About Us

Our Vision

Our vision is to deliver transformative technological change to the gaming industry

We strive to do this every day by using our experience, expertise and network of partners to guide organisational change and technical delivery to enable step-change improvements in capability

Our Values

We believe that values  ​​have big power. We’re best defined by the things we do differently.

Curiosity

The only way to improve is to constantly question, listen, learn and evolve.

Empathy

We work together with partners and to do this well we have to understand their goals and motivations.

Humility and Respect

We don’t know everything and we are not infallible - we will learn and improve through accepting and embracing this.

Teamwork and Collaboration

As a team we are greater than the sum of our parts - we achieve more through collaboration and teamwork.

Frankness

Our communication will always be open, honest and candid.

Our team

Allow us to introduce our people. Meet the Circle Squared crew.

Clyde Harris
23+ years in the industry
Graham Cassell
24+ years in the industry
Mick d’Ancona
24+ years in the industry
Peter Sherman
19+ years in the industry

Clyde Harris

Having spent his career at major industry players such as Ladbrokes, SG Digital and Code Factory, Clyde has gained unparalleled experience in product delivery and operational execution for sports betting businesses. Combining a background in enterprise architecture with project management skills and a deep understanding of commercial and product strategy, Clyde adds demonstrable value to interactions with teams and individuals across the spectrum of an organisation.

Key Skills

  • Product vision and roadmap management
  • Sportsbook trading strategy and operations
  • Regulatory and compliance models
  • Technical and partner due diligence

Career Highlights

  • Product and delivery lead on a greenfield trading platform for a tier 1 operator, successfully delivering commercial goals of content coverage and trading profitability
  • Technical due diligence and integration lead and for multiple M&A activities
  • Led the product development, on-site regulatory certification user and onboarding for SG Digital’s US sportsbook entry programme
  • Managed a team of Project Managers and SMEs at a major operator, which successfully delivered over 350 projects of varying size and complexity over three years

Personal Emphasis

  • Making complicated simple
  • Enabling teams with value-driven prioritisation
  • Bridging the gaps between technology, commercial and operational teams
  • Collaborating and influencing through analysis, insight and empathy

Graham Cassell

Graham has held several senior leadership roles at companies including Ladbrokes, Moneycorp, Paddy Power, Betfair and Flutter, running large-scale technology teams specialised in delivering and operating complex real-time, low latency systems. A progressive and collaborative leader, Graham has real expertise in the delivery of complex strategic and transformational programmes of work, with particular emphasis in building team environments that drive sustainable technology delivery and cultural change.

Key Skills

  • Technical delivery and engineering optimisation
  • Product and technology organisation design
  • Technology strategy - People, Process, Technology
  • Software development methodologies, maturity and process improvement
  • Leadership of multi-functional technical teams

Career Highlights

  • Successfully enabled brand autonomy at Flutter by delivering shared platform components across product domains
  • Led a team of 1,000+ technologists at Paddy Power-Betfair, developing customer-facing components for each brand whilst delivering shared components that underpinned Flutter’s group expansion
  • Programme lead for Ladbrokes’ new proprietary Trading systems and a technical lead on the Ladbrokes-Coral merger
  • Technology lead on the UK’s most innovative sports and racing display and customer systems for the Ladbrokes’ retail estate

Personal Emphasis

  • Driven always to make things better
  • Design for cradle to grave, not just launch
  • Focus on business objectives, not technical goals
  • Create alignment through transparency, integrity and accountability

Mick d’Ancona

Mick has nearly a quarter of a century of experience in the gaming industry, leading product, technology and operations teams across most major markets and jurisdictions. He has held multiple C-level and senior leadership roles at tier one operators and software suppliers, including Ladbrokes, OpenBet, NYX, SG Digital and KingMakers. Mick’s wealth of experience ensures he is able to provide unmatched insight and strategic direction.

Key Skills

  • Organisational design and planning
  • Product & technology strategy
  • Due diligence and partner selection
  • Large-scale delivery and transformation programmes
  • Service management and technical operations

Career Highlights

  • Led the technology teams as NYX entered the highly regulated and nascent US iGaming (casino) market
  • As SVP of Product Development at SG Digital, Mick led the programme to productise the OpenBet sportsbook platform, compressing delivery times down from 15 to less than four months
  • Led the teams delivering the first SSBTs to retail estates in the betting industry
  • Mick's most recent role was as COO and CTO at KingMakers, the high growth African-facing betting group and owner of BetKing

Personal Emphasis

  • Enabling joined-up thinking through the alignment of strategy, teams, product and tooling
  • Helping teams set up for success
  • Bringing NFRs to life
  • Eradicating “wishonomics” from decision-making

Peter Sherman

With two decades of experience across a wide variety of roles in the betting industry, Pete has accumulated a vast array of knowledge and skills, with particular expertise in betting and trading systems. Pete has significant hands-on experience leading complex project delivery and a “no-nonsense” approach to product and commercial prioritisation – this ensures that teams remain focused on rapid delivery and incremental improvements, but also that leadership expectations are properly managed.

Key Skills

  • Product inception, design and delivery
  • Trading operations and tooling
  • Project planning and execution
  • Agile methodologies and process improvements

Career Highlights

  • Technical lead for the launch of the Caesars mobile (online) sportsbook in multiple states
  • Product lead for a new and innovative betting platform for Grand Parade and Two-Up Digital
  • Trading tools lead for a new trading platform for a major UK operator, achieving all target KPIs within 6 months of launch
  • Formerly Acting CTO and CPO of Code Factory, one of the premier technology partners to the gaming industry

Personal Emphasis

  • Pragmatism throughout the product lifecycle
  • Ensuring rapid and iterative delivery
  • Commitment to continuous improvement
  • Making details matter
Testimonials
"The Circle Squared team has always added insight and value when we have worked together. They focus on the details and make sure the job gets done quickly and to high quality."

Richard Thorp

Director of RPM Gaming
“Working with Circle Squared has been excellent. They really understood the marketplace and our challenges around the regulatory and operational environment and helped us rapidly implement a highly effective change management programme.”

Marvin Sanderson

CEO of Xpoint
“The Circle Squared team have added real value as we look to scale out our services. They have been a key part of identifying and defining our organisational priorities, as well as supporting us in the execution.”

Freddy Galliers

Director of Pythia Sports
“We asked Circle Squared to run a technical due diligence process for us and they executed a robust and efficient process up against tough deadlines. The analysis and output were very thorough and well informed, and really helped underpin decision-making activities.”

Robin Chhabra

President at Terkkorp Capital
“Circle Squared have worked with Code Factory over several years in advisory and hands-on roles across varied projects. Always delivering value to us, they have had a direct influence on our expansion in the gaming industry.”

Ionut Negrescu

CEO of Code Factory

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