hedgehog lab

As the co-founder and CEO of hedgehog lab, I grew the company from 3 people in a small corner of the North East of England in 2011 to around a 100+ people globally with major presence in the UK & US.

I'm responsible for 4 key things in my role,

- Culture. I believe that culture eats strategy for breakfast and I see myself as the custodian of culture ensuring we always have a north star in everything we do based on our culture framework of purpose, vision, mission & values. 

Key achievements include driving our employee experience programme that has resulted in a rating of 4.9 on Glassdoor and 100% CEO approval rating for me. I'm also a champion of DEI and wellbeing, starting and running key initiatives like our mental health support programs, flexible working and wellbeing support.

- Strategy. Having a great culture by and itself does not drive business performance, so I spend a significant amount of time defining and executing strategy in collaboration with my brilliant management team.

Key achievements include pivoting to mobile specialism to capture the demand & establishing,  growing a US presence now accounting for 40% of our revenue, and raising £2m+ in funding from Private Equity Investors.

- Growth. I have led the commercial and growth teams at hedgehog lab since inception including directly owning the Head of Sales role ensuring hedgehog lab posted CAGR of nearly 60% in our scale up journey. I've also been the de facto CMO of the company setting and driving the marketing vision. Currently lead the Growth teams consisting of Sales, Marketing & Client Engagement.

Key achievements include achieving a #1 global ranking for mobile app development with analysts Clutch, being named in the Financial Times Top 1000 Fastest Growing European companies 2 years in a row and raising Private Equity funding to drive scale up growth.

- Governance. As the CEO and the majority individual shareholder on the Board of Directors, I work with other Directors and investors.

Chief Executive Officer

hedgehog lab is a human-centred global tech consultancy. Our experts in UXR, UI/UX, engineering, AI, cloud, & data science work with our partners to deliver custom app development and digital transformation services. With over 15+ years of digital product experience, our team is skilled at developing human-centred solutions that drive real business impact for partners, including AJ Bell, Deliveroo, Kodak Alaris and Tesco Bank. Our team members work and play worldwide, but our main digital labs are in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, Boston, USA and Sofia, Bulgaria.

Co-Founder

Netsells

Acquired Netsells to accelerate our Phase 2 journey to become the most respected tech consultancy in the world, backed by UK’s best growth investors, BGF.

equiwatt

Supporting this exciting start-up with strategic advice on go to market strategy, marketing approach and growth plans. A great chance to combine by passion of the sustainability/EV market with digital product.

Advisor

PNE is a North East based business support organisation that enables positive social and economic change by supporting businesses to start, grow and thrive in an ethical and sustainable way. I am delighted to join the Board as a Non-exec bringing my experience of sales, marketing and scaling high growth business to help PNE set ambitious growth targets and facilitate a wider impact for businesses in the region.

Non Executive Director

BIMA (British Interactive Media Association)

Providing mentorship and advice to agency leaders & CEOs who are going through their scale-up journey using my experience and battle-tested frameworks.

Mentor

New College Durham

New College Durham is one of the largest FE and HE colleges in the North East named by OFSTED as an Outstanding performer and with a reputation for being financially well managed and putting students first. I am a Governor on the Board of Governors helping guide the College in strategy, digital-first focus, employability for students and overseeing general governance. It's great to bring my diverse background and experience to help support the talent of tomorrow.

Governor

Mentor on the BT Ethnically Diverse Mentorship Programme helping mentor the next generation of leaders from minority backgrounds, while giving mentees a unique opportunity to develop their personal brand and receive support in furthering their careers. A chance for me to drive the DEI agenda and develop future diverse leaders.

Cheer.One

Advising a HR SaaS product start-up on Product Strategy, Culture & Growth.

Strategic Advisor

TH_NK

Experienced in leading projects and delivering enterprise solutions in the financial services sector with a focus on Microsoft based solutions.

Role on projects:
- Defining overall system architecture and design
- Defining development standards and naming conventions
- Working with Project Leads and Project Managers to plan and create specifications.
- Define interfaces
- Define system integration points
- Work with team on requirements analysis and early systems analysis and design stages.

Technical Consultant

Was responsible for overseeing the internal planning, detailed design and delivery of quality code. This included working collaboratively with key project stakeholders within the company, third-party suppliers and the client. 

