What do you do at Market Gravity?

I am one of the founding partners. Building our business is really exciting, but I also love projects and the challenge of developing a new concept and getting it to market.  I’ve worked in all the big service sectors over the past 15 years, especially Retail Financial Services, Telecoms and Energy. I enjoy leading training and development events and I regularly speak to universities and companies on my favourite subject – corporate entrepreneurship.

What did you do before Market Gravity?

Before founding Market Gravity, I was a partner at Edengene where I led growth and innovation projects with companies such as BT, npower and Standard Life.  Before that I was a member of the fast-growing Digital Business Strategy team at Cambridge Technology Partners, where I launched several new internet-based ventures. 

What do people come to you to ask?

People tend to look to me for ideas on how to approach a problem or for a different view to challenge the team’s ideas.  I try to prompt our clients to think like entrepreneurs. If this was your new company, what would you do?  This always provokes a very different viewpoint in a big company.

What is your passion outside of work?

I am a retired runner, enthusiastic armchair athlete and lover of live music.

What is your favourite innovation?

Bill Bowerman, founder of Nike created my favourite innovation when he poured liquid rubber into his wife’s waffle iron to create the first modern running shoe – thanks Bill!

What did you do before Market Gravity?
Prior to joining I spent nearly a year travelling in Latin America and making a start on learning Spanish. Before then I was a consultant working on Commercial Due Diligence for Private Equity deals across multiple sectors including construction, energy and education as well as major strategy projects in the travel and support services spaces. My first job was in finance for BAE Systems.

What do people come to you to ask?
People usually pick my brains for my vast array of obscure knowledge. I'm pretty helpful for understanding the commercial background of industries, their growing trends and the strategies behind them. Friends and family tend to rope me into pub quizzes.

What is your passion outside of work?
I'm usually associated with my football team and can frequently be found screaming my lungs out on terraces supporting (or bemoaning) my beloved Burnley. I've also got a passion for travel and always on the lookout for the next cool new destination.

What is your favourite innovation?
Budget airlines are brilliant, being able to fly somewhere for the price of a cheap dinner is something that's opened up the world to so many people, whether they want to explore new places or see more of their friends and family.

What did you do before Market Gravity?

After studing economics at the University of Nottingham, I began my career running a small business and in retail as a marketing graduate with Boots. Then I worked on growing mobile internet from niche proposition to mass-market commercial scale, leading future proposition development teams for T-Mobile, and Orange at EE. Along the way, I've launched digital music, mobile TV, payment services and broadband propositions, whilst working on brand marketing projects, international proposition programmes and mobile data network strategy. Most recently, I took time out to explore Asia and Africa, looking at emerging trends.

What do people come to you to ask?

There's a new technology opportunity emerging; How do we use it to build a distinctive new proposition that works for our customers? How could we guide it through our organisation to make it a commercial success for our brand? How can we tell a great story that customers will notice when we launch? And craft beer recommendations - happy to oblige.

What is your passion outside of work?

Running keeps everything ticking over and motorbikes help me escape the everyday. Just before joining the team I completed a 5 day trek up Mount Kilimanjaro and biked 1,000km off-road through Zambia with Riders for Health. Skiing gets my alpine air fix and a fresh beer is always a good reward. I also cook a mean Thai green curry - I had a whole 1 day’s instruction in Chiang Mai.

What is your favourite innovation?

City cycle hire schemes (Paris 'Vélib', London's 'Barclays Bikes', even the Shimanami-Kaido bridges in Japan). They’re cheap, utilitarian, easy for almost anyone, good for the planet, use payment technology that works, and are a great way to see your city differently. Simple, smart city thinking. 

What do you do at Market Gravity?

As a Partner, I’m responsible for managing some of our major accounts, as well as working on a range of external and internal projects. Partners at Market Gravity aren’t like those in other firms; we’re hands-on, very involved with client work, often running sessions, designing solutions and constantly finding ways to be more disruptive in our thinking. 

What did you do before Market Gravity?

