To fully explain Monty’s role as a chief innovation mascot we need to first start with some other introductions.
Let’s start with @Parsa_Ghaffari , entrepreneur extraordinaire, previous CEO of Aylien (now part of Quantexa and known as News Intelligence), initial creator of Q Assist and Head of Product Innovation. Product Innovation is a small team with big ambitions: we are here as instigators and facilitators to innovation, we drive innovation with the freedom to experiment and prototype different ideas, BUT we are not and should not be the only ones who innovate! Innovation is not something restricted to one team, everyone can and should be innovating in their roles.
The next introduction is @Cat_Mackay, newer to Quantexa but not to the world of innovation. She won Innovator of the Year for the Women in Tech Excellence Awards in 2022, worked to build the world’s first ever Digital Twins for Hydrogen energy distribution, since joining she has created a structure around Q’s innovation lifecycle, processes, run various ideation workshops and supported the first ever Innovation Roadmap.
Last up we have me, Monty, arguably the most important role in the team as the ongoing moral support. I may be just a dog, but as you can see, I work hard with my fellow innovators to create a great atmosphere to work.
Meet Monty…
As a rescue puppy I have a dark and mysterious background, but I have forged through my torturous past to now support the best product innovation team ever. I start my day like most people, unhappy to be woken up. Its okay though as when I finally decide to get out of bed I get a treat for my troubles. It is a special treat to help my allergies as although I am hypoallergenic to humans, I am allergic to most things. In the day I mostly rely on my good looks to support the team, which is why I spend most of my day napping. If I am at home I do make it a point to bark at the door whenever the innovation team is on a call just to make sure they know I am being helpful.
Describe a typical day in your role as Chief Innovation Mascot
So even though my official job is Chief Innovation Mascot, really, I am the Chief Sniff Officer! Each day, I spend my time digging through new ideas and then evaluating them against super important criteria. This validation step allows me to understand the benefits from this idea: will it give me the most treats or save me the most time in my day so I can nap? I hunt through the ideas trying to work out which smells the best so it will make our products the most tail-waggingly good.
I also get to help prototype some of the new ideas, which is like building my own squeaky toy from scratch! Once I’ve sniffed and chewed on it a bit, we like to check it with other friends like our customers, Product, Marketing, R&D, essentially to see if it gets the “paws-up”. And if it’s a really special idea, we then work to get it into the product roadmap, so all my friends can also play with the new toy. I call it the Innovation lifecycle.
What do you enjoy most in your role?
My favourite thing to do is drift off for a puppy nap whilst Cat & Parsa talk about Digital Twins or LLMs. In my world, LLMs definitely stand for Lively Lead Moments. You know, those little bursts of freedom and excitement when the lead comes out, and I just know we’re about to explore the big, wide world! I also love chasing squirrels even if I don’t catch them, Cat calls it failing-fast and apparently it’s a good thing in innovation. I also love sniffing out new places and discovering new Product possibilities (that's a fancy term my human uses for “new toy ideas”).
What are your main goals as a Chief Innovation Mascot?
My main goal as a Chief Innovation Mascot is supporting the rest of the product innovation team with my devilish good looks, I use my charm and handsome face as the perfect sounding board to chuck ideas against. I pretend the ideas are food and only go to eat the tastiest idea.
What are your most memorable moments in your Quantexa journey?
It has to be winning Quantexan of the Match at this year's Summer Rounders game! I was so helpful running after balls, and I know I got loads of points for the opposite team for time wasting, they were always cheering me on which is what the game is all about!
What are you excited about in your role at the moment?
Oh, I’m super excited about all the work the team are doing with digital twins—it’s like having a virtual buddy to practice fetch with before hitting the real park! With digital twins, we can create a virtual copy of a product, process or system and test all kinds of ideas before they happen in real life, like trying out a new squeaky toy to see if it’ll hold up to my most intense chew sessions. On top of this, there is the simulations aspect—these are like imagining, “What if I barked at the squirrel instead of chasing it, would it come to say hello?” with this, we can try out different scenarios to see which one leads to the best results.
What advice do you have for someone just starting out with Quantexa?
Take it from someone who does a lot of important work – don’t hesitate to eat the biscuits in the kitchen, people always try and stop me from eating them for some reason, but you should enjoy them.
What is your favourite area of the Quantexa Community?
My favourite area is the Ideas Portal – I just love that I can sniff out new ideas and even get treats for them!
