How we built a business out of recession — chapter 33 — corporations are not for me

The story of CitNOW*

This is the 33rd chapter about CitNOW, the company started from a kitchen table in Winnersh, Berkshire. If you’d like to read from the beginning, here’s a link to chpt 1. Each chapter is a 5-minute read. It’s an early draft of a book.

CitNOW was founded by Andrew Howells and Donna Barradale in 2005, although it was only registered in 2008. In February 2018, we sold the company to Tenzing, a UK private equity company, and it has been sold again since.

It became the Bird’s Eye HQ before being sold to a housing developer

I remember Jason** musing once about whether he’d done the right thing, introducing me to Alistair. I knew why he might have thought that, but it was nonsense, and I told him as much.

I’m laughing when I think about it now.

For some crazy reason, I’ve got Aliens — a fantastic sci-fi film in my head. Hopeless, defenceless humans, knowingly sent to a planet to recontact with a new alien species by the wicked Weyland-Yutani corporation — ruthless profit at any cost. Human loss? Expendable. The likely outcome for Ripley*** and her elite fighting unit, probably not great.

Of course, my problem was, thankfully, less life-threatening. If you’d asked me how I felt, I would have told you that, despite the bullshit…