Two friends who met when they arrived at an Oxford college at the age of 18 are celebrating their 10th year in business. Young entrepreneurs Tom Fryer and Jasper Smith set up their company, Sparks, just three years after leaving St Peter's College.

Mr Fryer, then 24, worked in publishing, and Mr Smith in web design and IT support, so they decided to target publishing companies, who were then slowly moving on to computerising production methods.

Mr Fryer said: "We were a bit fed up with nine-to-five jobs and being told what to do. We thought we could do it ourselves.

"We were very naive about what it meant to run your own business, but we made a lot of the right decisions without really knowing why.

"One key thing that turned out to be right was that we set the business up with no borrowing and we did not get into debt.

"It was fun to see what happened, because we had nothing to lose. After the first year, we started making a profit."

They started from a basement in Jericho and a few years ago expanded into offices off Oxford's Cowley Road.

He added: "We had no idea of all the different things you have to do when you are running your own business.

"You don't realise how much is involved when you do it yourself sales and marketing, right down to boring admin stuff that you don't think about, because it's not directly making you money. It's not mentioned in your business plan, and neither is basic maintenance.

"The other thing that took us a bit by surprise was how hard it is and how many hours you have to put in you have to be flexible and do things you wouldn't do if you weren't working for yourself.

"I'm now married with a child, so my flexibility is not what it used to be. The first couple of years we were working ridiculous hours and I still occasionally put in evenings and weekends to get things done.

"You don't begrudge it when it is your own company. I would never have done that when I was working for someone else, but I don't mind now.

"I had a lot of contacts in the publishing industry and I was able to get some work through that. To begin with, most of it was word of mouth and going around local businesses asking them if they wanted any work done.

"The web was very much an unknown and most people didn't have their own website. It was a different challenge to the one we have today. We had to persuade people that it was a good idea to have a website.

"To begin with, we used to do IT support and a lot of our work at first was that, or IT tuition for very small companies, or individuals.

"Our first serious big client was Elsevier Science in Kidlington, and we still work for them. It made a big difference to us at the time and it enabled us to grow. We took on our first member of staff after a year, as a contractor at first and then full-time."

Although Elsevier is part of a huge multi-national, it needs small websites for one-off conferences and individual journals.

Sparks now has four staff involved in publishing and two involved in the technical side. Other clients include One World, Infinite Ideas, How To Books, Wiley, Taylor & Francis and Mr Fryer's former employer, Blackwell.

He said: "We manage a whole project on computer from start to finish, although we sometimes employ freelance editors.

"We turn a manuscript into a book. We never dealt with paper, although when we started most publishers still did."

In keeping with the youth of its founders, Sparks has kept an informal, friendly atmosphere and the founders pushed the boat out for the company's tenth anniversary, arranging a day of punting and picnicking on the Cherwell, rather than the usual birthday meal out.

As for the future, the company plans a gradual expansion, in line with its low-key growth so far.

"I would think that we would employ someone else this year and maybe more in future," said Mr Fryer.

"Publishing technology is going through a lot of changes at the moment and there are a lot of challenges. It's important to stay on top of it. The main competition now comes from the Far East, rather than the UK."

He added: "We work entirely electronically. It's mostly done over the phone and by e-mail, but it's important to go and see clients from time to time, so it's good that we are in Oxford and can talk to our clients face-to-face."

Contact: Sparks 01865 242406 or visit www.sparks.co.uk