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Follow Rahul, a brilliant Indian coder who finds himself an unwitting player in a high-stakes game of global influence, and Anna, a sharp British public relations professional navigating the murky waters of alternative media and political manipulation.

This gripping novel pulls back the curtain on the tech industry's hidden agendas, exposing the dark underbelly of innovation, wealth, and the seductive allure of control. What happens when code dictates culture, and energy becomes the ultimate currency? Discover a world where ambition knows no bounds, loyalties are tested, and the fight for freedom unfolds in unexpected ways.

Kindle Edition now available.

The paperback edition will be available from Monday, August 4th, exclusively on Amazon. To buy, just search for ‘South of Market’ on Amazon in your local market.

Marketing spend is often the biggest line-item outside of salary costs for seed or A-round companies. And yet, companies will procure marketing services willy-nilly and without any useful discussion before doing so.

Over the past 20 years or so, I have worked closely with many early stage companies to help them establish strategic marketing services that help achieve GTM strategies. Often my engagement was to research the most appropriate GTM strategy - particularly in business to business sectors - by engaging with customers or prospects. But, often, even this is made near impossible because no consideration has been given to 1) who the customer is or 2) how the customer can be reached via the channel.

In summary, here are some common marketing mistakes early-stage companies make:

• They often acquire marketing services without a solid plan, sometimes just going with someone they know.

• Their marketing plans and goals (KPIs) aren't well-defined.

• They don't always know who their customers are or how to reach them.

• They sometimes hire C-suite executives or agencies who aren't fit for purpose.

• They spend a lot on marketing without having proper strategies in place.

So, if you need help defining what marketing processes you need and how you should procure them, give me a call. By investing a little bit of time deciding what will make your GTM strategy work, you could save wasted time and money.

One of the problems faced by purveyors of business to business research is that the complement of agency-side researchers faces constant attrition. This partly explains why - at the event - a panel discussion on why B2B research was fundamentally different from B2C, somewhat missed the mark. The discussion focused, excessively in my view, on data collection - missing the point that B2B researchers are typically engaged by strategists rather than product or brand managers. This requires them to think way outside the box on methodology. For many B2B assignments survey research may only be a small part of what is needed. 

B2B researchers are more likely to be asked to solve an intractable business problem. If researchers can help solve these problems they, naturally, start gravitating towards strategy consulting.

This was my own experience. It’s why, over 20 years ago, I started consulting rather than being a provider of research. But I know many other researchers who have moved into consulting or have been cherry-picked by their client companies. When I was client-side I also hired (or tried to hire) several former colleagues who had cut their teeth in B2B research.  

I was keen to use an AI tool to test this hypothesis. So I asked Grok (X’s AI research engine) to tell me why this might be the case. Here’s its answer (slightly edited). But I’d be curious to know what you think. Please comment below.  

Business-to-business (B2B) market researchers often transition into strategy consulting roles because of a combination of factors related to career progression, skill set expansion, and market demands:

1. Broader Impact and Influence: Strategy consulting roles allow individuals to have a more direct and broader impact on a company's overall strategy and operations. While market research provides insights, strategy consulting involves using these insights to craft actionable strategic plans, which can be more appealing for those looking to influence business outcomes significantly.

2. Career Advancement and Prestige: Consulting, especially at top-tier firms, often comes with higher prestige and potential for rapid career advancement. The strategic nature of consulting work places consultants at the heart of business decision-making, which can be more prestigious than a specialised role like market research.

3. Diverse Skill Development: Moving into strategy consulting exposes professionals to a wider array of business disciplines beyond just research. Consultants often deal with operations, finance, technology, and human resources, providing a holistic view of business operations. This broad skill set is highly valued in the corporate world, enhancing versatility and employability.

4. Monetary Incentives: Strategy consultants, particularly those in well-known firms, often enjoy lucrative compensation packages, including high salaries, bonuses, and benefits. The financial incentive can be a significant motivator for the transition.

5. Client Interaction and Relationship Building: Consultants typically have more direct interaction with C-level executives and decision-makers. This not only accelerates networking opportunities but also places them in a position to understand and shape corporate strategies from the top down.

