Navigate Innovation
with Someone
Who's Built It
Gerry Lawrence has been where you are. He's run the tech for startups that became industry standards, led teams through transformative change, and guided organisations toward successful exits. Now he brings that hard-won experience directly to your audience, through compelling stories, practical wisdom, and genuine engagement. Speaking on innovation, AI, cybersecurity and exit readiness, Gerry doesn't lecture, he connects, challenges, and inspires.
Keynote Speaking
Gerry is an engaging keynote speaker who has held audiences from international tech events in Las Vegas to business shows and local networking groups. He specialises in speaking to business owners and C-level executives on four themes: taking innovation from idea through to commercial reality; generating genuine business value from AI; exit readiness and the impact of efficient IT and operations on valuation; and cyber security for owners and directors. A natural storyteller, Gerry draws on real examples from across his career, startups through to large corporates, and tailors every talk to the experience, seniority and background of the room, so audiences leave with insight they can act on rather than theory they'll forget.
“…his presentation was engaging and he spectacularly had the entire room interacting…”
— Jermaine Weeden, Chief Executive, ITDS
Group Workshops
Gerry runs group workshops for business owners and leaders, independently or delivered through peer coaching organisations like Vistage. Sessions cover the same four themes as his keynotes: innovation from idea to commercial reality, real business value from AI, exit readiness and the valuation impact of efficient IT and operations, and cyber security for directors. Built for peer groups rather than lecture halls, each workshop is pitched to the seniority and sector mix in the room, with real examples from startups to large corporates and enough structure that leaders leave with decisions made, not just notes taken.
Speaker Topics
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Most organisations aren't short of ideas — they're short of a route to market. Innovation stalls in committees, burns budget on the wrong bets, or arrives too late to matter. This workshop unpacks what actually separates the companies that ship from the ones that stay stuck: how to pick the ideas worth backing, kill the ones that aren't, and build the operating conditions, decision rights, funding, skills, culture, that let good ideas move at pace. Gerry draws on real examples from startups through to large corporates, including the expensive mistakes, so leaders can see their own organisation in the room. Participants leave with a clear view of where their innovation process leaks time and money, and the practical levers to fix it.
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Every leadership team is under pressure to "do something with AI" and most are somewhere between paralysed and scattered. This workshop cuts through the noise:
what AI can realistically do for a business like yours today
where the value actually sits
how to adopt it safely without creating security, data or compliance problems you'll pay for later
Gerry works the room through where the opportunities hide, the slow processes, the expensive manual work, the things customers wait for and what separates the pilots that stick from the ones that quietly die. Leaders leave inspired rather than intimidated, with a set of ideas grounded in their own operations and one or two priority AI initiatives worth pushing forward straight away.
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When a buyer looks at your business, they aren't just buying revenue, they're buying how it runs. Messy systems, key-person dependencies, undocumented processes, unlicensed software and weak security controls all show up in due diligence, and they either shave the multiple or kill the deal outright. This workshop shows owners and leaders exactly what acquirers and investors scrutinise, which improvements genuinely lift valuation and which are wasted effort, and how far ahead of a transaction the work needs to start. Gerry has seen deals from both sides and brings the real deal-breakers into the room. Leaders leave knowing where their business would currently fail scrutiny, and what to fix first, whether an exit is eighteen months away or simply an option they want to keep open.
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Cyber security is a board responsibility, but most directors are handed technical jargon instead of a business decision. This workshop reframes it in the only terms that matter at leadership level:
what your actual risk profile looks like
what a breach would realistically cost you in downtime, recovery, lost contracts and reputation
what a sensible security budget should be, a question no technology provider will answer for you.
Gerry covers directors' duties and where accountability sits, how to judge whether your current spend is proportionate, and the right questions to put to your IT provider. You leave with a clear view of where your business stands, the security posture it genuinely needs, and a path to get there with confidence rather than guesswork.
Gerry’s Bio
Gerry Lawrence helps ambitious businesses turn innovation into commercial reality. He advises business owners and C-suite leaders on innovation strategy, AI adoption, exit readiness, and cyber resilience, delivering insights via keynote talks, tailored workshops, and one-to-one consulting. Gerry has been helping businesses grow through the innovative use of technology since the dawn of the Internet. He spearheaded technology at the UK’s first Internet service provider, founded the world’s first internet-based CCTV company, experienced growth via acquisition & integration and major operational transformations, all of which inform every engagement. Gerry also leads a team of top-tier CIOs and CTOs at Freeman Clarke, where he continues to advise enterprise clients on technology strategy and operations.
