Kelly Waters – Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of 101 Ways

Back in my corporate days there was a guy working as part of our team called Kelly Waters (if you’ve read I don’t work Fridays, then you’ll be familiar!).  He was amazing, having started his journey on a YTS for an IT company, moving on to work for the local Council and then joining Glass’s Guide. He was technically very competent, but also a brilliant manager of people. I learned a lot from Kelly.

Today, Kelly is Founder of 101 Ways, one of the most sought-after technology consultancies in London.  With 35 years’ experience in the tech industry, Kelly has a deep understanding of what it takes to bring about successful product development and delivery.

In 2010, Kelly was recognised for his work by the agile community when he won an award for being the ‘Most Valuable Agile Player in the UK’. And in 2016 he won an award for ‘most popular online contributor’ in the agile community.

He’s described as an “agile heavy-weight…inspiring individual…visionary leader”, but above all, he’s one of the nicest guys you could ever meet.

Key take-aways for business owners:

- How he went about creating a 100-person company in just 4 years.

- Why running a small business is not easier that running large teams at big corporates, it just has different challenges.

- Validating a business idea without spending any money.

- Leveraging off your experience, contacts and profile.

- The first thing he did when he set-up his business.

- Importance of recognising what you’re good at, along with what you’re not so good at.

- Developing metrics on the things that matter.

- Kelly’s one piece of advice on Leadership.