Meet a Millennial: Ben Morfoot, Head of Product and Data at Disciple Media
Can you briefly introduce yourself?
I’m Ben Morfoot and work as the Head of Product and Data at Disciple Media. We build and power apps for content creators for example music artists like Rudimental and Luke Bryan. Fans can download the app and get exclusive content, the band use it to publish the content. Disciple develops the single platform which powers all the apps.
What do you do as Head of Product and Data?
My focus is on designing the new features and enhancements that make the apps more valuable to the content creators and users, and capturing and using the data captured to inform decisions — both for the company and artists.
How do you explain this job to your parents?
Product can be pretty hard to explain. I sit in the middle and guide the platform in the right direction, making sure everyone has input but that we don’t end up with decision by committee.
What were content creators doing before Disciple came to market?
Creators were using a range of platforms to engage with their fans, and these channels are still great, we encourage our content creators to continue using them. We are however a step beyond this where the creators own the platform and the relationship with their fans, they aren’t playing by the rules of Facebook or Youtube.
If they wanted to grow a closer relationship with their fans they could either spend more time and energy on social networks but not own the data or alternatively pay a one off app development fee, but this is very expensive. We combine a User Interface, feature set and quality of tech comparable with a large social network, along with the fact you own the platform and data directly. Plus we throw in expertise around content built from guiding other creators through the same thing.
How did you get in to Product Management?
There isn’t really an established route to Product Management. I read Physics at university and realised I didn’t want anything to do with it again, apart from gravity, electro-magnetism and the strong and weak nuclear forces, they’re all useful, but I don’t want to study them. I realised my heart and soul was in technology but not necessarily hands on software engineering although I did work as a freelance developer during university.
I joined Accenture, and worked in large, complicated corporate tech projects. I was there for three years working across a lot of industries. I learnt a lot there but wanted to get involved with the burgeoning London startup scene. I joined as employee no. 1 at Disciple working between the founders and an outsourced dev team. We have since moved the dev team in-house, expanded the marketing and other teams and my product role grew out of the intersection of these business areas.
What is your earliest memory of technology?
My first real wow moment was when I saw the internet. My dad owned a bakery and for some reason decided that the internet was important so bought a computer connected on a 28kbps line. It opened on to the BT homepage with a picture of the world. I had heard about the Internet on TV and the concept just blew my mind. I must have been 7 or 8 and remember thinking ‘this is everything’, and I haven’t stopped being wowed by it since. It’s pretty easy to take it for granted now.
What’s the technology trend you were on the wrong side of?
I really hated, until about 6 years ago, hated the idea of gadgets coming together. Why would you have your digital camera in your phone, it’s the most ridiculous thing ever, a phone is for phoning people! I hadn’t made the leap of how this could happen and what it would mean. The iPhone is now the most used camera in the world. So basically I thought smartphones were a ridiculous idea.
What tech couldn’t you live without?
Excluding the boring answers of my phone (iPhone 6s), laptop (Mac), transportation I would say my headphones (B&W c5). Whenever I’m feeling like I need a boost or to reflect I plug my headphones in. Even when I’m at home I don’t play music out loud.
What apps do you use the most:
I’m a massive security freak. I’d really recommend LastPass or alternatives which allow you to have incredibly secure passwords that you don’t need to remember. It allows me to have complex and unique alpha-numeric passwords for everything and all I need to do is remember one single password. Plus it works across my phone and laptop.
The search algorithm on Google Photos is insane. You cans search for ‘dog’ or ‘boat’ and it will find photos with a dog in the background or everything from when I was on a boat last summer.
I’m also playing about with wireless lighting in my flat so use LightwaveRF for that.
What is your main way of communicating with friends?
I find voice awkward with friends unless it is face to face. It is either for when I have to sort something out or checking in with my parents.
It took me a while to understand why I would use different channels to chat. I started using WhatsApp because not all my friends had an iPhone and now I’d say I have a 50/50 split between iMessage and WhatsApp. I have used Snapchat but don’t have a critical mass of friends on it. When I was on holiday last year with some friends who are a couple of years younger they were on Snapchat a lot and I felt like my dad. I just about know how to use it, but just don’t as I don’t have enough people around me using it.
How do you access the news?
I’m in a constant state of guilt that I haven’t optimised how I access news. I use BBC for primary current affairs information, then go on to a variety of sites for specific domain information. I tend to sign up for daily or weekly summaries from sites as I don’t check news during the day. I’m also using Feedly but am still working on getting that set-up right for me.
What support network have you had around you throughout your career?
For emotional support I have my family but they don’t really understand my job so can’t help in that area. Friends can help a bit, but again don’t really understand my field.
It is mainly a selection of people I have met over the years who have a deep understanding of technology at this scale and rate of growth. There isn’t a frame of reference between Accenture and where I am now which means it’s impossible to get specific advice from old mentors. They can provide smart opinions and general support but not with the specificity I need.
What are the characteristics of the ideal person to talk to?
They have to be pragmatic and give actionable advice, recommending useful tools and techniques that have been used, or are using now. Ideally they are going through the same journey as me, not reflecting on it philosophically. There is a neutrally and challenge that I look for and it needs to be a two way conversion.
What piece of advice has stuck with you?
I remember reading The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki where he said “Focus on making meaning, not money” and that really stuck with me. If you do something you love then you will do it well and find a way to monetise it.
What changes have you seen in the workplace since you joined?
Tech is become more consumerised in the workplace. There was a resistance from employers to employees using their own phones, tablets or note taking apps like Evernote in the workplace, simply because they weren’t secure or centrally controlled. They gradually realised that employees will use these things anyway whether you let them or not as the experience with consumer tech was just much better than with anything provided by work. The focus has shifted to embracing and legitimising these consumer technologies and ensuring they can be used in a secure way. If you look at Github for example they are used by a lot of developers, so they can go to companies and say that X% of your workforce are already using us so why don’t you buy this Enterprise licence and gain this security and feature set — a B2D2B business model.
Did your education prepare you for the world of work?
I don’t think doing the ECDL in an IT class at school was that useful. Word processing, Access databases — the full Microsoft stack is not really what people need. Not everyone needs to learn to code, but we need to spark a broader interest in tech in those coming through education now. We need to keep excitement going for building tech and not just using it.