FNConnect - Mark Copp from Apache iX - Episode 5

In today's episode we sit down for an engaging conversation with Mark Copp from FNConnect member, Apache iX, who are a technical consultancy that partner with organisations to deliver outcomes that enhance the safety, security, and future readiness of their capabilities.

Mark speaks with Amaia Mildon, FNConnect founder, for a discussion about networking and the power of connections recounting how a new opportunity and work relationship was forged at the Gloucester FNConnect event in early 2026.

Are you interested in joining FNConnect? It's free to do so and you can find out more here: https://kbr.foleon.com/frazer-nash/fnconnect/.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to the F Connect Conversations Podcast, delivered to you by Fraser Nash Consultancy. F and Connect is our small business network, connecting people across industries and capabilities, enabling growth and opportunities. This podcast highlights some of the amazing businesses in our FN Connect network. Today I'm really pleased to be joined by Mark Cop, campaign executive at Apache IX. Mark, thank you so much for joining us. It's great to have you on the podcast. Could you start by telling us a bit about yourself and the company?

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Yeah, certainly. It's great to talk to you and thank you for the opportunity. Yeah, so Mark Cop, I'm campaign executive at Apache IX, which effectively is a title for kind of BD and strategic growth. That's kind of where I sit within the business. Apache IX, for those people that don't sort of know us, so around about 60, so kind of higher end of SME, I guess. Bristol base, so we're on the science park. Also got an office in the middle of town by the Hippodrome. And we're also planning to open a kind of footprint office in Cambridge in sort of June. So that's kind of where we are. Capability-wise, we started out around sort of P3M, uh, so project management, but very much kind of morphed that into a little bit of business analytics and systems engineering, cost engineering kind of requirements. So kind of within that broader kind of P3M space. And then probably the kind of interesting bit that we're going into at the moment is around DevSecOps, so kind of apps development, cybersecurity, and also service management. So we do a lot in that kind of sort of IT type space.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

It sounds like a really exciting time for Apache IX. You're also a member of FN Connect. So I was wondering how long Apache IX has been part of the network.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Yeah. I think Apache's been for about sort of 12 months. I also know FN Connect from sort of previous companies I've worked with as well. So kind of Segentia and a lot of us kind of techmodal and BAE.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Since networking is such a big part of F Connect. I wanted to ask, how has networking played a part in your company's growth? And maybe you could share some of your personal experiences with networking as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Yeah, very much so. So I I think on a sort of personal note, I think like a a lot of others, you know, networking can sound sort of awful. I mean, I'm I'm a I'm a bit of an extrovert, so I guess I'm I'm kind of okay in in kind of that respect. But, you know, kind of just mindful that walking into a large room of people, you know, can feel, feel a bit daunting, especially if it's kind of a new sector or a kind of area you're not used to. There's not faces that you've seen before. So I think for me, from the Apache standpoint, we're looking at other sectors at the moment, other government departments. So there's definitely a number of networking events that I've been attending, which, you know, aren't kind of sort of naturally where I've kind of been before. So kind of outside of defense. So that's brought some sort of fresh challenges of I'm not walking into a room and knowing some familiar faces and kind of starting conversations. So I think what I've found in that context regards potentially some sort of top tips, which I've kind of picked up off other people over the years, is, you know, do a little bit of homework. So if you're turning up to a networking event, you know, what's the kind of theme of that networking event? You know, kind of what are the key keynote speakers, if it's a kind of sort of discussion panel, you know, maybe kind of sort of just feeding in on them, you know, what papers they put out recently, you know, what they're talking about on social media. So at least you've kind of got, I wouldn't say kind of credibility, but you can at least kind of enter into a conversation a lot more easily than if you're kind of sort of mindful of what others are going to be sort of chatting around. So I find that quite useful. And the real top tip I got off somebody kind of a number of years ago is it's called turn up early. So again, I mean, I I appreciate kind of diaries and it can be a bit problematic. Um, but I find if I turn up earlier to events, you've normally kind of got the organizers because clearly they've got to turn up early. So you can just build a bit of rapport with the organizers kind of early on. I mean, I'm not talking, you know, turn up hours early, but you know, kind of five, 10 minutes, quarter of an hour maybe. You can generally kind of sort of see the room. And I think, you know, if there's a smaller number in the room to start, I find it personally a lot easier kind of then to go and talk to people because people haven't kind of got into the routine of talking to the people they know. You can kind of get them, get them early on. So yeah, I'd say definitely do a bit of homework and maybe turn up a little bit earlier and just kind of build a bit of discussion with the organizers and understand what's happening around the broader event.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Those are great tips and so easy to put into practice as well. Is there an example where turning up early has really worked well for you? Have you met anyone at a networking event specifically because you were there a bit earlier?

