It started the day after Guy Kewney's hilarious interview mix-up on BBC News 24. Despite the temporary comic relief, there was a serious atmosphere. I remember sitting in the coffee room of a busy central London hotel lobby, notebook in hand, learning all about Web 2.0 and how it would change the world. I wasn't convinced and didn't realise the gravity of it at the time. But I realised there was a serious ambition in Europe to challenge Silicon Valley.
The seeds of the modern European startup scene were planted by returning expats and ex-Skype, ex-Google, ex-Yahoo engineers who wanted to build a European version of the Valley—albeit one with different values, localised strengths, and eventually, its own identity.
Spotify and Adyen were founded around this time.
But Europe still lacked a critical mass of venture capital, serial entrepreneurs, scalable consumer platforms, and risk appetite. Many startups exited early to US buyers. This all changed with the arrival of tech incubators like Seedcamp, Startupbootcamp, and The Family, cheap cloud infrastructure (AWS and others lowered capex barriers), and successful unicorns giving birth to a new breed of operator-led VC like Atomico and Balderton. The rise of mobile and SaaS made it easier to grow with lean teams.
So what's the point of this portfolio site? Above all, I want to prove that I'm not an agent or script. I'm a real man, and I've been around for a while! Here, contained in one place, you can find a cross-section of my feature stories and interviews dating back to 2006.
It feels like an age ago, and the business world has transformed beyond recognition. What hasn't changed is that I'm still interested in where ideas come from. I'm keen to square up to the detrimental side-effects and social fallout of new technology, along with the benefits. I never limited myself to the startup scene or the executive world—that was just one entry point. I've covered everything from infosecurity to telecoms, finance, clean tech, transport, sustainable packaging, mining and nuclear engineering.
My job is to keep asking questions about what we're building, why we're building it, and whether it truly serves us. In the meantime, across SEO, legal, PR, B2B SaaS, and regulated industries, the same issues with AI-generated text keep surfacing. Everything sounds the same. Readers distrust generic content, and early adopters find that their brand voice has eroded. LLMs confidently invent false claims, guarantees and legal interpretations. Content ages badly and no one 'owns' it.
If you're a commissioning editor who needs more than shallow commentary or LinkedIn-flavoured insights, you're in the right place. For thought leadership, industry analysis and reports, founder profiles, op-eds, long-form interviews and copywriting, get in touch.
PRs are welcome to throw me their best pitch.
The seeds of the modern European startup scene were planted by returning expats and ex-Skype, ex-Google, ex-Yahoo engineers who wanted to build a European version of the Valley—albeit one with different values, localised strengths, and eventually, its own identity.
Spotify and Adyen were founded around this time.
But Europe still lacked a critical mass of venture capital, serial entrepreneurs, scalable consumer platforms, and risk appetite. Many startups exited early to US buyers. This all changed with the arrival of tech incubators like Seedcamp, Startupbootcamp, and The Family, cheap cloud infrastructure (AWS and others lowered capex barriers), and successful unicorns giving birth to a new breed of operator-led VC like Atomico and Balderton. The rise of mobile and SaaS made it easier to grow with lean teams.
Thinking Outside the Bot
Cities like Lisbon, Bucharest, Tallinn, and Warsaw were starting to produce world-class companies. I was eager to get into the middle of all the action and chronicle it.So what's the point of this portfolio site? Above all, I want to prove that I'm not an agent or script. I'm a real man, and I've been around for a while! Here, contained in one place, you can find a cross-section of my feature stories and interviews dating back to 2006.
It feels like an age ago, and the business world has transformed beyond recognition. What hasn't changed is that I'm still interested in where ideas come from. I'm keen to square up to the detrimental side-effects and social fallout of new technology, along with the benefits. I never limited myself to the startup scene or the executive world—that was just one entry point. I've covered everything from infosecurity to telecoms, finance, clean tech, transport, sustainable packaging, mining and nuclear engineering.
My job is to keep asking questions about what we're building, why we're building it, and whether it truly serves us. In the meantime, across SEO, legal, PR, B2B SaaS, and regulated industries, the same issues with AI-generated text keep surfacing. Everything sounds the same. Readers distrust generic content, and early adopters find that their brand voice has eroded. LLMs confidently invent false claims, guarantees and legal interpretations. Content ages badly and no one 'owns' it.
If you're a commissioning editor who needs more than shallow commentary or LinkedIn-flavoured insights, you're in the right place. For thought leadership, industry analysis and reports, founder profiles, op-eds, long-form interviews and copywriting, get in touch.
PRs are welcome to throw me their best pitch.