6. Problem-Solving at a Macro Level: While market research focuses on understanding market dynamics, strategy consulting involves solving complex organisational problems, which might include market entry, mergers and acquisitions, or operational restructuring. This shift allows for engagement with higher-level strategic issues.

7. Market Demand for Strategic Advice: The business environment's complexity and rapid changes make strategic advice increasingly valuable. Companies often seek consultants not just for market insights but for strategic direction, which aligns with the trend towards strategic agility.

8. Intellectual Challenge: Strategy consulting can be intellectually more challenging because of its broad scope, requiring integration of various data points into strategic frameworks. This can attract individuals who thrive on complex problem-solving and continuous learning.

9. Pathway to Leadership: Many executives in various industries start their careers in consulting. The skills learned, such as leadership in project management, stakeholder management, and strategic thinking, are directly applicable to senior management roles.

10. Skill Set Synergy: Market research skills are highly transferable to strategy consulting. The ability to analyze data, understand market trends, and interpret consumer behaviour forms a solid foundation for crafting business strategies.

However, this trend doesn't mean market research is diminishing in importance. Instead, it reflects a career progression where the insights gained from market research are used as a springboard into roles that require strategic application of these insights. For those who remain in market research, there's also a path to becoming experts in their field, leading research departments, or specialising in niche markets where their expertise can be equally or more valuable than general consulting. The choice often depends on individual career aspirations, whether one seeks to deepen their expertise in research or to broaden their strategic impact across business functions.

The Market Research Society has kindly invited me to attend the final session and drinks reception at the end of the MRS B2B Conference in London on the 25th September. I’ll be available to meet prospective clients and former clients at the event - or before - in London. I’ll be in London all day on the 25th, as well as the morning of the 26th. Please do connect with me via email if you’d like to meet and chat.

I’m on jeff@quadrigaconsulting.co.uk

I've been creating engaging, evidence-based content for big brands, startups and scale-up companies for decades. Let me restore your creatives' collective mojo. I'll help them build strategies for engagement success, create better writing processes, and think about what will resonate best with which audiences.

From workshops to ongoing mentoring, contact me to construct the best education package for your writing and creative teams.

Email me on jeff@quadrigaconsulting.co.uk and we can set-up an initial chat.

But, in the meantime, the Bitcoin Belfast substack will keep you posted on key developments in the bitcoin community in the UK and Ireland - and developments internationally that will affect us. Paid subscribers to the BB substack will get a free ticket to the BB Conference when it happens later in the year.

Bitcoin Belfast

Spot ETFs approved by SEC

I was in bed last night watching the bitcoin price climb by around 2.5% on the day…so I knew something was up. I had a look at CoinTelegraph’s Twitter feed. And there it was. The SEC had approved a bunch of spot Bitcoin ETFs (exchange traded products…

Read more

2 years ago · Jeffrey Peel

I'm just thinking out loud here. I'm thinking of organising a one-day conference focusing on bitcoin as an asset class (possibly touching on other stablecoins - but primarily bitcoin). Topics for inclusion will include the threat of CBDCs. DeFi as an emerging 'parallel' economy. Bitcoin in institutional investment portfolios. Bitcoin price futures (given the imminent halving). Oh and the effect of bitcoin ETFs (if they're approved). Likely location Belfast, Northern Ireland. If you'd like to be involved, sponsor, speak or promote, please get in touch.

Things have moved on from then. The bitcoin bull market has strengthened - the halving event is in less than 100 days. The hype around ETFs is increasing. Without doubt, bitcoin is now being considered even as a Mom & Pop investment option.

Stuart Kirk, writing in the FT yesterday, made clear that his New Year investment resolution was to acquire some bitcoin.

People have also been contacting me following the LinkedIn post. And they’re especially intrigued about the proposed location. The position isn’t so much, “why the hell Belfast?” It’s more, like, figures. It works. Belfast has become, essentially, a near-shore operation for the City of London. It has a wealth of tech talent - especially in and around crypto and cyber-security. Many of the top commercial law firms are here. Investment bank back office operations are here. But, more practically, it’s a great place in which to work and live and develop.

