How have you found growing the team? It's been great. We have tripled in size in the last 12 months.

Nine months ago, hiring was the number one risk because we had several new projects and contracts and so we had to grow fast and that’s hard to do but we’ve done it. We’ve hired an amazing team.

Has being in Cambridge helped with that? For sure. Half of our technical team are physics and quantum PhDs and the other half are industry engineers. Some of our scientists come from the University and they are very international. Our engineers, on the other hand, tend to come from other great technology companies around Cambridge.

Cambridge and the UK more widely is an attractive place for people to move to, which really helps.

You clearly love physics and quantum. Are you getting enough of that now that you’re growing so fast? I do a bit of everything. It's been a long time since I did any deep, detailed implementation of the technology in the lab but I’m involved in all functions of the business at the right level.

My role is understanding where the company needs to go to be successful commercially and ensuring that we are all rowing in the same direction. It’s about understanding both the industry and the technology.

I’m very lucky with my management team. Everyone in my team is an expert in their field. I trust them – and they trust me.

How competitive is the UK's quantum industry? The UK is one of the top countries in terms of funding, the number of patents, the number of companies and the level of government support. The other big players are the US, China, Canada, and Europe. The US is very strong with big tech companies investing in quantum like Cisco, Google, IBM and Intel but the UK has the opportunity to have some world-leading players and I hope Nu Quantum will be one of them.

Who’s influenced or inspired you? I learn from my management team every day as well as from my investors.

What are you most proud of? The team and the strategy. We didn’t start out on this path – we've had a major pivot. We had seen something that no-one else had seen, we moved there early and we are now doing the work of creating this category.

What about setbacks? Pre-pivot it was hard for many reasons, not least during the pandemic when all our labs were closed.

And it continues to be hard. There are always going to be problems.

What have you learnt? So much. It turns out that I’m way more commercially minded than I thought and now what I bring is the commercial strategy and building partnerships.

I’ve also learnt that there are constant problems to solve but also constant successes: it’s not like you ever arrive at a steady state.

What would your colleagues say is your greatest strength? Maybe something to do with drive or energy? Also that I enjoy problem-solving on a massive scale.

What about weaknesses? The other side of the coin is that I can be too driven, which may spill over into impatience.

Do you have a piece of advice for someone who is interested in starting a business? Give it a go!

What do you like doing in your spare time? Dancing and spending time with my friends and family