Optometrist & Founder, Ocushield | Workplace Eye Wellness Expert | Featured on Dragons Den, Forbes & USA Today | B Corp Certified | King's Award Recipient

Whilst studying Optometry at university, I launched the development of the initial product offering at Ocushield - medically registered blue light filtering technology that allow screen based users to have fresher feeling eyes and improved sleep latency after screen use. 

I'm currently focussed on our online eye screening solution, which takes 4 mins to complete and is accessible for employees and patients via a web based URL (no app needed). Serving policy holders and employees at Benenden Health, BHSF, AON, AIG Insurance and more... 

Having received a development grant from City University of London, I built Ocushield into an internationally distributed, MHRA/FDA medically registered product that transformed hundreds of thousands of peoples eye health and quality of life.

From boot strapping Ocushield (to six figures in revenue before taking on external funding, total raised £1.5m) to getting featured on Dragons' Den (and winning over Peter Jones & Tej Lalvani in the process), Forbes, The Guardian & USA Today - talking about the impacts of screen time on eye health and sleep, it’s been an entrepreneurial journey full of ups and downs and yes a lot of lessons.

At Ocushield, we've generated total revenues in excess of £10m and have helped over 300,000 eyes in over 147 countries with our products to protect their eyes.

We envision a world where everyone understands the value of their eyes, feels empowered to protect them, and has access to tools, products, and services that support lifelong eye health.

Dhruvin Patel

A 10-year-old emailed us asking what blue light was.

Not a complaint.
Not about a product.

But for a school project...

He wanted to understand how screens affect our eyes and sleep.

We could've sent a quick link and moved on.

Instead, Kyle form our team jumped on a call and explained everything in simple language, no jargon, just a real conversation.

A week later we received a thank you message.

He'd nailed his presentation.
Now his whole class understood blue light better too.

And it made me pause and realise.

Cos moments like this quietly say a lot about how you build a business.

Some reminders it gave me:

1/ Education creates trust faster than selling ever will
People remember who helped them understand, not who tried to convince them.

2/ Small moments shape brand reputation more than big campaigns
Most culture isn't built publicly it's built in private decisions.

3/ How your team behaves when there's no direct gain matters most
That's where real values show up.

4/ Impact doesn't always look commercial
Sometimes it's just helping someone feel smarter, clearer or more confident.

We spend a lot of time talking about growth strategies.

But honestly, things like this are the real foundation.

Showing up, taking the time, making things simple.

That's the kind of company I want Ocushield to be.

P.S. Permission given to share this image.

Optometrist & SeeEO | Dragons’ Den & King’s Award Winner

Year 1 of Ocushield, I was scrappy and fast.
Year 5, I nearly killed it by being too careful.


Nobody warns you about this.

CB Insights analysed hundreds of business failures and found that 42% didn't fail because of competition or bad products.

They failed because they stopped listening to the market.

They got comfortable with what was working.

And missed what was shifting.

Forbes research suggests that most businesses don't stall in year 1.

They stall between years 3 and 5.

Right when things feel stable.
Right when you've got something to protect.
Right when "let's wait and see" starts to feel like strategy.

I felt this at Ocushield.

Year 1, every decision was fast.
We had no choice... Limited cash, limited time, limited options.

Scrappiness wasn't a mindset.
It was a survival mechanism.

But by year 5?

We had something to lose.

And that changed how we moved.

Decisions slowed down.
Risk felt bigger.
Safe started to feel responsible.

Until I realised: the businesses that outlast everyone aren't the ones that protect what they built.

They're the ones that stay curious about what comes next.

Year 1 energy isn't just for startups.

It's a choice.

Every single year.

The best decision I made for Ocushield was saying NO to a retailer offering us £500k in orders....

Most founders would have jumped at it. I nearly did.

Nobody warns you about the pressure that looks like opportunity.

Here's what that moment looked like.

The retailer was credible. 
The numbers looked real. 
Everyone around me said take it.

But when I ran the actual numbers...

