How can I be more helpful?
After an awesome 3 years at 3beards, I’ve decided to raise the stakes and take a full time role at Tech City UK, the government organisation that’s there to help UK startups learn and grow. I now have the opportunity to help startups and impact the community on so many levels, but it’s going to be hard work.
How did I get here?
I am/was an accountant and I fell into a mature startup (Touch Clarity) as the Financial Controller in 2006, I immediately knew that I was happy in that kind of environment. It was only a short stint however, as we sold the company in 2007, which was my first taste of startup M&A.
From there, I spent an even shorter time at a property startup, which was both a real disaster but also taught me some invaluable lessons!
Scarred by my startup battle, I retreated back to the security of the oil industry (where I trained). As the CFO of a $2bn turnover trading company, I learnt a lot, but after nearly 4 years and another (part) acquisition, I was ready for another challenge.
This is where it got interesting; I abandoned my finance background and jumped straight into the East London tech scene, right when Google Campus was born and when it started to change quickly around the Silicon Roundabout.
The last 3 years
Over the last few years, I’ve been fully immersed in the London (and wider) tech scene. It’s an ever changing beast and it’s great to be part of helping it grow, learn and develop into one of the most exciting tech clusters in Europe.
At 3beards we’ve run over 300 events, from casual meetups like Silicon Drinkabout to an Art/Tech Hackathon at the Tate Modern (pic). We’ve worked with everyone from side-project entrepreneurs to the Dutch Government. In short, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing a good spectrum of the UK tech ecosystem and am looking forward to seeing more.
What’s up next…
With 3beards in good hands, it’s time for me to draw on my experience and scale up my contribution to the community.
As the Head of Entrepreneur Relations at Tech City UK, I’m going to be able to reach a lot more people and boost the resources I can draw on to continue to help grow and expand the London and UK startup environment.
There are a number of programmes already in place from Tech City UK, including the Future Fifty, Tech Nation, and the Digital Business Academy. I’ll be adding to this roster with a new programme before the end of the year.
It’s going to be a challenge, there’s a huge number of stakeholders to get involved, but it’d be boring if it was easy!
I’ll also be retaining my board positions at Code Club and 3beards — the work of both these organisations is very important to me and to the community too.
How can I help?
If there’s anything you think Tech City UK can help with, please get in touch. We’re here to listen and help wherever we can. I’m going to be spending a lot of time speaking to as many people as I can to make sure we’re helping in the right way.
As a start, please click here and let me know where you need help the most by completing a few short questions (1-2 minutes).
