I built my own UX agency from scratch with no investment, grew it to a team of 15, and ran it for nearly 13 years before exiting.
Along the way, I learned what it actually feels like to carry everything in your head. Client delivery. Team decisions. Firefighting. The quiet weight of being responsible for other people’s livelihoods.
After the exit, I led global operations and teams at Ipsos, an 18,000-person research agency. That experience taught me what works at scale, what breaks when no one is paying attention, and how much unnecessary complexity builds up inside businesses over time.
Before founding my own agency, I spent years working inside agencies large and small, as well as organisations like the BBC where I commissioned work from multiple agencies. I’ve seen agency life from most angles, junior team member, senior leader, founder, client, board member, and now advisor.
But the most valuable part of my background is not just agency experience.
It is the 25 years I have spent in customer research and applied psychology. I began my career as a usability engineer and human factors specialist, trained to understand how people actually think, decide, and behave.
That training shapes how I approach business problems today.
I listen to the people involved first. To founders. To teams. To clients. I look for the gaps between what they need and where those needs are not being met. That is where the real work usually sits.
Why I Work With Founders
I have been in your shoes.
I know what it is like when the business you built starts running you. When every decision lands on your desk. When stepping away feels risky because too much depends on you being there. When you wake at 3am with ideas, issues, and unfinished thoughts.
I also know it does not have to be that way.
Now, I enjoy helping founders reduce the load they are carrying, work through what is getting in the way, and design a role for themselves that gives them energy rather than draining it.
If you might need any of this, I’d love to talk.
You can connect with me on LinkedIn or get in touch directly. Or, if it’s helpful, here’s a PDF of my CV