Welcome to the Tough Cookies series where we interview and celebrate the strong and determined individuals who are making waves in the tech industry.

Following from our interview last week with Helen (Co-founder and Creative Director of Xavier Analytics), we dropped in with Jonathan, Director at FD Works and Co-Founder at Xavier Analytics.

With Jonathan, we talked specifically about FD Works, knowing your numbers, being a creative accountant and, like always, the best cookies in town…

Can you tell me a bit more about FD Works and the services you provide?

Having worked at large corporates, I could see that smaller businesses were missing out on commercial financial support. FD Works was set-up to address this problem and we’ve taken some of the best people from the industry to create a full-service finance function.

Whether you want hands-on finance support, FD-level strategic advice or help sorting through compliance red-tape we can help. We’re big believers in technology, pairing our financial expertise with the best tech to make the lives of our clients easier.

Ultimately, we want our clients to be in control of their numbers and realise the true potential of their business.

As an accountant, is there something you feel tech companies look out for?

Spend more time looking forward, get to know your numbers and experiment with different scenarios in a spreadsheet – have a plan and keep track to make sure you’re going in the right direction.

He challenged me to be a creative accountant.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?



I did some work with Richard Farley (the nice one from Dragons Den) and he challenged me to think about what we need to do differently to make things work (rather than highlight the problems) – he challenged me to be a creative accountant.

What excites you about the Bristol tech scene at the moment?

Whilst I’ve travelled and lived in different cities across the world – Bristol is home. I’ve seen the city change and I’m excited by the talent coming out of the universities. We have some brilliant coworking spaces to help nurture talent here and I strongly believe we’re in a great position to challenge London.

Is there a particular book/podcast/film we should be watching/reading?



I’ve really enjoyed ‘Simple, Logical, Repeatable’ by Marianne Page. It takes all the thinking from E-Myth and shows you how to implement the thinking into your business.

What’s the biggest challenge you have had in your career and how did you overcome it?

Having worked at Lloyds Banking Group for 15 years I was pigeonholed as a financial services expert but I wanted to work in a different sector.

How did I overcome it? I started FD Works and created my own opportunities.

We have the knowledge to help ambitious startups succeed.

How does FD Works work with the startup scene in Bristol?

Whether it’s help creating a financial plan, raising funds, setting up systems or running finances – we have the knowledge to help ambitious startups succeed.

Collaboration forms a big part of how we work and nine times out of ten we can direct you to the right people. Whether it is doing an R&D tax claim or setting up an S/EIS scheme, we can help. We’re always happy to chat.

And finally… what’s your favourite flavoured cookie?

I work with a Bristol-based company called Cakesmiths and they make cookies – they do a delicious salted butterscotch and walnut.