It’s all been about growth – whether in consulting (I’ve worked in both global and boutique firms), in the corporate world (I set up and ran the innovation team at VocaLink, the UK payment backbone) or in start-up mode (I’ve launch three start-ups – in MBA recruitment, digital payments and a coffee subscription business).

What do people come to you to ask?

All sorts. I have an unnatural, Jedi-like ability to find the answer to almost any question on Google. I have a habit of finding answers, even when I’m not asked, which is, I imagine, slightly annoying. 

What is your passion outside of work?

Much of my life outside work hinges around my young family. I turn to highly inefficient cars, good wine and my church in order to recover.

What is your favourite innovation?

Modern pain relief. The first mainstream forms of anaesthesia (Chloroform and Ether) were only introduced 150 years ago. Can you imagine what it would feel like to undergo serious surgery without anaesthesia? Torturous. Modern society and medicine simply wouldn’t function without it.

What did you do before Market Gravity?
My background lies in combining business thinking with design insight. I worked for various design and innovation consultancies in Germany, Spain and the UK bridging the abyss between business and design. My clients included bluechips such as Intel, Vodafone and BBVA, as well as governmental and educational institutions.

What do people come to you to ask?
Friends and family often seek me out for gift ideas, which means that during the holidays I often end up helping everyone to wrap their presents and orchestrating the whole experience. In a professional context I get asked about applying ethnographic research methodologies to business problems and how to frame immersive customer research propositions.

What is your passion outside of work?
I am very passionate about crafting, cooking, baking, repairing little fiddly things and making stuff in general. I always have some little project or other going on and love having friends over to celebrate a good meal. Currently I am experimenting with Arduino, an open-source single-board microcontroller, that was developed to make physical computing accessible to designers. By attaching sensors and interfaces to the arduino you can create interactive objects and environments.

What is your favourite innovation?
This is in a constant shift. Currently I am fascinated by innovative ways of connecting things and making them talk, so chirp.io is quite high on my list right now. It is an app that enables you to share things by turning your data into sound. Anything that has a speaker can "chirp" data - essentially turning it into a song. This song can then be decoded by anyone with the app. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_mvmu8wgRI&feature=related

What did you do before Market Gravity?

I have a media/marketing background having worked as a media planner at Universal McCann for 5 years. During this time I gained experience across all aspects of media planning and buying, focusing in particular on digital comms strategies for FMCG, Luxury, and Financial sectors. Whilst studying Economics at university, and before its demise, I also spent a brief amount of time at Lehman Brothers.

What do people come to you to ask?

I am an avid internet shopper, and as a consequence a good bargain hunter. Friends often ask me for advice on where to find things, and I am always happy to help out.

What is your passion outside of work?

Films and travelling. I love dreaming of or visiting different places and countries. Sadly I’m not a great cook, so leave my other passion food to eating out and trying new foods.

What is your favourite innovation?

Search engines.
With the help of Google I have just discovered that there are currently 644 million active web pages online, and that there are an additional 150,000 web pages created daily. There is so much information available to us via the internet, which would be so chaotic without the help of search engines.Not only can it help you answer a difficult pub quiz question, it also facilitates almost everything we do. For example in just a few quick searches I have found out that Luck Chip E2 9AG is currently voted the best place to go for a burger in London. I’ve booked a table, sent directions to a friend and have also checked out film times in the area in less than 5 minutes. Simples.

What do you do at Market Gravity?
I’m a Consultant currently working with a Life & Pensions company to transform their customer proposition and business model, taking it from a strategic vision to a realisable capability.
 
What did you do before Market Gravity?
I started my career at Deloitte Consulting working across a number of industries and clients. Just before leaving I was working in the Strategic Client Innovation Programme for the Executive to foster Innovation with clients to generate new opportunities and revenue.
 
What do people come to you to ask?
I get asked how we can take something as fragile and intangible as an idea through to a viable proposition that can be delivered. I also have an unhealthy ability to pick up random trivia…
 
What is your passion outside of work?
I am pretty eclectic in my interests from learning blues trumpet, playing Led Zeppelin (badly) on the Ukulele, driving classic cars and planning a wedding.
 
