Rob & Ajaz
In the words of my erstwhile CTO from Wanadoo and Orange – ‘Rob. He’s like my Dad!’…indeed, Rob Wilmot & Ajaz Ahmed were my first Freeserve parents…I found this dramatic image of them from a brochure on ‘New Yorkshire‘ 🙂
In recent days, I’ve been reflecting a lot on the various mentors I’ve looked up to in the first part of my career…Roz, Silvia, Rob, Ajaz, Sid & Norman…and wondered if they thought I was doing OK?
As I’m starting to advise a bunch of startups and develop my own ventures with Carbon, I find myself channeling them…conversations, mannerisms, random phrases. I owe them all.
Ahhh – good to see them still together! Rob gave me my first job out of uni when freeserve was so tiny I applied for the job from an aol email address – oops. He was really supportive; he also had an unconventional subversive edge to him which I liked. I didn’t see as much of Ajaz but he did give me and Coxy a magnum of champagne once (I know he can’t drink alcohol and was given it by a client, but it’s still a good sign of encouragement all you mentors)