I’m a Sydney-based product designer and startup founder. Previously I worked at Loop, AVOS, and Atlassian, and I am currently the CEO and co-founder of Dovetail.

I grew up in Christchurch, New Zealand and studied Computer Science at Otago University. I never graduated, instead finding myself drawn to the world of open source and the quickly evolving scene of web development, as well as needing to work in order to support my family in the aftermath of the 2011 Christchurch Earthquake.

One of my open source contributions was starting The Ubuntu Manual Project to provide internationalized operating system documentation for the emerging world to learn Ubuntu. Linux is prevalent in places like India and Indonesia, especially in schools, as a free alternative to Windows or Mac.

I was also a regular writer for the online magazine, OMG! Ubuntu!, and one of my highlights from this time was the opportunity I had to interview Linus Torvalds. The interview mostly took place on a Brisbane TransLink bus—a challenging environment for a young wannabe tech journalist!

Otago University has a building called the Centre for Innovation, and in 2011 I joined a small web development agency called Loop, where I designed and built websites for clients like Cadbury and High Performance Sport NZ.

In an odd series of events, Loop was acquired by an American startup and I found myself in Silicon Valley working as a product designer on a relaunch of the famous bookmarking website Delicious in an office in San Mateo.

I moved back to New Zealand and then to Sydney to join at a little known software company called Atlassian, in 2013. I had four incredible years there working with wonderful people and making lifelong friends. I worked on a three-year company vision project called A2018; established the design function within the newly-formed Growth team; and led the design of Jira Agile, then later the Cloud Platform team.

I saw Atlassian grow from 450 people to over 2,500; the product design team from 15 to 120; and the company evolve from a private startup to a public enterprise software company through their 2015 IPO on the Nasdaq.

However, I’d always had an entrepreneurial itch to start my own startup. In 2017 I left Atlassian to start Dovetail, and convinced my friend and colleague, Bradley Ayers to join me.

Whether it’s the latest iPhone app or a new toaster, Brad and I believed great products are built by teams who listen to customer feedback. Just building something isn’t enough—you need to know what it is you’re building, and for who, and what problems you’re solving, to truly create value.

We realized that Dovetail’s mission could simply become ‘We exist to improve the quality of every thing’, and achieve this by helping teams leverage the valuable insights that come from customers, users, and the wider market.

What began as a simple tool to run a research method called a diary study, now, several years later, is a ~130 employee software company with four products that help organizations large and small manage these customer insights.

Our software enables teams at over 4,000 organizations big and small worldwide, including 20% of the Fortune 500. Customers include Amazon, Atlassian, Breville, BP, Canva, Google, Ford, Maersk, Meta, Novo Nordisk, and Shopify.

We are hiring across our San Francisco and Sydney offices, both of which have great cultures with smart and diverse people. In our 2025 Culture Amp engagement survey, we scored 87% positive overall, with Work & Life Blend, Management, Engagement, Innovation, and Inclusion all above 85% each.

I’m grateful to have the opportunity to mentor several Australian and New Zealand startup founders who are earlier in their journey, putting some of my hard-learned lessons to good use to further the tech ecosystem down under.

Outside of work, I spend time with my fiancée, who is a human rights lawyer at Kingsford Legal Centre, and family and friends. I play guitar, tennis, and enjoy running. I have become involved with the non-profit Vinnies, and in 2024, I raised $20,504 for Vinnies to help end homelessness in Australia, taking part in their CEO Sleepout event.

Want to get in touch? Find me on LinkedIn.