As a self-confessed former frustrated civil servant, James Herbert set himself on a mission to help scale the public sector’s digital transformation. It’s a big feat, but he launched Foundry4 to do just that. They provide teams of experts to solve complex problems for large organisations through end to end solutions across insights, strategy and delivery. James has worked with Cabinet Office teams designing the G-Cloud procurement framework, the foundations of the Digital Marketplace and the wor...
Apr 13, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 27
As an ex-contractor himself, Dave Chaplin wrote and published the first ever interactive online IR35 tax calculator. IR35 refers to the UK's anti-avoidance tax legislation designed to tax 'disguised' employment at a rate similar to employment. And as it sounds, it can get messy. I’m super excited to catch up with Dave again to hear more about how IR35 may affect you this year. Dave is the Founder and CEO of ContractorCalculator and CEO of IR35 Shield. He assists with IR35 tax tribunals, and regu...
Mar 26, 2021•40 min•Ep. 26
Today’s guest is a serial entrepreneur focused on sustainability in the food and energy sectors. Huw Thomas is the Cofounder, President and COO at Counterfactual Ventures, a venture studio focused on filling gaps in the alt-protein industry to accelerate the 'protein transition'. With a background in computer engineering and renewable energy, it’s been a fascinating journey for Huw. He was the COO of cultivated meat startup New Age Meats, co-founder of renewable energy consultancy SCENE, and CEO...
Mar 04, 2021•52 min•Ep. 25
Embracing your uniqueness and authentic voice has been the driving force behind today’s guest success as a leader. Yamini Rangan is the Chief Customer Officer at HubSpot and is working on some ambitious goals for the leading CRM provider. Driven by the motto “helping is the new selling”, I loved learning more about Yamini’s insights into sales and marketing. Coming from an engineering background, Yamini has learnt how sales goes hand-in-hand with technology. With over 24 years experience across ...
Feb 09, 2021•46 min•Ep. 24
Bitcoin has been in the news recently, the price has hit an all-time high but opinion remains divided. Enthusiasts call it the perfect modern money system yet critics dismiss it as a bubble that resembles a Ponzi scheme. My guest today is the host of the world's #1 bitcoin podcast, "What Bitcoin Did". He isn't a software engineer or monetary economist, he is just a regular guy from Bedford who isn't afraid to ask basic fundamental questions as to why this technology is potentially going to chang...
Jan 21, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 23
Sina left university prematurely to pursue entrepreneurial endeavours. “.. in the right place at the right time”. His company Yoello has achieved incredible growth in 2020. The app-less mobile ordering and payment solution is now used by thousands of high street restaurant and hospitality businesses, including Burger King, Subway, and The Grand, York, allowing them to serve their customers securely, efficiently and rapidly. In this Tech Leaders’ Podcast, Gareth talks to Sina about the path to me...
Jan 06, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 22
The pandemic has forced thousands of Brits to overcome their fear of technology, to embrace this digital world and develop skills to stay connected, both on a personal and professional level. Gareth talks to Kerensa Jennings, BT Group Director of Digital Impact. They discuss her amazing career, working with the likes of legendary broadcasters like David Frost and David Attenborough through to the amazing work she is currently involved with at BT. Kerensa’s career path has been far from linear, h...
Dec 16, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 21
Gareth interviews CTO of Welsh Water, Rob Norris. Following a piece of impromptu advice from a school friend, Rob embarked on a career in IT, working on some huge projects for diverse and corporate organisations across the UK, culminating in his current position as Chief Technology Officer within a critical national infrastructure organisation. Rob speaks candidly about his humble beginnings, his experience of working in a start-up, the evolution of cyber threats and the importance of challengin...
Nov 24, 2020•56 min•Ep. 20
Gareth interviews Paul Clark, CTO of Ocado Group – the company transforming online groceries through a suite of technology, including robotics, AI & ML. Having joined in 2006, Paul talks candidly about the journey from being a start-up UK grocer, to becoming a global technology provider. They discuss AI, Quantum Computing, Digital Twins and other forward-looking endeavours for Ocado and the wider tech industry. Paul also gives us his views on the current situation and the lessons learned fro...