Responsibilities

Worked with key stakeholders to define internal schedule, technical deliverables and resource requirements.
Lead the team to develop quality design and code for the project.
Participated in hands-on development as part of the team effort.
Contributed to the ongoing architectural evolution in an architectural role.
Took ownership of all technical deliverables.
Optimised workload by assigning tasks to developers based on strengths and interests.
Worked with Project Management and Account Director to ensure project delivery is of high quality.
Worked with third party suppliers and manage technical channels of communication.
Attended technical reviews and meetings with client and third party suppliers.

Lead Analyst / Developer

Spark Response

Involved in building internal web-based apps for the logistics and operational departments of the company.

Web Consultant

I am a passionate and experienced entrepreneur in the digital and software industry, with over 16 years of leading and growing hedgehog lab, a human-centred global tech consultancy. I co-founded hedgehog lab in 2007 and transformed it from a small web development agency to a multi-million-pound company with over 100 employees and offices in the UK, US, and Bulgaria. As the CEO, I am responsible for setting the company’s vision, strategy, and culture and overseeing operations, finances, and business development.

In April 2023, I acquired Netsells, another UK-based tech consultancy, to accelerate our mission to become the most respected tech consultancy in the world. Together, we offer custom app development and digital transformation services to our partners, including AJ Bell, Deliveroo, Kodak Alaris, and Tesco Bank. We leverage our UXR, UI/UX, engineering, AI, cloud, and data science expertise to deliver human-centred solutions that drive real business impact.

I am also an active advisor, mentor, and non-executive director for several organisations, where I share my insights and knowledge on digital innovation, leadership, and entrepreneurship.

Important : Views shared on my LinkedIn are personal and do not reflect the views of hedgehog lab.

You don't need to be the CEO to make an impact. Start with your team, lead by example, and let the results speak for themselves.

💡 For more, visit https://lnkd.in/egNGDTjv

Video from Human Capital Leadership Institute, September 2023

Sarat Pediredla 🦔

Really enjoyed speaking at the Applied AI event hosted by Parallax at One Strawberry Lane last night.

A couple of great talks from James Hall and Wendy Amexo on the opportunities and risks of AI.

It was great to see so many of the people attending were optimistic about the future of AI although it would have been fun to interact with a couple of AI Doomers just to debate the really thorny issues.

Thank you everyone for the brilliant questions, which we didn't have time to answer but I hope Chris Nightingale will get some offline responses from the panel to everyone.

#genai #appliedai

CEO at hedgehog lab (BGF Portfolio) | Driving Digital Product Innovation for Global Brands | Enabling CxOs to Unlock Innovation, Reduce Costs, and Accelerate Growth with AI

Delighted to be named in the Prolific North Top 50 Digital Agencies for 2024.

Whilst 2023 was a really challenging year for us, we are excited about Phase 2 of our journey and executing on #Vision2028 to be the most respected consultancy in the UK by 2028.

#bethehedgehog #vision2028

Excited to welcome Daren J Fitzgerald 🦔 and Dom C. to our team as we invest in our growth strategy executing on #Vision2028.

2023 was a really challenging year for us. We started the year with great momentum when just on the back of an acquisition in Q1 and an exciting growth journey, the market took a significant downturn - the likes of which many peers had not seen since the financial crisis or even Y2K.

We had to put our growth plans on hold, reset expectations, and make some very tough decisions with a focus on ensuring we came out the other side in a position to invest and grow the business.

Whilst we know the market recovery is still slow, we have had great traction in 2024 with MoM revenue growing at a record rate and the basis of a platform that will allow us to do exciting things in the next year with the backing of our partners BGF and John Healey.

We can't wait to share our progress including some of the world-class pieces of work in disruptive areas like AI and high impact work in the public sector.

Phase 2 of the hedgehog lab journey begins in earnest now.

#vision2028 #bethehedgehog #scaleup

Come work with me! 

We're recruiting a Finance Assistant to join our team. Role details below.

No agencies thank you. 

Applied AI on the Road is coming to town! 📣 

Our building, One Strawberry Lane, in Newcastle city centre will be hosting the AI event by Parallax and I will be one of the presenters along with Wendy Amexo and James Hall!

