John Taysom
Chairman & Founder we7
John was first inspired for the idea which became we7 when driving past the world famous Stonehenge Stone Circle in Wiltshire, UK several years ago. The rest, as they say, is history.
In 1995 John founded the Greenhouse Fund in California for Reuters, which he then acquired from Reuters through an MBO in 2001. John invests in start-up companies many of which are relevant to we7. These companies have included Yahoo, Infoseek, Verisign, OpenWave, PacketVideo, WhereOnEarth, Bitpipe, as well as successful companies driven by the first wave of Internet advertising such as Advertising.com (sold in 2005 to AOL) and Forbes.com where John held Board seats. John was a board member of TIBCO when it was spun out from Reuters onto NASDAQ. John's seed investments, in addition to we7, include Tideway (UK), TheNewsMarket (NY), AbCam (now listed, ABC.L) and WebMynd (London and San Francisco).
John loves listening via we7 to Django's Blues; to Davey Graham's Anji; as well as the many new faces coming through we7 Presents.
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Steve Purdham
CEO & Founder Investor we7
Steve is passionate about music, but apart from his early days as a DJ (that's right shiny suits, double decks and mirror ball), his real success to date has been in the computer industry, a sector he has been involved with since he was 14 (a time when PCs existed only in science fiction!).
As the co-founder of SurfControl (a world-leading internet protection systems provider), Steve developed its vision and architecture. Using his entrepreneurial skills, he was fundamental in the company's listing on the London Stock Exchange, first on AIM and then the Main Market, as well as the nascent European market, EASDAQ. Steve's vision, direction and marketing ability generated hyper-growth and created a successful global operation, employing over 600 people across 15 separate locations in the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific - and with profitable annual billings exceeding $120 million. SurfControl was sold for almost $450m in 2007.
Between the sale of SurfControl plc and the early formation of we7, Steve also took the Chairman role of Identum Ltd, an Internet Security encryption company which was a spin out from Bristol University utilising world class IP. In his tenure at Identum he helped the team raise additional funding and achieve a successful sale to Trend Micro in February 2008.
Steve's entrepreneurial abilities have also been personally recognised with many prestigious industry awards including IOD Director of the Year, Technology CEO of the Year, Technology Entrepreneur of the Year, and Techmark Personality of the Year. In addition to his high profile role at we7, Steve has other roles as Advisor and Board member to other high quality businesses such as Manchester Technology Fund that aids IP based spin outs from the University of Manchester.
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Peter Gabriel
Founder Investor we7 (Photograph by Graham wood)
Starting his solo career after leaving Genesis in 1975, (a band he co-founded), Peter Gabriel has released eleven solo albums and his soundtrack works include Birdy (1984), The Last Temptation of Christ (1989) and Rabbit Proof Fence (2002).
For the Year 2000 celebrations, Peter composed the music for the central show in the London Millennium Dome. In 1980, he co-founded WOMAD (World of Music Arts and Dance) and, in 1987, he founded the Real World group of companies, a group comprising of: Real World Studios, Real World Records, and later, Real World Multi Media and Real World Films.
Peter's human rights work include concerts for Nelson Mandela in 1988 and 1990. He was a co-ordinator of and participant in the Human Rights Now! Tour in 1988 with Amnesty International, and then appointed to the Reebok Human Rights Award Board of Advisors, which each year recognises human rights workers around the world.
In 1989, Peter became co-founder of the Witness programme, an organisation that gives digital video cameras and other tools of communication to human rights activists worldwide. In 2000, he was co-founder and board member of On Demand Distribution (OD2), the leading European platform provider for the distribution of on line music (acquired in 2004 by Loudeye of Seattle, Washington. In 2006, Loudeye was acquired by Nokia). In 2005, Peter established a joint venture with David Engelke to acquire Solid State Logic, the world's leading manufacturer of mixing consoles for music recording, broadcast and post-production. In 2006, Peter invested in Exabre, the leaders in recommendation software for advanced media. In the same year, he was awarded the BT Digital Music Pioneer Award, Q Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 'Man of Peace'' Award, presented by the Nobel Peace Laureates. Finally, in 2008, he was awarded the 'Quadriga Award' in Berlin.
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Gareth Reakes
CTO & Founder we7
Gareth has driven the creation of several successful technology companies. These include DecisionSoft, Embrace Mobile and Parthenon Computing, which were privately funded and profitable in their first year.
Using a unique blend of agile methodologies, Gareth has completed many major projects on time and on budget. His significant customers include Oracle, SleepyCat (which was recently acquired by Oracle), the UK government, CSW, Water Innovate and Delta XML.
Gareth is a Vice President of Apache, the global open source foundation where he chairs the Xerces group. He is also a member of the XML committee.
Regularly speaking and presenting technical papers at conferences in America and Europe, Gareth has a first class honours degree in Computation from Oxford Brookes University and was recently a finalist in the 'Up and Coming Entrepreneur' category of the Martin & Audrey Wood Enterprise Awards.
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Tom Teichman
Non Executive Director
Tom was previously Chairman of NewMedia Investors Ltd, which he founded in 1996 and which merged into SPARK Ventures plc in 2000, now Europe's largest quoted early stage technology VC Company. Tom (B.Sc. (Econ) Hons.), was born in Hungary and has operated in many countries, speaks 4 languages and has over 25 years of venture capital and investment banking experience with firms including Bankers Trust, Credit Suisse and Bank of Montreal. He has raised over £5 billion for companies and has backed many successful early stage businesses, many from start up, all the way to flotation (London and NASDAQ) or trade sale. He was on the Boards of most of these for several years. These include ARC, lastminute.com, Mergermarket, AVT, Argonaut, Dialog, System C Healthcare, Wellington Investments and Libertas Capital. The total value of exits exceeds £1 billion. He has extensive venture capital experience in technology ranging from on-line information, telecoms, music services, video games and chip design to travel and software for healthcare and retailing.
Mike Large
Non Executive Director & Founder Investor
Mike has worked in the Music industry since 1980, firstly at the BBC, then Solid State Logic. In 1986
he left SSL to join Real World, leading the design and project management teams for the construction of Real World Studios in Box. Actively involved in the expansion of the Real World Group to include Real World Records, Real World Research - working in the electronic design industry, Poste Haste Television, Box Products (furniture and lighting design) and the Experience Park project. In 1990 he became Director of Operations for Real World Holdings.
At the end of 1992 Mike brought the WOMAD organisation into the Real World Group after several years of productive partnership. Since then WOMAD has become the undisputed World leader in presenting multi-cultural festivals that achieve both cultural and artistic credibility with financial success.
In 1999 Mike worked with Charles Grimsdale and Peter Gabriel on the founding of On Demand Distribution (OD2). OD2 became the market leader in digital distribution in Europe and was subsequently sold to Loudeye in July 2004.
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Charles Grimsdale
Non Executive Director
Charles has 22 years' experience as an entrepreneur and operational manager in the software and digital media industry and is a co-founder of Eden Ventures. In 1989 Charles founded interactive 3D software company Division Group and, as Managing Director, led the successful growth of the company for ten years. In 1993 the company achieved a full listing on the London Stock Exchange and was subsequently sold to Parametric Technology in 1999. In 2000 Charles founded On Demand Distribution (OD2), to provide digital music distribution services to record companies. Today, OD2 powers the digital music services of many major online brands. OD2 was acquired by Loudeye in 2004, creating the world's largest business-to-business digital music company, which in August 2006 was then acquired by Nokia.
Charles brings to the team his deep domain knowledge of digital media as well as operational management skills.
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