Helping founders make a positive impact
Kodehort runs discovery and rapid prototyping for early-stage and scaling companies. The work happens inside your team, not alongside it.
Why Kodehort?
Discovery is technology and strategy workshops that find the smallest, quickest piece of work with a measurable impact on your goals. We balance user-centred requirements against risk, complexity and cost to identify real options.
This suits organisations seeking continuous improvement around existing business needs but feeling constrained by technology, and teams that would rather test a legacy of assumptions than commission a large IT programme before exploring the options.
Alistair’s story
After 15 years working in agencies and acquiring advanced technical expertise, I became uncomfortable with the way agencies work. It seemed to be all about pitching, sales leads and commission, and I felt clients were being exploited because of the gap in their technical knowledge. I knew there was a better way to help ambitious leaders use technology to reach their goals.
Looking for the right career
I read a book about helping businesses use introspection to remove impediments and realised that is what I am good at: getting to know a business, identifying the bottlenecks, and using technology to remove them. I became technology partner for a venture builder and formed 14 new businesses, many of which went on to attract series A and B funding or were acquired.
Finding a fairer business model
After four years I founded Kodehort on a different operating model. I start by defining the desired outcomes, embed within the client’s team to prototype quickly, then lead the technology implementation to scale, without exploiting anyone or charging huge fees. I work with independent consultants who join an engagement when a client needs more capacity or a specialism I do not have.
Making a positive impact
Nearly ten years on, I am still helping founders make a difference, and my enthusiasm for coding has not wavered. In the evening once the children are in bed I write code and keep learning about newer technology. My current area of research is serverless architecture and tooling, which suits early-stage companies well.
What I am driven by
- Authenticity
- Everything I do comes from either experience or a genuine belief that it is the right thing to say or do.
- Integrity
- It guides me to choose the right path. Things have to be done the right way, and the right way by people.
- Curiosity
- I look at things closely. I tinker, take things apart, put them back together. I want to understand why things work and why they do not.
- Resourcefulness
- When there is a roadblock I find my way around it, changing the shape of the problem until a solution is available.
Start with a conversation
Thirty minutes, no pitch, and a straight answer on whether Kodehort is the right fit.