Margins were too thin. Capacity wasn't there. And a failed delivery at that scale would have cost us far more than £500k.

Saying yes felt like momentum. 
Saying no felt like madness.

I said no... 😅 

That decision bought us 12 months to get operations, margins and supply chain right.

When the next big retailer came along, we were ready.

The deals that nearly broke us were never the ones that fell through.

They were the ones we almost said yes to.

Not every opportunity is the right opportunity.

Knowing the difference is probably the hardest skill in business.

And the one nobody teaches you.

Ever catch yourself worrying about opinions from people you'd never actually ask for advice?

It's strange when you think about it...

We lose sleep over criticism from someone we wouldn't even swap places with.

One idea that changed how I think about this:

Don't take criticism from someone you wouldn't take advice from.

Simple but powerful.

Cos a lot of hesitation isn't about capability.

It's about noise.

And the moment you filter that noise properly, a few things happen.

1/ You choose your signal

Not all opinions deserve equal weight.
The ones that matter usually come from people who've built, tried, failed and learned.

2/ You trust your own thinking more

Confidence isn't arrogance.
It's clarity about which voices deserve a seat at the table.

3/ You move faster

Self-doubt slows decisions.
Clarity speeds them up.

And over time, that compounds.

I'm still working on this myself.

But every time I reduce the noise, progress gets easier.

I built a 7-figure business starting with 1,500 emails on a spreadsheet.

No CRM, no funnels, no marketing playbook.

Just a student trying to validate an idea.

At the time, I was testing eyes in clinic during the day at university...

And sending supplier emails and researching products at night.

Every time someone showed interest in person, I asked for their email.

Nothing sophisticated.

Just 1,500 real people who cared, sitting on a spreadsheet.

(no GDPR practice in sight back then 😅)

When my first Ocushield screen filter prototype was ready...

I didn't hunt investors.

Instead, I emailed that list and asked them to pre-order.

A fellow student built the website for me. Big up Rishi.

That first wave of orders fully funded the first production run.

No outside capital.

After that?

I was packing boxes from my dorm room, then from my parents' house.

They weren't thrilled cos boxes was everywhere!

All while I was about to finish my degree and had started selling products online.

But it taught me a much bigger lesson.

You don't need permission to start.

You don't need huge capital to validate an idea.

What you actually need is:

1/ A real problem worth solving
2/ The confidence to speak to people about it
3/ The patience to keep them engaged

That's it.

I started doing this in 2015, before going full time in 2018.

And honestly? 

This model still works today.

If you start building your audience now...

For whatever product or service you want to offer the world...

When you're ready to launch,

You won't be begging for attention.

You'll be opening the doors.

We charge our phones before they hit 5%.


But we ignore our own signs of running low.

Eyes stinging?
“Keep pushing.”

Brain fog?
“Must be stress.”

Headaches at your laptop?
“Probably dehydration.”

Here’s the problem.

In screen-heavy work, fatigue rarely arrives as a shutdown.

It shows up as:

Reduced focus.
Slower decisions.
More re-reading.
More mistakes.

Small signals that quietly compound across the day.

And over time?

That cognitive load doesn’t just affect comfort.

It affects performance.

Chronic workplace stress has been shown to impair concentration, decision-making and reaction time, directly impacting day-to-day performance. (Health & Safety Executive UK)

If your eyes are working harder to process information, your brain is too.

Which means energy that could go into:

Problem solving.
Creativity.
Decision-making.
Is instead being used just to see clearly.

We’ve normalised pushing through visual strain as “being committed”.

But in reality?
Recovery protects output.

Taking a break.
Resetting your focus.
Isn’t stepping back from performance.

It’s protecting it.

Still a work in progress for me too…

But worth every effort.

What small signal have you been ignoring lately?

Here's a tricky one. 2 people, same age, same daily routine same energy burn of around 2,400 calories.

So... who's healthier?

One starts their day with eggs and bacon, grabs pizza for lunch, snacks on fries, has steak for dinner and finishes with Greek yoghurt.

