Boardwave partners with The Difference Engine, the weekly tech podcast hosted by industry veterans Paul Maher and Jonathan Simnett. Each episode explores category strategy and scaling decisions through conversations with European software leaders and Boardwave members.
In this episode of The Difference Engine, the hosts examine the renewed importance of freemium models in the race for AI category leadership and what large-scale adoption means for competitive strategy.
Using the rapid growth of platforms such as ChatGPT as a reference point, the discussion explores how free access, control points, and ecosystem positioning influence market dominance, and considers what it takes to challenge long-established incumbents in mature technology categories.
Listen to the full episode now.
In this episode of The Difference Engine, economist Dr Cristina Caffarra joins Paul Maher and Jonathan Simnett to examine the structural challenges facing Europe’s technology sector, from competitiveness and regulation to digital sovereignty.
The discussion questions whether state-led research, regulatory enforcement and top-down industrial strategies can deliver commercially viable technology at scale. Drawing on her role as a founder of the EuroStack Industry Initiative, Caffarra outlines the case for market-driven innovation, investment, and stronger industry coordination to reduce dependency on foreign providers and rebuild Europe’s position across the digital stack.
The episode also touches on broader competition policy themes, informed by her academic work at University of Oxford, University College London, and the CEPR Competition Research Policy Network.
Listen to the full episode now.
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In this week’s episode of The Difference Engine, brought to you by Categorical, Paul Maher and Jonathan Simnett deliver the definitive guide to what it actually takes to lead a tech category in 2026.
Moving beyond the outdated "marketing-first" approach, they reveal why true winners in this post-SaaS era are those who define the "problem space" long before their competitors even realise a market is emerging.
The conversation also explores the critical pitfalls that can derail a category journey and examines the evolving relationship between category creators and the VC community.
Listen to the full episode now.
In the first episode of the year, The Difference Engine, brought to you by Categorical, hosts Paul Maher and Jonathan Simnett look ahead to 2026, exploring the problems to be solved, the technologies set to shape the year, and the next wave of category thinking.
AI is firmly in the driving seat as we move into 2026, accelerating fundamental shifts in how businesses operate, how value is created and accounted for, and how entirely new categories emerge.
They consider what the rise of digital labour at scale could mean for organisations and careers, the new roles likely to appear, and whether the scale of change ahead is so profound that it signals the arrival of a new geological age - the Machineapocene.
Listen to the full episode now.
In the latest episode of The Difference Engine, brought to you by Categorical, Paul Maher and Jonathan Simnett explore new research showing that European universities and institutions are now a growing deep-tech powerhouse. Since 2019, they’ve been responsible for 40% of all new startups in these fields - an 80% increase on the previous decade.
Yet despite this momentum, much of the value created by European innovation is still being captured elsewhere, particularly through US-led M&A.
So the question for founders, boards and policymakers is a familiar one: how does Europe manage this innovation momentum and build future global category leaders?
This episode also covers the UK’s increasingly contentious Digital ID debate and the early warning signs that Salesforce may be entering the twilight of its era of uncontested category dominance.
Listen to the full episode now.
In this week’s episode of The Difference Engine, brought to you by Categorical, Paul Maher and Jonathan Simnett sit down with Colin Tenwick - a leader whose career spans more than four decades of continual reinvention in enterprise software, open source, digital platforms and private-equity–backed scale-ups.
Colin’s journey tracks the major shifts that shaped modern tech: early enterprise software with IBM and Ingres; leadership roles at Sybase; and helping drive Red Hat’s European expansion well before open source and SaaS went mainstream. He went on to scale StepStone into one of Europe’s first major digital recruitment platforms and later chaired category-defining businesses including BookaTable, ControlCircle and Intelligent Reach through to successful exits.
Today, he serves as chair of Commify and non-executive chair of Oxford International Education Group.
They explore what his career tells us about leading through constant disruption, maintaining focus in a fast-moving industry, and why a people-first approach remains the defining trait of effective founders, boards and non-execs.
Listen to the full episode now.
