hedgehog lab

As the co-founder and CEO of hedgehog lab, I grew the company from 3 people in a small corner of the North East of England in 2011 to around a 100+ people globally with major presence in the UK & US.

I'm responsible for 4 key things in my role,

- Culture. I believe that culture eats strategy for breakfast and I see myself as the custodian of culture ensuring we always have a north star in everything we do based on our culture framework of purpose, vision, mission & values. 

Key achievements include driving our employee experience programme that has resulted in a rating of 4.9 on Glassdoor and 100% CEO approval rating for me. I'm also a champion of DEI and wellbeing, starting and running key initiatives like our mental health support programs, flexible working and wellbeing support.

- Strategy. Having a great culture by and itself does not drive business performance, so I spend a significant amount of time defining and executing strategy in collaboration with my brilliant management team.

Key achievements include pivoting to mobile specialism to capture the demand & establishing,  growing a US presence now accounting for 40% of our revenue, and raising £2m+ in funding from Private Equity Investors.

- Growth. I have led the commercial and growth teams at hedgehog lab since inception including directly owning the Head of Sales role ensuring hedgehog lab posted CAGR of nearly 60% in our scale up journey. I've also been the de facto CMO of the company setting and driving the marketing vision. Currently lead the Growth teams consisting of Sales, Marketing & Client Engagement.

Key achievements include achieving a #1 global ranking for mobile app development with analysts Clutch, being named in the Financial Times Top 1000 Fastest Growing European companies 2 years in a row and raising Private Equity funding to drive scale up growth.

- Governance. As the CEO and the majority individual shareholder on the Board of Directors, I work with other Directors and investors.

Chief Executive Officer

Subject Matter Expert for Financial Services at hedgehog lab due to my expertise advising and supporting banks, insurance, wealth management and fintech customers like Aviva, AJ Bell, Atom Bank, Coventry Building Society, Cynergy Bank, Davidson Kempner, Tesco Bank, and many others.

My expertise in helping craft and work through critical digital transformation, CX initiatives and technology programmes helps me be the "voice" of FS in the business.

I believe that the biggest problem facing transformation in FS isn't a technological but a human one of culture change, mindset, skills and building high-performance teams.

I'm also one of those people that is excited at reading the FCA's annual priorities on a weekend than a magazine

Financial Services Lead

Co-founded hedgehog lab to create a place that empowers talented people to do the best work of their lives. Constantly working hard to live up to our purpose as a culture custodian.

Co-Founder

equiwatt

Supporting this exciting start-up with strategic advice on go to market strategy, marketing approach and growth plans. A great chance to combine by passion of the sustainability/EV market with digital product.

Advisor

PNE is a North East based business support organisation that enables positive social and economic change by supporting businesses to start, grow and thrive in an ethical and sustainable way. I am delighted to join the Board as a Non-exec bringing my experience of sales, marketing and scaling high growth business to help PNE set ambitious growth targets and facilitate a wider impact for businesses in the region.

Non Executive Director

BIMA (British Interactive Media Association)

Providing mentorship and advice to agency leaders & CEOs who are going through their scale-up journey using my experience and battle-tested frameworks.

Mentor

Netsells

Acquired Netsells to accelerate our Phase 2 journey to become the most respected tech consultancy in the world, backed by UK’s best growth investors, BGF.

New College Durham

New College Durham is one of the largest FE and HE colleges in the North East named by OFSTED as an Outstanding performer and with a reputation for being financially well managed and putting students first. I am a Governor on the Board of Governors helping guide the College in strategy, digital-first focus, employability for students and overseeing general governance. It's great to bring my diverse background and experience to help support the talent of tomorrow.

Governor

Mentor on the BT Ethnically Diverse Mentorship Programme helping mentor the next generation of leaders from minority backgrounds, while giving mentees a unique opportunity to develop their personal brand and receive support in furthering their careers. A chance for me to drive the DEI agenda and develop future diverse leaders.

Cheer.One

Advising a HR SaaS product start-up on Product Strategy, Culture & Growth.

Strategic Advisor

TH_NK

Experienced in leading projects and delivering enterprise solutions in the financial services sector with a focus on Microsoft based solutions.

Role on projects:
- Defining overall system architecture and design
- Defining development standards and naming conventions
- Working with Project Leads and Project Managers to plan and create specifications.
- Define interfaces
- Define system integration points
- Work with team on requirements analysis and early systems analysis and design stages.

Technical Consultant

Was responsible for overseeing the internal planning, detailed design and delivery of quality code. This included working collaboratively with key project stakeholders within the company, third-party suppliers and the client. 

