentin and BitBox came in the early noughties. BitBox was asked to design CD listening posts for HMV. At the time, BitBox was a design-only company with just five employees, and the manufacturing of the 600 units was sub-contracted. “They let us down,” explained Quentin, who used the negative experience to make an important business decision. “I decided that we would manufacture our own designs, so we were never put in that position again. It involved moving and getting more floor space and buying machinery.”

Now, the company is continuing to grow, with hopes of relocating again to a larger premises. Despite its huge success, Quentin admits to sometimes suffering from imposter syndrome. However, his team see him as the driving force behind BitBox. “I don’t see myself as the MD. But one thing I can do is grasp the whole picture,” he said, adding: “It is knowing when to be worried and knowing when things are okay. Right now, I can see that the company is going to do more than survive, it will flourish.”

Working long hours in the early days, 58-year-old Quentin now takes a more back-seat approach to the business, allowing his competent team to manage the daily operations. However, he has ensured that his key values of trust and honesty are instilled in every member of the 33-strong team of staff.

“To me the staff are the most important thing in the company,” he said. “They all share my values and that is passed to our clients. They can trust us, that is important. They know that when we say the answer is no, we aren’t just saying that because we are being difficult it’s because that’s the correct answer.”

A particular challenge is when competitors undercut a quote from BitBox: “The hardest part is convincing the client that we are worth the money because we know what we are doing we have done it many times before. There are so many projects we pick up where another company has duped them into having the work done then not completed the job,” he said, adding: “Once a client is with us, we do not lose them because they know we are going to do the job. Even if it goes wrong, we are going to put it right. We have the customer’s interests at heart. We have never let a customer down and not completed a job.”

Customer satisfaction is the key to success for BitBox, and something Quentin has always had at the forefront of his mind when running the company. “Everyone says they make good quality products; everyone says they are technically competent,” he said, “But we do make good quality products and we are technically competent. If there is a job we can’t do, we will turn it down. It is the one right thing to do. If you do the right thing you can sleep at night.”

Chris Chaney

Sales Manager

“Everyone says people buy from people, but that’s not true. People buy from people they can trust.” These are the words of BitBox’s Sales Manager Chris Chaney who has been with us since 2018.

With a background in recruitment, Chris joined us on a temporary, three-month contract to help recruit embedded software engineers. However, he loved the people and ethos of BitBox so much, he persuaded management to let him extend his contract and stay another three months.

During this time, Chris came to know the business well and was attracted to our values of honesty, openness, and trust.

“I got a real feel for the place and the standards and I fell in love with everything about it,” he explained, adding: “I didn’t want to leave, so I suggested that I slide into the sales team.”

Chris spent some time working as the only salesperson at BitBox, dealing with all the customer queries. It was then decided to expand sales, with the team growing from one to six within a couple of years.

He became sales manager, and now, as part of the Senior Management Team, has day-to-day responsibility for the running of the business.

Chris believes his background and experience in recruitment has given him the skills needed to help run the business, explaining: “Working in recruitment all you have is a desk and a phone, there’s no one to support you. It’s like running your own microbusiness from a desk.

“Communication is key and being decisive, open, honest and accountable, which are skills I’ve needed in my role with BitBox.”

Today, Chris manages the sales team and is responsible for bringing in new business and keeping our current customer base happy.

“I absolutely love it,” he enthused, explaining that it is the people who make his job so rewarding: “Anyone working at BitBox will tell you: we are a team of people who genuinely care. We always do the right thing and are open and honest. I absolutely love that.”

He is also passionate about maintaining high standards for customers, saying: “We have incredibly high standards and everyone who works here cares about that. Our whole culture is about doing the right thing for the customer and the proof is in the pudding. If there is a problem, it’s fixed. We identify the problem and explain to customers what we will do to fix it.

“We take pride in what we do and are approachable and open. We are good at keeping customers and making them happy. It is where, as a business, we excel.”

Chris believes that the authenticity of BitBox and its staff shines through to customers, adding: “You don’t have to like someone to buy from them, but you do have to trust them. If you don’t have someone’s trust you don’t stand a chance. We are authentic and that comes across. Clearly, we are doing something right.”

Steve Drinkall

Manufacturing Manager

Matt Garnett

Hardware Engineering Manager

Amanda Pattemore

Financial Controller

Peter Horton

Software Engineering Manager

Scott Faith

Quality Manager