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Yeah, so I mean, really good example was the last FN Connect event at Cheltenham. So again, you know, Cheltenham obviously being associated with kind of sort of, you know, the SME community around there, which I I don't know very well to be fair, albeit I live in Bristol, so probably should in that respect. But so again, turn up a little bit early, cracking sort of venue and a little bit different. So kind of the quirkiness of the venue, I think, worked quite well because, you know, it wasn't your normal kind of sort of hotel room, whatever. So you could kind of have a conversation around the venue, if nothing else, I think, just as a bit of kind of sort of icebreaker. So yeah, I kind of got there early, ended up talking to somebody else about the venue because I didn't know the kind of history of it. So they that was quite interesting. They did know that history because they were from Gloucester, so that worked quite well. And I think, you know, clearly have a bit of an elevator pitch in your head, very much kind of the company and yourself. Because I think in a lot of cases, people are probably more interested in you initially than they are the company. So I think, you know, don't feel that you need to kind of have that very polished sort of, you know, this is my company, this is what we do. I think just having a bit of a backstory on yourself is quite powerful as well, because you know, people want to get to know you as an individual, really. But yeah, so I've bumped into an individual I'd never met before. Um, we've ended up doing some work together as a consequence of that. So kind of brought ourselves together, didn't realize we were working in the same area. And then following on from that, there's another ecosystem that we're looking at sort of generating with another kind of bunch of SMEs. And that company's come into that ecosystem. So, yeah, from a very initial didn't know each other type chat, we've now kind of gone into something that, you know, is actually tangible work and hopefully something bigger or a bit of a growth for both of us going forward, which should be great, hopefully.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

That's a lovely story. And I think it really sums up the commercial benefits of networking alongside those softer personal elements. You almost never know who you're going to meet or where our conversations might lead. Are you able to say any more about the type of work that came out of meeting that other SME at the FN Connect event?

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Yeah, so if you take kind of Apache IX, probably our main two customers are Defense Digital, kind of over in the Caution site, and Defense Intelligence in kind of Witten. It was a piece of work over in Defense Digital, over in kind of Caution, which, as I said, we were kind of working in the same area but weren't aware of each other. So, you know, that was a kind of initial coming together. And as a consequence, a piece of work has come out via one of the Crown Commercial or GCA now uh kind of frameworks, which we're coming together on and kind of bidding for. And like I said, pulling some other SMEs into that space. So there you go.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

That's great to hear. I'm thinking more broadly, do you think that for SMEs in particular, networking has a big part to play in business development and growth?

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Yeah, very much so. I mean, I think, you know, SMEs by default, you can't cover every event or, you know, kind of, you know, cover every portal or every framework and, you know, which they they, you know, seem to be kind of endlessly growing every kind of week of, you know, different frameworks that are coming out. So I think even just kind of covering each other's sort of you know, areas that, okay, there's a market event coming up, or there's a, you know, SME kind of ecosystem type event. I can't make it. Uh, are you going? And if somebody else is going, you know, they can they can kind of sort of feedback to you and and you can do sort of likewise. I mean, we find it quite powerful, like I said, from just covering that broader kind of framework kind of overview within within GCA now that, you know, there's clearly frameworks we're on that others aren't, and kind of vice versa. So I think, you know, just flagging up to other SMEs, look, there's an opportunity come up through this framework. It doesn't look like us, but it kind of looks like you, you know, more than happy to kind of sort of share and play that through. So yeah, I mean, I think, you know, nature of SMEs, you know, we haven't got massive bid teams, you know, we haven't got massive kind of windwork teams, you know, just sort of sharing the load between SMEs, I think is definitely the way to go in that respect. And uh, I think the way I'm kind of sort of reading procurement at the moment is, you know, there's definitely a drive and an aspiration for kind of collaboration across SMEs within bids as well. So, you know, having an SME kind of ecosystem before the bid comes out, that when it does land, you can go, right, okay, it's this kind of shape. There's three companies I know I can work with immediately rather than you've got four or six weeks to bid, uh, you're trying to pull a team together in that space. Uh, it's really hard to do. So I think having some sort of boundaries around your ecosystem of this is my capability, that's your capability. If an opportunity comes out that we can both bid on, you know, you've already got that arrangement in place, you've already talked about kind of, you know, commercials and rates and what have you. So you're very much kind of good to go. I think it would be very powerful, I think, from an SME standpoint.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

