https://subversive.ventures/blog/ Field notes on organisations where activity outpaces meaning. en-gb Sat, 29 Aug 2026 17:58:22 GMT https://subversive.ventures/blog/the-shovel-and-the-teaspoon/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/the-shovel-and-the-teaspoon/ Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense You would not put sugar in your tea with a shovel, nor dig the garden with a teaspoon. Both are tools. This is the whole argument about AI in business, and almost nobody selling it has noticed. https://subversive.ventures/blog/why-looking-expensive-means-less-now-david-ashenden-djfne/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/why-looking-expensive-means-less-now-david-ashenden-djfne/ Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense I was once told, by my great uncle Norman, a man adept at gauging his audience with an uncanny charm, that you could tell how much money someone had by the weight of their coat. Not the brand. The wei https://subversive.ventures/blog/story-wont-rewritten-david-ashenden-wjbuc/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/story-wont-rewritten-david-ashenden-wjbuc/ Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense Attention alone is not enough. Salience makes attention into durability. https://subversive.ventures/blog/why-ai-feels-familiar-anyone-who-lived-through-david-ashenden-idqke/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/why-ai-feels-familiar-anyone-who-lived-through-david-ashenden-idqke/ Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense If you were around computers in the late nineties, you may remember when they stopped feeling like office equipment and started feeling like a shed. https://subversive.ventures/blog/your-future-self-coming-save-business-david-ashenden-11qke/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/your-future-self-coming-save-business-david-ashenden-11qke/ Mon, 02 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense Behavioural science has been quietly telling us for years that humans systematically overestimate the discipline of their future selves. https://subversive.ventures/blog/interface-back-david-ashenden-0kube/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/interface-back-david-ashenden-0kube/ Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense I’ve had a soft spot for user experience since the days when “interactive” meant a CD-ROM, the PC was cream, and it arrived on a trolley that required planning permission. If you wanted video, you com https://subversive.ventures/blog/how-spot-startup-idea-inside-working-business-david-ashenden-gtqxe/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/how-spot-startup-idea-inside-working-business-david-ashenden-gtqxe/ Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense Spend enough time inside real businesses and a pattern appears. Not disasters, not big moments. Just small, annoying bits of work that never disappear, and every one of them is somebody's product. https://subversive.ventures/blog/when-man-selling-shovels-mentions-bubble-david-ashenden-nvfse/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/when-man-selling-shovels-mentions-bubble-david-ashenden-nvfse/ Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense Satya Nadella recently said something that made a lot of very expensive decks wobble. He suggested that AI might be drifting into bubble territory. Not a crash tomorrow statement. Not a denial of prog https://subversive.ventures/blog/second-order-effects-david-ashenden-3e8ae/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/second-order-effects-david-ashenden-3e8ae/ Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense Second order effects explain why sensible companies end up behaving cautiously without meaning to. https://subversive.ventures/blog/eu-inc-simplifies-uk-has-differentiate-david-ashenden-ozlye/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/eu-inc-simplifies-uk-has-differentiate-david-ashenden-ozlye/ Wed, 21 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense It slipped in under the noise. One company form, one digital registry, one legal identity across 27 countries. No localisation lawyers, no notary tours, no ghost office in Munich. https://subversive.ventures/blog/maximilism-uncomfortable-cost-being-reasonable-david-ashenden-q9bie/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/maximilism-uncomfortable-cost-being-reasonable-david-ashenden-q9bie/ Mon, 19 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense Recent events have made one thing clear. Pressure feels like it's becoming seen as a reusable tool. Push hard enough, long enough, and someone reasonable will move. https://subversive.ventures/blog/what-restaurants-actually-use-ai-why-works-david-ashenden-c6gce/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/what-restaurants-actually-use-ai-why-works-david-ashenden-c6gce/ Fri, 16 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense I was told recently, over a perfectly acceptable lunch that cost more than it should have, that AI is about to revolutionise the food business. This is usually the point where someone mentions robots. https://subversive.ventures/blog/nobody-ever-got-fired-for-buying-ibm/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/nobody-ever-got-fired-for-buying-ibm/ Wed, 14 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense Two people at a table, both certain, both wrong about different things, and neither one troubled by it. What that says about how your organisation actually decides what's true, and who it's protecting when it does. https://subversive.ventures/blog/version-truth-survives-outcome-david-ashenden-nyoye/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/version-truth-survives-outcome-david-ashenden-nyoye/ Wed, 14 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense Third of a short series on how organisations decide things. Certainty turns up early, truth turns up after the outcome, and once it does it behaves as though it had been