Just yesterday BELFAST was trending on Twitter? Why? Part of the reason was because the city was listed as one of the top ten cities in the world in terms of work/life balance. We also, thankfully, don’t have much in the way of meddling government (our devolved government couldn’t organise or agree on much anyway when it was sitting). Broadband infrastructure is rippling. Connectivity with the major European hubs is easy via the two airports serving the city (International and City Airport). And Dublin airport is just 90 minutes away.

But it’s that proximity to London (but not being London) that’s critical. Also our proximity to the EU - as well as sharing at least some of the business day with New York.

The event is still taking shape in my head. But, in the meantime, I’ll need some foundation sponsors to make it a reality. Let’s talk about a package that will give you the visibility you’ll need at what promises to be one of the most exciting investment conferences of 2024.

Bitcoin Belfast

Spot ETFs approved by SEC

I was in bed last night watching the bitcoin price climb by around 2.5% on the day…so I knew something was up. I had a look at CoinTelegraph’s Twitter feed. And there it was. The SEC had approved a bunch of spot Bitcoin ETFs (exchange traded products…

Read more

2 years ago · Jeffrey Peel

Here’s the blurb from Politico:

A year after the so called ‘Trussonomics’, has Rishi Sunak got the U.K. economy back on track? As the country heads towards a general election in 2024, will the infamous words of ‘it’s the economy, stupid’ ring ever truer.

• Has the Conservative Party’s reputation on the economy been repaired? Is Labour trusted with the U.K.’s economy?

• Was Trussonomics bad ideology or was it the execution that destabilized the market?

• Where does the U.K. stand with inflation today and is it the responsibility of the government to bring it down?

• Covid, Brexit, Ukraine have all contributed to high inflation, but where does the U.K. stand in comparison with the other nations also dealing with these international problems?

Slightly odd that there’s no mention of the role of the government itself causing inflation in terms of vast public spending, gargantuan public debt and eye-watering levels of money printing. But, hopefully, that’s something Andrew Griffith MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister, will cover.

I’ll report on the conclusions reached and my take on the contributions from speakers. If any of my subscribers are attending, please be sure to say Hello.

And it’s not. Green (i.e. young) early-stage companies have a tough time being heard. The current funding landscape is horrendously hazardous. VC funds tend to only look at companies known to them - perhaps founded by the usual in-crowd. And ESG criteria being applied by institutional and corporate investors make it difficult for start-up founders to cut to the chase (talk about fundamentals) when pitching. Genuine opportunities are being missed because of the need to virtue-signal before showing common-sense business and market viability.

I’ve worked with dozens of start-up firms over the years and can help you get your message out. I can’t guarantee funding or business development success. But I can, at least, help you with your messaging, and give you something tangible to pitch (to help you get a toe in the door).

Here’s the approach.

1. We talk. You get to tell about your business proposition and we can work on the messaging. I can also help get your pitch deck focused.

2. I’ll interview you - and perhaps one of your founder colleagues - on a Zoom call (that we’ll record). I’ll ask you a series of questions about your product proposition and ask you to tell me about the investment opportunities. We can even touch on exit opportunities and time-lines. But we won’t focus too much on the financial detail (that’s for you to discuss further down the line with potential investors).

3. We’ll edit the interview - and patch in slides and other resources - to help illustrate the business concept and investment opportunity. We’ll aim to make the video snappy and to-the-point and last about 5 minutes. This length is also ideal for some accelerator programme demo directories (so you can repurpose the video for other uses).

4. I can help you socialise and launch the video. We have tens of thousands of social media followers on Twitter and Linkedin. You can also host the video on your own website and social media sites. We’ll also prepare a teaser and call to action.

5. We can add links to other resources and embed the video here on this site - and provide you with a trackable URL.

6. We can help you with follow-up and other calls to action, if required. But having a resource like this often makes it much easier with your initial email outreach to funders. Our experience is that if you provide an easily digestible video, featuring questions from a respected third party (the types of questions VCs would typically ask) - you’ll get much more attention from the get-go.