In this week's episode of The Difference Engine, brought to you by Categorical, hosts Paul Maher and Jonathan Simnett uncover the hidden, and massively undervalued, power behind the AI boom.
They connect the past and future of Category Design to reveal what happens when categories morph and merge. Plus, a crucial reality check on Europe’s latest tech unicorns, uncovering the ongoing patterns of exclusion and the forces shaping who truly wins in the new economy.
Listen to the full episode now.
In this week's episode of The Difference Engine, brought to you by Categorical, Paul Maher and Jonathan Simnett discuss what MIT’s State of AI in Business in 2025 report and others like it tell us about the position of the AI industry and tech sovereignty.
MIT’s report suggests 95% of generative AI pilot projects fail to deliver a measurable return on investment. Findings like this spread fast, sparking debate, reshaping narratives, and influencing how companies, investors, and even public policymakers think about AI’s real-world impact.
Listen to the full episode now
As part of Boardwave Month at The Difference Engine, brought to you by Categorical, we are joining Paul Maher and Jonathan Simnett for an exclusive conversation with Ben Richmond, Founder and CEO of CUBE.
Recorded live at Boardwave Live 2025, dive into how Ben built a platform that turned regulatory 'noise' into 'actionable intelligence,' redefining compliance not just as a necessity, but as a strategic advantage for the world's largest financial institutions.
Ben Richmond isn't just navigating the future of compliance; he's defining it. Listen now and discover Ben’s guide to success in fintech, and why the UK has everything to play for in tech going forward.
Rupert Jones CBE: A Modern Major General’s Guide to Defence Tech and Leadership.
This week’s podcast, brought to you in partnership with Categorical, is the second episode of Boardwave’s October takeover.
Live from Boardwave Live 2025, hosts Paul Maher and Jonathan Simnett caught up with former British Army Major General Rupert Jones CBE, to uncover his thoughts on defence tech and leadership.
From service across Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and beyond, he has a wealth of strategic leadership in the world of defence, which he now applies to defence technology.
By listening to this episode, Rupert will uncover his insights advising startups on bridging the gaps between government and commercial tech, and navigating the often complex paths of defence tech investment and sales.
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New Podcast Episode: Sean Williams, autogenAI
What does it really take to build a category-defining business? According to Sean Williams, Founder & CEO of autogenAI, the secret lies in doing the “boring” fundamentals brilliantly (and using AI to make them even better).
In the latest Boardwave x The Difference Engine episode, Sean shares his journey from scaling Corndel to a $60m exit, to building one of Europe’s fastest-growing AI companies. Expect candid insights on leadership, culture, AI, and why false certainty is the biggest risk in tech today.
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The Difference Engine is stepping out of the usual recording studio to report live from Boardwave Live 2025, our flagship event.
Hosts Jonathan Simnett and Paul Maher spent the day gaining inspiration from some of the brightest minds in European tech.
In this episode, they share their key takeaways from the all-day agenda; conduct on-the-ground interviews with attendees such as Tim Barker, Former CEO of Kooth Digital Health; Alastair McGill, CEO of Moneyhub; and serial entrepreneur Andrew Yates; as well as reflect on the evolving direction, ambition, and next steps for European software.
We’re proud to collaborate with Categorical on their 50th episode of The Difference Engine, and what an episode it is!
Joining hosts Paul Maher and Jonathan Simnett is healthtech entrepreneur, and Boardwave member Amber Vodegel.
Amber is an inspirational entrepreneur who grew an entirely bootstrapped idea to a pregnancy app with over 150 million users, which later got acquired by Philips, as well as leading a groundbreaking femtech business with ethical AI at its centre.
In this episode Amber reflects on her experiences, giving you insights into why focus is vital, how to build a company for long term success, why it’s possible to combine big scale with big ethics, and so much more.
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be at the forefront of entirely new channels and categories, redefining broadcast, social media, and the associated world of advertising and communications?