What is your favourite innovation?
The Gutenberg Press… the mechanical movable type printing Johannes Gutenberg invented… it was a key player in the development of the Age of Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution and formed the basis for humanities ability to share knowledge and understanding.

What do you do at Market Gravity?
As a Principal Consultant I design and lead projects, working closely with our clients on innovation strategies, customer propositions and ideally building fully operational new businesses from scratch.

What did you do before Market Gravity?
Lots of things. Growth strategies and start-up venture support in all sorts of areas ranging from: ice cream; underwater welding; university research and education; clean fuels; the supply of drilling rigs; cardboard recycling; energy management; mining; training; sports cars; safe water supply in India; retail banking; telecoms; oil and gas; social media; corporate sustainability; insurance. I am somewhat of a generalist

What do people come to you to ask?
How is this business going to make money? How’s it going to work? What’s going to go pear shaped and how can we try and stop it? How should we go about making it happen? Can I have a cup of tea please?

What is your passion outside of work?
Sitting on the edge of a small sailing boat for long periods of time staring at waves (or on one memorable voyage staring at icebergs, leopard seals and penguins). Trying to live a more sustainable lifestyle by riding my bike a lot, taking long train journeys and eating a bit less meat.

What is your favourite innovation?
Like finding the Higgs Bosun but with significantly more economic and social impact, in 1736  a simple carpenter solved the scientific problem of his age - longitude. Over 40 years he developed and perfected a clock that would keep perfect time at sea, allowing seafarers for the first time ever to know their exact east west location.  Modern GPS now makes it easier but John Harrison made it possible. His practical, tinkering trial and error approach ended up preventing thousands of shipwrecks, saved countless lives and completely revolutionised the cost and risk of maritime trade

What did you do before Market Gravity?

I spent 9 years working for a brand strategy agency.  It was a start-up agency with a highly established professional team. My role combined front of office and finance.  The team were small but highly eminent professionals, the clients were big and sometimes famous and we certainly punched above our weight. 

What do people come to me and ask for

My friends think I’m the voice of reason and that I’m calm and sensible.  I don’t mince my words so friends know I’m going to keep it real – so usually my friends seek advice on a broad scope of things, from career advice to relationship advice.  Also because of my background in finance I’m asked anything from what is the percentage of this to why is my tax code X

What is your passion outside work?

I love watching movies especially the kind that have you gripping on the edge of your seat and also the ones that you laugh out loud as well as have you hoping no one in the cinema sees your sore eyes because you’ve cried so much.  When I’m not laughing or crying at the cinema, I love singing and walking but not at the same time for fear of being classified insane!

What is your favourite innovation?

Thank heavens for Satellite Navigation; I would be literally lost without that little voice telling me when to turn and which lane I should be in.  A few years ago I drove not only with the biggest A to Z ever but also with a magnifying glass so that I could read the small print – I feel liberated now that I always have my sat nav with me.

What do you do at Market Gravity?

As a co-founder of the business I’m passionate about creating the best Growth and Innovation business in the UK and beyond. This starts with hiring and nurturing the very best people, which I oversee in my role as the People Partner. I also spend a lot of my time with clients, designing new customer propositions and figuring out how to get them quickly to market to have real impact.

What did you do before Market Gravity?

It’s all been about creating value for customers. After Uni I worked in advertising, managing established brands and launching new ones. Post MBA I have focused on new business creation, helping big corporates develop and launch new propositions into the market. I also had a brief entrepreneurial stint of setting up a healthy fast food franchise.

What do people come to you to ask?

Mostly big, challenging, open ended questions like, “what’s our vision for the future?”; “how can we delight our customers”? and “how should we organise ourselves for growth?”. The cool thing about what we do is it’s all about the future ... you can’t just analyse your way to the answers, it needs to be designed and then acted upon.

What is your passion outside of work?

I love being in the Alps, either skiing in the winter or walking in the summer. I’m also learning to play guitar so I can relive 80s rock ballads in the comfort of my living room.

What is your favourite innovation?