If you’re interested in this approach, just drop me a line at jeff@quadrigaconsulting.co.uk and we can take it from there. We’re currently working on a very easy payment process which will involve a paid subscription to this site. This means that the costs are spread over months.

So, being a young, growth-driven start-up shouldn’t be a barrier to success. We’ll help you get the visibility, and pitch ops. The rest will be down to you…

Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis, in particular, have made opposition to ESG doctrines (synonymous with the Biden administration) central planks of their policy positions and campaigning.

This video by the FT is a very useful backgrounder to the ESG debate. Worth investing the three minutes or so it lasts.

It stands to reason that if every time you open your mouth you’re shouted down you’ll be less inclined to speak. This is the effect that the ESG movement is having on sensible, well-run businesses with great products and services. Have a look at the marketing copy of just about every corporation these days. The likelihood is that the content is trying desperately to stay within the parameters defined by the corporate woke-police.  The result is bland, meaningless nonsense that impresses no-one.  Embrace this approach to campaigning and you’ll face oblivion.  The corporatists will always win if you play their game.  

But it doesn’t need to be this way. Because, let’s face it, your customers want to know what you have to say - rather than have to wade through a morass of clichéd nonsense.  

Remember that the reason you’re in business is to make money, reward your employees and provide goods and services that delight your customers. Do these three things really well - and tell people how you do it - and you’ll be rewarded with a huge competitive advantage. 

But getting the word out is an even greater challenge.  

Over the last two decades I have worked with dozens of clients who have complex stories to tell. Perhaps they are selling financial services to institutions. Or perhaps they have enterprise class technology solutions. Or they are startups wanting to disrupt an existing market. In most instances they have to construct an argument - and back it up with evidence, the thoughts of market influencers, or early adopters.  And having collected this evidence the next challenge is to get it out there using events, social media and video.  The role I have played is ensuring that my clients adopt a confident voice, convey the benefits of their products and services, and can stand up to scrutiny by people who may just wish to pick holes or point-score.  

What I try to get across is the need for an unwavering focus on your agenda - not that of supranational agenda setters or the current flavour of government.  Because those things will change as rapidly as the weather.  You have a more important story to tell - it’s your story, and your organisation’s story. 

But it’s not as easy as it used to be. Prior to 2020 most entrepreneurial businesses operated ethically. Now it seems that the ground-rules have been changed for in-crowd corporates that are designated as part of the chosen few. Often these businesses have vast resources designed to get around rules and regulations and procurement processes. The result is unfairness, nepotism and unethical trading.  To survive, you may have to call out such behaviour when you see it - and assemble the evidence you need to support your arguments.  

I’m planning a series of workshops to discuss these issues and how I, and my associate network, might support your content driven campaigns in the ‘new era’.  If you’d like to schedule an initial Zoom call please email me on jeff@quadco.co.uk and we can discuss an in-person workshop for your go-to-market team.  I look forward to hearing from you. 

According to the Digital Minister, Paul Sculley, “The funding will double the number of mentoring sessions offered to tech firms to 1,500 a year”.

Amanda Allan, Director of Barclays Eagle Labs, said:

“Eagle Labs’ vision is to make the UK tech sector an engine for growth and for the UK to be the best place in the world to start and grow a tech business

“Through the Digital Growth grant, we’re excited to double down to reach more businesses across the country with our best-in-class business growth programmes and bespoke regional support”.

Meanwhile, Eagle Labs is also revamping its cloud based ‘Demo Directory’ which helps connect firms seeking funding with investors. Quadriga Consulting client company Nurokor will be listed on the new, enhanced, demo directory when it’s launched in the coming weeks.

Find out more about Nurokor’s current investment round.

The company has created new products and procedures to help with chronic pain management, period pain and diabetes-related conditions. It has also expanded into the veterinary space with new non-invasive pain and lameness solutions in equine health.

