Digital Mission Advisory Board

Wise counsel from external experts is certainly a factor in creating a successful business. Their mission is to help whittle down the applications and help shape the Digital Mission so that the successful companies get the absolute maximum benefit from the trip.

Digital Mission is extremely fortunate to benefit from the considerable wisdom of our expert advisory board...

Sarbjit Bakhshi - Head of ICT, UK Trade & Investment

As head of the ICT Sector team in UKTI, Sarbjit's role is to promote the UK ICT sector (which includes social media) to expand overseas. UKTI has 150 Offices in over 100 overseas markets to promote and provide a helping hand to UK companies in market. A lawyer by training, Sarbjit came from BERR where he was responsible for cross-border trade (including the internet) legislation in relation to consumer rights and also worked in DG Internal Market and Services on Patent law and the Copyright Directive.

Nic Brisbourne - Partner, DFJ Esprit

Nic has been in venture capital since 2000. In that time he has worked in London, Europe and Silicon Valley. His main areas of focus have been software and media. Prior to DFJ Esprit he was with Reuters Venture Capital. Nic's investment experience includes buy.at (sold to AOL for $125m) and UltraDNS (acquired by Neustar - NYSE NSR). He currently manages DFJ Esprit's investments in Zeus, WAYN and Tribold. Prior to joining Reuters Nic worked for Operis, a software and services start-up, and Cap Gemini. Nic also authors a blog commenting on the European technology and venture capital markets.

Mike Butcher - Editor, Techcrunch UK & Ireland / Mbites

TechCrunch UK & Ireland is edited by Mike Butcher. A former editor of New Media Age magazine, and The Industry Standard Europe. He has written for UK national newspapers including the The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times and magazines including The New Statesman. He has launched or relanched several media web sites and in 2004 he was voted ‘One of the 100 Innovators of the UK Internet Decade’ by GfK NOP, the fourth-largest custom research business in the world. He has appeared on BBC News, Sky News, Channel 4 and Bloomberg, commenting on technology and new media. His personal blog is mbites, while he Twitters here. In July 2008 Mike was put at No. 47 out of the Top 100 people in London’s creative industry the UK by The Independent newspaper and The Hospital Club.

Enda Carey - Head of Games & Digital Content, Northwest Vision and Media

Having graduated from University College Cork, Ireland, with a B.Commerce Honours degree, Enda brings with him a wealth of experience in both the traditional games and the mobile sector. He has worked in the past for Game Limited in various roles from managing stores through to trade marketing manager for the group, Sony Computer Entertainment as brand manager, as marketing director for iFone Ltd where he helped establish them as a leading publisher of mobile games and most recently as MD of publishing at Telcogames.

Benjamin Ellis - Co-founder, Redcatco

Benjamin is director and co-founder of communication technology house Redcatco. He has worked in and around the Internet technology for over 20 years. Benjamin has worked with startups in both the US and UK, including the earlier stages of companies such as Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks. His work for the European arms of US companies gives him a unique perspective on transatlantic business. He has been an official media spokesperson for publicly listed companies and at one time was response for 21 PR agencies. Benjamin is a member of the Institute of Directors and holds a number of advisory roles.

Ben Hayman - Owner, Venture 4th

The founder of the 90's high growth UK venture Medisurface and subsequently a founding partner of Mediatech advisory Venture4th Ben brings a great deal of experience in growing and building the value of Mediatech businesses. Working with founders and investors Ben has was worked across a range of areas including; Social Media, UGC, Security and Publishing.

Herb Kim - CEO, Codeworks

As the CEO of Codeworks, a centre for digital innovation based in North East England, Herbert brings 14 years of experience in technology and media related businesses. Prior to his current role, Herbert was at mm02, where he was originally Head of Business Development for BT Cellnet and then Head of Marketing for 02’s incubator division. Other senior roles include UK Managing Director for QXL.com, Head of Partner Relations at Bertelsmann’s E-commerce shop, General Manager of Blackwell’s Online Bookshop and Marketing Manager at IBM. Herbert has an MBA in Strategic Management from Wharton School and graduated in History, with honors at Princeton University. Herbert was born in Brooklyn, NY and has resided in the UK for eight years.

Having appeared in the first and second series of Dragons' Den, Doug is the founder and Chairman of Library House, Founder and Vice-Chairman of the Cambridge Angels, Chairman and CEO of Trutap, and Chairman of the Conservative Party Small Business Task Force. Doug is a successful entrepreneur with 20 years' experience in the development and leadership of technology and software ventures, both in the US and in the UK. Between 1996 and 2000 he was President and CEO of Micrografx, a US publicly quoted software company which he sold to Corel Corp. in 2000. Prior to that he also founded and subsequently sold two other companies: Visual Software and ITAL Computers. In 2006 Doug was an Honorary Recipient of The Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion.

Reshma Sohoni - CEO, Seedcamp

Reshma joins Seedcamp from the Venture team at 3i. Prior to 3i, Reshma spent over 3 years at Vodafone in their Commercial Strategy team, working across the Europe and Japan footprints in marketing strategy and pricing functions. Reshma started her career in the US in investment banking (Broadview) and venture capital (Softbank).