Dynamo Mortgages
Entrepreneur in Residence · Project Lead
What it was
A joint venture between Blenheim Chalcot, the venture builder, and Countrywide, then the UK's largest estate agency network. The thesis: bring the digital mortgage broking experience that had taken off in the US to a UK market that was still being underwritten on paper and over the phone.
What we did
Led a ten-member multi-functional and multi-stakeholder team from JV exploration through to operating company. Got the £10M investment commitment from the partners over the line. Co-led the founding of Dynamo Mortgages: built the team, crafted the go-to-market, set up the financial plan, and stood up an FCA-compliant operating model with governance and controls. All in under nine months.
Lessons
JVs between a venture builder and an incumbent are governance puzzles before they are product puzzles. The right amount of stakeholder ceremony at the start is the difference between a business that ships and a deck that doesn't.