Alan C.

A collective of HR innovators pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with transformational people strategy. Look out for Lattice CPO Council perspectives across Lattice in articles, webinars, live events, and more.

Seedcamp Expert Collective - a community of truly amazing people across Seedcamp Nation with the aim of encouraging better collaboration and helping every portfolio biz to grow

London COO Forum is a community for startup and scale-up COOs to come together, share experiences and learn. It was founded by former London startup and scale-up COO, Divinia Knowles - ex MindCandy, Pact, and LocalGlobe as well as advisor and coach to many businesses and COOs - to bring together COOs from across the London startup ecosystem. 138 members and increasing every week!

Bringing Direct Debit into the digital age, building the best system for taking recurring payments. GoCardless is creating a new international payments network to rival credit and debit cards. Our ambition is to break down barriers so businesses can quickly and easily take payments from anyone, anywhere in the world. We currently process £3 billion worth of transactions for over 30,000 organisations across the UK and Europe - and we’re growing fast. With clients ranging from small businesses to household names such as Thomas Cook, TripAdvisor and the Guardian, GoCardless brings together a range of Direct Debit schemes across the UK and Europe. We’re already well-established in the UK, France, Germany, Sweden and Spain, with more schemes and markets soon to follow. Direct Debit is the most effective way to take recurring payments in Europe, offering lower failure rates and fees, along with increased flexibility compared to using credit or debit cards. Using Direct Debit via GoCardless allows businesses to take complete control of payments, either using the online dashboard, through one of the GoCardless partner integrations, or by building a tailored integration using the powerful GoCardless API.

I joined iTech as COO in Jan 2019 - as Arc #66, the group is now exponentially bigger. I worked with and count as friends, some of the smartest, humblest, and funniest people I have ever met. After 3.5 awesome years as COO, having seen some incredible growth in top/bottom line, culture and people, getting involved in multiple acquisitions/ integration and having learned so much along the way, in July 2022 I moved into a seriously exciting role as Managing Partner - iTech Ventures. iTech Ventures is a newly launched, acceleration vehicle that focuses on acquiring stakes in exciting, fast-growing businesses. I built out a strong acquisition pipeline of over 20 companies, established lasting relationships with all acquisition targets and selected an ideal biz to acquire. I designed pitch decks, and frameworks and led on pitching/storytelling process extolling the benefits of working with us and why this would be a symbiotic partnership.

iTech Media Group is a privately held, bootstrapped business that builds global products - websites, PWAs, and apps for the most competitive comparison markets in the world: Gaming, Sports Betting, Personal Finance, and Healthcare. I joined as iTech's first COO and employee #66 and spent the best part of the last 4 years helping scale iTech from the small company it was in 2019 into the flourishing, profitable company and vibrant, indelible culture we have today. I was accountable for Engineering, Finance, Operations, People, Talent, UX & Design, Strategic Operations, Delivery, Wellbeing, Warsaw Engineering, and Content. As well as hiring, mentoring, promoting and retaining some amazing people, I established our Purpose, Vision, and Values and built an OKR framework for scale. Using my prior experience working for and with some of the UK's most celebrated entrepreneurs, I built a playbook and framework for scaling the business and helped build each function from Village > Town > City. Marrying growth with results, I designed, built, and communicated EMI and CSOP share option plans and several bonus frameworks tied to north star metrics. I also led a (painful and challenging) cost reduction programme to set the business up for future success and restore operating margin.

At Octopus Ventures we invest in the people, the ideas, and the industries that will help change the world. Our investment team is built to specialise in the five areas where we see the most potential for growth and innovation: health, fintech, deep tech, consumer, and B2B software. Since 2008 we have backed over 130 teams, including Zoopla Property Group, Secret Escapes, Depop, and Cazoo. With £2 billion under management and investing over £200 million a year, Octopus Ventures is one of the largest and most active venture investors in Europe. We tend to invest from £1 million for Seed to £10 million for Series B with the ability to fund the companies backed right through to IPO. As a Venture Partner, I advised a range of portfolio businesses with their scaling, culture, talent acquisition, development, compensation, and other people-related growth challenges. I also ran a series of masterclasses to share thought leadership.

Jetstone is a multi-billion quantitative hedge fund solving some of the hardest problems in Finance. I built relationships with mathematicians, economists, and computer scientists, but also cognitive and behavioural scientists, physicists, biologists, sociologists, anthropologists and (naturally) some of the best Quants on the planet, several of whom I hired. I helped build an enviable, truly iconic, and exceptional culture where world-class, talented people love to come to work.

At MOO, we love great design and believe it can work wonders for every business. That’s why we make it simple to create beautiful, expertly crafted business stationery and promotional materials that’ll help you start conversations, open doors, and strengthen relationships. MOO launched in 2006 and aims to disrupt the trillion-dollar global print industry by combining the values of professional design with accessibility and reach of the web. With rapid annual growth, MOO has become one of the fastest-growing print businesses in the world and has over 400 employees across the UK and US in London, Boston, Lincoln RI, and Denver CO.

Consulted for a range of Founder-led, hyper-growth digital disrupters facing scaling, cultural change and people innovation challenges.