My talk will be covering the ethical considerations and best practices for humans and GenAI to collaborate productively while mitigating risks. I'd love for you to come share your experiences or debate the opportunities and risks of GenAI.

Want to join us?
🗓️ Thursday 25th April
⏰ 6-8pm

Register here: https://lnkd.in/eTNNXK-b

#AI #TechEvent #Newcastle

Are you a friction fixer? 
 
 
Brilliant sketch note by Tanmay Vora summarising the Friction Project.

I started my career trying to be a brain surgeon (true story though you might laugh at it if you know me!) and decided I preferred computers to human brains. 

After working behind the desk as a developer in agencies for many years, where developers were constantly relegated to second-grade citizens, I realised that there is a great opportunity in building a company that was centred around people.

I am now fulfilling my real passion to be an entrepreneur working in digital and software working with world-renowned brands in helping them make the best of technology. 

My company, hedgehog lab, is a digital product studio. We architect, design, develop, and market apps & digital solutions for phones, tablets, TV, kiosks & and other connected post-PC devices.

Heather Payne

As a CEO, one of the trickiest things to get right is striking the right balance with your leadership style.  
 
On one side, you absolutely want to create an environment where everyone feels empowered to speak their mind. Rigorous debate and diversity of thought are critical. 
 
But let's be real - you're in the big chair for a reason. At the end of the day, you're the one who has to make the final call. That's why they pay you the big money (or at least the medium money in an agency!). Your judgment and intuition are ultimately what the company is betting on. 
 
I've found that as a leader, as you grow and mature, you can start to second guess yourself. You become hyper-aware of not wanting your voice to drown out others.  
 
You've probably had a few foot-in-mouth moments that made you wary. Maybe you've been stung by some negative feedback or feel embarrassed about a past decision that went pear-shaped. 
 
All that can lead to you clamming up when you should speak out.  
 
My advice: don't do it. Don't let those doubts muzzle you. 
 
If something in your gut is telling you that things are off track, 99 times out of 100 it's because they are. Those CEO Spidey-senses are there for a reason. Learn to trust them. 
 
When those alarm bells start ringing in your head, don't brush it off. Don't be shy about piping up, even if it goes against the grain. Your instincts and judgment are your most valuable assets as a leader. 
 
Back yourself and speak your truth. It's what you're there for. Your company is counting on your unique perspective and ability to read between the lines. 
 
Never stop encouraging vigorous discussion and debate. But have the courage of your convictions to speak up when your inner voice is telling you it's needed. That's the path to being a great leader. 
 
#leadership #ceo

I'll be at the Seamless Middle East & Saudi Arabia event in Dubai from the 14th to 16th May.

If any of my connections are around, I'd love to grab a coffee and chat all things #fintech, #ecommerce and #innovation.

If you know anyone in your network who I should meet, mention them in a comment. Would be great to grab a coffee at the event.

Want to attend? Register at https://lnkd.in/eye9aK2e

For my network. A wonderful progressive CPTO about to come on the market. Really strong track record of delivery. Reach out to me if you are looking and I can happily introduce you. No agencies please.

I'll be at the Seamless Middle East & Saudi Arabia event in Dubai from the 14th to 16th May.

If any of my connections are around, I'd love to grab a coffee and chat all things #fintech, #ecommerce and #innovation.

If you know anyone in your network who I should meet, mention them in a comment.

Want to attend? Register at https://lnkd.in/eye9aK2e

In 2023, as part of #Vision2028, we launched our Public Sector practice. 

Many of my peers will know that it's notoriously difficult to break into the public sector given our pedigree has always been in private sector although highly regulated industries like #financialservices, #healthcare & #utilities. 

Despite some real challenges, we are excited to have won some of our first engagements in the public sector last year and we are now looking to scale out our practice.

It's a great to time to get on the ground floor of something we have an ambition of turning into 50% of our revenue in 4 years.

No recruiters or agencies for this one please, so just for my network. We are #hiring

Business Development Manager (Public Sector)

One of my early methods to build psychological safety in my teams was to host safe-space meetings.  
  
I call these Circle of Trust meetings.  
  
What is a safe space meeting? As organisational psychologist Ron Carucci explains in a 2019 Harvard Business Review article, it’s “a forum where people are free to express perspectives and ask questions without fear of embarrassment or retribution.”  
  
