Partner Article

Getting to know... Simon Briton

• We know you as the founder of Quantify R&D and a member of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, but who is the person behind the title? Tell us a little about what makes you tick…

I love innovation.  I've always been fascinated by how people solve problems — that moment where a new idea clicks into place.  My skill set comes from my background as a tax lawyer, but it is my curiosity that gives me a route to work with growing businesses that are creating new technology. Every day I'm learning something new — that's what I love about my role. 

• Did you always want to work in your industry?

I set out to specialise in tax as a route to an interesting career in law but once I'd achieved that, I realised that what really excites me is innovation.  I was in London, working for the biggest tech law firm at the height of the dotcom boom when the government launched a new tax relief for innovation.  It felt like all the threads of my career came together in that moment — and 20 years on, I'm recognised as the 'category authority' in my field. 

• What’s the best bit about your job? And the worst?

The best bit of working in this space is the sheer variety — from motor racing to medical robots,  fashion brands to fintech businesses and everything in between.  Every client project teaches me something new.  The hardest part of running a business like this is finding the right balance between scale and sanity.  

• What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

For the last 10 years I've been chair of trustees for a local charity that helps disabled young people.  One of them once told me he wanted to swing through the streets of New York like Spiderman.  Using my network in the innovation sector we made it happen — creating an immersive 'holodeck-style' room  funded by one of my clients.  Now the kids use it all the time.  It's a small thing in the big picture, but when I see what it means to them, it feels like the best thing I've ever been part of. 

• How do you relax outside of work?

I love nature and culture — so I might be at a gig or a gallery with friends one weekend and cycling gravel tracks the next.  My ideal weekend would probably be riding out into the countryside, coming back with a load of wild garlic, pickling it and fermenting it and then heading out to see a band no one's heard of with friends.  

• What makes the North East such a great place to live and work?

The people make the North East great — honest, hard working, open hearted and kind.  People look out for each other and approach life with good humour.  I love what Kate and Erik have done at Resinn, making a business out of what they love and drawing together a community of people that love what they do.  That's what it's all about and that sort of thing thrives here.  

• Tell us something about you we didn’t know…

In the early 2000s, I was named the sexiest tax lawyer in the UK by an industry magazine, so when someone started shouting at me a couple of days later as I walked through some barristers' chambers, I assumed they were just taking the mick, as many of my colleagues had.  In fact, it was Robbie Coltrane, in full Hagrid mode, bellowing "Be gone, ye muggle!" — I'd accidentally wandered onto the set of a Harry Potter film. I hadn't read the books, so didn't understand a word of it until I saw the films last year — suddenly it all made sense. 

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Entrepreneurs' Forum .