standing there the whole time. https://subversive.ventures/blog/how-truth-shows-up-after-decision-when-certainty-arrives-ashenden-w2doe/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/how-truth-shows-up-after-decision-when-certainty-arrives-ashenden-w2doe/ Tue, 13 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense Inside organisations, truth has a habit of turning up late. Not at the start, when it might be useful, but at the end, once something has already been agreed and needs to feel settled. https://subversive.ventures/blog/apparently-has-already-been-decided-when-certainty-arrives-david-qx9je/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/apparently-has-already-been-decided-when-certainty-arrives-david-qx9je/ Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense When certainty arrives before the conversation has even started, the interesting thing isn't the disagreement, it's how comfortable everyone is with it. https://subversive.ventures/blog/ai-chat-has-become-everyones-handy-best-friend-david-ashenden-km0ze/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/ai-chat-has-become-everyones-handy-best-friend-david-ashenden-km0ze/ Thu, 08 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense There is a moment most of us recognise, even if we don’t talk about it. You need to buy something that matters, but not in a way that brings pleasure. Something functional. Something expensive enough https://subversive.ventures/blog/roadmaps-explain-future-nicely-dont-deliver-david-ashenden-nilxe/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/roadmaps-explain-future-nicely-dont-deliver-david-ashenden-nilxe/ Wed, 07 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense I've sat in enough meetings to know how convincing they can be. The plan is clear. The sequence is sensible. Everyone agrees it's the right thing to do. And yet operational car crashes form in slow motion. https://subversive.ventures/blog/can-i-have-your-attention-please-david-ashenden-zccfe/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/can-i-have-your-attention-please-david-ashenden-zccfe/ Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense Two weeks with the notifications off, and the thing that stood out was not the rest. It was being able to follow a thought until it ran out, rather than until something louder turned up. https://subversive.ventures/blog/uks-ai-ambition-some-notes-challenges-david-ashenden-ewl1e/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/uks-ai-ambition-some-notes-challenges-david-ashenden-ewl1e/ Mon, 22 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense Britain has more AI firms than any other country in Europe and still cannot keep the good ones. Notes on where the money actually goes, what finance quietly built while everyone else ran pilots, and why the NHS results that worked stayed small. https://subversive.ventures/blog/hardest-part-ai-strategy-adoption-also-where-progress-david-ashenden-hgmqe/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/hardest-part-ai-strategy-adoption-also-where-progress-david-ashenden-hgmqe/ Sun, 21 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense Infrastructure attracts attention. Adoption creates value. Most strategies focus on the first. The second determines whether the investment ever pays for itself. https://subversive.ventures/blog/consultants-guide-actually-having-christmas-break-david-ashenden-wawce/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/consultants-guide-actually-having-christmas-break-david-ashenden-wawce/ Fri, 19 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense There is very little I enjoy more than the break. The slow mornings, the loose plans, the sense that nothing urgent is allowed to happen for a few days. https://subversive.ventures/blog/ai-doesnt-fail-model-fails-data-david-ashenden-bu93e/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/ai-doesnt-fail-model-fails-data-david-ashenden-bu93e/ Wed, 17 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense I was reading the IDC barrier survey and found myself nodding rather than learning. It confirms what leaders already suspect. AI does not stall at model time, more so the first touch of data the organ https://subversive.ventures/blog/features-win-attention-ecosystems-control-markets-david-ashenden-5bfye/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/features-win-attention-ecosystems-control-markets-david-ashenden-5bfye/ Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense Features compete in public. Ecosystems work quietly, rearranging incentives behind the scenes. Attention fades. Dependence does not. https://subversive.ventures/blog/magical-box-guaranteed-progress-david-ashenden-hoaze/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/magical-box-guaranteed-progress-david-ashenden-hoaze/ Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense A windowless hotel conference room, filter coffee, and an enthusiastic vendor holding a matte-black box the size of a shoebox, with a logo that looks suspiciously like a laundry symbol. https://subversive.ventures/blog/why-i-fire-agile-coaches-david-ashenden/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/why-i-fire-agile-coaches-david-ashenden/ Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT Subversive Ventures Culture Process is the scar tissue of an organization. You need someone who knows how to heal the muscle, not just someone who counts the bandages. https://subversive.ventures/blog/uks-ai-ambition-has-jumped-organisational-capability-can-ashenden-76gqe/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/uks-ai-ambition-has-jumped-organisational-capability-can-ashenden-76gqe/ Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense Government has moved from signalling to spending: £2bn for AI infrastructure, a national research machine, a twenty-fold expansion of AIRR. If the past few years were about ambition, this phase is about