What I offer
CEO support
I help CEOs identify, understand, prioritise and tackle their biggest opportunities and risks with confidence. This includes strategy, finance, product, hiring, go-to-market, international, org design and stakeholder management. I also help you leverage expertise from TPC's 12,000+ global members.
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Building a global pool of world class mentors
Ambitious founders, CEOs and their teams need great mentors to help them solve complex problems and build amazing companies. Our rigorous course helps leaders with business building experience become world-class, accredited mentors and find fascinating, paid mentoring, advisory and board work.
Public speaking & executive education
I speak at events and run workshops - from big conferences to company offsites - on subjects such as 1) the future of work, 2) the merging of advertising with eCommerce, social media, chatbots and the metaverse, 3) big tech & generative AI, 4) innovation, entrepreneurialism and growth.
Helping professionals launch, manage and grow their portfolio careers
If you want to launch, focus or boost your portfolio career, consider our Catapult Course (on which I teach). In eight modules we help you work out your focus, monetisable skills, offering, differentiation, personal brand, target customers, pricing, business development approach and much more.
Investor insights, deal flow & due diligence
I support investors (public markets, private equity and venture capital) understand how industries are evolving, plus find investment opportunities and screen potential investments. Industries include advertising, eCommerce, social media, the Metaverse, the future of work, education and more.
Walking meetings
If you want to brainstorm your company or career strategy - on foot, at speed, whatever the weather - around the charming streets, bridges and parks of Chelsea and Battersea, give me a shout
Experiences
COO Google Europe
From 2007-09 I 'wrote the blueprint' for how Google monetises audiences - Search, YouTube, App Store, Maps etc. - then led countless initiatives to turn Google into the money-making machine that it is today. We tripled revenue in 3 years and Europe was recognised as the best-run part of Google.
Board Member & Mentor - Various
Board member/ advisor/ mentor for several entrepreneurial businesses - including Lapland UK, MoneyPlus, CloudNC, Hypervolt, Judge Me, Yoxly, The Webinar Vet, Optimi Health and Goodsted. I love rolling my sleeves up and helping CEOs build world-leading companies ....
Group CEO, Adknowledge
Led the largest (PE-backed) adtech company in the US. Grew revenue from $120m to $350m and EBITDA from zero to $31m. Prepared the company for an IPO, then pulled it due to market conditions. Won best place to work 2014. Eventually broke up the company and sold the business units separately.
Author: Marketing For CEOs - Death Or Glory In The Digital Age
With marketing changing dramatically - overwhelming data, smartphones, social media, AI, chatbots, the Metaverse etc - I couldn't find a decent book that mapped out how it would all fit together one day, and what the core frameworks should be. So I wrote this book, which won several awards.
Nurturing Security Innovation
GALLOS invests in and builds early-stage (Seed to Series B) security technology companies focused on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data analytics, sensors, and autonomous systems (UAVs). The Portfolio Collective is a partner of GALLOS and we help them build awesome teams and companies.
Mentor & Lecturer - Oxford University
I support the Said Business School and other Oxford startup institutions. I teach on the future of work & education, entrepreneurship, innovation and more. I also mentor startups coming out of various Oxford innovation initiatives.
Military Engineering
As a Civil Engineer and officer in the Royal Engineers, I spent a decade building things and blowing stuff up around the world. This included relieving the Siege of Sarajevo in 1995, designing various bombproof buildings in Northern Ireland and running a construction project in a Canadian winter.
Throwing the first ever private party on Alcatraz
As Group CEO of Adknowledge, at the peak of adtech excess, we had an IPO planned. To demonstrate our love of breaking new boundaries with investors, customers, partners and journalists, we hosted the first ever private party on Alcatraz, accompanied by former prisoners and guards. An epic evening!
