ALAN MARKS

Alan agreed to join Whatbook as our non-exec chair and, cliché alert, he has been a game changer for us. As a young(ish) founder, his experience is invaluable to me especially, and he makes time to offer his support, advice and the occasional meme. With his support we have progressed as a start-up and Alan’s experience has helped me to avoid some classic pitfalls of first-time founders.

He acts as a mentor on top of his business advice and is one of those rare examples of a clear business mind and common-sense approach. He’s also a great laugh and can poke fun at himself, which genuinely makes the difference when spending the long hours on ZOOM calls that are now the everyday way of working!

Richard Mincher
Founder and CEO of Whatbook

As a founding investor, Alan’s ability and willingness to provide constructive and independent advice ended up being pivotal to our successful growth in the early months. It was this ability and his broad experience that made it an obvious and unanimous decision to appoint Alan as Chairman of the Board.

Since his appointment, Alan has been a positive driver of change to both myself, the management team and the business, providing the right balance of scrutiny, support and experience. As a first-time founder in an early start-up, being able to navigate the waters of high growth and high stress is a difficult job and Alan has been more than a mentor to myself throughout the process, combining an excellent array of both technical and soft skills.

As our business completes its second fundraise and we continue upon our impressive growth trajectory, Alan has continued to play an active role in shaping change and driving momentum towards our next stage and eventual exit.

Max Richardson
Co-Founder – CEO, This Is The Want

Alan joined the Careology board in October 2019 as a Non Exec and Investor Director, representing the interests of our angel investors. He quickly established himself as a trusted advisor and an energetic member of our board of directors, offering pragmatic thinking whilst challenging and probing – always in a constructive manner. 

Alan’s extensive experience across a range of industries with businesses at various stages, ranging from start-ups to exit, always means insightful advice that can be applied across all areas of the business. He is also a trusted advisor and mentor who always makes time to talk through issues, ideas or problems.  

Paul Landau
Founder & CEO-Careology

I have known Alan for several years and have used him on many occasions as an “Ad-hoc” non-executive director. Alan has been very useful in this NED role and we have very much appreciated his honest independent views. He has displayed a great ability to get into the detail of a proposal and I am certainly glad to have had his input on more than one occasion, not least when a few years ago, we were thinking of a business sale, although this didn’t come to fruition, his guidance was invaluable.

Paul Ugo
Chairman – Ugo Foods Group ltd

I have known Alan for many years and have always found him to be a sensible, reliable, and well informed individual. He always has a constructive comment in the financial arena and is a fountain of knowledge! He is a canny investor and has seen his share of enough start up business plans to have a fair idea of which are more likely to be successful.I have always enjoyed our conversations and found them very useful.

Robi Bernberg
Managing Director – Rocket Medical

Alan Marks has been my colleague, friend ,and Non-Executive Director for over a decade. A highly skilled negotiator it’s Alan you need on your team to ensure the most equitable deal Alan’s knowledge of business would be difficult to surpass, he has a wide range of experience in multiple sectors but especially financial services. I have experienced Alan’s skills in finding a solution where others have failed, with alacrity and finesse.

Equally comfortable with the Chariman of a public company, to an owner manager of an SME, Alan makes all those who he deals with feel they are the most important person in the room.

Jo Haigh
Chief Executive – www.wearefds.com

I worked with Alan for many years. He has a clear vision combined with professionalism and commerciality. Alan enjoyed coaching and mentoring both junior and senior colleagues and, just as important, was great fun to work with.

Nigel Walfisz
Partner – MGR Weston Kay LLP

We asked Alan to join the Board of Receipt Bank from the very beginning. He helped us to build the company from absolutely zero to our Series A investment, at which point we were one of the fastest growing companies in Europe.

Michael Wood
Receipt Bank