8. Living the Silicon Valley dream: Sheffield tech entrepreneur David Richards on moving to San Francisco, listing on the stock exchange and surviving the sack

Can I ask you a personal question?

David Richards has lived the tech entrepreneur dream.

Born into a steel family in Sheffield, the University of Huddersfield computing graduate enjoyed some early career success in the UK and then moved with his girlfriend (now wife) to San Francisco in the 1990s. Despite moving to the US with no job or concrete plan, David enjoyed more startup success in Silicon Valley.

In 2005, after meeting “genius” computer scientist Dr Yeturu Aahlad, David co-founded Wandisco, a data company which has proven his biggest success yet.

In this episode, David talks Will and Dan through his success story, including the process of listing Wandisco on the London Stock Exchange and how he survived being sacked by the company’s chairman.

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"Can I ask you a personal question? (with Will and Dan)" is presented by Will Turvill and Dan Hully, and is produced by Luke Garratt.

Will is a British journalist based in Canada, and Dan is co-founder and CEO of Quantico, a provider of in-house finance teams to rapidly scaling businesses. Luke is a journalist and news producer for the Associated Press, also based in London.