Providing advice to a very worthy start-up trying to make an important difference.

Providing advice to a Cambridge based tech start-up producing a secure operating system for embedded IoT devices.

I founded Green Custard Ltd with Jonathan Custance in 2009 to provide consultancy services on a wide range of software technologies from project inception to delivery. The company has grown significantly since those times, and today benefits from a large highly capable team with a wealth of varied expertises. The business has grown year-on-year and this success is down to a simple recipe - we combine world class engineering with a passion for exceeding customers’ expectations.The character of Green Custard Ltd is driven by its values and ethos, and they are incredibly important to us. Fundamentally we strive to do the right thing and do good in the world with the software that we create, and this influences the types of project that we undertake. Many of our projects are in the healthcare and education sectors, and for non-profit organisations.Our strengths in cloud and web applications have influenced the decision of the company to have a specialism in IoT (Internet of Things) which is often applied to reducing resources, environmental impact, and lowering carbon footprints.In choosing to partner with Amazon Web Services, we were particularly impressed by their own goal to power their operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025. This means that solutions we build will have environmental credentials of which both we and our customers can be proud.

Co-founded Camrivox raising $7M in venture capital to produce VoIP hardware products. Pivoted to focus on software products in the Unified Communications field. Exited through trade sale. Gained a wealth of experience on a whole range of topics: start-ups, business proposition analysis, raising finance and venture capital, corporate governance, product manufacture, product marketing, managing an engineering team, cultivating strategic partner relationships, preparing a company for sale.

Virata afforded me a fantastic experience working in a start-up from a few 10s of people, through an IPO, to a company of 1,000s of employees. Its products were chipsets for DSL modems and other networking products, with accompanying software. I began as a software engineer, eventually managing VoIP and Video set top box teams. But it wasn't all engineering, I got great customer exposure too, travelling to support colleagues in pre-sales meetings, training, and post-sale support.The company was a huge success and it gave many people a taste for being in a start-up (and subsequent phases of a company). A significant number of former colleagues have gone on to form their own start-ups, as did I...