About
The founder who still writes the code.
I’ve run a company, carried its P&L and written the software it runs on at the same time. That’s what I do for other people now.
Background
I’ve been building and running businesses since 2009, and for most of that time writing the software they run on and leading the teams that build it. I’ve done all three jobs in the same company, and that’s where most of what I know comes from.
I work best where someone knows what the business needs to achieve but not yet what should be built.
The person who scopes your system is the person who builds it. If the problem doesn’t need what I’m for, you’ll hear that on the first call.
I’ve had growth stall and a platform become the constraint, in a company I owned. I’ve also run R&D relief claims for a decade, so I set up the records a claim turns on from day one of a build. Whether it qualifies is your accountant’s call.
What I bring
- Building software for 13+ years, and running businesses since 2009
- Founder, CTO and CEO experience
- Raised equity investment for products I built, and won multiple grants
- A decade of R&D tax relief claims, with none lost to date
- ISO 9001, 14001 and 27001 implemented in a business I owned, 2021
- Built and led engineering and operations teams, and hired for both
Global winner, Xero Beautiful Business Fund 2024, for the business I run. Innovate UK funded.
Why I’m available
I’m CEO of a coding education business and I’m there a few days a week. Its platform has taken 241,000+ bookings (live count, August 2026). The systems and reporting I built mean it doesn’t need me standing over it, and every engagement I take ends the same way, with a handover that doesn’t depend on me.
If you want me afterwards, a retainer buys somebody accountable for the technical decisions that keep coming. It runs month to month on 30 days’ notice.
How I choose what to take on
A small number of engagements, chosen carefully.
I do the work myself, so I take on a few engagements at a time.
Where I add the most
- Someone senior has to decide what should be built
- The technical decision and the commercial one are the same decision
- It has to reach production and stay there, not stop at a prototype
- AI is involved and the data can’t leave your control
Where I’m the wrong answer
A team to manage, a start next week, or a specification that’s written and wants typing: that’s somebody else’s job, and the full list sits on the diagnostic page.
Fair questions
The ones people ask about me, not the work
Take the conflict one. I’m co-founder and CEO of an education technology business, so if you trade in that market, say so on the first call and we’ll settle it before anything else is agreed: a mutual NDA either way, the overlap named, and I turn down work where I couldn’t act wholly in your interest. The other two are answered on the Partner page.
Work with me
Losing time or money to something you can’t fix?
I reply within one working day to arrange a free 30-minute call.