groundwork. https://subversive.ventures/blog/productivity-illusion-created-generative-ai-david-ashenden-xpt5e/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/productivity-illusion-created-generative-ai-david-ashenden-xpt5e/ Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense Output from your teams keeps rising. But are you so sure the judgement is doing the same? https://subversive.ventures/blog/skunkworks-last-real-advantage-left-enterprise-david-ashenden-mj1ue/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/skunkworks-last-real-advantage-left-enterprise-david-ashenden-mj1ue/ Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense Every operational strength in enterprise can now be copied. The tools converge, the models converge, the playbooks converge. The one thing a competitor cannot buy is the picture you worked out long before anybody else noticed there was one to work out. https://subversive.ventures/blog/generative-ai-needs-governance-before-causes-trouble-david-ashenden-ppzze/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/generative-ai-needs-governance-before-causes-trouble-david-ashenden-ppzze/ Fri, 05 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense AI systems are now threaded through day-to-day work in ways leadership rarely sees. Staff use public tools because the shortcuts are tempting. SaaS vendors slip model-driven features into products wit https://subversive.ventures/blog/vapourware-index-david-ashenden/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/vapourware-index-david-ashenden/ Fri, 05 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT Subversive Ventures Product Strategy Your RAG status is green. Your burn rate is high. But you haven't shipped a feature in three months. Welcome to the Vapourware Index. https://subversive.ventures/blog/feeding-cloud-monsters-why-ai-moving-back-inside-david-ashenden-mcj8e/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/feeding-cloud-monsters-why-ai-moving-back-inside-david-ashenden-mcj8e/ Wed, 03 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense Cloud AI arrived wrapped in convenience. Easy to try, easy to justify, easy to explain to a boardroom that wanted visible progress. But every prompt sent to a cloud service carried a quiet cost: contr https://subversive.ventures/blog/crisis-hero-really-one-doing-saving-david-ashenden-xyvpe/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/crisis-hero-really-one-doing-saving-david-ashenden-xyvpe/ Fri, 28 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT Subversive Ventures Leadership Business culture still loves the hero. The leader with the big smile, the big speech, the big promise. But when a company starts to slip, the hero is usually the last person you should be listening to. https://subversive.ventures/blog/age-outrage-david-ashenden-yipue/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/age-outrage-david-ashenden-yipue/ Wed, 12 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Uncommon Sense There was a time when the internet felt like a pub for the curious. Now it is more like a brawl outside Wetherspoons on a Friday night. The algorithms do not want conversation, they want combustion. https://subversive.ventures/blog/ai-boardroom-talk-easy-adoption-hard-david-ashenden-3pnoe/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/ai-boardroom-talk-easy-adoption-hard-david-ashenden-3pnoe/ Fri, 24 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes It seems that most of the chats I have with board types start the same way: "We’re doing AI."Usually followed by a proud smile, a consultant’s invoice, and a new tool nobody quite ... https://subversive.ventures/blog/truth-balance-david-ashenden-hsu0e/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/truth-balance-david-ashenden-hsu0e/ Sat, 11 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes People talk about balance as if it’s something that happens by accident, like good weather. It isn’t. It’s deliberate. I treat balance the same way I treat work - with focus, routi... https://subversive.ventures/blog/automation-mirage-david-ashenden-uyaxe/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/automation-mirage-david-ashenden-uyaxe/ Tue, 07 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes Automation is one of the few ideas in technology that actually works. It saves time, reduces error, and cuts the boring parts from the day. From supply chains to finance teams, the... https://subversive.ventures/blog/mindset-noise-order-person-we-hide-david-ashenden-tnwve/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/mindset-noise-order-person-we-hide-david-ashenden-tnwve/ Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes Most of my friends have started to talk about getting older. The knees that no longer heal as fast. The small injuries that seem to linger. The sense that certain doors close once ... https://subversive.ventures/blog/prize-pitfalls-what-ai-could-really-deliver-uk-smes-2030-ashenden-q1uge/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/prize-pitfalls-what-ai-could-really-deliver-uk-smes-2030-ashenden-q1uge/ Wed, 24 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes I said previously ambition is cheap and execution is the real test. The same applies here. Ministers talk about "AI superpower" status. Consultants draw charts that slope endlessly... https://subversive.ventures/blog/what-uk-doing-sme-ai-adoption-david-ashenden-jlw2e/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/what-uk-doing-sme-ai-adoption-david-ashenden-jlw2e/ Mon, 22 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes In my UK-US tech deal piece I argued that ambition is cheap and execution is the real test. The same rule applies at home. We have strategies, communiqués, and photo opportunities.... https://subversive.ventures/blog/uks-ai-ambition-why-lasting-change-still-feels-out-reach-ashenden-7z5se/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/uks-ai-ambition-why-lasting-change-still-feels-out-reach-ashenden-7z5se/ Thu, 18 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes In my last article on