David Cleevely CBE

Chairman of the Raspberry Pi , co-founder of Cambridge Angels

We brought in The Innovation Practice to help us stress test our strategy. Ludo designed a great session that was well structured, interactive and which ensured involvement from everyone on the leadership team.  In a short space of time, we reviewed the key elements of the strategy, refined them and developed a clear mission and a shared view of the business model required to deliver it. Most importantly we got everyone aligned. I would thoroughly recommend The Innovation Practice.

Peter Cowley

Serial entrepreneur and Angel Investor, Cambridge, UK

Converge (developing and providing disruptive IoT systems for concrete maturation in the construction industry) contracted The Innovation Practice to facilitate a full day’s strategy session for the senior management and board, as we have been operating for a couple of years and, after a recent funding round, are scaling more rapidly.  Ludo provided an excellent focussed forum using the Business Canvas methodology, which led to a set of prioritised actions, several of which we would not have worked out ourselves.  I highly recommend The Innovation Practice .

John Mills

CEO, Xaar plc

Xaar recently brought in The Innovation Practice to support two Board strategy sessions. Ludo already had an understanding of the print industry and very quickly got up to speed with understanding our challenges and requirements. Despite the current changes to ways of working Ludo ensured the remote sessions were interactive and involved everyone in the Board and Executive Team. Ludo conducted the sessions in a way that enabled us to review and discuss the current strategy giving everyone the opportunity to raise any objections. At the end of both sessions we felt satisfied that everyone was aligned on the company vision and mission as well as understanding the business model required to deliver it. We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Ludo and would highly recommend the Innovation Practice to other businesses. We look forward to working with Ludo again!

Dr Sally Ann Forsyth OBE

CEO, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst 

With a complex set of business plans to develop, we brought in The Innovation Practice to help us with the process. Ludo facilitated our planning session in a clear, well-structured and engaging way. He quickly understood our business and the environment we operate in and made sure he engaged with every member of the team to ensure that everyone felt involved. In just a handful of sessions, we had developed a clear and articulate business plan based on a series of scenarios, tactical deliverables and related actions.  The session provided a great environment for some creative thinking that we were all delighted with.  Most importantly, the team that will deliver the plan are excited about the future and clear on what their different responsibilities will be. I would definitely use The Innovation Practice again.

Robert Marshall FRAe

CEO and Founder of Martlet Capital

I have engaged the Innovation Practice a couple of times recently. As Chairman of Workfinder Ltd I had some concerns with the focus, prioritisation and alignment of the newly formed Executive Team. Ludo ran a brilliant one-day session and helped the team to reach a powerful level of clarity which has helped the business in its fund-raising activities and its execution of the business plan. On another occasion, Ludo ran a workshop with a business in its very early formation and helped the founders to identify danger areas and to develop a sound business proposition basked on solid strategic principles. Ludo has a knack of challenging the founders and executives in a highly constructive way that creates unity rather than division. The sessions also lead to highly pragmatic action orientated solutions which help to propel the business forward.

Mark Warne

CEO, Deepmatter

Ludo was invited to help coach the newly formed management team of DeepMatter as it sought to crystalise and communicate to the wider team its near and medium term goals.  A simplicity of thinking, combined with the ability to interrogate and mediate between technical/scientific and general management was critical in these circumstances and Ludo demonstrated particular prowess in this regard.  Ludo additionally served excellently as a facilitator when it came to seeking broader employee feedback and input on the goals that will form the basis of all corporate, team and individual objectives during 2019.

Peter Baldwin

CEO, Myrtle Software, Cambridge

Ludo delivered two excellent strategic planning days for our company in the last quarter of 2019. Both sessions were well thought out, had good structure and natural flow. The offsite day enabled a geographically dispersed SMT to align and prioritise, all hugely enabled by Ludo's expert guidance. The outcomes of both sessions have helped the teams align on a company strategy and direction. They have helped us produce a set of goals and actions that will drive the business into 2020 and beyond. It's been great working with Ludo and we look forward to working with him again in the future.

