Investor and operator.

Baillie Gifford's first digital-assets initiative

I took digital assets into Baillie Gifford from nothing. I wrote the investment proposal, built the valuation model, ran the FCA engagement and took the case through investment, risk, legal and compliance. The hard part was reputational risk and getting people to own a new decision, so most of the work was building consensus and making the decision safe to take.

Regulatory constraints meant the firm did not take exposure at the time. Theo Golden has since built on that early work to launch BAGEY in June 2026, the UK's first natively issued, regulated tokenised fund.

Stalward, 2026

Co-founded Stalward, an institutional on-chain venue for stablecoin FX forwards, built to be regulated, with an FCA pathway and an ADGM-first roadmap. I led strategy and the legal structuring. We got far enough to see what a licence would cost in time and money and decided not to continue.

I wrote about what a native tokenised fund actually changes.

Baillie Gifford, 2017 to 2024

Latterly thematic research lead for the Multi Asset team, around £4bn. I built the long-term thematic research function and turned research and data into investment decisions. Voting member on the rates and currency sleeve. Earlier work covered structured finance, insurance-linked securities, infrastructure and property.

I helped build the sustainable EM bond fund. I designed its climate section, pushed for it and got it integrated, and the fund launched.

A thesis on where the value goes

Co-authored "Will AI Generate a New Schumpeterian Growth Wave?" in American Affairs with Professor Herman Mark Schwartz. The argument is that growth comes in waves around general-purpose technologies, and who captures the value depends on the organisational form built around the technology. I build my own research tooling to screen markets against that view and keep a macro picture current.

I wrote about what running a business taught me about markets.

You Can Sauna

Co-founded it in 2024 and built it from nothing to over 3,000 customers, with a 4.9 average across nearly 150 Google reviews. Sites sit on public and heritage land, so every one is won through competitive tender. Forestry England wins include one scored 90 out of 100. I did the licensing, consenting, unit economics and accounts myself, and hired and built the team. I designed the operating workflows and the automation around them, and ran the site launches. The back office runs on those systems and I have designed myself out of the day to day. Two sites are trading, a third is in planning, and a double-digit pipeline of further sites is in discussion, with new inbound every week. I have written about how it works for the company's Medium.

Strategy advisory, care business, 2024 to 2025

Advised the founder and built the company's first financial model, which led to a strategic refocus on one of their two service offerings and a successful exit in 2026.