Nespresso ... it’s so simple and gets me going in the mornings!

What do you do at Market Gravity?

As a Principal Consultant I lead growth and innovation projects. Working collaboratively with clients, we help to develop innovation strategies, consumer propositions, identify development roadmaps and launch fully operational businesses within large corporate clients.

What did you do before Market Gravity?

Prior to Market Gravity I spent 3 years at a growth strategy consultancy in London, leading the delivery of brand, growth, innovation and competitor strategies for drinks firms like Diageo and Red Bull. Before that, I worked in the Strategy practice of Accenture for over 6 years, helping FTSE 100 financial services and energy firms define their corporate and functional growth strategy.

What do people come to you to ask?

Lots of things. In work it’s normally for ideas on a problem they’re looking to solve, or structuring an approach, that kind of thing.

What is your passion outside of work?

Taking big trips to far away sunny places. Squash, golf, maybe some tennis. Constantly trying sort out my decaying flat… there’s currently a massive damp patch in the middle of a wall…

What is your favourite innovation?

It’s going to make me sound lazy, but I’m going for the TV. Imagine a life without one? We’d all sit around looking at each other. Madness.

What did you do before Market Gravity?

I’ve always been interested in turning consumer insights into tangible business drivers, be they in the consumer, technology or health & wellbeing sectors. Most recently I worked at Philips in the Consumer Lifestyle Incubator, running a venture that focussed on health and wellbeing products for kids. Before that I worked at Apax Partners, Merrill Lynch and NASDAQ Europe.

What do people come to you to ask?

At the moment, I guess it’s how can you move an organisation to innovate quicker. Finding that balance between following the appropriate internal processes to demonstrate the uniqueness of your idea and robustness of your business plan, but sidestepping unnecessary steps to get your idea moving quick enough to launch ahead of the competition. Also I’m interested in rapid prototyping and what can be achieved by looking at existing categories and distribution strategies with a new perspective, and dusting off previously dismissed IP to create new low cost propositions that can help regain market leadership positions with minimal cost to the organisation and within a short space of time.

What is your passion outside of work?

Singing and running. I was never a sporty child at school and team sports have continued scare me way into adulthood. I’m much happier singing in a choir, back row of the altos, than chasing a ball round a court.

What is your favourite innovation?

It has to the MRI scanner, the ability to visualize internal structures of the body in such fantastic detail still transfixes me. I defy anyone to fail to be amazed when presented with a crystal clear image of another human’s brain or spinal cord. I think gesture sensing technologies used in combination with increasingly sophisticated imaging techniques in clinical radiology will revolutionise minimally-invasive surgery over the next 5-10 years.

What do you do at Market Gravity?

Two things. First, client work. This involves scoping out new opportunities, launching propositions and developing new strategies for clients. I also help to spread the ‘corporate entrepreneur’ word, co-writing Defying Gravity – Adventures of a Corporate Entrepreneur, the ‘business novel’ that tracks the bumpy journey of a startup within a large telco.

What did you do before Market Gravity?

I have always led a double life as a novelist and an innovation consultant. While working on my first novel, Golden Handcuffs, I worked for a consumer trends agency called The Henley Centre (now The Futures Company) and from there, I started working directly for clients including Bauer Media, The Guardian Group, Absolute Radio and Cocosa. Having published some of my own novels and undertaken the operations, distribution, marketing, finance and PR, I am well positioned to empathise with clients who lack budget, resources or industry support!

What do people come to you to ask?

I am often asked about the impact that a consumer trend or regulatory change will have on an industry, and how a business can exploit that change. An example is the digitisation of print media, which overlaps with my expertise in the book publishing world with the shift to ebooks. Business models have to change in order to monetise this shift.

What is your passion outside of work?

It’s not quite ‘outside of work’, but… Writing. I’m currently working on my seventh novel, due out in Jan 2013. I also play in a semi-professional string quartet, No Strings Attached, and I play football – somewhat less professionally! 

What is your favourite innovation?

The ebook – the most exciting and empowering innovation to hit the publishing world since Caxton and Gutenberg.