An interview with the CEO, Anthony Ashbrook

Anthony speaks openly about his background, his team and his plan for Machines With Vision in an interview with Nicola Harkness.

And if you would prefer to read the interview, here’s how it went down:

NH: Hi Anthony, thank you for taking the time to give us a little insight into your life and your thinking. Let's get cracking with some questions ...What brought you to where you are today?

AA: Thanks Nikki.  I guess I have always been creative and passionate about building things. I started with electronics, when I was actually in primary school and later go into software and algorithms. I guess for me though, there was a turning point in 2004, when I realised that to have real impact, there was just no way I could do that on my own, or even as part of someone else’s company, so I needed to go out and build my own company and team.

NH: And who is your team and tell me about them?

AA: Yes, so we’re four founders, there’s Tim, Jan, Matt and myself. We are all technical but we are grounded in the real world, we have a huge amount of start-up and big company experience between us. Tim and Jan and I have an academic background, you know research, whilst Matt’s more commercial. And then there is the wider team which is fantastic, and that’s very international.  

NH: What would you like to accomplish in the next year?

AA: Yes, that’s dead easy: happy customers and recurring revenue. We have identified a strong commercial opportunity and we’re running large scale commercial trials here in the UK and over in Germany. So, by this time next year I want that solution to be rolled out operationally with those customers and to have a healthy pipeline of news ones.

NH: How has Coronavirus impacted the business?

AA: Well I guess fortunately for us the impact has been relatively limited.  Projects and revenue have definitely been delayed, but maybe 3 to 6 months, but the business has been resilient enough to absorb that. For me, the more interesting question and the one no one really has answers for right now is, in the long term, what’s the impact of Coronavirus on the rail industry? So right now, in the short-term, we have seen passenger numbers plummet down by 95% in London and across the UK, that’s back up to 30% right now, but clearly the new normal is going to be very different, more home-working, lack of travelling confidence.  However, on the plus side, I think many industries, including railways, are going to have to find new ways of operating at lower cost and I think that is where we can really offer a lot of value.

NH: Where would you like Machines With Vision to be in 5 years’ time?

AA: Well I guess right now we are really focussed on a very specific solution to the railway industry, but this is enabled by some deep technology that we have developed ourselves. 5 years from now I hope it will have evolved from a single solution business to a company that is developing the licensing technology and solutions in to lots of different markets.

NH: What do you think the biggest opportunities are for Machines With Vision?

AA: I guess that follows naturally from the last question really, history tells us that disruptive technology often matures in very niche markets and applications and then they get adopted by the mainstream. So, we have developed this really novel mapping technology, and have a really good product market fit in the rail industry. But I think for us, the big opportunity is when this technology is integrated into mapping solutions across lots of different industries.

NH: What are the biggest challenges for Machines With Vision?

AA: We are one of the very first companies that is building solutions using this new game-changing category of image sensor, known as a dynamic vision sensor. We are working with cutting edge technology, that is evolving very quickly, which is both a fantastic opportunity, but it definitely has additional risks, compared to using off the shelf established technologies. Until these sensors are adopted widely by the industry, it is very difficult for us to be just a software company, with our customers, they need to install these novel cameras at this stage, and that adds a bit of complexity to our business.

NH: Tell me a bit more about you. What has been the highlight of your career… so far?

AA: I was going to say, some of the previous start-ups I have been involved in have been very successful and there have been some exits. With the wealth of technical and commercial experience that I have got behind me now, and the way we have shaped this company and the clients we have got, I would definitely say that highlight so far, is right now…we’re on the up.

NH: You have been involved with a few start-ups, what would you say you have learned are the key factors in setting up a successful start-up?

AA: Wow that is a deep question.  I guess there are lots of blogs, books, courses on this very subject, all written and created by some brilliant people. I suppose, I have the advantage that I have read and absorbed a lot of that ‘stuff’, but I have also put some stuff in to practice. So, if I was to pick three stand-out factors, it would be the following: first of all people, choose great people, you know, co-founders, staff, advisors, investors; that’s really, really critical, probably out there number one. And then I think it is really important to work on a solution that’s different, not just better. There are very few start-ups that succeed by doing something that exists already but doing it slightly better than anyone else. And then finally, running a start-up is very different to running a business, I think you need to execute accordingly.  There is a book called ‘the Lean Startup’ [by Eric Ries], which I wish I had insight to that 20 years ago.

NH: What would you say is your style of leadership?

AA: I hope that I inspire people and lead with a credible, over-arching vision of what we want to get achieved.  Also, I think it is really important to delegate specific responsibilities, rather than micromanage teams.  That both creates a much more invested team, but also creates a business you can scale.  

NH: What advice would you give to young aspiring entrepreneurs?

AA: Hmm, so what are my mistakes that I have overcome? I would say there is definitely a tendency, particularly for technical CEOs, to be quite secretive about their ideas and to build far too much technology before they have really seen if it solves a real problem that someone will pay for. So, my advice would be go talk to people and test your ideas as early as possible. If your idea is technically innovative and you want to develop a patent later then talk to people about what you plan to do but just not how you do it. But really go talk to people.

NH: What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?

AA: Ultimately it comes down to technology and people for me. So, solving problems with technology is how I express my creative side. That’s what I do, always have done.  And then I get a huge amount of pleasure building teams of people, and also by solving problems for customers.

NH: Which CEOs or companies would you say you respect the most?

AA: I guess there are lots of notable leaders like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs, who you definitely need to respect, [but] not necessarily like them as people. I guess, in general I have got a huge amount of respect for anyone or any company with great ideas that is looking to create the future.

NH: What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

AA: Well I have got a family, a couple of kids. We have a lot of fun together, we play a lot of video games and board games, I am a big fan of board games. And we spend a lot of time outdoors, walking and cycling. Scotland’s absolutely fantastic for that. I also run and cycle on my own to keep fit and work through ideas.

NH: What was the last costume you wore?

AA: Yeah, probably in a school play, it’s not my thing.

NH: Give me one word that describes you the best?

AA: It is difficult in one word, but I guess ‘inventive’ maybe.

NH: Thank you Anthony, that was certainly insightful.

AA: My pleasure, thanks Nikki.