John Hammersley (Digital Science)

I’m probably best known as one of the two co-founders of Overleaf, which I led as CEO for almost a decade. Prior to that I’d spent five years working on driverless vehicles before they were cool, and prior to that I’d done a PhD in Mathematical Physics. Setting that all out in series makes me feel old though, so I like to pretend it all happened in parallel and I’m still only in my mid-late twenties (ha!) :)

I currently lead researcher and community engagement at Digital Science, a brilliant collection of people and products working to transform science and research communication for the better. I’m also a mentor and alumni of the Bethnal Green Ventures startup accelerator in London, and am always happy to lend an ear to new founders who would like some advice.

I generally try to approach things by being kind, optimistic, and helpful, traits which I picked up from the teachers and mentors that helped me growing up (including my parents). I’m very grateful for that, as those traits are core to how we made Overleaf a success, and to why people look up to me as a leader today.