Some might say the future’s not what it used to be

But Rob Buckland explains the graceful growing of Peter Gradwell

Hello Rainmakers,

We’re going to launch our Rainmaker awards in the South West.

It’s another example of the serious intent we have to really serve all parts of the UK with coverage, comment, community events and insights.

But first, a profile piece from our South West editor Rob Buckland on Peter Gradwell, the Bath-based entrepreneur.

Peter Gradwell

As I said in the headline. Some might say the future’s not what it used to be . . . but this is why they’d be wrong.

Nostalgia for the Nineties is all the rage, we hear at Rainmakers. A certain band has reformed and are now touring, triggering memories of simpler times when we used phones to actually phone people and we were thrilled by the seemingly endless possibilities of the World Wide Web.

Bright young people started forming businesses to exploit the capabilities of the internet, among them a quietly spoken software engineering student at Aberystwyth University. Moving to the University of Bath to study for a PhD in Computer Science, Peter Gradwell started promoting his fledgling business in what was then the almost unknown area of VoIP (voice over internet protocol).