Blyth Valley

I was a founding director of Blyth Valley, an early online business selling professional insurance.

I looked after marketing. We made witty paper mailers, did lots of Google PPC, lots of pr, and eventually built Blyth Valley to the first in its class.

The business was bought by a major UK insurer in 2003.

Intelligence

as a director of an FSA-regulated business (it’s now the FCA), you learn to take procedure seriously
being brave is about risk and resilience
hard work is unremitting and invisible
be smart – learn from people smarter than you
stay ahead of the game technologically