I have been the client, which changes the advice
Fifteen years running technology inside retail businesses, latterly as IT Director of a recommerce group.
£120m+ group turnover at World of Books as IT Director
Why work this way
I take on a small number of clients and do the work myself.
I have sat on the buying side of a lot of agency relationships. The pattern that frustrated me was consistent: the person who understood the problem in the sales meeting was never the person who did the work, and by the third month I was explaining my own business back to a junior developer.
So the arrangement here is deliberately narrow. I take on a small number of clients, I do the work myself, and when I am not the right person I say so on the first call rather than three weeks into a discovery phase.
The trade is that I cannot scale. If you need eight people on a project next month, this is not the right fit, and I will usually know who is.
Where that came from
Roles rather than a list of technologies. The technologies changed several times over that period, which is rather the point.
- 2023 to now
Consultant, and co-founder of Audio Trader
Technology lead, fractional or on site, for retailers including Andertons, Monk and Rendezvous Cinema. Alongside it, co-founder and director of Audio Trader, a music gear recommerce business built on a pricing platform I wrote. That work is the case studies on this site.
- 2011 to 2022
Website Manager through to IT Director, World of Books
Launched the direct channel from nothing and grew it to over half of a £120m group’s turnover. Replatformed to a headless stack in three months, co-founded Ziffit, built a technology team of 75, and took the group through two private equity sales.
The practical detail
The questions that come up on every first call.
- Based
- Worthing, West Sussex. Client sites across the south east in person, anywhere in the UK otherwise.
- Typical client
- Online retailer turning over £5k to £50m, usually with a small internal team.
- Commitments
- No commission from any platform, agency or app. If I recommend something, it is because it is right, not because it pays.
- Availability
- Usually two to four weeks out for new work, sooner for an audit or a second opinion.