Andrew Moore

Managing Director, Bailey Fisher Executive Search

Following on from our MBO it was important that the new management team were fully focussed on our future growth strategy. Ludo was recommended to me and now having used him, I would 100% recommend him to other businesses. Having taken the time to listen and understand about my business, he facilitated a highly successful day whereby the management team discussed highly relevant issues essential to our future. By far and away the most useful aspect of the session was having a defined and agreed plan of action that the team  agreed were the priorities for the year ahead. I’m sure we will continue to utilise the knowledge and wisdom Ludo imparted on the day as we continue to refine our longer term strategy.

Mark Davison

CEO of Grant Instruments

I work very closely with Ludo at Grant Instruments. He is a great Chair and our Board proceedings benefit hugely from his intellect, experience and wide network of contacts. How ever thorny or difficult the issue at hand may be, Ludo is always supportive and positive, ensuring that everyone is able to contribute whilst never allowing soft logic or poor data to go unchallenged.

As a mentor, Ludo is a key part of my personal learning strategy. It is really valuable to get Ludo’s outside perspective on strategy, to bounce around ideas that may be too early or too sensitive to discuss with my direct reports, or just to get a second opinion on something. Ludo has also run very successful, focused workshops with my senior team, bringing proven tools and structure to our innovation process. For a company needing to augment limited internal resources, fill strategic knowledge gaps, or coach key team members, Ludo provides great value as an independent Board member or Chair a consultant, mentor or workshop leader.

Daniel Kaute

Managing Director - MedX, Rainmaker - Oxford Brain Diagnostics

I participated in an innovation workshop facilitated by Ludo last week, which we moved to Zoom instead of face to face. I was astonished to see that the interactions were probably just as efficient if not in some way more efficient than if done in person. Although I missed the direct contact with a fascinating and diverse group of fellow innovators, the outcome was impressive.

Vikki Kent

Business Development Director at Taylor Vinters

We engaged The Innovation Practice to explore a new idea and bring together a diverse group to align our views  The process Ludo took us through was easy – we explained our ideas and required outcomes and he designed two very structured sessions that showed he clearly understood the brief.   Despite being on Zoom, Ludo managed to keep us all engaged and on track, stimulating great debates and contributions from everyone in the group.

At the end of the sessions, we had a clear, aligned view of the concept we wanted to deliver and an action plan.  Ludo regularly checks in on our progress, helping to keep us moving towards our vision.  Above all Ludo is a lovely guy to work with, would definitely recommend.

Rachel Howes

Director - Great National Hotels. Consultant and Investor. 

We engaged Ludo to assist us in looking at our team organisation and to ensure our energies were focused on the 'right' next steps. We covered so much ground in a day due to the fantastic ability of Ludo to keep us focused on the correct things and keeping us firmly on-topic. I also appreciated the fact he challenged some of our answers, ensuring we really thought about what we were saying. A great day of training with the outcome we all desired. I highly recommend The Innovation Practice for specific training and organisational needs.

Duncan Robertson

CEO, Dogtooth Technologies

Ludo led a fantastic strategy away day for our senior management team. His approach was engaging and fun and he brought valuable perspective to a team that was in danger of becoming too 'heads down' in the face of rapid business expansion. Unlike a lot of business consultants and mentors, Ludo has first hand experience of actually building and running businesses. He has been there and done it, and this really shows in his approach and attitude. Above all, he is an exceptionally likeable person - both humble and genuinely interested in our business. I would not hesitate to recommend him, and all at Dogtooth look forward to working with him in the future.

Joe Linford

Head of Product & Marketing, Broadband Genie, Cambridge

Ludo recently led a one-day team planning strategy for the Broadband Genie team. Utilising a superbly creative process, he kept the entire team energised and engaged through the entire session. We came out of it feeling incredibly excited with the output and ready to push or business forward. I would highly recommend Ludo and the Innovation Practice.

