I had three related careers: military engineer/intelligence analyst, entrepreneur and finally film maker. My time as a political intelligence analyst is firmly behind me but rather than shout at the TV I write this. Sometimes, I write film reviews like this one on Death of Stalin. There are some history blogs on Medium.
Between 2002 and 2012 I founded and grew Exclusive Analysis (EA) a B -to-B publishing company which forecast and numerated political risks. EA's niche was very specific forecasts about world events. Client value came from data-rich pricing models for the insurance industry to which EA was the biggest provider of political intelligence. In 2012 Exclusive Analysis was acquired by IHS (now IHS/Markit who also own the Jane's brand) and I spent a happy year, splendidly titled, as The Senior Intelligence Advisor. When IHS/Markit was acquired by S and P where a good number of the original EA team now work.
In 2013 I founded Bandoola Productions to make independent films. In addition to running Bandoola Productions, I am a Non-Executive Director at Lowe and Fletcher. I invest in and/or advise, pro bono, a range of companies with digital offerings with scalable subscription models (like EA). Some of what I say about SME growth companies is here. I take this blog more seriously. It covers what I learned on my rather interesting journey and it seems odd not to share. The issues I cover are commercial, including sales, marketing, business model to create equity value, when and how to raise capital (mostly don’t). Also differentiating leadership and management. Our two animated characters, Bandoola and Frog now help make bits of the blog more fun.
I have degrees from RMCS (Maths and Physics); MA in War Studies from the University of Baluchistan (Pakistan where I lived for a year) and an MPhil from Downing College, Cambridge in International Relations.
Present hobbies include sailing, cross country skiing and sculling. I split my time between Hereford and Chelsea. My Club is Sohohouse.
