The value of variety

I left my job at the end of last year and I’m working on what’s next.

Pride and gratitude

I served as a CTO/CPO for a leading UK healthtech for almost a decade. It was another chapter in a weird-and-varied career – and a reminder that variety is valuable. It means bringing different stuff to the table.

My startup experience meant that we could build the most productive tech teams in healthcare. My unicorn growth experience taught me about scaling (and the pitfalls). My Cabinet Office time introduced me to dealing with government orgs. And my McKinsey corporate finance time helped with acquisition discussions.

I couldn’t have had nearly as much impact if I had stuck with single industry or function throughout my career.

And speaking of impact, I’m proud of what we achieved. First, we improved patient lives and saved the NHS money. We rapidly grew a service to cover the majority of the UK. Patients got treated faster. The NHS became a bit more efficient. And our platform even saved lives.

Second, after our acquisition, we transformed and stabilised a private telehealth service. A tremendous but satisfying challenge.

The flip side of pride is gratitude. I’m thankful for talented colleagues. You can’t take for granted qualities like an even temperament in the face of gruelling stress, willingness to try things, and of course, hustle.

Levelling up in salesmanship

For the past decade, I was fortunate enough to work with folks like Jonathan Patrick, Scott Welpton and Roger Tweedale (and to have Greg Jackson as our chairman). And from them, I got a master class in salesmanship.

I don’t mean cold calling or bamboozling someone into buying. I mean eliminating bullshit, getting to the heart of the matter, pushing back, connecting through a bit of humour, understanding what’s really going on and the importance of self-belief.

Each had different methods, but they were all talented at getting decision makers to move forward. Seeing it up close showed me how it all comes together – and again, is a reminder of why variety is valuable.

Next?

My work has always followed an ethos creating impact – and that will continue. For now, this means new ventures and angel investing. But in the year to come, it could mean working on growth, turnaround or something else. The key is finding the right colleagues and painful problems to solve. Onwards and upwards!

GS Dun designs-and-builds technology to solve hard problems. The name is short for “get sh** done”, so while we can talk the talk, we prefer to keep our meetings short and just get on with it.