Steve Brambley

Chief Executive at GAMBICA.

Ludo recently facilitated an excellent one-day workshop at GAMBICA that not only delivered real value and insight, but also energised and connected the team that took part. The process is thought-provoking, Ludo’s style is engaging and supportive and the result is a thorough analysis of our business and a clear plan towards our strategic goals. I would recommend it to any business as a way to step out of the routine, reflect on the priorities and define a clear direction forward.

Dominic Anthony

Managing Partner at Ashcroft Partnership LLP

As a newly de-merged business we needed to pull together our strategic thinking into a cohesive plan. I was sceptical we could cover so much ground via 2-3 half day zoom sessions but I was extremely impressed with the methodology the Innovation Practice use. The outcomes will we believe last the test of time and are the perfect foundation for building our new brand. Ludo has a great style and the process was enjoyable and at points fun. He will be someone we stay in touch with and I would highly recommend him to other businesses looking for help in shaping their future business and its goals.

Ollie Austen

Co-founder of Startup 2 Standup

Ludo recently presented to Startup 2 Standup (a peer to peer mentoring membership group for entrepreneurs & business owners). Ludo’s content & delivery was excellent & extremely relevant. Our members took a great deal of value & take aways from Ludo & appreciated the hard work and pragmatic approach he invested in creating topics that SU2SU members felt important for their businesses. Ludo adopted a relaxed & interactive style that encouraged & stimulated questions & engaged the audience from start to finish. It was so good it ran over by 15 minutes so Ludo could field further questions from SU2SU members. The feedback from our members was tremendous. We cannot recommend Ludo highly enough, spot on.

Fotis Fotiadis

CEO, Better Origin

We are a fast growing start up and needed someone to help us implement our strategy and most importantly to build a structured way to ensure objectives were clear across our company, were regularly monitored and were flexible to the fast changing world around us. 

I engaged Ludo to help us and it quickly transpired we were both huge fans of the OKR process.  Together we developed a series of sessions to start embedding this process into our organisation.  Ludo’s approach was excellent, providing a clear structure to every session, engaging everyone in the process and ensuring we were focussed at all times.  I have already seen a lot of value in having Ludo guide our strategy sessions and I am thankful to have met him.  I like working with Ludo and would be happy to recommend him.

Tania Balsa

Investment Manager at Cambridge Enterprise 

The Innovation Practice ran a workshop for postdocs of the University of Cambridge as part of the training that we provide during the Postdoc Business Plan Competition that Cambridge Enterprise organises together with EPOC. The workshop was very interactive, dynamic and very practical, with real-world examples that everybody could relate to. The feedback from the postdocs was very positive: they found the workshop very interesting and useful.

Rebecca Myers 

Head of Education at Cambridge Judge Entrepreneurship Centre

Ludo delivered a fantastic lecture and session on ‘How to Use the Business Model Canvas Effectively’ to our EnterpriseTECH PhD+ September group here at the Cambridge Judge Business School. This is a group of PhDs and Postdocs from across the University of Cambridge who are interested in entrepreneurship, and most of whom are very new to the business world. Ludo was a dynamic lecturer and received excellent feedback from the students, and was ranked highly among all of the sessions. He engaged the students, facilitated a discussion and encouraged the application of thinking to specific ideas. This was our first interaction with Ludo and were delighted by what he brought to the programme and by his energy and enthusiasm.  We look forward to having Ludo come back and deliver more extremely useful sessions.

Louis Watson 

Head of Product - Genie Shopping

Genie Shopping is a very young business in a complex and fast changing new area of digital marketing. Ludo's ability to fully understand our business, the risks and the drivers was remarkable and allowed us to have a very productive session. We came out with a clear mission statement and objectives for the year ahead. The team came out of the session energised and the work we did with Ludo now shapes our day to day business decisions and gives us a clear focus on our objectives.