The company’s funding to date - and revenue - has helped it forge relationships with partners, clinicians, and go-to-market resellers. However, in order to build on the success of the company’s MVP it is seeking additional investment outside its angel network of investors-to-date.

In this short interview I ask Rick Rowan, CEO of Nurokor, about the company’s successes to date and its ambitions for the future. Rick talks about the various market opportunities for the product suite and solutions. He also talks about the merits of non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical solutions - designed to allow the body to heal itself.

We can, of course, arrange for potential investors to meet with Rick and other team members - and to see the full investor deck. In the first instance please email me and I’ll set the wheels in motion - jeff@quadco.co.uk. Or complete this form

I recorded this short interview with Matt Cooling, CEO, to get an overview of the market opportunity for the platform. Matt has substantial music industry experience as a producer, writer, and artist manager. The idea for Soundbox emerged from his experience working with artists, managing rights - and engaging with agencies.

In the short interview I ask about the challenge of managing rights and royalties across multiple avenues: recordings, broadcasting, live-streaming and social media (and even the metaverse).

We’ve also included an animation explaining the Soundbox Plays SaaS platform.

Matt articulates the opportunity with artists that we describe as the Soundcloud Generation - many at the earliest stages of their professional music careers, seeking to monetise their talent without paying huge fees to middlemen. That’s the key Soundbox Plays advantage: a mere 1% royalty share. But Matt’s relationships also extend to music stars based in London and LA.

To request the investment pitch deck please contact me on jeff@quadco.co.uk

But this is new…in effect a new contract - or set of terms and conditions - has been written by many organisations, built on hubris.  An arrogance has set in to one side of the relationship between corporations and the people. And the people are beginning to show that they don’t like it.  

So how has this change manifested itself?  It’s probably best explained by using a quote from the late Christopher Hitchens. 

“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”

In the last few years a discourse has emerged that has engulfed global brands and radically altered the way they have done business. The process started - in earnest after the financial crash in 2008 - but gathered pace during the Brexit referendum (which had global ramifications) and after lockdown in March 2020.  In effect, businesses started latching on to narratives that they considered useful (for their longevity) and based on consensus. But no-one made any attempt to make any particular empirical cases for these agreed narratives - or to test the basis upon which the consensus was claimed.

And what were/are these narratives?  

Post-2008 the main abiding narrative was that businesses didn’t need to stick to agreed standards of governance (or conduct) to succeed.

The bank bailouts, of banks too big to fail, were considered essential for the continued running of the global economy.  Therefore, they were bailed out. Then a similar thing happened with zombie companies. They, too, were bailed out with QE programmes. Then sovereign banks were bailed out by supra-national central banks. Then, when lockdown was introduced in the West, people who were forced to go home, rather than work in viable businesses, were bailed-out by furlough schemes.  The pseudo-consensus narratives that emerged from this process of bailing-out were based largely on money-printing and government dependency. And the mainstream media was in lockstep with the narrative creation, increasingly universal in nature and singularly devoid of any convincing evidence. 

And so it happened that the narrative emerged that the people of the United Kingdom could not vote to leave the European Union. A significant majority did. Similarly, people started opting out of the mainstream financial system by choosing challenger banks or by buying bitcoin. And when the BBC and other mainstream media chose to represent only viewpoints ‘within the narrative’ then people started moving to alternative media, even dumping some of them when they started cancelling alternative opinions. Hence Facebook’s stock crash following poor advertising revenue and a decline in active users.  

But Hitchens’ mantra is correct. If no real evidence is presented for a certain world view people can’t be criticised for rejecting that world-view.  And the same argument applies to the ESG movement - where businesses are required to conform to certain environmental, social (AKA diversity) and governance norms in order to win contracts or investment.

Twitter had clearly jumped on the pseudo-consensus bandwagon by adapting its editorial guidelines to reflect a corporatist ESG view. Major influencers were cancelled when they expressed viewpoints that ran counter to the preferred corporatist/globalist narrative.  Instead of building upon its highly successful business model that attracted some of the world’s most influential people to the platform, it proceeded to cancel them. And now that Twitter has been acquired by Elon Musk it’s clear that the nature of the platform will be overhauled, and, hopefully, free speech will be reinstated, balanced by accountability and a reduction in bot traffic.  