That does sound really powerful and very much a rallying call for the benefits of networking. Looking further back into your career, is there a time when networking has played a really big part or perhaps changed the direction of your career entirely?

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Yeah, very much so. Um, I mean, if if I go back a number of years ago, um, I worked for the MOD, I was a civil servant for kind of 13 years. You know, wasn't really looking at going back to the private sector. And that was purely by a networking event. I got talking to a kind of an old colleague that had left the MOD and gone to another company, said there were some sort of opportunities coming up. I hadn't seen that individual for probably a good, I don't know, two, three years. As a consequence, I ended up taking a job with that company and kind of, you know, going back to the kind of private sector and obviously then growing my career through that. So yeah, I mean, you know, quite a seismic change, I guess, from a career standpoint. But yeah, if it hadn't been for that networking event, I think, you know, wasn't even in my head at that point. So yeah, that worked really well.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

It's amazing how one seemingly small day can have such huge ramifications. If you hadn't gone to that event, things could have looked completely different.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Yeah, I think it's quite nice uh when you go to sort of a networking event with an aspiration that then just completely changes and you know you end up with a major fork in the road for your career or for the company that you just never saw coming. And I think that's a great thing with networking events. Do you know what I mean? You never know where they're really going to go. You know, I don't think I've ever been to a networking event that's been exactly the same as another. Hence, I think it's cliche and I appreciate it, but I think with networking events you kind of get out what you put in.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense. It can be a difficult time for people in the early career sector right now, with challenges on a macro level, the rise of AI and shifting job markets across sectors. What's something that's worked well for you that others could copy, especially at the start of their career?

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Yeah, coming back to my early comment, you know, sort of be yourself. I think, you know, if you are going to networking events, you know, don't put on that kind of, you know, that persona or that mask. And, you know, as I said, I think people are generally interested in talking to people. And like I said, I'm kind of a bit of an extrovert by kind of nature. So it might come a little bit easier, maybe. But yeah, I mean, I think, and just try things. I think, you know, you're not going to get a conversation if you don't turn up, you know, that's pretty much a given. So I think clearly you need to kind of pick the ones that you think are going to be most useful because you'll be doing everything. You know, probably, you know, most days of the week you could probably occupy yourself, I guess, with networking. But I think just be sort of mindful of something a bit different. I think, you know, don't naturally gravitate to the things that you think are going to be where you're going to know people because clearly earlier careers you want to kind of grow that network. Look at the agenda and the keynote speakers for a networking event as well. Um, because, you know, they might be somewhere you want to take your career. So you might be able to kind of grab a keynote speaker over a coffee or something after the event and kind of get some careers advice and talk to everybody in the room. Do you know what I mean? I think it's kind of, you know, with a name badge, you can't really tell much from a name badge. So yeah, I think just be curious in a way, but I think, you know, definitely look at those events that are sort of coming through. And, you know, I mean, probably quite fortunate. I kind of live in Bristol, so you know, it's got quite a large kind of networking kind of community. So I think if you're in kind of larger areas, it might be a little bit easier. But, you know, if you're outside of, you know, major cities, you might need to kind of sort of take one or two during the day, maybe just make your journey worthwhile. But yeah, I mean, I think, you know, definitely do your homework. I think, you know, be curious, I think be yourself, more importantly. I think people can kind of see through people quite quickly these days. It's kind of be authentic to yourself as much as anything. And as I said, don't be afraid to talk to other people in the room. You wouldn't naturally gravitate towards.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

That sounds like really valuable advice and something anyone can put into action straight away. A big part of F in Connect is around fostering innovation. And innovation as a concept can be quite difficult to pin down sometimes. Do you and Apache IX have an approach to fostering innovation that you could share with us?

