What a privilege

Today I launched OnSiren with my team. We’re seeing a new signup every few seconds, and we’ll probably end the day with 2,000 to 2,500 people signed up. It is early, and we have a great deal to learn.

The idea came from connecting two experiences, 22 years apart.

My first-ever security shift was with Securicor, which later became part of G4S. They sent me from North London to Safeway in Portslade. God knows how I got there.

When I arrived, they gave me two radios. One connected me to a local shop or town radio network. I could communicate with people beyond the store. The idea of connecting people for safety was already there.

Fast forward 22 years. I was at Stanford, listening to Professor Ilya Strebulaev explain power laws. I connected that lesson with the experience of my first shift.

What could we do if we connected frontline security officers at scale? They are already in shops, venues, buildings and communities, seeing things as they happen. I saw the possibility of a kind of Waze for safety: officers sharing awareness, helping each other and becoming a force multiplier for the police.

I decided to build it.

I pitched the idea, raised money, brought people behind the vision and worked with my team to turn it into a product. Today we put it into the world.

I want to thank my team and board members for their work and support. Lord Sarfraz, my long-standing friend, encouraged me and introduced me to Jonathan Powell. Lord Parker supported the vision. Steve McCormick, a former SIA director, and Mike Nithavrianakis are on my team and helped us bring it to launch.

My Chief of Staff, Sara, my marketing queen, Hamna, and our engineering, product and marketing teams have put an enormous amount of work into this. Some of the team moved into my house and worked there for three months, including people who were newly married. They believed in the mission and committed to building it.

I also want to thank Chris St George, Peter Harrison of FGH Security, Satia Rai of IPSA and Michael Kill of NTIA for their guidance, and Ali Ebrahim, my first investor, for backing the idea. Faron Paul tested the app across the country and gave us feedback that helped us improve it. I cannot thank him enough.

From tomorrow, frontline officers will begin using OnSiren. Their experience, feedback and the ways they choose to use it will shape the product. My job is to keep building and respond to what we learn.

I started with two radios on a security shift. Today I have launched a product built around connecting frontline officers. What a privilege.