Tom Smith - Regional Growth Director at Purple
Did you always envisage a career in technology?
No. My background is in commercial leadership and media, including roles with Mail Metro Media, Checkatrade and Clear Channel, as well as launching a publication in Cambridge with a London publishing house. I also had a public house for three years in Essex, so my route into technology has not been linear.
What drew me to Purple was not technology for technology’s sake, but what it can make possible. Done properly, connectivity helps organisations understand how spaces are used, improve visitor experiences and support local economies. That is why Purple’s B Corp status matters to me, alongside the commercial opportunity, so does the responsibility around digital inclusion.
What tips would you give to someone looking to work in the industry?
Lead with the problem, not the product. The people who do well are often not the most technical in the room, but the ones who can translate what a platform does into what it changes for a customer, a community or an organisation. Stay curious, stay close to the end user, and do not be put off if your background is commercial, marketing or operations. Those skills are valuable, because technology only matters when it solves a real-world problem.
Tell us about the most exciting project you’re currently working on.
Building on Purple’s partnership with Newcastle City Council and helping develop the North East as a leading region for connected places. Purple provides guest WiFi, location analytics and customer insight, but the bigger opportunity is what that enables. Councils, venues and visitor-economy organisations can better understand how people move through places and where connectivity can improve the experience. It is about turning everyday connectivity into useful intelligence while supporting the wider challenge of digital exclusion.
Tell us about your team.
I lead Purple’s growth across the North East, but none of this happens in isolation. I am supported by a strong commercial, marketing, product and customer success team, and work closely with partners across local government, the visitor economy and the regional technology community. The people I work most closely with include Andrew Gardner, our SVP Global Sales, Pete Lee, COO; Claudia Hill, Product Marketing Manager. The opportunities we work on are rarely one-dimensional.
What are your long-term plans for the business?
To help prove that commercial growth and social impact can work together. For the North East, that means partnerships that make connectivity more useful, accessible and measurable, and helping the region become a national reference point for how public WiFi, visitor insight and digital inclusion support better decision-making.
What’s your favourite piece of technology?
The smartphone. It may not be glamorous, but it is probably the most powerful piece of technology most of us own. It is my office when I travel across the region, how I taught myself guitar, and how I built an audience online. That is exactly why getting people connected matters.
Do you have any heroes or mentors?
My father. He raised four children alone and made sure we never went without, through nothing but graft. Watching what that takes, the consistency, the sacrifice, year after year with no one sharing the load, shaped how I think about work more than any manager or mentor since. If I’ve taken anything from him, it’s that showing up properly, every day, for a long time, is the whole game.
What’s your fondest career memory?
Being asked to come back. I started in telesales at Cambridge Newspapers, working from inbound to outbound to senior telesales, then into field sales once I’d passed my driving test. I left after several years, and was later asked to return as sales manager, running my own office with telesales, field sales and front of house staff. Being trusted to come back and run the whole operation is still one of my proudest moments.
What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve received?
Relationships compound. Invest in them before you need them. The value is in showing up consistently, being useful and adding something long before you ask for anything back.
When not working, how do you like to relax?
I walk around five miles a day with Foxy, my Belgian Malinois cross Siberian Husky. Outside of that, I play guitar and sing. I first picked up the guitar in 2007 as stress relief when I moved into sales management at Cambridge Newspapers.
www.purple.ai