A founder-led editorial channel
Clarity from inside the business.
Long-form commentary on UK mortgages, strategic leadership, entrepreneurship and applied AI — from a founder running a regulated business through all four.
For founders, advisers and anyone making serious money decisions in a changing market.
EMBA Candidate, London Business School
Most commentary comes from people who analyse markets. This channel comes from someone who operates in one.
Since 2011 I've built and run Heron Financial — a national, technology-led mortgage and protection brokerage that's fee-free to clients and open seven days a week. That means the rate cycle, the regulator, the housing market and the practical reality of deploying AI aren't topics I read about. They're decisions I make.
The channel is where I think out loud about all of it: deliberately paced, properly argued, and honest about what I don't know. Commentary and analysis — never advice, never hype.
Client calls ran overwhelmingly positive through May — offers landing, applications progressing. Four calls in the whole month were flagged negative.
Aggregate figures from Heron Financial's brokerage desk for applications submitted 1–31 May 2026. Each case counted once, resubmissions excluded; LTV is a simple average. Updated monthly. Commentary, not advice.
Six threads, one perspective — the view from inside.
UK Mortgages & Housing
Rates, lending and what the market is actually telling us — read from live broker activity, not headlines.
Strategic Leadership
Decision-making, organisational design and the unglamorous mechanics of running a firm well.
Entrepreneurship
Founding, scaling and selling a stake — what actually survives contact with reality.
AI Implementation
Deploying AI inside a regulated business: what works, what's theatre, and what the constraints teach you.
Distribution & Scale
How service businesses actually grow — channels, partnerships, productivity per head and the mechanics of getting bigger without losing what made you good.
Economics & Policy
The MPC, housing policy and second-order effects — explained calmly, without the noise.
For the Record
- The job is to take the boring bits out of the customer journey, so there's more time for the conversations that actually matter.
- The best teams are full of people who know more than you do about their part of the job.
- Bring young people through, give them real skills, and let them build a career with you. Our best ideas come from the people we've grown.
- Perception is reality in a client journey — what the client feels is the fact that matters, whatever the spreadsheet says.
- Technology only earns its place when it makes the service more personal, not less.
B Corp Certified
Heron Financial — a certified B Corporation, balancing profit and purpose in regulated financial services.
Mortgage Strategy Awards
Winner — Best Broker for Digital Innovation.
British Mortgage Awards
Shortlisted — Business Leader: Development & Innovation.
Commentary and interviews in Mortgage Strategy, Mortgage Solutions and Money Age.
A place to return to for clarity, not noise.
First episodes — coming soon.
The Rate Cycle
Stop Agreeing With AI
Built, Not Bought
Still Working It Out — on Substack
The thinking, in writing.
Occasional long-form essays on the things I'm currently working out — mortgages, business, AI, leadership. Free, by email.
Invite me to speak — or just start a conversation.
Keynotes, panels, podcasts and press. Practical, first-hand perspective rather than slideware — usually on one of these:
- AI in regulated financial services — what deployment really looks like
- The UK mortgage and housing market
- Founder-led growth, founder transitions and life after a deal
- Building proprietary technology inside an SME
Away from the channel, I'm founder & CEO of Heron Financial — a national, fee-free, technology-led mortgage & protection brokerage, open seven days a week.
Visit Heron Financial ↗