About Us

We’ll be brief...


Alan Paterson

Working in the Oil industry, I experienced at first hand the value that a loyal and committed distribution network can bring to a business. Trading conditions were tough. Continuity of supply was a problem, and service levels were under threat. From the outside we may have looked big and powerful, while the distributors looked small and dependent. However, from the inside it was clear that we were the problem and they were the solution. Who was powerful, and who was dependent now?

It was from this experience – of partnering with Distributors, and making sure that we all had a stake in one another’s success – that my passion and interest in Marketing Channels was born.

So, after 12 years in the petrochemical industry and 2 years in the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration industry, I formed the idea of ChannelCrowd. An opportunity arose to build ChannelCrowd. Two websites, called Springwise and Trendwatching.com, provided the inspirational platform to turn the idea of ChannelCrowd into a reality.



Gerry Moult

I was 20 years with British Airways, and have been an independent consultant for another 20 years. All this time I have been involved in developing people, and developing the management and communications systems which surround them. It is not easy to sum up the diversity of this experience, and the lessons gained. But there are three threads which lead directly to ChannelCrowd. Firstly, you can design systems to limit people’s freedom and choice, and you can design systems that share power and discretion. Secondly, that developments in technology have enormously increased the power of organizations to control or to empower people – not just employees, but their business partners and customers too. Thirdly, trust the collective wisdom of the people doing a job, they are the real experts .

This may sound a bit abstract, but it explains why I jumped at the chance to work with Alan to realize his dream of creating this online community.

So, here it is.

We have had some priceless help along the way, from more people and businesses than we can list here. We owe them all enormous thanks. And we believe that the best way we can repay them is to make ChannelCrowd a success, and to make sure that from now on it is driven by the energy and aspirations of its members.



Over to you.