Tom Sutton

Product Marketing

2024 - Current

Digital Marketing Consultant (B2B, SaaS, Product)

2023

Co-Founder

2020

As Co-Founder at Chase Interaction, I help lead the development of TRACX, an AI-powered customer engagement platform for local businesses. Key achievements include: - Developed and validated concept using a lean, MVP-led approach. - Secured angel investment following successful pilot with customers. - Led beta product launch, migrating our tech stack from bespoke PHP with Bootstrap to Laravel and TailwindCSS, and moving the architecture from self-hosted to AWS serverless. - Managed business operations, including securing R&D tax credits and recruiting the first sales hire. - Launched a self-service SaaS product, implementing SEO and content marketing strategies, including the release of free tools and a template library. - Secured our first round of VC funding in 2022. Find out more at tracx.com

Partner

2019 - 2023

As a Partner at SEED VC, a venture builder focused on early-stage companies, I helped new businesses grow and succeed. We did this through two main programs: 1. SeedReady: This was our training program and community for first-time founders. We helped them test their ideas and turn them into businesses that investors wanted to fund. 2. Venture Agenda: This was our program for established companies. We helped them find promising startups to work with, create new business ventures, and set up innovation labs. The goal was to help big companies and startups work together effectively. Key Achievements: We collaborated with London & Partners, the official business growth agency for the Mayor of London, to deliver workshops and mentoring for the Business Growth Programme (BGP). Our focus was on high growth b2b startups and entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups. We fostered the growth of over 20 SeedReady alumni who successfully raised money from individual investors and venture capital firms. Notable successes included: - Plend: A fintech platform that has since secured £40M in initial funding from Active Partners, Velocity Juice, and Sivo. - Vestico: A UGC and AI fashion technology platform that raised £250K from Jenson Funding Partners. - Peek: A social reading app that was accepted into the prestigious Techstars program. - WeFindFlats: A B2B technology platform that received £129K in funding from SFC Capital.

Founder

2019 - 2022

As the Founder of SeedReady™, I supported first-time founders validate and develop their concepts into viable businesses. Key accomplishments include: - Established a comprehensive pre-accelerator program, supporting over 600 founders through 6 cohorts. - Designed a short-form Bootcamp course and developed an operational partnership for program execution. - Launched an e-learning platform and online community. - Cultivated a network of startup mentors and partners. - Organised over 100 online events during the UK's COVID restrictions, reaching 3000+ founders and entrepreneurs.

Head of Product

2017 - 2019

Widely considered to be the most prestigious accounting firm outside the Big 4, Grant Thornton UK LLP is part of a global network of independent audit, tax and advisory firms. In my role as Head of Product at Grant Thornton UK LLP, I was a key member of the Digital Enterprise team, responsible for reshaping the future of the firm through innovative strategic propositions and digital products.

Corporate Development: Product, Technology, Strategy & Digital Innovation

2015 - 2017

ICIS is the world's largest petrochemical market information and analytics provider with growing energy division. Part of RELX Risk & Business Analytics (R&BA) division. At ICIS, I sat alongside the Global Strategy and Product team, tasked with fostering innovation and accelerating new product development. Reporting to the Head of Product, my responsibilities involved steering cross-functional teams, working closely with sales, product management, and tech teams to build a commercially viable, customer-focused product pipeline.

Product Developer

2014 - 2015

At EG, part of the RELX Risk & Business Analytics division and a stalwart in the UK commercial real estate sector for over 160 years, I served as a key member of the product development team. Reporting to the Principal Architect, my responsibilities encompassed promoting a customer-centric, rapid prototyping approach to new product development.

UX Developer

2014 - 2015

As part of Proagrica (a RELX Risk & Business Analytics business), a global leader in content, data, analytics, and workflow software for the agriculture and animal health industries, I played a pivotal role in the development of their first big-data products under the renowned Farmer's Weekly brand. This significant initiative laid the foundation for launching the AgTech division.

UX Developer

2012 - 2014

In my role as a UX Developer I championed a customer-centric, rapid prototyping approach to product development.

SEO Engineer

2011 - 2012

Conducted comprehensive technical SEO audits on major websites, crawling over 1 million URLs regularly for leading brands such as NewScientist.com and TotalJobs.com. I developed a synthetic monitoring system on AWS to routinely assess performance across a portfolio of sites. This data-driven approach led to significant enhancements in site performance and optimised load times globally. The success of this project underscored the importance of continuous monitoring and rapid action in the ever-evolving SEO landscape, and recognised internally with an "Outstanding Achievement in Technology" award.