Responsibilities

Worked with key stakeholders to define internal schedule, technical deliverables and resource requirements.
Lead the team to develop quality design and code for the project.
Participated in hands-on development as part of the team effort.
Contributed to the ongoing architectural evolution in an architectural role.
Took ownership of all technical deliverables.
Optimised workload by assigning tasks to developers based on strengths and interests.
Worked with Project Management and Account Director to ensure project delivery is of high quality.
Worked with third party suppliers and manage technical channels of communication.
Attended technical reviews and meetings with client and third party suppliers.

Lead Analyst / Developer

Spark Response

Involved in building internal web-based apps for the logistics and operational departments of the company.

Web Consultant

I am a passionate and experienced entrepreneur in the digital and software industry, with over 16 years of leading and growing hedgehog lab, a human-centred global tech consultancy. I co-founded hedgehog lab in 2007 and transformed it from a small web development agency to a multi-million-pound company with over 100 employees and offices in the UK, US, and Bulgaria. As the CEO, I am responsible for setting the company’s vision, strategy, and culture and overseeing operations, finances, and business development.

In April 2023, I acquired Netsells, another UK-based tech consultancy, to accelerate our mission to become the most respected tech consultancy in the world. Together, we offer custom app development and digital transformation services to our partners, including AJ Bell, Deliveroo, Kodak Alaris, and Tesco Bank. We leverage our UXR, UI/UX, engineering, AI, cloud, and data science expertise to deliver human-centred solutions that drive real business impact.

I am also an active advisor, mentor, and non-executive director for several organisations, where I share my insights and knowledge on digital innovation, leadership, and entrepreneurship.

Important : Views shared on my LinkedIn are personal and do not reflect the views of hedgehog lab.

Sarat Pediredla 🦔

I have been saying for a while that AI is closer to an industrial revolution for knowledge work than a new software rollout. This new BCG piece, “As AI Changes Work, CEOs Must Change How Work Happens”, finally puts some structure and data around that intuition.
 
What really jumps out at me is the gap between tool use and work design. BCG’s AI at Work 2025 survey suggests that nearly three in four employees are already using AI regularly, yet only around a third feel they have had proper training, and only about 36 percent are satisfied with it. We have quietly pushed AI into the flow of work, but we have not done the harder thinking about what jobs are actually for in this new context.
 
Most corporate AI programmes are framed as “implementation”. Stand up a few copilots, run some training sessions, publish a policy, tick the board paper. The uncomfortable truth is that if AI takes on a meaningful chunk of the task load, the real work is to rethink roles, skills, org design and performance. Our current job architecture was not written for a world where every employee has a capable machine partner sitting beside them.
 
You can see this clearly in software teams. If AI can write large parts of the code, what is the human developer now optimising for? Things like quality control, judgment, problem framing, system design, cross functional collaboration and coaching models. That is a very different job description to “produce X lines of code” and it demands different hiring, training and performance conversations.
 
BCG also talks about the talent pyramid starting to bend. Fewer pure entry level roles. More specialists at the top. A middle layer that shifts from traditional people management to coaching and integrating AI into the work. At the same time, digital skills are spreading across sales, marketing and operations, while the supply of experienced people still lags. That forces a very practical question for CEOs: where in your organisation do you want scarce human expertise, and what do you want it doing alongside AI, hour by hour.
 
If we take the industrial revolution analogy seriously, the big prize is not “using AI in every function”. It is redesigning the factory floor of knowledge work itself. For each critical role, leaders will need to keep asking:
 
❓ What can safely move to AI, and under what guardrails?
❓ What higher value work do we expect humans to do with the time that is freed?
❓ How will we recruit, train and reward people for that new shape of work, not the old one?
 
I am convinced we will look back on this period as the biggest shift in how work happens since computers first arrived on desks. The organisations that move first will not be the ones with the most AI tools. They will be the ones that treat AI as a reason to redesign work from first principles, with their people, not just their tech stack, at the centre.
 
 More:

Sarat Pediredla 

CEO & Founder w/ PE experience | NED & Chair | Scaling digital companies through culture, growth, turnarounds & transformation | 🏆 AI 100 UK | 🏆 BIMA 100

Open article: As AI Changes Work, CEOs Must Change How Work Happens by bcg.com

As AI Changes Work, CEOs Must Change How Work Happens

Michelle Minnikin Coaching

***BOOK BLURB***
In 2023’s Barbie Movie, America Ferrera’s iconic speech magically deprogramed the Barbies from patriarchy. And now Michelle Minnikin is here to do the same for women of the real world. 
 
