Hi, I'm Richard.
Professionally, I express myself through creating new products and businesses. My first business was designing and printing t-shirts in my parents garage at 14yrs old. Since then I’ve been fortunate enough to be part of several rewarding companies. I write articles and books about what I observe and learn.
In the late 90’s I started a small design agency with a focus on web and product design. Our business got the attention of a friend and she asked me if I’d join a new web business within Multichoice, which is the largest broadcaster in Africa. We launched a digital ad sales platform on top of DoubleClick’s technology. It was tons of fun and that’s where I met the brilliant Stephan Pretorius. Together we imagined a new venture that would bring strategic online marketing to the world’s best brands. With this vision in mind we left Multichoice and created Acceleration.
Acceleration was my first venture funded business and I got to work with amazing legendary investor Jonathan Beare and alongside the talented Jacques Van Niekerk and Grant Keller. The company was eventually sold to WPP, where it now lives under the Wunderman Thompson umbrella, under Grant’s capable leadership.
Soon after Acceleration, I was recruited by a software startup in the marketing analytics space to run international sales out of Boston. That was 1999, the height of the dot com era. Traveling the world I learned a lot about how the different cultures do business.
After a failed attempt at an on-demand printing startup and a more successful attempt at being a stay-at-home dad, I started the product design firm Fresh Tilled Soil. We were one of the first dedicated digital product design agencies. Voted Boston's Best Place To Work several times, we delivered more than 700 projects to Fortune 500 enterprises and startups alike. I'm very proud of team we assembled and the work we created together. In 2019 we sold the business to ADK.
Since then, I’ve been running design transformation at InVision. Our team’s work in the design transformation group is primarily product focused. Our transformation team’s products include the Design Maturity Assessment, InVision Learn and the Design Leadership Forum. Our current challenge is to scale and integrate these products with InVision’s core design toolset.
I also race cyclocross, illustrate, make furniture, read, and travel to places that push me out of my comfort zone. While Europe's mountains are my current favorite place to explore, I’ve been fortunate enough to make a living as a scuba diver in the Islamic Republic of the Comoros and taken several overland trips across Africa's most beautiful countries.
In the late 90’s I started a small design agency with a focus on web and product design. Our business got the attention of a friend and she asked me if I’d join a new web business within Multichoice, which is the largest broadcaster in Africa. We launched a digital ad sales platform on top of DoubleClick’s technology. It was tons of fun and that’s where I met the brilliant Stephan Pretorius. Together we imagined a new venture that would bring strategic online marketing to the world’s best brands. With this vision in mind we left Multichoice and created Acceleration.
Acceleration was my first venture funded business and I got to work with amazing legendary investor Jonathan Beare and alongside the talented Jacques Van Niekerk and Grant Keller. The company was eventually sold to WPP, where it now lives under the Wunderman Thompson umbrella, under Grant’s capable leadership.
Soon after Acceleration, I was recruited by a software startup in the marketing analytics space to run international sales out of Boston. That was 1999, the height of the dot com era. Traveling the world I learned a lot about how the different cultures do business.
After a failed attempt at an on-demand printing startup and a more successful attempt at being a stay-at-home dad, I started the product design firm Fresh Tilled Soil. We were one of the first dedicated digital product design agencies. Voted Boston's Best Place To Work several times, we delivered more than 700 projects to Fortune 500 enterprises and startups alike. I'm very proud of team we assembled and the work we created together. In 2019 we sold the business to ADK.
Since then, I’ve been running design transformation at InVision. Our team’s work in the design transformation group is primarily product focused. Our transformation team’s products include the Design Maturity Assessment, InVision Learn and the Design Leadership Forum. Our current challenge is to scale and integrate these products with InVision’s core design toolset.
I also race cyclocross, illustrate, make furniture, read, and travel to places that push me out of my comfort zone. While Europe's mountains are my current favorite place to explore, I’ve been fortunate enough to make a living as a scuba diver in the Islamic Republic of the Comoros and taken several overland trips across Africa's most beautiful countries.