E4F offers a tailor made support package, with guidance on building a business plan, taking your product to market, marketing, sales, building a team, finance and getting you investment ready.

Andy Honess

Andy has a passion for building and guiding start-ups and small companies into high-speed growth and market leadership positions; helping them make the leap to the next phase of their success. With over 25 years of experience in the highly competitive enterprise software industry, Andy has held senior sales and executive leadership positions in IBM, Siebel and small/medium start-ups. He was managing director and vice president of QlikTech (NASDAQ: QLIK), where for five years he built and managed the UK and Irish operations from scratch, achieving year on year growth levels between 55%-355%, helping the company to a successful IPO on the NASDAQ in 2010. He then progressed to building the company’s global enterprise accounts business and first industry business unit in financial services. In 2012 Andy set up his own company, JumpXL and he is now an investor in, and advisor to, the hi-tech sector including being a mentor for several high profile start-up incubation and accelerator programs. He holds an honours degree in Business Information Systems.

John Cooke

John is an experienced business development professional, technologist and entrepreneur. He founded Element-C with his wife to help businesses develop growth strategies, commercialise products and implement systems to support growth. John is also co-founder of ClientFinity a cloud-based community marketing service for small businesses, currently undergoing trials in a number of Towns/Cities in the UK. Until March 2014, John worked at Vistage (UK and Ireland) as Business Development Director. Vistage helps CEOs and MDs of SME businesses develop their businesses and themselves through peer groups, executive coaching and expert workshops – it has over 17,000 members worldwide. Prior to Vistage, John founded InfoBasis – providing skills management technology to corporate and public sector organisations including Aviva, Microsoft, BAE Systems, British Computer Society, NHS, RAF, Army, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Safeway. John worked in both the UK and established InfoBasis’s US subsidiary in Redmond, Washington – developing InfoBasis’s business, sales and partnerships. It was a US partnership that led to InfoBasis being acquired by NASDAQ listed Salary.com in June 2008. The technology now resides with IBM through its acquisition of Kenexa. Before setting up InfoBasis, John spent 7 years at Microsoft working in a variety of roles culminating in managing the design, development and delivery of Microsoft’s own skills analysis and learning delivery system (delivered to over 27,000 services staff worldwide). John also worked in Microsoft’s first internet technology team in the UK, providing technical input and review to 10 Downing Street’s web-site launch and the BBC’s web presences amongst others. Prior to Microsoft, John worked at IBM – becoming one of the first technicians to support what was then the new ThinkPad laptop range, plus IBM’s full range of PC solutions. John has a degree in Environmental Science and Geophysics, is a trained executive coach and has developed and delivered technical and soft skills training across Europe, Egypt and America.

Alistair Fox

Alistair founded Expertek 10 years ago to work with technology businesses to improve their sales through integrating sales, channels, marketing and product management. His key strength is the ability to identify market opportunities and drive projects that accelerate market penetration and increase revenue. For five years he led the marketing and strategy development for a software tools start-up in the Netherlands, as well as working with technology companies across the UK. Alistair was previously Marketing Director for Marconi, a major telecommunications equipment supplier, with responsibility for the full marketing mix, selling a wide portfolio of products and services to international customers, and through alliance partners such as Nokia, Ericsson and Siemens. Based in Italy for two years, he led marketing across Scandinavia, Southern Europe and South America and developed the strategy for the company’s expansion into Brazil, working with a local partner to develop a Joint Venture. He is a Chartered Engineer, has a Cranfield MBA, and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), where he is also on the board of the Technology Marketing Interest Group (TMIG).

Interested in being a mentor?

If you are interested in applying for a future tender for Entrepreneurs in Residence, or on a less formal basis wish to apply to be considered for mentoring help alongside e4f clients, then please feel free to drop us a line with more details on you and what you offer.