The Team at Hothouse Ventures can help you make your business a success. We are:
Chris Kidger
Friday Group chairman and owner of Friday Holdings Limited. 35 years ago Chris began producing a small magazine of 'local things for sale' which was distributed every Friday to local households in Sussex, UK. Over the intervening years the business has grown organically and through acquisition into one of the UK's largest privately held publishing groups. Over the last 10 years Friday Group has pursued a strong online strategy resulting today in many of its brands occupying the number one position in their regional or vertical sectors. Outside of Friday Group Chris's business interests extend to a number of diverse businesses ranging from horticultural to video production
Dave Ingram
Co-founder of Brownbook.net, the global online business directory that anyone can edit. With a background working in both large and small online businesses Dave has a track record of taking web-based businesses and online products to market in record time. Outside of business Dave loves extreme sports and is an accomplished Kayaker and Wakeboarder Linked-in profile
Joe Kidger
Group Marketing Director, Friday Group. Joe joined Friday-Ad in 2002 and now leads the Group marketing function, focusing on SEO, SEM and 'regular' marketing to driving traffic and content to a growing portfolio of online businesses. Outside of business Joe's passion is athletics, and in 2002 he competed for England at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
Kate Kidger
Friday Group Product Manager. Kate manages some of The Group's largest brand sites across a number of vertical markets. She is responsible for implementation of new developments and projects across those sites as well as day to day marketing activity. She was also a Form Captain at her school in Year 3 (or so she claims)
Marc Lyne
Co-founder of Brownbook.net, the global online business directory that anyone can edit. Prior to Brownbook.net Marc was the CEO of Sharenow.com, which he grew from two people to thirty people in Oxford and Los Angeles, CA. He spent four years as CTO at BT Directories, and prior to that he was responsible for taking European directory company Scoot onto the web back in the late 90's when it raised over $400m through IPOs on the UK and US stock markets. When not working Marc can be found racing RIBs in the generally inhospitable waters around the UK. Linked-in profile
Nick Taylor
Friday Group Technical Director. Nick runs the infrastructure, development and overall technical requirements for all Friday Holdings businesses. Nick is responsible for unleashing some of the most popular PC games in the budding home computing era before laying down his joy-pad in 1994 to join Friday-Ad. Since then he's ensured all our technology runs smoothly.
Rob Paterson
Friday Group Managing Director. Rob's been growing Friday Group with Chris for more than fifteen years, leading the Group through it's transformation from a local print-only operation to a major UK and European online and print brand owner. He's grown businesses organically within the Group, as well as lead the acquisition of new brands in verticals as diverse as hospitality, leisure, boating, and pets. In addition to his operations expertise he has a knack for spotting and executing opportunities to monetize brands. He holds a degree in political economy from Greenwich University. Rob is the current Chairperson of ICMA (International Classified Media Association), and when not managing Friday Group operations he's challenging himself managing his six daughters.
Sam Kidger
Friday Group Sales Director. Sam cut his teeth in front-line field sales on a number of Friday Group titles, before coming in from the cold to establish Friday-Ad's Spanish editions in 2003. Now, as Group Sales Director, he runs a salesforce of over 150 people, field and tele-sales, across print and online brands. He's a fluent Spanish speaker, has a degree in international politics and, outside of work, he enjoys football, music and cooking.