Well, that was the life of this week’s The Difference Engine guest, and Boardwave Patron, Rich Waterworth. Rich, former General Manager of TikTok EMEA, has been at the forefront of TikTok’s explosive growth, as well as an influential figure at both Youtube and ITV.
Hosts Paul Maher and Jonathan Simnett sit down with Rich during this must-listen tech podcast, to get to the bottom of what it was like to be in this pivotal role during a time where the intersection of media and tech collided.
We are excited to share the second episode in our podcast collaboration with Categorical, the team behind The Difference Engine.
This conversation features Steve Garnett, Boardwave Patron, SaaS investor, and seasoned board leader. Formerly Chair of Salesforce in Europe, Steve built and scaled its operations in EMEA from scratch, having done the same at Siebel and Oracle before that.
From a council estate in Liverpool to earning a PhD in Nuclear Engineering, and ultimately rising to the top of the enterprise software industry, Steve’s story is as inspiring as it is instructive.
Hosted by Paul Maher and Jonathan Simnett, this episode explores: the value of a clear, compelling vision; how the contrasting leadership styles of software founder titans Larry Ellison, Tom Siebel and Marc Benioff led to the differing success of Oracle, Salesforce and Siebel Systems; and the defining lessons from Steve’s extraordinary career.
Hosts Paul Maher and Jonathan Simnett are joined by Boardwave member Stephane Kurgan in this week's The Difference Engine podcast. A man of many accomplishments in the IT and associated investment industries, Stephane is best known for being the COO of European Category leader, King Digital Entertainment which became a multi-billion-dollar turnover organisation listed in Nasdaq before an eventual $5.9bn exit to Activision Blizzard.
After the King exit, Stephane became an advisor to Alan - the first digital health insurance company in France. And, in April 2020, joined Index Ventures as a Venture Partner and has subsequently had board positions at Birdie, Codat, Fonoa, Omio as well as a series of other board and Advisor positions. But you can’t keep a good entrepreneur down and, in November 2022, he founded QDE Studio.
Find out from Stephane just what it takes to build a tech Category leader out of Europe; the importance of investors who understand your business; why not to overestimate the difference between B2B and B2C, the many other lessons hard-won from his time in tech - including the result of a fateful meeting with Zuckerberg – and why he’s starting up again.
Making Waves is Boardwave's exclusive podcast. Thirty minutes. Issue-led. Provocative, entertaining, and built around what our members actually want to discuss.
What benefits can this world-changing tech bring to the software industry and what are the pitfalls? Do companies need to create policies for how their staff use the tech? Should businesses simply integrate Open AI’s platforms into their systems or are there better alternatives?
And what are the longer-term implications for the world of work? Will machines become so much better at our jobs that we are no longer needed? We discuss all this and more with our three experts in this episode of the Making Waves series.
Take a listen and let us know your thoughts on the future of AI and the workspace.
Get ready to dive into the exciting world of AI in business in our latest podcast episode! Recorded live at TED, we bring you a panel of AI experts and industry professionals, including Tom Graham, CEO & Co-Founder of Metaphysic.ai, Anima Anandkumar, Sr. Director of AI Research at NVIDIA, and Yejin Choi, Professor of AI, Washington University, who will provide valuable insights into the challenges and benefits of integrating AI into everyday tasks.
We discuss the importance of transparency, regulation, and concerns over bias and accuracy in AI systems. This is just part one of a two-part series where we investigate the potential impacts of AI advancements on the job market, the role of governments in AI regulation, and the cautious approach businesses need to adopt when incorporating AI into their workflows.
Join us to explore the ongoing debate between excitement and fear surrounding the rapid development of AI systems. Don't miss out on this must-listen episode!
How can women lift up their female colleagues in the workplace? What can businesses do to bring true equity to the boardroom? And are targets better than quotas when it comes to fair hiring policies?
In episode 6 of our podcast series, we further explore the gender diversity issues facing companies today, learning how CEO, Melissa Di Donato and angel investor, Shruthi Chindalur have grappled with gender bias throughout their careers. Along with Wilson Sonsini, Partner, Richard Goold, they share their advice on how businesses can actually tackle diversity head on.
