Insight on Afroleft

Using What You’ve Learned

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 17:05:06 +0000

A few years back I heard one of my music hero’s Jono Grant from Above & Beyond talk about their process in the studio.

He made a comment that stuck with me.

It went along the lines of “when we kick off a new project, we recite / talk through some of the hard-earned lessons and insights that we’ve made on previous projects.”

When the lights are on you and you’re under pressure, Jono said it’s all too easy to forget the things that you’ve learned from your previous experience.

Patchwork: Lessons Earned

Mon, 24 Feb 2020 20:43:00 +0000

A few months back I moved on from Patchwork—a health-tech startup that’s bringing flexible working to healthcare.

When I joined as its product lead, we were at 1 NHS Trust. Just shy of 2 years later and the company is fast approaching 20—double digit marketshare.

Try Different

Sun, 04 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The ceiling of the World.

The altitude was around ~5100m.

This was my guide, Riga.

Lucky Man

Fri, 14 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

It’s never just an S bend — it’s someone cutting the corner

It’s never just a slow truck — it’s someone trying to overtake

It’s never just a bus stopping — it’s someone getting off

Yep, my poetry needs some work.

Disclaimer: this contains some distressing images. Check out these fluffy hamsters if you’re the queasy type.

I was around 3 hours in to the drive from Manali to Chandigarh. It’s a mountainous drive at the bottom of the Western Himalayas and for the most part, the roads are pretty good. Plenty of bends, but wide enough and good visibility.

Stealing Time for My Own Mind

Mon, 03 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Dhamma Setu, Chennai — India

“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in room alone,”

— Blaise Pascal.

My step mum thought I was going to rehabilitation, my friends thought I was on a fast-track to becoming a monk, and I was only half sure what to expect when I enrolled for a 10 day Vipassana meditation course in Chennai, India.

On and off and with mixed success I’ve been meditating for the last 3 years.

The Other Side of the Sunset

Mon, 09 May 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Admittedly it’s taken us longer than it should have, but here’s the story behind Fruitful and how we raised over £500,000 of venture funding, built and shipped a marketplace that attracted £1.8million of lending, captured the minds of recognised experts in the field as well as pitching some of the world’s leading venture capital firms, all before running — quite quicky — into a brick wall.

We spent 10 months building product…

We ran in to a trademark battle, so we went through two changes to our brand name.

We settled on Fruitful and drew it out on the beach just to make sure.

We worked all hours under the sun and probably contributed a fair bit in helping Pact Coffee secure their series A.

Saying Something Memorable

Sat, 28 Nov 2015 17:58:19 +0000

It should come as no surprise: The best way to make a point, teach something or sell a product is to tell stories. Here’s one of my favourite storytellers:

When I start preparing for a talk, I often struggle to think of stories that help explain the ‘thing’ I want to talk about.

After hearing Eamonn O’Brien’s brilliant talk at Sage in Newcastle the other day, I think I know where I’ve been going wrong.