Gavin Sewell

Chief executive, honcho

Honestly, by accident. I was looking for an interesting proposition in the North East of England through which I could leverage my 20 years' experience in the investment banking and electronic trading spaces. I was introduced by my chiropractor (I'm a long time rock climber) to my colleague Frank Speight whose background is in insurance, and honcho was born.

Frankly, I love that there is loads that can be achieved by bringing a consumer-centric and digital disruptive mindset to the industry.

Lack of standardisation, sluggishness, legacy technology, inability to claim back VAT (particularly this last one, as it makes your capital raise go 20% less far than it would do for a startup in any other sector).

Closing an oversubscribed crowdfunding campaign on CrowdCube to launch honcho to market.

Transitioning from an insurer-driven view of product structuring to consumer-driven product structuring.

For me, it's clearly in distribution. Most innovation in the sector is happening in response to the need for consumer-centric products. This has left the distribution space untouched since the PCWs first revolutionised it 10-15 years ago. All those shiny new consumer-centric products are going to need to be distributed.

iPhone. I wouldn't know where I was or where I should be next without it.

What's football? I'm much more interested in rock climbing. Did you know it will be an Olympic event in Tokyo in 2020?

The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses

Doves – The last Broadcast

Stereophonics – Performance & Cocktails

Torres Iberico ham potato crisps, preferably with a beer.

Rock climbing, when my neck isn't in spasm (see chiropractor above).