Describe your business and your role within it

I am the CEO of CommonPage. I formed CommonPage to solve a pain point I felt in my own career, namely the lack of effective collaboration between buying and selling teams. We built CommonPage to be a space where separate entities can collaborate safely and efficiently. A large portion of CommonPage’s value comes from allowing users to take their existing best practices and make them accessible to all shareholders. This is an example of how a fictional buying and selling company used CommonPage to share their requirements, get answers and reach agreement in a transparent way accessible to all purchasing stakeholders.

How did you get into this line of business?

12-months after leaving Mountbatten Program I found myself at a software startup and was charged with helping them sell their product to multinational companies. The experience I got from working at Citi Private Bank while a Mountbatten was invaluable in gaining this role. It wasn’t long before I discovered some of the issues surrounding collaboration between businesses and that this was a shared challenge.

How did you go about setting it up and getting established?

Once I made the decision to do it, I followed established processes. For the most part everything I needed was available online. When I needed specialist help I asked experts, some of whom I met during my Mountbatten days.

What else is in the pipeline?

Growing the team, product and business. All three are critical. We are eager to get feedback from Alums, anyone who signs up at commonpage.com before December 5th will get six months of CommonPage use for free.

What has been the proudest moment in your working life thus far?

My co-founder joining me on this mission. It’s great to have someone to share this experience with and to bring another set of skills and expertise to the table.

What has been your biggest mistake/learning experience?

Setting ourselves over ambitious targets.

Who are your role models?

The un-sung heroes running businesses every day who never have a snow day. Think 7/11 business owners.

Any words of advice/wisdom would you impart to others thinking of setting up their own business?

What do you have to lose? Make sure everyone you care about is on-board.