Join us as we learn how female-focused growth programs help women succeed, and why every business needs to take the lead in changing the gender landscape.
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It is no secret that the tech industry struggles with diversity. The numbers of women and people from ethnically diverse backgrounds remain low and has done for decades. In this first of a two-part episode of Making Waves we explore some of the problems around diversity in tech, and hear testimony from people in the industry about what it feels like to be the odd one out - whether that be the only woman in the room or the lone black programmer in a software firm. In part two, which will be available in March, we’ll look at the solutions and offer some practical tips for businesses determined to tackle this issue.
In this episode, we hear three software leaders' advice on how to get set up for success in the early days and how to scale once you have achieved “product-market fit”. We also get their thoughts on your first external investment round.
Felix Van de Maele is a Boardwave Nextwaver and CEO of Collibra, which he started at 23 from his bedroom in a university in Belgium. Today, he has built Collibra into one of the biggest success stories in European software, living in New York, building a global leader with $200m ARR and $5bn valuation from his current investors.
Hala Zeine was previously Chief Product Officer at Celonis in Germany, a similarly successful European-founded global business. Hala left to join Blackstone 18 months ago as an investor. (Blackstone are a Boardwave partner & sponsor). Her earlier career was spent in a series of ever more senior roles at SAP.
Jonathan Mckay is a Boardwave Committee Member & Patron, he also a serial Chair and Investor. Jonathan has worked at some of the most successful global software firms in his long career, spending time in both the UK and Silicon Valley. Today, he is one of Europe’s most successful early-stage investors.
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The world of work, looks very different today than five years ago. The Pandemic combined with the “War for Talent” in European software have catalysed a change in working practices.
What’s the best way to recruit, retain & engage staff in a turbulent and troubled economic climate? And why is there such a war for talent in the European software industry?
In our upcoming “Making Waves” podcast we look at what companies need to do to retain and engage their staff following the years of upheaval caused by the COVID pandemic. Also, what role does the employer have, in the near term, in supporting their employees when there is a “cost of living squeeze” as we are seeing now across Europe.
We are joined by Chano Fernadez, Co-CEO of Workday, one of the world’s largest and most successful Enterprise Software companies and a Boardwave Nextwaver, Abakar Saidov, CEO of Beamery and Anastasia Leng, CEO of Creative X to discuss these important issues.
Changes in the way we worked during the pandemic forced organisations to invest in new software systems to support, amongst other things, hybrid working. As software became even more of an essential business tool than before, valuations in technology companies reached new heights.
Now, just as the world begins to shake off the pandemic, we face new macro-economic headwinds caused by, amongst other things, a terrible war in Ukraine. In the last nine months, software and technology valuations have gone into reverse as we enter an inevitable global recession. In this second episode of our podcast series, Making Waves, we look in more detail at the consequences of a challenging economy for European software with our three guests. We are joined by Anastasia Leng, CEO of CreativeX and a Boardwave Nextwaver, who having faced previous business challenges, has a pragmatic stance as she leads the growth in her business and recently concluded a successful investment round. We also get a view from the Venture Capital world, as we talk to Martin Gibson, Venture Partner at Accel. The episode starts with a view of the market from one of Europe’s leading tech bankers, Varun Sunderraman, Partner at Arma Partners.
The very first episode of Boardwave's podcast series. In episode one, we discuss how the European software industry can build more world-class companies with our Boardwave Patrons, Leo Apotheker, Chairperson & Board Member, Former CEO Hewlett Packard & SAP, and Adam Hale, Board Member & Advisor, who as CEO of Fairsail successfully sold his business to Sage. We also talk to Boardwave Founder, Phill Robinson, and Lindsey Armstrong, Board Member & Advisor to several European software firms including Aforza (UK) and nfinite (France). In her earlier career Lindsey ran the international business of two large US software firms, Salesforce.com and Symantec. We take a look at the issues and look at our strengths and weaknesses compared to the crucible of software, Silicon Valley, as well as the emergence of Asia as a software powerhouse.
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