The other has granola and coconut yoghurt with banana, a smoothie and trail mix mid-morning, avocado toast with salmon for lunch, pasta and salad for dinner, and dark chocolate for dessert.

If you judged by appearance?

You'd probably pick the second.

It looks cleaner.
More "wellness".
More intentional.

But zoom out.

The first person is in a calorie deficit with high protein intake.

The second is in a significant calorie surplus, lower protein, and gradually building visceral fat.

It's a reminder:

What looks healthy isn't always what's actually healthy.

And this isn't just about food.

It's about teams.

In business, we often reward what looks productive:

1/ Back-to-back meetings.
2/ Busy slack channels.
3/ Late-night emails. 
4/ Long to-do lists.

It feels like effort. 
It feels like momentum.

But zoom out. 

Is the team is a "calorie deficit" or a surplus?

Are they spending more energy than they're recovering?
Are they overloaded with inputs but low on deep focus?
Are they busy... but not building?

Cos in business:

✅ Output matters, not just activity.
✅ Recovery drives performance.
❌ “Healthy-looking” busyness can still create long-term burnout.

Just like nutrition, productivity has fundamentals:

Clarity, focus, boundaries, sustainable energy.

And here's the nuance.

The second person in the food example is getting more fibre and micronutrients.

The first could make smarter swaps.

With balance, either could thrive.

Same with teams.

You don't need to eliminate meetings.
You don't need to kill Slack.
You don't need to cut ambition.

But you do need to measure what actually drives results.

So here's the real question:

Is your team optimized for aesthetics... or outcomes?

Don't judge health or productivity by how it looks. Judge it by sustainability, energy, and long-term performance.

When did working through lunch become a sign of commitment instead of overload?

Cos that's the real risk. 

No stress itself. 
But stress that starts to feel "normal".

You can usually spot it in 3 areas:

Behavioral. Physical. Emotional.

But behaviour is often the first signal.

For example:

1/ Reaching for your phone and checking emails or Teams almost immediately after waking up.
2/ Working outside contracted hours without taking that time back.
3/ Skipping breaks. Eating at your desk. Working though lunch.

On the surface, it looks productive. 

In reality? 

It's often a boundary problem.

And boundaries protect recovery. 

The data backs this up:

1/ 70%+ of employees check email outside working hours (APA Work & Well-Being Survey)

2/ After an interruption, it takes an average of 23 minutes to refocus (University of California, Irvine research)

3/ Taking short breaks improves performance and reduces mental fatigue (University of Illinois study on attention restoration)

4/ Chronic workplace stress is linked to increased MSK pain and long-term absence (HSE UK & CIPD Health & Wellbeing reports)

When people stop taking breaks, stop switching off, and blur the line between work and home...

The brain never properly resets.

And without recovery, performance drops.

Focus narrows.
Decision-making slows.
Patience shortens.

The insight?

Stress overload doesn't usually arrive dramatically.

It creeps in quietly.

As "just being busy".
As "just being committed".
As "just one more email".

The real leadership skill today isn't just driving output.

It's noticing when overload is becoming culture.

In the attached clip, Katie Maycock and Ellice Whyte share how behavioural overload is often the first sign that recovery is being compromised.

P.S. Our next webinar in The Screen Time Effect series is on 3rd March. See you there!

Did you know that you might already have digital eye strain... and not realise it?


Seriously.

If you work on screens all day and get headaches, tired eyes, blurry vision...

Or that moment where you suddenly need to refocus the screen...

That's likely eye strain.

And here's the crazy part...

According to American Optometric Association, up to 65% of people working on screens experience digital eye strain.

So basically... most offices.

Yet companies still talk about DSE like it's just compliance.

Forms, assessments, tick the box.

But during our 2nd webinar of "The Screen Time Effect" series with Posturite Ltd, Katharine Metters said a very important message.

Those regulations exist for a simple reason.

If people are distracted by pain or can't see clearly, they won't work well.

Obvious, right??

