Meet the Founders

In a previous life, two Big 4 ‘non-accountants’ simply had a belief that the world works better when it’s connected.

Now, they’re proving that it does.


  • Co-Founder

    I’ve always believed that an introduction is a gift. Some would say that I’ve spent the last 20 years or so introducing people to each other, wrapping this up in different sounding jobs, but always trying to create magic by bringing people and things together. So Coleid is very much my passion now.

    I’ve done lots of things in my life – drugs officer, shop assistant, bingo hall dogs-body and a few more but latterly I’m better known for my time at KPMG where I was the Chairman of London before doing a couple of global roles there. One was looking after the private capital sub-brand of the firm across the EMA region and the other was the rather splendid role of Chairman of the Global Emerging Giants Centre of Excellence. Before anyone judges me, that title was more to spread the word in my own organisation that the startups and scaleups of today could be the large clients of the future. I helped set up some excellent collaborations – founding partner of the Mayor of London’s International Business Programme, the Manchester Scale Up Programme, the Oil and Gas Technology Centre and a few others I’m sure as well as creating KPMG’s Global Tech Innovator competition.

    Since leaving the Big Blue Mothership I co-founded Sana Capital, which supports data driven healthcare businesses, worked on a number of Advisory Boards and have recently become a Trustee of Young Lived Versus Cancer which is the first charity role for me and an amazing organisation. You could have skipped all the above by just looking at my LinkedIn page – never mind!!

    The real me is not as stroppy and confident as I may look sometimes, lives in the north but is an economic migrant that goes where the interesting work is. I’m married to Janet and have way too many photos of Rocky the dog on my phone and on my wall. I support Grimsby Town and play cricket because you get to stand around more than you have to run.

  • Co-Founder

    I’ve always been driven by how to make something better. Whatever (or whoever) it is, how can you improve it? Faster growth, quicker conversion, increased sales, greater confidence… it doesn’t matter the ‘what’, it matters the ‘how’.

    In my time at KPMG I had the luxury and opportunity of doing many different things. Initially a Tax Advisor (I promise I’m not that dull!) I’ve supported family businesses, large corporates, real estate investors and latterly I was responsible for growing our business focused on entrepreneurs. I’ve always championed a collaborative approach to supporting businesses and identifying growth opportunities, with this permeating the teams I’ve built as well.

    My passion and focus has always been on people and how they contribute to the success of anything - once you have talent locked in, everything else is simply an enabler.