The second TradeGecko team member to be placed under the spotlight is our CTO Bradley Priest.
Who is Bradley Priest?
Expatriate Kiwi living in Singapore! I love all things outdoors but somehow I ended up drawn to working with technology, I like to think it as the modern day equivalent of working with your hands. I love creativity and building things - I guess when you put those collection of likes and interests together you can see that the work I do at TG offers a great outlet for mixing business with pleasure!
How did you join TradeGecko?
I had itchy feet and was looking to gain experience out with New Zealand. TradeGecko offered me a chance to build something exciting that could be useful to people and save them time and money. Also, moving to Singapore was the change of scenery I was looking for and not to mention that is a great hub for Startups - it was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse and its been a pretty exciting new chapter to my life.
Tell us a little about your role
I run and manage the technical side of the work here at TradeGecko; from heading up the development team building new features to keeping the application up and running with the occasional tech support thrown in. In a nutshell, you could say that my role involves turning code into useful applications!
What’s been your favourite TG memory to date?
I have a pretty vivid memory of one of our earlier days, sitting outside a café fixing a prototype of our product. We were just about to pitch our business to a particular investors for the first time. In hindsight it makes me laugh thinking that we were frantically adding finishing touches even right up until the last second before meeting investors.
Looking back now, it was a great example of our team coming together under pressure and our strive towards perfection. It also made me realize what a great team I was working with and that we would be prepared to meet whatever challenges thrown our way. Oh, and by the way, that same meeting was our first meeting with our now primary investor.
What’s your favourite food?
There’s a lot to choose from in Singapore, but the curry puffs from a special uncle in a random food court of Toa Payoh are my special treat. He sells one thing and one thing only and the same guy has been running his stall for 30+ years, he has that recipe down to a ‘T’.
What’s your Ikigai*?
* “a reason to get up in the morning/ enjoy life” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikigai)
I want to better myself. Every day. I’m incredibly lucky that every day I get to work with smart people using exciting technologies to solve interesting problems.
