What do you currently do?
I’m the co-founder of FoodMood, the “Tinder for food” app revolutionising the way Londoners find restaurants. The app lets users swipe YUM or YUK on images of delicious dishes to deliver personalised, local restaurant recommendations based on their taste.
I am hugely passionate about smart algorithms solving daily problems in an elegant way. When it comes to choosing a restaurant, having a tool that reads your tummy and tells you in real time where to eat is to my mind hugely valuable.
That combined with my passion for food makes me what I would call a “foodie geek”!
Who do you admire?
I admire anyone who had the guts to leave a career as an employee to start their own venture. It takes great courage to leave a job where you get a nice cheque the same day each month to start your own thing, and convince your family and friends that it’s the worth the risk.
Looking back, are there things you would have done differently?
Of course – I would have invested all my savings in Apple stock!
More seriously, I would simply have started FoodMood sooner. Like many entrepreneurs, I was sitting on this idea long before I had the gumption to go ahead and do it. It would have been a huge regret had I never launched the app. But it’s never too late to be an entrepreneur!
What defines your way of doing business?
I believe that you can learn something from anyone. I never know where the best ideas are going to come from and developing an attitude of being curious and letting people challenge me often helps me find some good ideas that really surprise me.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out?
A couple of things: primarily, be passionate about your venture! Passion is what will drive you to work relentlessly, particularly during difficult periods. And trust me, there will be plenty of those more difficult times. Secondly, don’t launch a business on your own. Having a partner or at least having a person you can turn to for objective advice and to challenge your ideas is hugely valuable.
