If I could jump in a time machine and visit my first startup 20 years ago, I’d have a few choice words for my younger self. That business was the WordPress equivalent of its time – no-code software to build simple websites. The problem? We spent too much time building and not enough time understanding…
From the outside, success often looks effortless. Like a great athlete, an incredible singer, or a brilliant performer, successful businesses and software appear as if they’ve always been that way.But behind the scenes, there’s a different story: endless thought, effort, discussions (and sometimes arguments), testing, pivoting, feedback, and iteration.💡 Over the past 10 years, the…
OK, apologies for the clickbait… but it’s true. 🤣 The first time was awful – completely unexpected and terrible timing. I had a young family and half the rest of the IT industry seemed to be in the same boat. I had no Plan B, and the shock hit hard. What followed were weeks (though…
Following on from my previous post about being a generalist versus mastering a single discipline, I’ve been thinking a lot about 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 – specifically, how we approach learning in a world where technology is evolving at an unprecedented rate. I often speak with people who feel worried or anxious about the pace of change. They…
Ever tried entering a password on a smart TV? It’s like writing a novel with an Etch-a-Sketch! That’s the kind of clunky design process we’ve all experienced. It’s frustrating, slow, and makes you wonder why technology – meant to make life easier – can sometimes feel so hard to use. I had my own “aha!”…
The biggest barrier to digital transformation isn’t technology – it’s people. Here’s how we’re tackling the resistance to change, one habit at a time.When we create a new solution – whether it’s an entirely new product or just an added feature – there’s always a balancing act between the technology itself and the people who…
I’ve often wondered what makes a successful startup. Based on my own experience, I believe it comes down to three core pillars that must come together for a startup to thrive.Let’s start with each pillar: 1. The Technical-First Startup: This is the startup that has a solid idea and the technical ability to create a…
One of my earliest journeys into entrepreneurship, around 20 years ago, was with a friend. We had been asked to do websites for clients, but we were getting bored of doing the same thing repeatedly. This was in the early 2000s, and we decided – naively – to create a platform that allowed clients to…
Spoiler – I don’t! What’s been your career path? When you were younger or just leaving school, did you have a clear idea of what you wanted to do? Were you one of those fortunate people who, from early on, knew they wanted to be a doctor, a nurse, an engineer, or a teacher, and…
This is a game I used to play with my kids. But it came to mind more recently when we have been looking into what Research and Development actually entails. Is anything truly an invention or simple a build on something that came before. Is any innovation completely new or novel? However you define the…