Nov 03, 2020•54 min•Ep. 19
Gareth interviews Mark Rice who is CIO at global language services provider, thebigword. With almost two decades experience leading commercial and technology departments for national and multi-national companies, Mark's career spans industries including manufacturing, logistics consultancy and most recently language services, where he was promoted to CIo after 11 months! Mark is a product-led leader and talks us through this, along with his experience of implementing efficiency, managing conflic...
Oct 14, 2020•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 18
Gareth interviews Peter Dowds, founder of Elder HQ, an alternative to residential care homes and one of the fastest growing companies in the UK, aiming is to reshape how society looks after their elderly. Following a stint with a global law firm and couple of business ventures, Peter got involved in the later-life care sector, having seen an opportunity based the high demand for care options, driven by a rapidly ageing population. They discuss Peter's experiences of growing a company and disrupt...
Sep 24, 2020•53 min•Ep. 17
Gareth interviews Ryan Prince - co-founder and vice-chairman of Realstar Group, who runs a large portfolio of commercial properties across the UK, he founded concept developer, UNCLE, who mix co-working space with, amenity-rich living space, catering to millennial and Gen Z professionals in major UK cities. He also co-founded early-stage venture capital firm, iGabriel at the age of just 21. They unpack this, his experience of investing in early-stage businesses, and Ryan's predictions for the wo...
Sep 10, 2020•50 min•Ep. 16
Gareth interviews Vishal Chatrath, a serial entrepreneur with an inspirational story. They discuss his entrepreneurial endeavours and what it takes to grow, autonomous effective teams in the current climate. His current venture, Prowler.io are a research-led AI/machine learning start-up who build autonomous agents for games and decision-support simulations. They focusing on behavioural learning and simulation in virtual environments and use inverse reinforcement learning and deep reinforcement l...
Aug 25, 2020•57 min•Ep. 15
Gareth Interviews Luke Hakes who's one of the partners at Octopus Ventures, one of the biggest VC funds in Europe. Luke did a PhD in computational genetics and unexpectedly went on to join Octopus in the early stages, in what could be described as opportune circumstances. He has since had a fantastic career in venture capital, overseeing multiple success stories with some of the UK's most innovative tech companies. He currently runs a hugely successful health-tech portfolio, at the forefront of ...
Aug 06, 2020•49 min•Ep. 14
Gareth interviews Carwyn Jones MS, a Welsh Labour politician who served as First Minister of Wales, and Leader of the Welsh Labour party from 2009 to 2018. An advocate of technology and progress, Carwyn was instrumental in upgrading the connectivity and network infrastructure of Wales, and has recently been advising technology businesses on strategy and governance. We also cover the current challenges for businesses in these unprecedented times, his big decision to leave politics next year, and ...
Jul 22, 2020•48 min•Ep. 13
Gareth interviews the CIO of Deliveroo Will Sprunt. Following graduating from Cambridge University, Will had an early taste of starting a business and then embarked on a career in data analytics, culminating in being promoted to his current role within popular food delivery service, Deliveroo. We cover lots of ground, including the importance of being bilingual (that includes being able to code) for creativity, his crash-course in entrepreneurialism and we unpack his impressive career trajectory...
Jul 08, 2020•50 min•Ep. 12
Bruce Daisley grew up on a council estate in Birmingham. Twenty years on, having worked in radio and magazines, he’s held leadership roles game-changing technology firms like YouTube, Google and most recently was Vice President for Twitter EMEA. His 2019 book on improving work culture, “The Joy of Work”, was a Sunday Times number one business bestseller and also went on to be named The Financial Times - Book of the Month. Bruce also hosts a chart-topping podcast, “Eat Sleep, Work, Repeat" and of...
Jun 24, 2020•57 min•Ep. 11
Gareth Interviews Kevin Goldsmith, CTO of London based, identity verification provider Onfido. An engineer by trade, Kevin cut his teeth at Microsoft in the 1990's, and was a member of the Windows Media, Windows CE, and Microsoft Research teams at a time when they were scaling into the global behemoth they are today. He was also the Director of Engineering at Adobe Systems for nine years through a similar growth trajectory and also the VP of Engineering, at Spotify where he led, both product dev...