But it's easy to underestimate cos people just push through it.

So DSE isn't really about compliance.

It's about something much simpler.

Helping people see comfortably enough to do their job properly.

Funny how that improves productivity too.

Screen time is on the up and compliance, well...
When it comes to eye care - questionable.

HR leaders, this is the compliance gap no one's talking about.

Most organisations think they're covering DSE risk.

But in reality?

Eye health is still a blind spot in many workplace wellbeing strategies.

And that gap doesn't just affect comfort...

It links directly to:

1/ MSK risk
2/ Fatigue
3/ Reduced focus
4/ Long-term absence

That's why I'm really looking forward to Session 2 of our webinar series "The Screen Time Effect" with Katharine Metters & Posturite.

Katharine works closely with organisations at Posturite Ltd to manage workplace ergonomics and DSE risk at scale, so she sees first-hand where compliance works… and where it quietly breaks down in screen-heavy environments.

We'll be diving into the compliance challenges created by screen-heavy work and what organisations can do to make preventative care scalable, not just a tick-box exercise.

Here's what we'll explore:

👀 Why screen health is often missed in compliance strategies
🧍How eye care connects to MSK risk
📈 Practical ways to make compliance scalable across teams

3rd March 2026
The Compliance Gap

If you support HR, Health & Safety, or manage screen-heavy teams, this one's for you.

Save your spot here: https://lnkd.in/eAeXebth

Hope to see you there!

If you consider one thing today, think about…
Your lighting in your home or office. 

One woman spent £50,000 fighting a light bulb.

No joke.

A resident in the UK reportedly spent around £50,000 in legal costs challenging an LED streetlight outside her home because it was so bright it was affecting her sleep and quality of life.

(Reported by BBC News and other UK outlets covering LED streetlight complaints.)

At first glance, that sounds extreme.

£50,000… over a light bulb?

But the story highlights something interesting.

LED lighting has transformed how we light our streets, offices and homes.

More energy efficient.
Longer lasting.
Brighter.
Much brighter.

In fact, modern LEDs can emit significantly higher levels of short wavelength artificial (blue) light, which researchers have linked to disruptions in sleep cycles and circadian rhythms when exposure happens at night.

(Harvard Medical School – Blue light and sleep research.)

Which means something as simple as lighting can have a surprisingly big impact on how we feel.

Sleep quality.
Eye comfort.
Even how alert we feel during the day.

It’s one of the reasons conversations around lighting, screens and eye health are becoming more important.

Because the environments we live and work in today are very different from even 20 years ago.

Screens everywhere.
LED lighting everywhere.
And our eyes are adapting to a world that’s changing very quickly.

That’s why at Ocushield we think about the bigger picture.

Not just screens.

But the entire visual environment people spend their days in.

Sometimes the smallest things… like a light bulb…

Turn out to have the biggest impact.

The 50,000 Light Bulb

The real reason I shop at Aldi has nothing to do with money...


It's about saving mental energy.

After a full day of decision-making at work, the last thing I want is to walk in a supermarket that expects more from my brain. 

And I think that's where Aldi's growth is really coming from.

Cos modern work has made cognitive fatigue normal.

By the time most people finish their day, they've already made hundreds of decisions.

Emails, meetings, slack messages, deadlines...

"What's for dinner?"
"Should I reply now or tomorrow?"

So when you walk into a store with 17 cereal options and 12 types of hummus...

It's not empowering, it's exhausting.

Aldi does 3 very simple things differently.

1/ Fewer choices

Less range means fewer micro decisions.

Which reduces mental load at the exact moment people are most decision-fatigued.

2/ Faster navigation

You don't need to think about where things are.

You just move through the space with minimal friction.

2/ Predictability

You know what to expect.

Which removes uncertainty from the experience.

None of this feels groundbreaking.

But that's the point.

It's not about price. It's about reducing cognitive demand in a world that constantly increases it.

Why does this matter?

Cos whatever industry you're in...

Your customer is likely decision-fatigued before they even interact with you.

