I’ve been founding, running and chairing agencies since 1994, when I started Hyperinteractive, one of the world’s first web design agencies. Since 2014 I’ve advised the founders and CEOs of creative, marketing and digital agencies on growth, mergers and acquisitions, and exit.
I co-founded Head New Media, which became the world’s most awarded digital agency before I sold it to Lowe Group, then the world’s fourth-largest advertising network. I’ve founded and scaled six agencies, been Non-Executive Chair or board advisor to more than 40, and taken part in 17 acquisitions and exits as founder, acquirer or advisor.
I wrote Scale at Speed, the method behind my 2Y3X programme, and, with Michael Nutley, The Proposition Formula.
Career
- 1994
- Founded Hyperinteractive, one of the world’s first web design agencies.
- 1996
- Co-founded Underwired, a strategy consultancy that led the growth of eCRM in the UK.
- 1997
- Co-founded Head New Media with the creative director Jason Holland, and with it Head-Space, a non-commercial online creative community.
- 1998
- Sold Head New Media to Lowe Group, where it became the network’s digital arm, later MullenLowe Profero. Launched Head End, an interactive television agency that made the first interactive TV commercials for Tesco and Unilever.
- 2001
- Left Head New Media to become CEO of Underwired.
- 2009
- Sold Underwired to Hasgrove PLC.
- 2012
- Led a management buyout of Underwired and became its chair. We doubled its turnover in a year.
- 2013
- Became CEO of The Conversation Group, an agency roll-up.
- 2014
- Stepped down as CEO of The Conversation Group and as chair of Underwired, and sold my stake in Underwired. Joined Vint Cerf and Mei Lin Fung’s People-Centered Internet, and started advising other founders.
- 2015
- Joined the Leadership Forum of Innovation for Jobs (i4j), the Silicon Valley think tank chaired by Vint Cerf and David Nordfors.
- 2016
- Became non-executive chair of Momentum ABM, a marketing agency working with nine of the world’s top ten IT firms, which Accenture later bought. Joined the organising team of the People-Centered Internet.
- 2020
- Worked pro bono with founders when COVID-19 struck, and developed the QuickMap, a three-month version of the 2Y3X Strategy Map.
- 2021
- Scale at Speed published by Robinson, part of Little, Brown and Hachette. The second edition followed in 2023.
- 2026
- The Proposition Formula, written with Michael Nutley, published in November.
Along the way I taught on the MBA programme at Hult International Business School, judged awards for the Direct Marketing Association, New York Festivals, BIMA and The Drum, and co-organised three conferences on agency M&A in the UK and the US.
Companies I founded and led
- Hyperinteractive (1994). One of the world’s first web design agencies.
- Underwired (1996). Co-founder, then CEO from 2001. Sold to Hasgrove PLC in 2009 and bought back in 2012, when we doubled its turnover in a year. I sold my stake in 2014.
- Head New Media (1997). Co-founded with Jason Holland. The world’s most awarded digital agency before Lowe Group bought it in 1998; it became the network’s digital arm, later MullenLowe Profero.
- Head-Space (1997). A non-commercial creative community sponsored by Head New Media, where everyone at the agency had a day a week to work on it. It incubated Urban75 and Circlemakers.org, won a Cannes CyberLion in 1999, and toured in the exhibition Digital Archaeology from 2010. Forbes described it as one of the world’s ten most influential websites. It is still online at head-space.org.
- Head End (1998). An interactive television agency that made the first interactive TV commercials for Tesco and Unilever.
- The Conversation Group (2013 to 2014). An agency roll-up, where I was CEO.
- 2Y3X. The company that runs my method inside agencies: 2Y3X Ltd, company number 12159091. 2Y3X, QuickMap and Earnout Maximiser are registered trade marks.
Work with me
- Board advisory. Each year I work with a small number of agency founders and group CEOs as a strategic board advisor: M&A and acquisition vetting, exit strategy and succession, and the bandwidth to grow while you focus on a deal. The independent agencies I work with typically turn over between £2m and £20m. Book a call.
- The 2Y3X programme. Two years in which experienced agency leaders work alongside your leadership team to double or triple the size of the business. 2y3x.com
- The Scale at Speed course. The method, self-paced and online, plus cohort versions. scaleatspeed.com/the-course
- Proposition Formula workshops. A day in which your team builds a proposition it can believe in and commit to. agencypropositions.com
- The Scalability Scorecard. A free three-minute diagnostic that shows where your agency is most likely to stall. 2y3x.com/scorecard
Outside work
I’m a biker and photographer living in London.