Carucci provides compelling reasons why leaders should make safe spaces a priority:  
  
- People are likelier to share ideas and concerns when the environment feels psychologically safe. This leads to more robust discussions and better decisions.  
  
- Voicing fears, doubts, or opposing views in an unsafe culture can brand someone as unfavourable. Safe spaces allow for dissent without repercussions.  
  
- When people bottle up anxieties and objections, resentment builds. A safe space provides a pressure valve.  
  
- Shutting down contrarian thinkers suppresses innovation. Safe spaces allow fresh perspectives to emerge.  
  
So how can leaders cultivate safe space meetings? Here are a few best practices I recommend:  
  
- Set ground rules upfront. Have everyone agree to listen respectfully, not take things personally, and maintain confidentiality.  
  
- Model openness and non-judgmental curiosity. Ask others for clarity if you don’t understand their viewpoint.  
  
- Thank people for sharing openly, especially if it seems complicated. Validate courage.  
  
- Never belittle concerns or questions. Probe to understand more deeply.  
  
- If you hear unsafe comments, politely intervene. Remind people of ground rules.  
  
- Debrief after meetings on what worked well and where improvement is needed.  
  
I'd love to hear what other leaders have done to encourage safe-space meetings.  
  
#leadership #psychologicalsafety #trust

We are excited to be building out and scaling our Public Sector practice to fuel the already exciting work we are doing in this space. 

Want to join our team and help us do super impactful work impacting millions?

👇 

As a Founder, I haven't always thought deeply enough about the role I play in making my team feel like they truly belong.  
 
It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day of running a business and lose sight of how important it is to create an environment where everyone feels valued for their unique perspectives and abilities. 
 
I've come to realise that belonging is very different from simply "fitting in". Fitting in means people feel pressure to conform and hide parts of who they really are. But true belonging happens when someone feels celebrated for everything that makes them stand out. 
 
When team members don't feel that sense of belonging, they tend to stay quiet instead of speaking up and sharing their insights - even if those insights would hugely benefit the team. I know I've been guilty of not always making space for those diverse viewpoints to be heard. 
 
So I'm trying to be much more intentional about immediately validating team members when they contribute a unique perspective. I'll say something like, "You know what, I hadn't thought about it from that angle before. I'm so glad you brought that up, it's given me a lot to consider." I want them to know that their voice matters. 
 
I'm curious - what has a colleague or manager done to make you feel valued and celebrated for the distinct skills and viewpoints you bring to the table? I'd love to hear your stories so I can be a better leader on this front.

No alternative text description for this image

As a leader, your style can either create harmony or discord within your team.  
 
Understanding the difference between resonant and dissonant leadership is key to fostering a high-performing group. 
 
Resonant leaders are the masters of emotional intelligence. They empathise, inspire, and bring out the best in their people. They stay attuned to each team member, creating a supportive environment where everyone can thrive. 
 
In contrast, dissonant leaders are more rigidly focused on hitting targets and maintaining control, even at the expense of employee morale. While this commanding style has its place in a crisis, it often leads to a cacophony of stress and burnout. 
 
The best leaders know how to skilfully switch between resonant styles like the visionary, coach, affiliative and democratic. They use dissonant styles like the pacesetter and commander very sparingly. 
 
Mastering this leadership balancing act takes self-awareness and adaptability. But when you strike the right balance, you'll find your team performing at their best. 
 
How are you fine-tuning your leadership style to resonate with your team? Let me know in the comments! 
 
#leadership #emotionalintelligence

"10% of people will find a way to take anything personally. Expect it and treat it as math.” - Excellent quote from Tim Ferris in Tools of Titans.

Want engaged customers? Focus on your employee experience. 
  
Customer success is more than a department; it’s a result.   
  
To delight your customers, start by focusing on your employees. Engaged, motivated, and goal-oriented employees are the foundation for exceptional customer experiences. 
  
The most effective way to enhance employee experience is through active participation. Seek feedback, listen attentively to their concerns and suggestions, and implement innovative ideas. 
  
Always remember - content employees are the driving force behind satisfied customers. 
  
#EmployeeExperience #CustomerSuccess #EmployeeEngagement

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