ABOUT ME
Why I do this Now
Founding, growing and running a business is a never-ending learning curve, that’s the appeal. What you need at the start (scrapping, doing everything yourself) is very different from the leadership that lets others thrive across time zones. The experiments, missteps, crises and wins leave you with a broad skills mix and, more importantly, habits and instincts for sound decisions.
I reached a natural inflection point and chose to put that experience behind good people doing important work, early-stage and small businesses with the potential to make things genuinely better. You know it when you see it: a useful idea that, executed well, nudges the world towards something more sustainable, human and frankly sane.
People over products
A degree in Medical Microbiology taught me the lab wasn’t my path. I moved into life sciences recruitment and spent years supporting biotech and pharma teams from R&D to market. I loved the interpersonal diplomacy: bringing the right people together, aligning expectations, and laying the groundwork for lasting working relationships. The best emails arrive years later “that move changed my career” a reassuring reminder that the head-in-hands moments were worth it.
From Spare Room to Succession
In 2007, with two colleagues, I co-founded a consultancy with a simple ethos: do the best work we can and treat everyone as we’d expect—honestly, respectfully, as equals. We grew from a spare room (best commute of my life) to a multinational SME across the UK, Europe and the US. Growth meant constant learning: diversification, leadership development, keeping culture intact while expanding, and moving quickly without lowering the bar. We often took two steps forward and one spectacular step back—then adjusted and went again. Along the way I completed an MSc in Business & Organisational Psychology, became an accredited Executive Coach, and saw first-hand how powerfully new theoretical learning can translate into tangible results.
When the time was right, I handed day-to-day leadership to a professional CEO and moved into a non-executive role.
Where I am now
I work as a mentor, advisor and connector for founders and small-business leaders. I’m based in Wānaka, Aotearoa New Zealand, with my wife, Nikki, and our three boys, and I work across time zones. I’m especially drawn to health tech, clean energy, green construction, industrial symbiosis, agri-tech, food security, and adjacent fields.
Values, plainly: respect and honesty; generative challenge; evidence and practicality.
Credentials: BSc Medical Microbiology, MSc Business & Organisational Psychology, accredited Executive Coach, Certified Member, Institute of Directors (NZ). Earlier, I founded and led a firm that grew to over 80 people and US$2.3m annual profit.
LET’S TALK
Everything begins with a conversation, whether it becomes a working relationship, or remains simply a chance to learn something new.