Seasoned new product development and innovation professional
London, United Kingdom
- Current
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- Senior Consultant at SHM Productions Ltd
- Co-Founder, Chief Product Officer at Zygo Communications Ltd
- Owner at Vanilla Internet
- Past
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- Head of Innovation and Incubation at Orange
- Head of Platform and Publishing at Yell
- Principal at The Fourth Room
- New Media Manager at Orange
- Interactive Comms Manager at Clarity Communications
- Education
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- Jesus College, Oxford
- University of Manchester
- University of Manchester
- Recommended
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4 people have recommended Nigel - Connections
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207
connections
- Industry
- Telecommunications
- Websites
Nigel Shardlow’s Summary
I like trying to do things that nobody has quite worked out how to do yet: this, more than anything else, defines my career path.
I started out as a professional philosopher, but figured out pretty soon that the solitary life of an academic wasn't for me. I switched to thinking about how the internet and digital media could be used to support marketing communications and other business processes. That was fourteen years ago now. I knew nothing about business, but learned fast. This line of thought took me from a little web design start-up to Orange, the telco, where I made a lot of noise getting 'web stuff' onto the corporate radar. It paid off, in the end.
Lately, I've been doing a lot of new product development work, which usually means thinking about customers, technology, processes and commercial models. I have also been engaged on a number of consulting assignments, both directly and with other consulting businesses. Recent projects have included clients such as Unilever, Apple, and a couple of technology start-up businesses.
I set up a business with a colleague back in 1999 to provide companies with reporting tools that their people might actually want to use. We called it Vanilla Internet, 'internet' being a buzzword at the time. A lot of what we do now has little to do with the internet.
I am also the co-founder of another business, Zygo Communications Ltd, which has developed an incredibly powerful and usable group-based mobile communications product, available now at www.zygohubs.com.
Nigel Shardlow’s Specialties:
New Product Development, Building and Leading Teams, Commercial Modelling, Product Strategy, Pricing, Innovation Practice, Consultancy, Process and Cultural Change, Integrated Marketing Communications, Usability, Digital Media, Telecoms, Mobile, Technology
Nigel Shardlow’s Experience
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Senior Consultant
SHM Productions Ltd
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Management Consulting industry)
June 2006 — Present (3 years 6 months)
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Co-Founder, Chief Product Officer
Zygo Communications Ltd
(Telecommunications industry)
April 2005 — Present (4 years 8 months)
Zygo Communications Ltd develops innovative mobile communications products for groups and communities. Our uniquely simple group messaging service is available now at www.zygohubs.com, and for businesses at www.zygopro.com.
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Owner
Vanilla Internet
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Computer Software industry)
April 1999 — Present (10 years 8 months)
Vanilla Internet (www.vanilla.net) helps companies extract data from hard-to-get places. We clean it up, process it, database it, and provide a system that allows you to generate meaningful reports from it.
Vanilla is also the vehicle I use for my consulting work, which has in recent months included projects on pricing, product development, change management and market development.
I have been responsible for managing the commercial side of this business since I founded it with my co-director in 1999. -
Head of Innovation and Incubation
Orange
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Telecommunications industry)
September 2000 — August 2004 (4 years )
My objectives were to come up with new business ideas, develop them, prototype and commercially evaluate them, and deliver the successful ones into the business. I had a team of thirty-plus, with a varied set of skills: some creative, some commercial, and some technical. The telecoms market was in a massive state of flux through this period, so it was a huge managerial and strategic challenge, but I like to think we came through it looking pretty good. Most of the products we delievered are still part of the Orange product suite. Some are even making money.
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Head of Platform and Publishing
Yell
(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; Yell.L; Online Media industry)
June 1999 — August 2000 (1 year 3 months)
I led a team of 30 people through some very big changes in this former BT division. I oversaw a major brand refresh of the online presence; completely re-built the directory search platform and underlying databases; and re-launched the service in the UK and the US. I also piloted a VISP offering to Yellow Pages small business customers.
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Principal
The Fourth Room
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Management Consulting industry)
September 1998 — May 1999 (9 months)
I worked at this boutique strategic and brand consultancy for less than a year, but in that time published a book on digital radio, several articles on market research, and ran strategy projects for clients such as Mars and Scottish Power.
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New Media Manager
Orange
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Telecommunications industry)
October 1996 — August 1998 (1 year 11 months)
Hired by Orange to set up and lead the New Media team, and develop and implement a strategy for online and all other digital communication. Re-developed and re-launched the Orange web site, set up the first Orange online store, and ran numerous online advertising campaigns. Our work won four new media industry awards for - amongst other things, ‘best web site’ and ‘best online campaign’.
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Interactive Comms Manager
Clarity Communications
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Online Media industry)
August 1995 — September 1996 (1 year 2 months)
This Internet marketing consultancy firm attracted some big blue chip clients, such as Rank Xerox and Glaxo Wellcome. I participated in the strategic planning, research, sourcing, production and implementation of the acclaimed Glaxo Wellcome web site, co-ordinating all aspects of copywriting, graphic design and coding. This included putting together and managing a team of html coders.
Nigel Shardlow’s Education
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Jesus College, Oxford
DPhil , Philosophy , 1990 — 1992
My D.Phil. Thesis was an investigation into the ontological status of 'common-sense' psychological states, such as beliefs, desires and thoughts, in light of advances in neuro- and cognitive science.
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University of Manchester
M.Sc. , Cognitive Science , 1988 — 1989
This was a pioneering course, combining modules in Linguistics, Psychology and Artificial Intelligence. I wrote my dissertation on the notion of agent theory in distributed AI, a field now more commonly known as multi-agent system theory.
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University of Manchester
B.A. (Hons) , Philosophy (First Class) , 1986 — 1988
At Manchester, I discovered Wittgenstein, the greatest philosopher of recent times, and wrote my final year thesis on the logic of counterfactual conditionals (e.g., "If Kangaroos had no tails, they would fall over.")
Additional Information
Nigel Shardlow’s Websites:
Nigel Shardlow’s Interests:
Developing ideas for new online businesses, cycling, building bicycles, cooking, literature, philosophy, psychology, wine, photography, art, corporate finance, multi-agent systems
Nigel Shardlow’s Groups:
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Telecom Professionals -
Jesus College, University of Oxford - Alumni -
Mobilists (Innovators in mobile industry - 3900+ members) -
Orange Connection -
Mobile Telecoms industry group -
Telecom & Mobile VAS Professionals Worldwide -
Digital Lounge
Nigel Shardlow’s Honors:
Whilst at Orange the first time around, the work I did on the web site and online advertising with AKQA won awards from BIMA, Revolution and New Media Age.
More recently, my company Zygo Communications has won the Red Herring 100 Top Tech Companies in Europe Award, the Always on Global 250 Tech Award for Startups, and was a finalist in Nokia's international Mobile Rules competition for mobile startups.
Nigel Shardlow’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
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- consulting offers
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