In between working pretty hard at being retired - cycling Europe and spending summers on Georgian Bay in Canada - I created a 23,000-member global community of serious curlers (The Daily Curling Puzzle) and have recently authored What's Your Call? (www.WhatsYourCall.info), an interactive guide to curling strategy.

The Real Story... Co-founded HoundDog with Chris Martin in 2003, a cloud-based software company in the remote management space. The company was acquired on Canada Day, July 09 by Insight Venture Partners, a New York based private equity company for US$30M plus shares. Our timeline:- Co-founded with Chris Martin in June 2003- Organised first MVP product and verified market demand- Kept business going as one-man band during winter '03/04 after Chris departed 3Q 03- Used… Show more The Real Story... Co-founded HoundDog with Chris Martin in 2003, a cloud-based software company in the remote management space. The company was acquired on Canada Day, July 09 by Insight Venture Partners, a New York based private equity company for US$30M plus shares. Our timeline:- Co-founded with Chris Martin in June 2003- Organised first MVP product and verified market demand- Kept business going as one-man band during winter '03/04 after Chris departed 3Q 03- Used personal credit cards for funding- Recruited Dr. Alistair Forbes in Summer 04. Alistair re-designed system architecture, and served as CTO on a one-day-per-week basis until 2010- Developed SaaS business model - before the SaaS and Cloud terms became known- Skunkworks system launched Nov 04. Early sales Nov–Dec 04- Sourced £50K angel funding in 1Q05. Recruited first employee- Recruited Ralph Hasselgren as first developer and second full-time employee- Developed pricing model, website, promotional material, support plan, marketing campaigns- First market-ready system live in UK April 05Subsequently:- Led company as CEO from 2003–10. Led marketing from 2003-09- Recruited thousands of MSP customers in UK- Expanded to US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany- Ended up in 14 countries in 3 different languages to thousands of MSPs- Achieved growth of @ 300% CAGR during 2005-10 with almost no external funding- Consistently profitable from 2006-10- Built team of excellent folks. Developed very strong team ethos- Enjoyed almost zero staff turnover- Adapted the SCRUM / Agile Development methodology to manage our entire business- Made key decisions regarding channels, partnerships, funding that preserved founders’ equity while facilitating very fast growth- Sold company to Insight Venture Partners in July 09. HoundDog was rolled into GFI Software - Remained as GM for 10 months during earn-out. Alistair Forbes subsequently joined the business on a full-time basis as GM. Show less

Developed concept for online ‘experience gifts’. Launched company just prior to the dot.com crash of 2000 and subsequently could not raise additional funding in the post-crash climate in order to get us through to profitability.

Global responsibility for product management of one-half of the company's largest and most profitable product line.