Since 2009 John has been a hands-on angel investor, specialising in early stage businesses, often in data and communications. He is a director of: Hybrid Access Technologies, which offers multipath access network solutions at gigabit speeds; Rovco, a subsea company that offers underwater surveys with advanced vision systems, autonomous vehicles and AI; Wazoku. which provides software for ideas management and innovation; and Rabble, which makes fitness fun.
From 2013 to 2016 he was Chairman of Cambridge Angels, an established angel group investing over £10 million a year. He has a dozen other active technology investments, and is chair of the advisory board at First Capital, an investment bank specialising in growth technology businesses. He regularly mentors entrepreneurs.
His career was in telecommunications, where he started out in technology roles in a university spinout and as part of the founding team in a startup. He went on to embrace product management, sales and marketing roles in digital switching at Mitel; and business planning, strategy and due diligence at KPMG. He moved to corporate finance at HSBC, leading its global TMT corporate finance team in the dot.com boom. He finds his mentees particularly value the combination of his tech background with commercialisation and financing skills as these are core skills that growth businesses need.
He is trustee of: education charity Onebillion Learners (winner of the XPrize Global Learning Challenge $5 million prize); the Guildford Educational Partnership, an academy school trust; and Christ’s Hospital. His degree is in mathematics and electrical sciences from Trinity College, Cambridge.