Jun 10, 2020•54 min•Ep. 10
Gareth interviews Ed Dixon, CEO of Bayezian, a talent incubator who aim to bridge the gap between education and industry by providing vocational coaching and placements services within Data Analytics and Data Science. We discussed setting up a business in 2020, Gareth interviews Ed Dixon, CEO of Bayezian, a talent incubator who aim to bridge the gap between education and industry by providing vocational coaching and placement services within Data Analytics and Data Science. We discussed setting ...
May 28, 2020•46 min•Ep. 9
Gareth interviews Gareth Lewis the CEO of Delio. Gareth set up Delio 5 years ago at the age of 25 and now oversee's a trans-Atlantic operation, providing a white-label software platform to organisations like investment banks, wealth managers, and family offices. They have exciting growth plans and a very bright future. We talk about growth, culture and maintaining productivity and culture through this lockdown period. https://www.bedigitaluk.com/...
May 06, 2020•49 min•Ep. 8
Gareth interviews Henri Moissinac a computer science PhD from Paris who set up a highly successful e-commerce platform called iBazar in the late 90s which firstly was in competition with then got acquired by eBay in 2001. Henri then went on to work for the likes of Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook and Travis Kalanick at Uber, leading mobile strategy. Notably, Henri was instrumental in taking Facebook from 1 million to 1 billion mobile users during his tenure. His latest venture is DOTT, an exciting e...
Apr 16, 2020•48 min•Ep. 7
Gareth interviews entrepreneur and philanthropist, Michael Tobin OBE who has had a colourful career from moving pianos around Old Kent Road to leading one of the biggest data centre companies in the world. An amazing story full of value. We cover pitfalls, comebacks and the impact of the recent pandemic on UK business. https://www.bedigitaluk.com/
Mar 31, 2020•32 min•Ep. 6
This month Gareth interviews, Gloucestershire based tech entrepreneur Chris Morling. Whilst working for Oracle and encouraged by his partner, Chris decided to take the plunge and set up his first business in 1999, a financial directory website and then went on to create over 50 websites in the early days of the affiliate marketing boom. With ambitions to create a business that made a real difference, money.co.uk was born and Chris spent the next 10 years building this innovative company into a m...
Mar 10, 2020•44 min•Ep. 5
Dave Chaplin is a prominent commentator and campaigner in the opposition to the off-payroll regulations and is the Founder of contractorcalculator.co.uk and ir35shield.co.uk. Dave has an impressive breadth of knowledge on this subject and delivers a narrative to thousands of UK based contractors through the various social media channels as this unfolds. We discuss the story and initial intent of ir35 legislation from its conception in 1999 under Gordon Brown, through to the recent changes and en...
Feb 25, 2020•37 min•Ep. 4
This month Gareth interviews Chief Technology Advocate of Starling Bank, Jason Maude. Starling Bank have spearheaded a new wave of challenger banks, who have managed, through technology innovation, to disrupt an industry which has remained largely unchanged for 150 years. Jason talks about his progression from being an engineer within an asset management consultancy through to becoming a tech leader in a rapidly growing organisation, built upon the objective of disrupting a broken banking system...
Feb 06, 2020•54 min•Ep. 3
bedigital bring you conversations with established tech leaders influencing UK business today. From the challenges of sustainable growth, through to continuous innovation and everything in-between. These are the behind-the-scene stories and personal anecdotes of the leaders who are turning concepts into reality. This months guest, Timo Boldt, really did help trail-blaze a new market category in the UK, alongside his business partner, and following a life-changing holiday to Italy, he left a very...
Jan 16, 2020•35 min•Ep. 2
bedigital bring you conversations with established tech leaders influencing UK business today. From the challenges of sustainable growth, through to continuous innovation and everything in-between. These are the behind-the-scene stories and personal anecdotes of the leaders who are turning concepts into reality. https://www.bedigitaluk.com/
Dec 03, 2019•25 min•Ep. 1