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Yeah, very much so. So I think firstly, you know, we take innovation as a kind of work stream in its own right. So it is kind of sort of embedded within the culture of the company. So it's not a kind of sort of, I don't know, add-on thing that people can kind of sort of do when they've got a few hours in the day. We've got a lot of kind of internal projects that are running and then kind of other things around innovation that you know people are resourced to. So rather than a kind of, you know, you're on a project, you know, if you get a spare 10 minutes at lunch or, you know, a few hours in your own time, can you have a play with this? So yeah, we so we we we we effectively resource people into kind of innovation projects and and kind of manage them as we would any other project. So, you know, there's kind of sort of, and I know with innovation by default, you don't know where it's going to go, but we put some sort of boundaries around it and kind of how many people are kind of working on something, you know, give it a little bit of kind of sort of governance, a little bit of discipline, I guess, in kind of that respect. But yeah, I mean, I think, you know, we very much don't treat it as a kind of sort of, you know, if people could do it in their kind of spare time and kind of let us know what they've been playing with, that'd be great. You know, we do take it as is part of the company. We need it for growth, you know, we need to kind of keep ahead of the curve on kind of a number of areas. I mean, definitely kind of the DevSecOps area that we're working in at the moment, you know, technology is moving on a daily, uh weekly basis. So yeah, I think, you know, taking it seriously and I think allowing people to be curious, kind of embedding that within the culture as well. I mean, we're an employee ownership trust, which I think helps with that as well. So we're kind of, you know, we're members, not employees. So that kind of brings a slightly different cultural flavor, I think, to kind of the business. And I think also, you know, I appreciate kind of, you know, working in the defense and other areas, kind of IT can be a little bit kind of restrictive, but I think where possible, allowing people to have access to the latest tools. You know, there's nothing more frustrating than when you're kind of sat there on a company IT system and you know, you're having to do it on your sort of phone or something because clearly you can't do it via kind of corporate IT. So, I mean, there's boundaries around that, there's rules, you know, cyber essentials and all that good stuff. But I think, you know, if you can be kind of a little bit flexible and a little bit imaginative to allow people to have tools on the company IT, that does kind of help as well.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

That's a really interesting approach, especially the employee ownership trust model. Well, we've covered a lot of ground today, and it has been a really interesting conversation about networking, Apache Ajax, and your personal experiences. Just to close us off, is that an industry trend that you think isn't getting enough attention from your peers or from wider society?

SPEAKER_01 14:43

Yeah, I mean, I think kind of industry trends, you know, coming back on my earlier kind of point around that kind of sort of SME kind of ecosystem, you know, collaboration, rainbow teams, kind of various kind of phrases around it. But I think, you know, I've worked in a number of SME ecosystems over the years, which, you know, being candid turn into a bit of kind of PowerPoint and coffee, really. You're kind of talking about things, not talking about tangible things. And I think, you know, if you look at the way kind of Mobi procurement's going now, and I think definitely the appetite, even from other government departments, is is, you know, they're desperate for SMEs to come together and kind of work together in a more of a kind of collegiate type way. So I think, you know, working with other SMEs that you're in a position that you can take an opportunity when it lands, as I said, rather than kind of, you know, phoning round after you've seen it of going, Are you interested in this? It's kind of, I think, being a little bit more on the front foot, I guess, around what you want to do with SME ecosystems and kind of, you know, pulling that together is I think somewhere that, you know, definitely the customer's looking for. And I think, you know, peers need to kind of sort of get a little bit more on the front foot, maybe, around that too.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

A strong note to end on. Mark, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today on the FN Connect podcast.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

Thank you. Well, thank you for your time.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

In today's episode of F Connect Conversations, we spoke with Mark Kopp, who's a campaign executive at Apache IE. Mark is just one of the many innovative business leaders who are part of our FN Connect network. For those who aren't familiar with FN Connect, it's a community created by Fraser Nash Consultancy, specifically designed to help small and medium-sized enterprises connect, collaborate, and grow together. Through events, resources, and platforms like this podcast, we aim to create opportunities for SMEs to network, share expertise, and develop new business relationships. If you're running a small or medium business and would like to be part of our network, or if you'd like to be featured on a future episode, please visit our website to learn more. Today's episode was created using AI technology from a company called Aloudable. The content was based on a real interview and was regenerated, edited, and produced with the help of AI technology. Thank you for listening to FN Connect Conversations. We look forward to bringing you more stories from our network soon.