To be the simple solution to a
big business problem
I’m on the Marketing team, and do everything from building and maintaining the website, tagging and analyzing all that goes on on there, running paid social and search campaigns, content strategy and blog writing, email nurture campaigns…
Marketing machine builder and operator.
Taking complicated and detailed concepts and abstracting them into creative ideas to make them seem as simple as breathing. It’s similar to the kick of solving cryptic crosswords…
I was agency-side at a Financial Services PR firm called Cognito. I again had a wide role there, working from small paid social campaigns for Asset Management firms and Decarbonisation Think Tanks, to huge content strategies for Investec and Refinitiv.
1 – It’s a bit of a blur, but what me and Sophie S (my boss!) have managed to build in such a short time at Quorso, with only two brains, four pairs of hands and a small set of very valuable partners! Whether it’s a website rebuild, or global report launch, we seem to be able to do it in a third of the time it should take…and still come back with even bigger ideas for the next project!
2 – My first ever Twitter advertising campaign (solo-run!) was nominated for a PRCA award. It was for Carbon Tracker at the UN’s COP24, so it felt great that the work may have had even a microscopic impact on slowing climate change.
3 – Following on from that, I specialised in ESG investment knowledge and got to educate and influence major stakeholders at places like Morgan Stanley, Schroders, JM Finn & Quilter Cheviot on sustainable and responsible investing.
At Quorso – I love geeking out on the future of organizations, decentralization and complexity. There’s so much theory out there, so it’s cool to see it being put into a practical use case that generates substantial results. Our world is built on organizations, so improving these in all the ways we can makes it better for people and planet.
Outside of Quorso – I geek out on way too much, and it can actually get a bit stressful! I keep up a lot of reading in my degree area – Psychology, Physiology and Philosopy – and write my own blog. Through doing this I met the British Sauna Society, and am currently volunteering for them to crowdfund for a community-owned Nordic-style sauna in my local area. I’m a big bookworm – although far behind the consumption volume of Phil! My chaotic bookshelf has been a constant Zoom background for me through lockdown.
For Quorso to have become a verb. Like you Whatsapp a friend, you Instagram that photo, you Slack a colleague…I’d like people in stores to be talking about Quorsoing a problem, or Quorsoing their way to the top!
Working for another start up, as it fits so well with my broad marketing experience. And if that failed…I’d probably go back to uni to study for a Masters in the History of Medicine. I’d love to write a book someday.
Hoovering up books. Writing more (maybe that book) and maybe a podcast. Investing the assumedly large pile of capital I’ve retired early with into things I believe in. Starting up a bizarre experimental business. I will always find myself something obsessive to do.
They were, for a very short time, my clients! I was really struck by their enthusiasm and kindness, and it stuck with me. When I’d made my mind up to go in-house to really build something, I resolved to message Phil and ask if he knew of any start ups that might be looking. Weirdly, he messaged me first as I was still on their analytics…and now here I am.
Ross always has amazing responses to the stuff posted in the Quorso social Slack channel that crack me up. And Sophie S, who makes me have to laugh at myself. She always has witty one-liners when I say something ridiculous!
Probably Julian and Dan. For having the idea, deciding that they’re going to put themselves out there and do it, and then working relentlessly through so much turmoil. And having to stay perky to motivate us all every Monday meeting!
Plus maybe Igor. For being able to understand Dan’s incredible pace of speech and crazy ideas.
McVities Gold Bars. Buying exotic textiles from random parts of the world on eBay. Buying old books on sauna and fasting. Learning to run long distances for the first time in my life.
A strong feeling that your work could change the world. And very intense techno, when you need to get something done urgently!
Friends. Pub. Pints.
Dr Rhonda Patrick of Found My Fitness. She’s been incredible in rounding up the best ideas, creating great content, and then getting them out there to people. She’s created a whole movement with devoted followers (me included), but still remains balanced in her opinions and won’t advocate products for money. Authenticity and trust is hard to build, but she’s done it so well.
My rational brain sees it being used to improve government spending and accountability, from central government, through to devolved nations/cities, and right down to local councils. Even cooler would be if this was democratic – connected citizens could somehow vote and influence on what Missions were important and should have money spent on them.
My crazy brain goes a bit further and links it to a health use case. With the rise of medical-grade wearables like Apple watches and continuous glucose monitors, we’re beginning to generate ongoing data on the performance of our own bodies. Quorso can identify in a large organisation where a single unit is underperforming compared to its peer set and raise a notification to someone to do something about it. So it could in theory also do that for a human user who’s health vitals are being constantly tracked. If a particular measure started looking poor compared to peers in the same demographic (age, gender, BMI etc.) you’d get a notification to say you should do something about it, and connect you with other users who’ve managed to make positive health changes to rebalance their biomarkers. Given that diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s can be detected at very early stages through measurable changes in biomarkers, it could be possible to stop these diseases developing early doors.
The ones using Quorso right now. We have vaults of data to prove this.
The world will always give you what you need, rather than what you want. Brilliant things happen when you follow coincidence, serendipity, and opportunity.
