Piers Linney is an entrepreneur, technology investor and media commentator recognised for his expertise in artificial intelligence, business transformation and entrepreneurship. The Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Implement AI, Piers is also a former investor on BBC’s Dragons’ Den and was named a LinkedIn Top AI Voice for his contribution to conversations surrounding artificial intelligence. Having built and invested in businesses across technology, telecommunications, media and manufacturing, he is hired as an inspirational leadership speaker to share lessons on innovation, resilience, inclusive leadership and successfully navigating disruption.
Piers began his professional career as a trainee solicitor at SJ Berwin before moving into investment banking with Barclays de Zoete Wedd and Credit Suisse First Boston, where he worked in mergers and acquisitions. His entrepreneurial journey subsequently saw him co-found and lead businesses including Doctorsworld and Genesis Communications before becoming Co-CEO of cloud services company Outsourcery. Despite experiencing significant setbacks during the dotcom crash and later business challenges, Piers continued building, investing and advising across the technology sector. His ability to adapt through periods of uncertainty has become central to his approach to entrepreneurship and leadership.
Piers became widely known as an investor on Dragons’ Den, where his investments included personalised publishing company Wonderbly, which later delivered a reported 43 times return following its sale in 2021. He also appeared on Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire and has held influential positions including Non-Executive Director of the British Business Bank, Trustee of Nesta and member of the Government’s SME Procurement Panel. Piers is Co-Founder and Chairman of Atherton Bikes and, in 2023, co-founded Implement AI to help organisations harness artificial intelligence. His achievements include being recognised among influential Black British business leaders, serving on Sky’s Diversity Advisory Council and winning Diversity Champion of the Year at the European Diversity Awards in 2024.
Piers is hired as an inspirational leadership speaker because he combines entrepreneurial experience with a forward-looking understanding of technology and organisational change. Drawing on business successes, significant setbacks and experience advising organisations at the highest level, he explores how leaders can embrace disruption, remain resilient and turn emerging technologies into opportunities. His media experience makes complex subjects accessible to diverse audiences, while his work supporting entrepreneurs and greater representation in business provides valuable perspectives on inclusive leadership. Piers equips leaders with practical insights for navigating uncertainty, embracing innovation and building organisations prepared for the future.
Piers Linney is regularly booked to engage audiences at events, read their latest feedback below:
“Piers was invited to speak at our conference. The focus of his content was AI, providing an overview of its current capabilities and how they might evolve over the next few years. The subject area was incredibly current for our business, uncovering a thirst for more insight across the audience. Piers had a deep knowledge of AI, answering surprisingly advanced questions with ease, his delivery was engaging and held the audience right to the end.”
“Piers presented 5 incredibly valuable actions to enable a business to scale for IT Glue’s EMEA Managed Services Provider audience and the feedback received has been excellent. His knowledge of the challenges being faced at this precise moment, advice on how to overcome them, along with the mistakes to avoid, demonstrated not only the extent of his expertise and experience in our market but provided enormous value for the audience to tap into. I’m excited to hear about the plans our clients have implemented and the subsequent impact of these as a result of Piers’s insights – his candid answers during the Q&A when asked about the success of his investments on Dragon’s Den were a real crowd pleaser too!”
“Very inspiring speech! Loved the very genuine sharing of your journey, so many takeaways… 1, Not letting your background or where you come from hold you back. 2, Reaching out to others and nurturing their potential for success. 3, Creativity is uniquely human, develop it as that is something machines can’t do. Thanks Piers for showing others what is possible.”
“Great talk last night, what really resonated was your insight into inevitable changes to industry that will affect and disrupt the current model and how adding value will be essential to every business model. Thankyou!”
“I was one of the suppliers at this week’s Event Buyers Live at which Piers was the closing speaker. Please congratulate him – it was fascinating to hear his rise, and falls, and his passion for business and nurturing others.”
“Piers was keynote speaker and customer panel host at our Small Business Live event at Cisco Live Barcelona 2019. His presentation and panel resonated extremely well with our audience and were top-rated sessions from the event programme by attendees. Piers is an insightful, energetic and entertaining speaker, with thought-provoking ideas and insights based upon his extensive business experience. His vibrance and enthusiasm during his presentation kept the audience engaged from start to end. Not only was he well received by the audience, he was easy and personable to work with, spending extra time listening to the other speakers and interacting with our team and delegates.”
“Piers captivated our client business breakfast audience with his vast knowledge, amusing anecdotes and interesting insights in to how to #ScaleUp a business. He was more than happy to network with the clients before his presentation and to be photographed with some of them afterwards. Down to earth and really personable, Piers is an ideal business speaker and we really enjoyed having him at BE Offices.”
The Inspirational Leadership Speakers Agency is one of the UK’s leading bureaus for inspiring global leaders. We supply speakers for corporate and public events across the world and cater to both in-person occasions and online webinars. Our roster includes athletes, psychologists, celebrities and more, each with top industry insight into leadership.
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