04. Founder
It was incredible to experience taking the seed of an idea I had for a ‘dating app with a difference’, and launching it to the world. After winning investment from O2 I spent six years raising a total of 1.5million pounds and growing a team to help me deliver my vision to bring safer dating to the online dating market. TrueView won awards for both our app branding and marketing, all of which I spearheaded.
This allowed me to extensively grow my experience and respect for data analytics, UX and digital product development - and my understanding of the start-up world, investment, software development, user acquisition and growth tactics has given me a much deeper analytical view on problem-solving and a positive impact on the way I approach creative ideas.
The Hatch
After going through the WYRA incubator it was clear to see the dramatic number of start-ups that were forming. Alongside this was the popularity of hot-desking through large scale spaces like Google Campus. For me this presented a missed opportunity. Small entrepreneurs and their teams were like ships in the night in these warehouse spaces. Anonymous, underrepresented and under-supported I felt that a space should offer a sense of permanency, identity and support. It was for that reason I started The Hatch. A small co-working space that gave home to 15 small businesses. It was a place not only for teams to call their own but to be part of a family. Workshops, socials, resource sharing, social promoting and investor connecting added a level of community hard to find anywhere else.
As well as painting the floors, designing and building the internal space and creating the brand the most important part to this was not only to create a space and culture that other businesses would be proud to be a part of but they themselves would be inspired to grow the space alongside us and be a true family member.