Sometimes the best experience you can create is one that asks less from their brain.

Customer Experience

2 founders. Same market crash. One folded. One grew 40%.


The difference wasn't luck.

Harvard Business Review studied companies across multiple recessions and found something striking.

Businesses that cut costs AND continued to invest in new capabilities during downturns outperformed their competitors by over 10% after recovery.

Not the ones who waited it out.
Not the ones who played it safe.

The ones who kept moving while others froze.

I've watched this split happen up close.

And it almost always comes down to one thing:

How fast they updated their story.

Not their product.
Not their funding.
Their story.

The founder who folded kept explaining why things were hard.

Supply chains. Rising costs. Economic uncertainty.

All true. All real.

But the story became the strategy.

And the strategy became: wait for things to improve.

The founder who grew asked a different question:

"Given everything that's changed... what does our customer actually need right now?"

That one question changed their offer.
Their positioning.
Their energy.

During COVID...
Businesses that pivoted quickly...
Reframing what they sold and who they served, 
saw 20 to 40% growth while similar companies declined.

I had my own version of this at Ocushield.

When external pressure hit, the temptation was to pull back.

Protect margins.
Pause experiments.
Wait it out.

But the moments we pushed through and stayed close to customers?

Those were always the ones that compounded later.

Resilience isn't about being tough.

It's about how fast you rewrite the story.

For the past 10 years, I’ve worked alongside founders navigating the real challenges that come with growth.   Not the highlight-reel kind but the messy middle:  •⁠  ⁠co-founder tensions  •⁠  ⁠delegation struggles  •⁠  ⁠scaling teams without losing control  •⁠  ⁠investment pressure  •⁠  ⁠leadership misalignment  •⁠  ⁠burnout creeping in while the business is “doing well”   My work focuses on helping scaling founders step out of daily operations and back into their true role:  **Architect of the business.**      Because growth often creates a paradox: the company expands, but the founder becomes the bottleneck.     I support leaders who are too central to everything:  decision-maker, fixer, fire-fighter, emotional anchor.     Together, we recalibrate:   → what only you should own   → what must be delegated   → how leadership evolves beyond execution   → how to build a business that moves without your constant presence     The goal is not just more revenue (while it definitely happens): It’s more headspace, stronger leadership, better collaboration, and a company that can scale without consuming its founder.  Giving him or her what they deserve: quality of life, satisfaction, time and much more.

Rachelle Leerling

This morning I hosted a test round of a new live mastermind!

It's about why many scaling businesses plateau; even when the founder is working harder than ever.

And more importantly:

What actually needs to shift if a company is to grow beyond the founder.

The conversation confirmed something I’ve been seeing for years inside startups and scale-ups:

Growth doesn’t stall because of a lack of effort.

It stalls when the way the founder leads no longer matches the stage the business is in.

More doing doesn’t fix that... but different leadership does.

So I’m opening up a new group program for scaling founders who feel:
• stuck at their own capacity
 • pulled back into operations
 • unsure where the real constraint is
 • hungry for more clarity, ownership over their output, and renewed growth

This is for founders who know the next level won’t come from pushing harder, but from repositioning how they lead.

I’ll be hosting another live masterind on *Friday 13 March* to discuss the three shifts that allow a business to scale beyond its founder.

If you're in that scaling phase and something in this resonates, send me a DM and I’ll share the details!

Happy Friyay 🌞

Advisor and Co-Pilot to Established Founders & Leaders | Next live mastermind: 25 March

Yesterday, I had the chance to work with a group of internal changemakers 

People who don’t necessarily lead teams, but are stepping up to drive meaningful change from where they are.

We explored what it really takes to create impact in complex organizations: 

- moving from silo thinking to system thinking
- making the right work visible
- focusing energy where it truly moves the needle

It was a practical, honest session, grounded in real situations they’re navigating today. 

Thanks all, for the sharp reflections and a strong willingness to challenge assumptions and think beyond “my part” toward “our impact.”

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