My story is one of risk and reward

I graduated from Edinburgh University with an MA (hons) in Philosophy and Modern Languages. When I graduated, I was unsure what I wanted to do. I decided upon law and hand wrote 100 letters to law firms applying for a training contract. Three replied and I was offered a job at one of the leading firms: Freshfields, who sponsored me through law school.

My time at Freshfields taught me attention to detail and how to solve highly complex problems and I saw first hand some of the largest corporate transactions in the world. I had amazing support and training and qualified as a Corporate solicitor.

But it wasn’t what I wanted to do long term. Since I was a child I have always had entrepreneurial ambitions. After a few years I plucked up the courage to leave my safe and well-paid job - a job that made my mother proud - and started out on my own.

At my kitchen table I came up with the idea of Juro: a software platform that applies AI to agreeing and managing legal contracts. Starting out was hard. For months, we got nowhere. Within a few months we onboarding Deliveroo as our first customer and we started to grow.

Now Juro has scaled to eight figures in turnover and has raised $40m from some of the world’s leading VC funds. We were named by The Sunday Times as the 29th fastest-growing tech company in the UK.

As a Chief Executive and a founder, I have learned an incredible amount. I have aimed to transfer these skills to my voluntary work where I sit on Boards, such as the think tank Bright Blue, and advise early-stage start-ups.

Outside of my professional interests, I live with my wife and children in North Herefordshire, where we farm the Netherley Hall Estate and recently started restoring our local pub. Much like my career, this has been challenging but hugely rewarding.