About
I'm Michael Gadd. Here's the short version.
I've spent thirty years moving between writing software, running a property business, and advising boards. Each one taught me something I'd have missed if I'd only done the others.
The technology side
In 2000 I co-founded Vox Generation, one of the first companies trying to make speech recognition work outside a research lab. We built two patented technologies, grew the team to thirty engineers, and delivered voice-automation products for the Inland Revenue, the US Department of Defense, the Home Office and Pharmacia.
Before that, I'd led 60-plus technical staff across the UK, US and the Netherlands at Conduit Communications, delivering programmes for American Express, Shell, CommerzBank and Barclays Capital. I started out in the Royal Navy maintaining avionics on Lynx helicopters. I've been building things, technical and otherwise, ever since.
The commercial side
In 2011 I founded Kingham Homes, a residential property developer. Over the next fifteen years I took it from a standing start to multi-million-pound annual turnover, completing twenty-plus developments including complex brownfield remediation sites. I secured and managed investor funding through every market cycle since the financial crisis.
I've made payroll. I've signed personal guarantees. I know what owners actually worry about.
The advisory side
Earlier in my career I worked at Razorfish in New York, one of the leading digital agencies of the dot-com era. I won significant new business in my first six months and worked with the main board of PACCAR, a Fortune 250 manufacturer, on their digital strategy. I led back-office programmes for First Tennessee Bank and DE Shaw.
That part of my career taught me how big businesses think about technology. The years since have taught me how small ones do. They are different problems, and the second one tends to get less help.
What I do now
Farnagates Services exists to take everything I've learned and apply it where it does the most good: small and mid-sized businesses running on patchwork software and underused tools, who want real change without an enterprise consultancy invoice.
I work alongside owners, managing directors and operations teams. I talk to the people, write the code, and stay close enough to the work to keep it honest. The engagements are short, focused, and measured against outcomes rather than slide counts.
If that sounds like the kind of help you're looking for, I'd like to hear from you.
Outside work
Royal Navy veteran. BSc Computer Science from Exeter. Two ultramarathons run. Level 2 rugby coach. I live in West Sussex with my family.
Want to talk?
Twenty-minute call, no obligation.