From our first days on Earth, we're taught what it means to be a Good Girl. Look good, be nice, stay quiet, take care of everyone else... The list goes on, and at the heart of it all, one message shines through: Do as you're told or pay the price. 

In Good Girl Deprogramming, Michelle shines a light on the sinister nature, tactics and tricks of coercive control that not only program us to be Good Girls but keep us in that mindset for the years, decades, and generations that follow.

 With ferocity, empathy, and just enough humour to prevent the idea of being brainwashed by patriarchy too depressing, Michelle shares stories, facts and actionable advice that empowers women to break free from our own programming and rediscover who we truly are.

Good Girl Deprogramming isn’t just a book, it’s a movement. One that takes each of us by the hand and invites us to step into the life that is powerfully, beautifully and unapologetically yours. 

Are you in?

Psychologist, Coach & Author - Good Girl Deprogramming®

Work Pirates®

We believe in a world where everyone feels happy at work, empowered to strive towards their potential and free to create better ways of working. We help you re-write the rules of work using our Work Pirate Code and bring in the right crew to help you solve your people problems. We design and deliver compassionate programmes that unshackle your talent and leave happier, more productive workplaces.

Many business leaders have people problems they don’t know how to solve. We created Work Pirates to give leaders the confidence courage and tools to do things differently to tackle these problems, feel less stressed and have a happier, more engaged workplace with more empowered employees.

We help:
• Leaders re-write the rules of work
• HR Professionals rip up the rule book and take a more values-based approach
• Board members to steer their ship in the right direction

The types of project we love:
• Redundancy Support - Delivering compassionate programmes
• Leadership Development - Unshackling your talent
• Organisation Development - Designing happier workplaces

We operate with a strict code. A pirate code.
• Article 1 - Make work better - We actually solve problems.
• Article 2 - Adopt the new work rules - We believe in collaborative ‘working’.
• Article 3 - Take happiness seriously - We see happiness as a strategic driver for success.
• Article 4 - Always be learning - We seek advice and listen to feedback and use our best judgement.
• Article 5 - just don't be a d1ck - We choose to be compassionate, empathetic and simply nice.

I would love to hear from you… get in touch: michelle@workpirates.com

Captain of Culture (AKA Quartermaster)

I don’t just Co-Captain Work Pirates. I do lots of other stuff too. As a Chartered Psychologist and experienced consultant, I do enjoy getting involved in the delivery of projects.

Fun for me is:
• Getting to the root of people problems in organisations, analysing data, speaking to employees and running workshops to understand how we can help.
• Creating valuable change programmes to help people think more creatively and take their own happiness seriously.
• Coaching and mentoring business and HR leaders to play bigger in their roles, rip up the rule books and lead with their values.
• Designing interesting, fun and reliable assessment and development centre exercises to get people thinking about their own self-development. 

I also run our work pirates gatherings and keep our awesome community of Work Pirates engaged!

Queen of the Do

I love to share my story of my journey to work pirates and the need for people in the world to empower themselves to create positive change. I enjoy speaking about my expertise in psychology, organisational and leadership development and selection of good humans.

I regularly speak to Business and HR Leaders on podcasts, videos and online on topics around:
• Creating positive change in organisations - causing ‘Good Trouble’
• Helping leaders play bigger in their work
• Positive Psychology and happiness in organisations as a strategic driver for success

I speak at events such as:
• Wellbeing events
• HR events
• Entrepreneur Accelerators
• And our monthly Work Pirates Gatherings

Guest Speaker

Inspiration North®

Michelle is a Chartered Psychologist and Coach. Her role in Inspiration North is Delivery Director; she is happiest when she is creating courses, programmes, webinars and facilitating positive change in her clients.
 
She is great at spotting the unique strengths in the people around her and championing them to put them into action. She loves to meet new people, connect humans, create communities, understand and get to know people well. Working with Michelle is fun, she is great at creating a safe place for humans to explore. She is curious, playful, sensitive, intuitive and has a deep understanding of positive psychology and personal development.

Helping people positively transform their lives is the most rewarding part of her job.

Delivery Director

Co-Producing and Co-Hosting The Inspiration North Podcast - sharing inspiring stories from inspirational people and how they've found their passion: their true north!

It has been our absolute pleasure and privilege to speak to and learn from such awesome people.

Do you have an inspirational story to tell? Apply to be on the podcast!

Podcaster

If we could put you in a time machine and take you back to 18-year-old you... Here's the advice our podcasts guests would give to their 18-year-old selves!

