25 March 2019 | 2 min read
Jess Butcher sings from a different song-sheet to others in the tech industry.
Speaking to Michael Hayman on Capital Conversation about her new user-generated content platform, Tick, Jess wants to move people away from narcissistic content, going from, “‘look at me, look at my life, isn’t it incredible,’ to ‘look at what I’m passionate about, look at what I can do, look at what my skills are’.”
Jess hopes to reverse this trend by turning users’ attention to what they can do for others. Tick, a video media platform for instructional content and skill-sharing, will act as a reminder for the value in people’s offline lives.
Acknowledging the irony of an online solution for driving offline behaviours, she adds: “I think you can always build great solutions to societal problems that are enabled by technology.”
A societal issue Jess has been a strong voice in is the women in tech debate, the narrative of which she finds frustrating: “The longer I’ve been involved in this debate, I’m increasingly being asked to sing from a song sheet of discrimination.
“I was forced to question whether that was actually my experience, and I had to conclude that it wasn’t. I’ve only ever found it to be an opportunity.”
Jess worries that a narrative of disadvantage may in itself exacerbate a confidence gap: “If women are constantly being told that it’s stacked against them then they’re not going to act in a way that’s assertive.”
Looking ahead, despite anger at the way Brexit negotiations have been handled, Jess embraces the challenges it poses: “I am an opportunistic entrepreneur and I believe that Brexit will present a huge number of opportunities to British companies and for cost savings.”
You can watch the full episode here.