Siosi Samuels

I've spent fifteen years on the ground with teams adopting the next wave of technology — from interactive media and web, through blockchain and Web3, into AI. The pattern repeats: early chaos, a rush of tools, then the harder work of making it all hold together.

At IRESS, a $1.9 billion fintech, I helped bring Slack into the business and support its rollout across roughly 2,000 employees on five continents. IRESS became Slack’s first enterprise customer in Asia-Pacific. The work involved securing executive support, connecting tools to everyday workflows, and helping teams change how they communicated and worked together.

The same pattern has shown up in very different settings. With Tales From Nanumea, I used animation to help preserve culture alongside Elders. Sharing the films led to sponsorship from Adobe and invitations to teach indigenous communities. At Tribe Theory (later Draper Startup House), I worked with community managers across locations, introduced weekly reviews and tracking, and prepared a Community Playbook for handover. In each case, I helped people make something new their own and establish practices they could carry forward.

I look at change at more than one level: the founder, the team, the company, and the market. A move can be right for one and too early for another.

Leaders usually bring me in when they see an opportunity in a new technology, but their people, tools, or responsibilities are pulling in different directions. I help them make sense of the change, secure support, and establish working practices that reduce dependence on a few individuals. Warm in the room; direct on the architecture.