About Me

Hi, I'm Nick.

I'm a product leader. I work where the customer experience meets the business and systems behind it: the data, the workflows, the incentives and the software. That's usually where the interesting problems are.

How I got here

I started in executive search in Hong Kong in 2007, recruiting for investment banks' markets businesses. It's a tough commercial training ground, and it's where I learned to sell, negotiate and develop business.

Those skills got me into tech. In 2012, Digital Butter, a Hong Kong digital product studio, hired me to replace its co-founder as Business Director: the only person selling, with a two-week handover before he left to found a restaurant group (which went on to earn a Michelin star). Within three months we'd had the best month in the studio's history. I also got technical fast, because I can't stand not understanding something the people around me understand. Before long I was driving the technical logic and scope on projects and leading engineers.

In 2016, I earned the chance to run the business. It was talented but struggling, stuck on a tired agency model that no longer made sense. As Managing Director and co-owner, with full P&L responsibility, I rebuilt the business model, changed how we priced, contracted and hired, and built the internal tools we ran the company on. We became profitable, and it was a fun place to work: the studio blackboard listed the top three Mario Kart Rainbow Road times, and the competition was fierce. We exited in 2020, before I moved to the US.

From 2021 to 2026, I was VP of Product at PreFix, my first in-house product role, and exactly what I'd wanted after years as a service partner: owning strategy and outcomes end to end. When I joined, customers could call, text or email us, and plenty loved that. But there was nowhere to log in, see their home's history or manage their requests. As part of the leadership team, I launched HomeHub to change that. I also led product through three phases of our partnership with USAA and built the data and operations tooling behind a service that grew to nearly 8,000 homes across four Texas cities and tens of thousands of service visits. I loved my time there, I'm still a customer, and I'm rooting for the team.

What I bring

Wherever I've landed, I've got up to speed quickly and delivered. I'm at my best on messy problems that cut across commercial, operational and technical lines: working out what actually matters, making the call, and getting a team behind it. I'm as comfortable with a CEO as with an engineering lead or an operations team, and I can translate between all three.

What excites me

With so much enshittification going on, I'm drawn to the opposite: businesses that make something better for people and make good money doing it, without being extractive. My test for any company, including the ones I've helped build: if this company wins, is that a good thing?

Right now

I'm enjoying some time with my family and dusting off the slacks to get back out and meet people. I can't leave a good problem alone, so I'm also testing what I can build on my own with AI. For years I've had engineers to build with; now I'm finding out what's possible solo. And I'm looking for the next team and product I can throw myself into.

Here to help

If I can make an introduction, share something I've learned, or just be useful, I will. Call it putting some good karma back into the universe.

Outside work

I grew up in Hong Kong with Scottish parents, played 15 years of club rugby there, and now live in Philadelphia with my wife Karen, our son and daughter, and two dogs. I'm a die-hard Buffalo Bills fan (pre-Josh Allen) because Karen is from Buffalo, and it's non-negotiable. I love fantasy and science fiction, and I've started writing a novel I'm totally OK with never finishing. I also love the Warhammer 40K universe; I haven't played tabletop in forever, but I'm counting down to Henry Cavill's series.

Get in touch

If you're building something interesting, want an introduction, or just want to compare notes, I'd like to hear from you. The best place to reach me is LinkedIn.