the UK–US tech deal I argued that ambition is cheap and reality is expensive. The handshakes were bold, the investment figures even bolder, but the fine print... https://subversive.ventures/blog/ukus-tech-deal-ambition-reality-ai-investment-gap-david-ashenden-io86e/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/ukus-tech-deal-ambition-reality-ai-investment-gap-david-ashenden-io86e/ Mon, 15 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes I read today that the UK and US are to sign a multibillion-dollar tech deal during Trump’s visit. The scale of ambition is clear, but I remain dubious about the outcomes. Deals lik... https://subversive.ventures/blog/narrative-capital-why-storytelling-builds-brands-outlast-ashenden-0vtye/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/narrative-capital-why-storytelling-builds-brands-outlast-ashenden-0vtye/ Fri, 05 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes As founders, we often fixate on the next feature release or technological breakthrough. Yet many of the world’s most resilient brands are not defined by their tech. They are define... https://subversive.ventures/blog/embrace-chaos-how-disorder-ignites-creativity-brands-david-ashenden-zqyae/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/embrace-chaos-how-disorder-ignites-creativity-brands-david-ashenden-zqyae/ Tue, 02 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes Does your brand feel boxed in by neat style guides and rigid processes? Perhaps it’s time to embrace a little chaos. Evidence suggests that messy environments and unexpected collis... https://subversive.ventures/blog/design-coup-cosmetic-fix-washingtons-new-chief-officer-david-ashenden-ort8e/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/design-coup-cosmetic-fix-washingtons-new-chief-officer-david-ashenden-ort8e/ Fri, 29 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes In a move that surprised both Washington insiders and the design community, the White House announced yesterday the creation of a new role: the Chief Design Officer of the United S... https://subversive.ventures/blog/philosophy-intrinsic-value-brands-more-than-david-ashenden-2ltle/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/philosophy-intrinsic-value-brands-more-than-david-ashenden-2ltle/ Fri, 29 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes Valuations come and go, but your brand’s intrinsic value endures. Learn why intangible assets like trust, culture, and purpose matter more than your latest funding round, and how t... https://subversive.ventures/blog/beyond-product-power-ecosystem-thinking-david-ashenden-auxne/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/beyond-product-power-ecosystem-thinking-david-ashenden-auxne/ Thu, 28 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes A great product can win a market, but an ecosystem can reshape an industry. What does it take to move from offering features to enabling networks?Ecosystems create gravitational pu... https://subversive.ventures/blog/intrinsic-value-world-obsessed-multiples-david-ashenden-ekfue/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/intrinsic-value-world-obsessed-multiples-david-ashenden-ekfue/ Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes For years, valuations were driven by growth narratives rather than real earnings. Now, as markets tighten, intrinsic value is back in fashion. What does this shift mean for founder... https://subversive.ventures/blog/when-hype-clouds-judgment-david-ashenden-oggde/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/when-hype-clouds-judgment-david-ashenden-oggde/ Tue, 26 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes The rhythm of markets is familiar. A new technology emerges, narratives take hold, capital floods in, and valuations soar far ahead of fundamentals. Then comes the reckoning. The d... https://subversive.ventures/blog/profits-making-comeback-startup-lexicon-david-ashenden-gjvhe/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/profits-making-comeback-startup-lexicon-david-ashenden-gjvhe/ Mon, 25 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes For years, the assumption was that scale outranked profit. Venture capitalists urged founders to seize market share and worry about earnings later. By 2021, that logic had reached ... https://subversive.ventures/blog/growth-first-mindset-losing-its-grip-david-ashenden-yo1se/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/growth-first-mindset-losing-its-grip-david-ashenden-yo1se/ Thu, 21 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes Since 2008, scale has been treated as the ultimate measure of success. Venture capital celebrated expansion above everything else. Profitability could wait. But something is changi... https://subversive.ventures/blog/value-vs-growth-old-cars-real-buttons-elegance-david-ashenden-ic4re/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/value-vs-growth-old-cars-real-buttons-elegance-david-ashenden-ic4re/ Mon, 18 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes Which matters more, growth or value? It is a small question with a large consequence. Growth can be measured quickly, reported loudly and rewarded in headlines. Value is harder to ... https://subversive.ventures/blog/art-storytelling-part-1-dave-ashenden/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/art-storytelling-part-1-dave-ashenden/ Wed, 18 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes In this age of big data, its all too easy to rely on numbers. Don't get me wrong there is a place for evidence, and I use it everyday. The thing is that through the history of huma... https://subversive.ventures/blog/bridging-gap-dave-ashenden/ https://subversive.ventures/blog/bridging-gap-dave-ashenden/ Tue, 10 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT David Ashenden Field Notes As I commute from the depths of Devon to London most weeks one statement sticks in my head - "Mind the gap". The well known tagline of the London Underground intended to stop nasty...