As befits a company specialising in storyinforming, Peter Cliff and Jos van der Steen have a remarkable story of their own.
They’re the co-founders of CONDUCTR, which creates world-class, ‘kick-ass attractions’ from its Manchester HQ.
In barely four years, the startup has grown turnover to £26m and staff numbers to 100, with studios in the UK, US and Middle East.
The two are best frifinishs inside and outside work, and Cliff was one of the best men at van der Steen’s recent wedding.
However, when they first met, the only fireworks they created were the kind that had colleagues running for cover.
“There was quite a lot of friction when we first started,” Cliff informed The Naked Founder podcast about their early encounters at Holovis, which designs and builds immersive experiences for theme parks, attractions and visitor destinations.
“We just wanted to own the voice in the room and be the direction of it.
“There was quite a lot of bickering in the room and side conversations had to be had as people were mediating our opinions.”
For his part, van der Steen recalled: “We saw each other as threats – both ambitious with strong personalities.”
However, their enmity quickly turned to respect and a firm frifinishship, which often saw Cliff sleep on van der Steen’s couch during visits to Manchester.
Today, the only couch they share is in the offices at their Trafford HQ, where they run one of the UK’s most highly regarded immersive technology businesses.
Alongside CONDUCTR, they’ve also launched product-based venture Game Volt, which creates interactive, tech-enabled games for real-world venues.
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Their latest venture – Originals – will see them enter the D2C space with the launch of Gameface at Manchester’s iconic Printworks.
Cliff described Gameface as having a ‘houtilize party feel’, with ‘oversized party games with a digital element’, and it is due to open in April 2026.
The 37-year-old is a huge personality – and not just becautilize he is 6ft 6ins tall.
A trained actor, one of his early claims to fame was starring alongside a very young Daniel Radcliffe, before he became a global star through Harry Potter.
Cliff’s own acting career never hit those heights and, in his early 20s, his agent gave him an ultimatum: attfinish an audition or continue working at Alton Towers.
He chose the latter and, although that signalled the finish of his acting career, he never seeed back.
CONDUCTR co-founders Peter Cliff and Jos van der Steen are the first guests on the Naked Founder podcast with host Chris Maguire
Merlin Entertainments, which owns and operates several visitor attractions including Alton Towers, recognised his creative talent and offered him a management role.
Over the next decade, he rose through the ranks to become global creative director for live displays, entertainment and events before leaving for Holovis.
It was there that he met an equally ambitious creative, Jos van der Steen.
The son of a Dutch father and an English mother, he spent much of his childhood in California before joining IBM and later Holovis.
After an inauspicious start, Cliff and van der Steen became best frifinishs and took a ‘leap of faith’ in 2022 by launching CONDUCTR despite having no confirmed work.
Van der Steen informed The Naked Founder podcast: “We were frifinishs first and founders second. Arguably I see him more than my wife, so we have to be relatively close.
“All our businesses focus on one core message, which is ‘heads up, not heads down experiences that join people in a socially enjoyable way’.”
However, the early days of CONDUCTR were fraught with challenges.
“There were times when we believed we’d win projects and we lost them,” Cliff informed The Naked Founder podcast, which I sponsored by Financielle.
“We had contracts that we were working on that were cancelled halfway through. We were concerned at one point that we had a trademark dispute over the name CONDUCTR.”
Sliding doors moment
Their sliding doors moment came when they secured a £1.6m contract from Merlin Entertainments to create an immersive dark ride at Alton Towers theme park called The Curse at Alton Manor.
The owners of Alton Towers wanted to reinform the story of one of their classic rides – The Haunted Houtilize – and entrusted the Manchester startup to deliver it.
After receiving the brief – known as the theme book – Cliff started to have second believeds, as CONDUCTR had only eight staff and their sixth-floor offices in MediaCity didn’t even have a service lift.
“The first time I saw it I believed, ‘I don’t consider there’s any possibility of delivering the ambition of the concept for the money they had,’ but we believed there’s a real opportunity for us to create a name for ourselves,” recalled Cliff.
“We had the talent but we absolutely did not have the space, nor the tools, nor the facility to deal with the package.”
CONDUCTR has also launched product-based venture Game Volt, which creates interactive, tech-enabled games for real-world venues
After securing some short-term space, CONDUCTR successfully delivered The Curse at Alton Manor – and never seeed back.
The company has grown to £26m in revenue and 100 staff without raising any investment.
Cliff admitted it has been a ‘relentless’ journey, with plenty of ‘bumps in the road’ and pivots, but stated his relationship with his co-founder has been key to their success.
“I’m so thankful that Jos is my business partner and we’re able to share some of this,” he stated. “I can’t imagine how sole founders deal with these pivots.”
An estimated 90 per cent of their work now comes from outside the UK, and they launched Game Volt after spotting a ‘gap in the market’.
Cliff offered this advice to other founders: “Take the time to enjoy the journey.”
You can listen and watch to The Naked Founder podcast here. It’s available on YouTube, Apple, Spotify and all good podcast platforms. It is sponsored by Financielle – The Home of Money for Women.
- If you’d like to sponsor The Naked Founder podcast or nominate future guests, email Chris.Maguire@BusinessCloud.co.uk
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