Big problems, run on long horizons.
So does the experience it takes to get them right.
I work with founders, leadership teams and investors in values-led food, agriculture and climate businesses. I spent 13 years co-founding and scaling GrowUp Farms, from two people and a Kickstarter campaign to 120 people supplying the UK's largest retailers. Now I put that experience, the good and the hard-won, to work for the next wave of ventures.
Book an introductory call- Based
- London
- Works
- UK and Europe
- Roles
- NED · board observer · advisor · fractional CTO / Head of R&D
- Formerly
- Co-founder, CTO & Board Director, GrowUp Farms (2013–2025)
Why Long Arc
Innovative technology doesn't like to move in a straight line. It arrives early, peaks before the world is ready for it, falls back, and returns when the costs, the markets and the need catch up. That's the long arc.
I spent thirteen years building GrowUp through every stage from prototype to fundraising to industrial scale to restructuring. Each wave of ventures on the arc tends to repeat the mistakes of the last: scale-up plans that treat biology like machinery, energy and labour assumptions that don't survive the real world, raises sized for a scale the business hasn't earned yet, teams that engineer working technology but not the organisation to drive the business. I've lived through that, and have deep knowledge because of it.
Long Arc is how I make sure those lessons travel with the next wave, so they don't have to learn them twice.
At the end of the long arc, it's no longer too early.
How I can help
A small number of engagements, each with a clear scope, a clear cadence and a clear owner.
- 01Board
Board roles
NED and board observer seats for early and growth-stage companies, including observer roles for investors. I sat on GrowUp's board for twelve years, through growth, a pivot and a restructuring.
- 02Fractional
Fractional leadership
Part-time, embedded leadership for pre-seed to Series A teams, as fractional CTO or Head of R&D. That covers strategy, building the team, operations and getting ready to raise, done alongside the people who will carry it on after me.
- 03Advisory
Founder and leadership team advisory
Regular sessions on priorities, team, fundraising and the hard calls, including for university spin-outs. A big part of that is helping founders and their teams move from one phase of the business to the next. What you needed at the start, from yourself and from your team, might not be what you need now. My own role changed several times at GrowUp, so I know that shift from the inside. I don't come in with a playbook or assume I know your business better than you do. I bring a fresh pair of eyes, constructive challenge, and the hindsight of having been through every stage of scaling.
- 04Diligence
Due diligence for investors
Technical and operational diligence on food, ag and climate ventures: R&D roadmaps, capex and energy assumptions, scale-up plans, and the team that has to deliver them. I led diligence from the company side across more than £140m of funding. The questions that matter rarely appear in the deck.
AlsoI also take on expert calls and short sense-checks for investors weighing vertical farming and controlled-environment claims.
Who I work with
-
Founders and leadership teams
need personal growth and trusted advisory as they move from a working prototype to a business that has to run every day, or moving from one phase of growth to the next.
-
Investors and lenders
who want someone who has been through it to read the plan before money goes in.
-
Boards, funds and search firms
looking for a NED, board observer or fractional leader with operating experience in food, ag and climate.
I'm based in London and work across the UK and Europe. I keep the number of engagements small so I can be properly in them, rather than dropping in once a quarter.
About me
I co-founded GrowUp Farms in 2013 and spent the next twelve years on its board and leadership team, taking it from two people and a Kickstarter campaign to a 120-person, B-Corp-certified business supplying the UK's largest retailers.
As a founder I wore many hats. My role changed as we grew: building our first demonstration farms, then hiring and leading teams, raising money, designing the product, and running technology, agronomy, R&D and data. I've spent my career in rooms full of people who know more than me about their own field. My strength is getting to grips with complex ideas quickly and helping the people around the table reach the best conclusions.
People are at the core of how I work. Whether I'm advising a founder, sitting on a board or leading a team, I give the people around me clarity on what matters and the context behind it, so they can make good calls without waiting to be told. At GrowUp, that helped build a culture twice named a Sunday Times Best Place to Work.
GrowUp outgrew its capital structure, and in 2025 the group went through a restructuring. It taught me that the funding model has to match the stage and the risk, however good the technology. It shapes how I read every plan I see.
LinkedInTimeline
- £140m+
- raised across grants, equity and debt
- £100m
- seed-to-pack vertical farm
- 2 → 120
- people
- 7-day
- retail supply, years without a missed day
- 2013 Co-founds GrowUp with a Kickstarter campaign; the GrowUp Box demonstration farm
- 2015 Unit 84, the UK's first commercial aquaponic vertical farm, supplying London restaurants and retail
- 2018 Leads the pivot from aquaponics to hydroponics; begins the design of Pepperness
- 2018–2021 Designs Pepperness and co-invents its patented energy model
- 2021 £112m raise, led by Generate Capital
- 2022 Pepperness opens: a highly automated, seed-to-pack vertical farm
- 2022–2025 Leads agronomy, R&D and data; launches leading Vertical Farm research centre, The Leaf Lab
- 2024 Closes a further £40m with Generate Capital
- 2025 GrowUp group restructures after outgrowing its capital structure
- 2026 Founds Long Arc
Along the wayB-Corp certification; twice a Sunday Times Best Place to Work; Champion of Champions, The Grocer awards; runner-up, Sustainable Farmer of the Year, National Farming Awards (2025); Forbes 30 Under 30; No. 10, BBC, Channel 4 and The Guardian.
Book an introductory call
No charge. If I'm not the right person, I'll say so, and I'll usually know who is.
Or email
[email protected]