‘Do Not Be Afraid to Jump In’… Introducing Paul Taylor, CEO and Founder of Thought Machine.

Paul Taylor founded Thought Machine, the company that would go on to replace JP Morgan Chase’s core banking software technology, in 2014. Yet, it wasn’t his first, or even second, successful venture. Whilst Taylor is now widely known as a serial entrepreneur, having famously exited his second venture, ‘Phonetic Arts’, to Google, it’s important to note that Taylor’s career didn’t stem from fierce entrepreneurialism or business acumen, but rather from a real passion for innovation. 

Taylor was born in Belfast in 1967, and lived through an era of sectarian violence during ‘The Troubles’, which had devastating effects on the Irish economy. However, this also gave way to lower house prices, meaning that Taylor’s family were able to live well above their means in a luxurious property. Taylor notes that his childhood was happy, despite soldiers patrolling the streets, as he was young enough to adapt to this ‘new normal’. It was in Taylor’s fifth year at school that he got his first taste of ambition, when his class was visited by the Irish Physicist, Ernest Walton, the Nobel laureate who, along with other academics, first split the Atom. Taylor found himself in awe of Walton’s achievements, ambitiously eager to follow his footsteps and have an real impact on the world. 

About 20 years later, Taylor graduated from his PhD in Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh, where he had been working at the Centre for Speech Technology Research. It was during his undergraduate degree that he had had his second real ‘Eureka’ moment after Walton, whilst listening to a Speech lecturer. Upon realising as an undergraduate that it was possible for him to combine his passion for speech with engineering, Taylor had been eager to embark on a PhD that included AI, algorithms and coding as well as linguistics, and he went on to spend his PhD learning to do what he would soon first become famous for, building text-to-speech systems. 

Taylor was 32 years old when he launched his first venture, Rhetorical Systems, already having a voice in the back of his head telling him that he was too old to be an entrepreneur, which now, looking back at the age of 52, he notes was “ridiculous”, as he states that, “you’re never too old as long as you can contribute to the market”. He was living in Edinburgh at the time, where the entrepreneurial spirit that runs today’s capitalist societies had not quite yet emerged, and the artificial intelligence scene lived within the confines of university campuses. Furthermore, Taylor goes on to explain in a recent interview with Alejandro Cremades,

Rhetorical Systems provided text to speech software and voice synthesis and never had an established business model, but rather experienced sporadic sales in sporadic markets. Whilst Rhetorical didn’t enjoy the immense successes of Taylor’s later ventures, ‘Phonetic Arts’ and ‘Thought Machine’, it was acquired by Nuance Communications for $6.7M in November 2004, proving the commercial quality of Taylor’s passion for technology. A conclusion is clearly drawn: a lack of business acumen should not deter a true innovator, as it is a hurdle that can be overcome. 

Taylor went on to found Phonetic Arts in 2006, a similar venture but within the computer games industry, building a text-to-speech system that would provide live commentary in video games such as Fifa, commentary that would be able to react to what the players were doing. The financial crash hit a couple of years later in 2008, having a clear impact on Taylor’s venture, yet the commercial success was evidently greater than that of Rhetorical Systems, with Phonetic Arts receiving interest from Google’s M&A department in the summer of 2010. After a phone call from Google, Taylor found himself staring at his phone, asking himself, “Did Google just offer to buy my company?” By the end of 2010, Phonetic Arts had been acquired by Google, strengthening Taylor’s new identity, that of a successful entrepreneur with real business acumen. 

Thought Machine, Taylor’s third and final venture, was founded in 2014, and has had a rapidly growing customer base of banking giants, including JPMorgan Chase, Lloyds Bank and Standard Chartered. Thought Machine has revolutionised the technology infrastructure used by these banks, replacing it with cloud native technology. Taylor has come long way from his PhD at Edinburgh, now running a banking Unicorn worth nearly $3 Billion. 

Whilst many may argue that entrepreneurial success lies with business skills and accreditations, Taylor notes to ask yourself, “What has everyone else missed?”, as he goes on to explain in his recent interview,

“You’d think with the number of tech companies that everything that could be done, has been done. But there are huge opportunities that no one has thought of, and we effectively did that.”

Perhaps understanding shares, stock options and intellectual property is therefore not a key necessity for starting a career as a successful entrepreneur, but rather a set of skills you will acquire throughout your journey as one. Perhaps then, to the delight of every individual out there with an original idea and a passion that they might consider a pipe-dream, having a vision for how to innovate is the only initial requirement.