After completing two highly successful internships, graduating with top marks and receiving the Sportsman of the Year accolade from Loughborough University, I had the confidence to begin my business, building on my idea for a snowboard attachment that converts a standard board into a powder board. I designed, developed and launched the award-winning PowDaze; it is the first step towards a fully-modular snowboard that can handle all conditions and adventures.I began by developing a range of apparel to promote the brand and fund the business. I designed and built a heated, pneumatic snowboard press to create prototypes. Upon finalising the PowDaze design, I outsourced production and began to test the market. After a positive launch, we are looking for ways to broaden our market reach.The PowDaze has full patent protection and was awarded a finalist position at the 2018 ISPO Brandnew awards as well as receiving several outstanding reviews from professional snowboarders.Significant roles have included:- Brand development- Company management- Product design- Design and build of an R&D workshop (including a heated, pneumatic snowboard press)- Product development- Managing & executing exhibition strategies- Intellectual property portfolio management- Lab and on-snow product testing- Design hand-over for a factory production run

Addressing a personal need and a fun idea, I designed and developed a curling device forhandlebar moustaches. I ran a Kickstarter campaign that raised 400% funding with zeroadvertising spend. I identified a suitable 3D printing method to create the clips, utilised offcuthardwoods from local furniture makers and then fulfilled the commitments of that campaignon-schedule. Although a niche product, it has sufficient commercial appeal that I have had to dealwith design theft on Amazon and eBay. I’ve since created a strong brand identity and automatedsystems; this business is now self-sufficient, running via e-commerce.

I chose to work part-time for Ellis Brigham to improve my knowledge of the retail business andre-establish myself in a working team environment. This enjoyable role strengthened myunderstanding of hiking and mountaineering gear, apparel and footwear, while also using myexperience to make an excellent contribution to The Snowboard Asylum sub-shop.

I built on my previous experience as a footwear developer, which pushed me to adapt to a new environment, team and technical system. I supported the Teamsport developers in creating performance products for both the elite athlete and the recreational user by managing the technical database and communicating vital product information with in-house designers and product line managers and on-site developers in the factories. I helped the team produce and test rapid prototype models on a material jetting 3D printing machine. This highly enjoyable placement gave me invaluable insights into the intricacies of the creation and global launch of performance product for competitive sport.

Working at Nike gave me the opportunity to learn the role of a developer in industry, as well as shoe construction and manufacturing techniques. As a result of early contributions to the team, I was given direct responsibility for more than 30% of the largest footwear category at Nike Western Europe Product Creation. A highlight of my time at Nike was the successful implementation of my own initiative, the template Bill of Material, to reduce workload of both in-house and on-site factory developers – the template BOM received praise from global development team managers during an annual development meeting at the world headquarters in the USA.