Coming soon - sign up to hear more about it - https://insightsbp.ac-page.com/inspiration-north-book

Co Author

Insights Business Psychology

Insights Business Psychology Ltd is a collective of Business Psychologists & People Professionals, founded by Michelle Minnikin. 

We help: 
•	Organisations select and hire awesome humans
•	Humans figure out what they want to do when they grow up and grow their dream careers 
•	Leaders who want to get out of their own way, realise their potential and play bigger

We are passionate about the science of work and careers. We’ve extensive experience and knowledge supporting both public and private sector organisations.

We deliver our work in a professional, yet informal way, making it accessible for all. 
Our values are: TRANSPARENT, GENEROUS, FUN, SIMPLE and CURIOUS and we’re on a mission to help people achieve their potential and business goals in a positive, practical, simple and fun way. 

We’d love to hear from you… get in touch: info@insightsbp.com

Chief Psychologist

MP Squared

Co-Founded MP Squared to help organisations get Excellence from their most important asset – their people!

We are the science behind talent and resourcing; we enable organisations to define and measure what excellence looks like in their people and then use behavioural science to replicate that in your new hires.

MP Squared exists to:
- Disrupt the resourcing process to show you there is a better, more scientific and reliable way to predict employee performance.
- Help you focus on the proven indicators of future performance
- Remove unconscious bias
- Enable you to get the best out of the people you hire

We believe companies can be predictive in their resourcing and move from hindsight to insight. We help you focus on the proven indicators of future performance and help selection become more reliable and remove bias through the application of leading psychological methods.

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Working in the organisational development team, supporting selection & assessment through the use of psychometric testing, selection test design and assessment centres.

Organisational Psychologist

The CV & Interview Advisors

The CV & Interview Advisors are a leading personal branding / career enhancement business with an international team and an international client base. The company provides a range of personal branding services such as advanced CV writing, LinkedIn profiles and interview coaching. As a member of the CVIA team, I provide these services to Executives, NEDs, Contractors, Interim Managers and Permanent Job Seekers at all levels.

Personal Branding Specialist

Scott Logic

Bespoke software development organisation with 200 employees across the UK. I was brought in to work alongside the Operational Recruitment Manager and the Marketing & PR team to devise the strategy for Scott Logic’s employer branding and recruitment marketing initiatives. 

Developed an EVP project plan and 2-year resourcing strategy covering selection process re-design, unconscious bias hiring manager training, candidate experience, onboarding, corporate social responsibility (CSR), social sourcing and new applicant tracking system to result in a direct sourcing model.

Recruitment Manager - Strategy

Balfour Beatty plc

A decision was made to take all back office functions out of the individual Business Units and to rationalise into one UK Enabling Function Business Unit. Responsible for supporting the functional leads with their organisational design and restructuring activities during the transition.
•	Managed relationships with Balfour Beatty Board Members, including the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Information Officer, Chief Procurement Officer, Group HRD, UK HRD, Group Head of Comms, Group Head of Sustainability, Group Head of Legal and Health & Safety Director.
•	Partnered with the Function Leads to manage all resourcing activities for Enabling Functions (c.2000 employees) and Balfour Beatty’s Investment Bank Organisation (c.200 employees).
•	Lead a team of 4 Talent Acquisition Specialists.

Resourcing Business Partner

Balfour Beatty’s UK Shared Services division of around 700 people across the UK. I was recruited to support recruitment activities into the Supply Chain, Client Relations, IT, Project Management and
Strategy & Transformation teams.
•	Sourced for both contingent and volume recruitment plans.

Talent Acquisition Specialist

AMEC

Environmental & Engineering Consultancy, worked as a part of a small team responsible for all hires into the 700 people UK business. I was responsible for recruiting into the Environmental Consultancy from Graduate to Director Level.
•	Worked closely with the group directors to ensure understanding of business requirements; developing recruitment strategies to ensure the best possible quality of candidates.
•	Designed and delivered recruitment training for all recruiting managers to support achievement of best practice throughout the organisation.

Senior Recruiter

Deprogramming Good Girls 🔥 Psychologist 🔥 Coach 🔥

As an army brat, I moved about a bit. I used to have a Northern Irish accent - I can’t even do one now in improv classes. 

I decided that I wanted to be a Criminal Psychologist like Cracker (Hagrid catching serial killers). I was at university before I realised that this wasn't a job. Oops.

Then I almost joined the army. I thankfully discovered organisational psychology and thought that doing a masters would be a less muddy option. And to be fair, ironing is not my strength. 

With all my fancy qualifications, I set off on my career in organisational psychology, recruitment, coaching and personal development. It wasn't all I was promised. I had some some really crappy experiences with incompetent bosses, pointless bureaucracy and fragile egos. It felt broken. 

