Hi, I'm James and I'm a technologist, maybe even a geek... and I love it!
My deep technical understanding of most things IT (software development, internet, crypto, AI and more) allows me to approach a wide range of problems with knowledge of what is possible now and where things are likely to go in the future. I couple this subject-matter expertise with an ability to explain the concepts and solutions, often highly technical, at the appropriate level for the audience.
It is this combination of technical ability, commercial understanding, effective communication, inclusive stakeholder management and drive to succeed that make me a formidable operator.
Background
Career
My career in IT began in 1st line support in the late 1990s and I moved to contract roles in 2nd/3rd line by the early 2000s. In the mid 2000s I started my first small business providing support to local SMEs along with custom software development. I predominantly specialised in converting paper or spreadsheet systems into multi-user web-based versions for a range of companies. Some highlights included:
A business management platform for a sports coaching business (2004, and I still work with them to this day)
A tracker of minor defects in airplane interiors for Heath Techna (2006)
The first website and membership management for The Barmy Army (www.barmyarmy.com) in 2008
As the 2010s unfolded, another platform I'd written for some friends that owned a few bars grew legs and was spun out into its own entity as Kobas. This would become my main focus for the next 15 years until a successful, multi-million pound, exit in 2025. This journey allowed me to widen my skills from that of a decent coder into a more rounded business leader. As the company grew I stepped back from day-to-day coding to focus on sales and finance, until we ultimately reached a size where I could focus purely on product and business strategy. There were also some key lessons around raising investment and navigating existential challenges: Brexit, Covid, the Ukraine war and more.
The decision to exit Kobas was partly influenced by an experience in 2023 when I had my phone stolen and a large amount of money taken. Identifying that if I, as a technically astute person, was susceptible to this risk, less capable people must be more exposed. With our lives becoming more digitally focused, there needed to be better mitigation options. These didn't exist, so Nuke From Orbit was born and the slow process of partnering with financial institutions began.
As this process slowly winds its way forward, I've embarked on some side-quests in the form of Tot Tracker and Did I Punt?
While I'm not currently looking for more things to do, if you have an interesting project and you think I've the right combination of technology and business skills to help, and feel our personalities would fit well, please shoot me a message. I'm happy to have a chat.
Personal
About me
I've been interested in technology all my life. When I was 8 my father showed me how to write a few simple lines of code and I was instantly hooked. The fact I could control what happened on the screen was spellbinding. This was back in the late 80s where computers looked very different to today; I saved my first program to a cassette tape! The interest in computers only deepened as I got older, and this is my bedroom in about 2004, by which point I had eight physical machines crammed into it, cabled together to replicate a Windows domain as accurately as I could manage, purely to sharpen my own skills.
Technology aside, the other constant thing in my life has been sport. All sport, all the time. Playing, watching, discussing, I just love sport. I played non-league football in my youth, stepping down the levels until I switched to hockey at 35. Growing up I would play anything on offer including rugby, cricket, tennis, golf, judo, squash, running, badminton, table tennis, kabaddi, cycling, skiing, wakeboarding and more. My children are now finding out that I only play to win; I should probably try to be less competitive, but I just can't!
Sport-adjacent, I enjoy playing chess and for the last ~25 years various forms of poker. Indeed for a period in the mid 2000s at least half my income came from poker! My career highlights include a top 500 finish in the WSOP Main Event and a few main event victories on the Irish Poker Tour. I think it's my love of maths, strategy and calculated risk-taking that drew me in.
I'm fortunate to have a wonderful wife and three spectacular children, who are all showing signs of my competitive tendencies. We are currently splitting our time between South Dublin and Surrey.
Ventures & side-quests
Projects
01 / Active
Tot Tracker
Running a nursery, Montessori or other early years setting in Ireland is hard. Current tools focus on gathering information on the children under your care, rather than helping the owner run a better business. Tot Tracker gives you the tools to run your school with less admin time and cost, more accurate compliance, and at a lower price.
Phone theft is about more than the device. It's your financial and reputational data that is the real risk. Current security measures don't work reliably for stolen phones, so we created Nuke From Orbit. With Nuke you can securely and instantly invalidate credentials stored on a stolen phone.
Kobas was the first system to combine multiple areas of hospitality business management into a single application. By combining point of sale, self-order/kiosks, daily operations, stock management, customer loyalty, reservations, marketing, recruitment, applicant tracking, HR, rotas and more into a single platform, operators get an unrivalled view of their business.
Most people think card counting in blackjack involves memorising the sequence of the cards, when really it's just about tracking the ratio of 2–7 value cards versus Tens to Aces. This little system allows you to enter the cards you have seen and translates this data into the optimal play for your next hand. Don't use it at your local casino, they won't like that!
Poker is hard and knowing if you made the right play is harder still. Not everyone wants or is able to dive into solvers, and they're hard to use on your phone. Did I Punt allows you to talk through a hand with a highly skilled AI to compare your play to the GTO line, and discuss the situation further to help your learning.
