“The old believe everything; the middle-aged suspect everything; the young know everything.” Oscar Wilde There’s a temptation as a young entrepreneur to pretend like you know everything. And that’s not your fault. Remember being in class and feeling like you would absolutely die if you were called on…
One of the most underrated skills all good founders have
A quick one for your Monday morning, before you tackle your weekend backlog of emails! I met with a founder of a successful London based startup at the weekend. Sitting and listening to her story, the problems both she and her startup have faced, I couldn’t help but notice…
5 lessons Richard Branson has taught me
Over the past week I’ve spent a lot of time listening and learning from Sir Richard Branson. As I’m sure you know Richard Branson (@richardbranson) is founder and chairman of The Virgin Group. He’s a world-famous entrepreneur, adventurer, activist, and business icon. He has launched a dozen billion-dollar businesses…
A few of my favourite snaps from NYC & Boston
Last week I had the honour of being invited to Forbes’ Under 30 Summit in Boston. Overall, the event ran very smoothly. Something I felt lucky to be part of. The speaker line-up was great, as were the networking opportunities and the chance to explore a beautiful city. I…
A brief introduction to share options for startup employees
Employee ownership is a defining characteristic of startup culture. Founders have embraced share options as a core fundamental to compensate for the high risk nature. Share options help align and retain employees. They also reward value creation and encourage long term thinking. Personally, I can’t imagine starting a business…
10 things first time founders typically get wrong when fundraising
In conjunction with my new book being released – get it here ???? – I wanted to write a post on what I see first time founders typically get wrong when they embark upon their first fundraising journey. It’s true, there’s unprecedented levels of cash being funnelled toward startups, see…
Just published my first book!
I would venture to guess that on a survey of bucket lists, publishing a book would rank in the top 10%, probably somewhere near running a marathon (which I am yet to do!). My bucket list was no different. I’ve always loved reading, writing, learning and consuming. And so,…
Founders, don’t fail because you overlooked these simple things
As you no doubt know In a high growth startup there’s tonnes going on. It’s super easy to forget a lot of things – especially as CEO or Founder. I wanted to use this post for some simple quick wins that have helped me over the past decade. This…
4 Predictions for the future of advertising and digital marketing
I’ve always been fascinated with advertising; specifically, digital marketing. I think it’s due to the intersection in which it sits — part mathematics, part art, part communication. Plus, who doesn’t get that warm fuzzy feeling when you push a campaign live and start seeing people hit your website or…
Founding a tech startup when you don’t code
The volume of inbound questions I get from founders is great ???? it has given me enough to material to write about for the next month — hopefully you find the topics I’m writing about helpful. If so, please do reach out and let me know. One question that…