scotland

(4)
Legend
Ross McNairn
Founder · Executive · Operator

Ross McNairn

Ross McNairn is the Edinburgh-based co-founder and CEO of Wordsmith AI, a legal AI platform for in-house legal teams. A lawyer-turned-operator, he sold his first startup to Skyscanner, then spent five years as CPO/CPTO at TravelPerk scaling it from $1m to roughly $170m ARR. In 2023 he co-founded Wordsmith with Volodymyr Giginiak and Robbie Falkenthal; by mid-2026 the company had raised $100m total, including a $70m Series B led by Highland Europe and Index Ventures, and counts BT, Canva, Financial Times, Sage, Starling and Trip.com among 500+ customers.

wordsmith · legal aiRead →
Legend
RW
Executive · Operator · Advisor

Ross Wilkie

Ross Wilkie is VP of Global Communications & Public Affairs at Google, based in San Francisco. A biologist-turned-communications-strategist, he spent over 15 years rising through GlaxoSmithKline before serving as Chief Communications Officer at Danaher Corporation. In February 2024, he joined Google to oversee global communications and public affairs for one of the world's most scrutinized technology companies.

communications · public affairsRead →
Legend
Finbarr Taylor
Founder · Investor · Engineer

Finbarr Taylor

Finbarr Taylor is a Scottish-born software engineer turned startup founder and investor, best known for co-founding Shogun, an e-commerce page builder platform that raised $115M and reached a $507.5M valuation. After nearly 11 years building Shogun - including roughly 8 as CEO - he transitioned to a board role in early 2026 and rejoined Y Combinator as a Visiting Partner. A prolific angel investor with 60+ portfolio companies including Deel and Fathom Video, Taylor is now a vocal advocate for lean, AI-enabled teams and the rise of what he calls 'nanocorns' - small but highly efficient companies capable of billion-dollar outcomes.

y-combinator · shogunRead →
Legend
Mike Boyd
Creator · Entertainer · Engineer

Mike Boyd

Mike Boyd is a Scottish YouTube creator behind the channel 'Learn Quick', where he documents learning new skills - from kickflips to lockpicking - in remarkably compressed timeframes. With 2.7+ million subscribers and a philosophy of learning in public, he turned a bored thesis-writer's side project into a sustainable media business, all while making the messy, fumbling process of skill acquisition oddly compelling to watch.

youtube · skill-learningRead →