What Musk saw, and many of us have witnessed, is a wholesale one-sided politicisation of our civil society - but with only one set of corporatist narratives permitted.  These narratives are shouted across every channel but listening mode is shut off.  That’s why the World Economic Forum, for example, has set its tweets to not accept replies. That’s why the UK Covid Enquiry is only consulting with people who accepted lockdown as a suitable policy response. That’s why just about every corporatist logo adopts the Pride colours during Pride week. The most fundamental underpinnings of our capitalist market economy have gone out the window. Every brand, every Western government and every institution is set to transmit, not to receive.  The result is universal bland and pseudo-ESG-consensus.

This presents huge opportunities for companies that do not take their customers for granted. People can hold differing views from the preferred narrative. People can be highly environmentally aware, without necessarily agreeing that the entire focus of policy should be on CO2 reduction or that we should be eating 3D printed steaks. People can be advocates for gay rights, without agreeing that the word “woman’ should be obliterated from marketing copy. 

I think we’re at a tipping point. People are voting with their feet. Twitter’s traffic volume is at an all-time high. The mainstream media is losing to alternative media. People are publishing for themselves on Substack and Rumble. The best businesses know that they should treat their customers with respect and understand their thinking and their motivations. That’s how business was done in the past. It’s time to restore it.  It’s time for businesses to be creating competitive advantage again. 

Jeffrey Peel is Managing Director of Quadriga Consulting, the evidence based marketing consultancy. 

I conducted over a dozen interviews with delegates and panel moderators and keynote speakers at Opre. You can watch them all on Hotel Analyst TV (on the HATV YouTube channel).

Here’s a taster - my interview with Louise Wallace at CMS Corporate/M&A Group.

Louise discusses M&A activity in operational real estate. She hints that economic turmoil is likely to have an increasing impact on deal-flow and general activity levels.

But applying modern communications tactics - and knowing how to avoid widespread de-platforming and censorship of informed opinion - are critical for effective campaigns and programmes.

I have worked with dozens of clients companies over three decades and have developed very effective methods for influencing the debate. In the last two years I have worked with organisations that need to better understand the new era - where geopolitics and regulation have never played such big parts in business decision-making.

This short video (that was made before 2020) highlights some of our capability around content creation and researched editorial for public policy campaigns. Happy to chat if you’d like to better understand our capabilities.

The Operational Real Estate Festival is a one-day event hosted in London put together by Hotel Analyst, the leading news analysis service for hospitality real estate investors, and the Bartlett Real Estate Institute, part of University College London’s Faculty of the Built Environment. The event offers a unique blend of leading-edge commercial insight with academic excellence.

I’ll be conducting a series of video interviews with delegates during the event that will be featured on Hotel Analyst TV.

If you’re around and would like to chat, please get in touch. This year I’d be keen to meet growth stage fintech, tech and blockchain companies. I’ve just exited from the board of a SPAC so would be interested in chatting to potential co-sponsors of a new SPAC that might list on the LSE. Early days, but I don’t think the SPAC era is over quite yet.

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We featured Vikas Shah, creator of the Thought Economics interview series, and author of the book of the same name — who discussed the nature of innovation and how it has changed in the ‘new era’.

We also had two tech entrepreneurs who hail from opposite sides of the world but decided to establish their centres of international operations in the UK: Cole Knuth of Pax8 (Denver HQ) and Russ Cohn of OCR Labs (Sydney HQ).

We also had an update from Mike Jackson, Entrepreneur Success Director at TECH NATION who outlined the impact of lockdown on the startup community and how his organisation’s growth programmes can help.

The session also featured a discussion on internationalisation, funding and legal perspectives — featuring Davey Brennan, Partner & Co-Chair of Global Tech at Gowling WLG (UK); Roland Emmans, Head of Technology Sector at HSBC; and Ben McClure, the Venture Capitalist.

All the videos are available on our Youtube Channel.