I jumped/was pushed from the corporate train in 2016 and since then, I’ve been in charge of my own career. I then had to figure out how to keep my most favourite Christmas present (my son Oliver) and I in Kit Kats while I learned how to do this self-employment thing. 

2018 was a big year for me. Discovering Sam Conniff’s Be More Pirate helped me realise that I didn't need anyone’s permission to start a mutiny to make work better.

After reading Playing Big and training with Tara Mohr, I realised that there are too many awesome humans just waiting for someone to give them permission to share their brilliance with the world. (If you are reading this - You have permission!)

And I met James. We thought we’d start a podcast (because he has the most amazing voice!). Inspiration North, our first venture was launched and we had lots of fun creating podcasts, running events, delivering happiness programmes and coaching. A year later we fell in love (awww).

I only figured out in 2020 that I’m neurodivergent (I thought I was just weird!). This realisation was the final piece of the jigsaw. I figured out who I am. 

So we thought it was about time to do something that the world needs. More Work Pirates. 

I love helping aspiring work pirates find the courage to unf*ck work by helping them re-write the rules and start their own mutinies. Jettisoning meaningless “Company Values” and helping organisations write their governing principles (or Pirate Codes) so they can attract, hire and develop the right crew for them is my idea of fun. 

And because I enjoy a challenge… I have written a book to help women deprogramme themselves from their ‘good girl conditioning’ and start their own rebellions to build a world that works for everyone. Out November 2023!

Michelle Minnikin

My book turns 2 years old on Sunday - and I want to celebrate with a giveaway.

Over the last two years, this magical book has sparked so much change.
I’ve heard the most beautiful, brave stories from women who’ve shifted careers, set boundaries, left toxic workplaces (and relationships), stopped over-functioning, reclaimed their worth, sparked self-love, stopped bloody apologising so much… and it’s been the absolute honour of my life to witness it.

And in that time, I’ve spoken to thousands of women through talks, workshops, programmes and coaching - each conversation reminding me why this work matters and why we need to keep dismantling the roles that keep us small.

So, to mark its birthday, I’m giving away:

📚 A signed copy of Good Girl Deprogramming
(or an Audible copy if you prefer)

PLUS…

💬 A 1-hour “Ask Me Anything” session with me
Ask me about Good Girl patterns, boundaries, confidence, power, self-love, workplace dynamics, the weather - whatever is most alive for you.

To enter:
1. Share this post
2. Tag a friend who’d love the book or the conversation

I’ll pick the winner on Sunday.

Thank you for every story, every message, every moment of courage - I’ve treasured them all.

EDIT! Congratulations Lisa Kerr, PhD 🤩

Awakening Unfuckwithable Women 🔥 Psychologist | Guide | Author | Good Girl Deprogrammer

Here are 7 things I’ve unlearned since publishing Good Girl Deprogramming two years ago…

Unlearning is uncomfortable. And freeing.
Because this isn’t about becoming someone new.
It’s about remembering who the fuck you are* underneath the training.

Two years into this work - with hundreds of readers, clients, conversations and workshops later - these lessons hit deeper than ever.

If any of these hit home, you’re not alone.
We’ve all been trained. But we can unlearn. Together.

*A note on “who you are”…
When I say remember who the fuck you are, I don’t mean the version of you shaped by people-pleasing, perfectionism or performance.

I mean the real you.
The you beneath the training.
The you before you were told to shrink, smile, and stay quiet.
The you who’s wise, wild, grounded, brilliant - even if you’ve forgotten for a while.

That’s who we’re reclaiming. That’s the work.

What have I missed?

7 Deprogramming Lessons (that I can remember!)

🎄Good Girl Role #1 at Christmas: The Pleaser

She says yes to everything.
Even when she’s knackered.
Even when she doesn’t want to.

School bake sale? Yep.
Hosting the big day again? Of course.
Sorting gifts for people who don’t even like her? Sure, why not.

At Christmas, the Pleaser is running the show. Quietly. Invisibly. Resentfully.

And I want to say this really clearly:

This is a role. It’s not who you are.
You learned it. You can unlearn it.

✨One little tip:
Next time you feel a “yes” trying to escape your mouth, pause and ask:
“If I say no to this, what might I say yes to instead?”

You get to matter too. Even in December. ❤️ 

Quiz is here if you want to know your roles: https://lnkd.in/egydFHCw

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Sarat Pediredla 🦔

Michelle Minnikin

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The Battle

Sarat Pediredla 🦔

Michelle Minnikin

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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