 
  
  
  
 Welcome to the personal webshite of Jonny Burch
I’m a designer, product wonk, founder and reader of internets. Currently tinkering as Toy Studio. Until very recently I was CEO of Progression, the worlds first career pathway management platform. We got acquired in September 2024 and I remain both immensely proud of what we achieved and very pleased that it’s now in good hands.
(I’ll probably write more about my 6 year journey as a founder — aka all my fu*kups — in good time.)
Before all that I led consumer design at now foodicorn Deliveroo (LON:ROO) for a bit, powered £1.8m+ of donations for 300k+ NHS staff meals during covid, helped to build a bank for children that made ahem, headlines, published 6 issues and 15,000 copies of a sweary magazine for creative graduates that my dad disapproved of and organised a 30 day creative festival on a dime in the middle of Shoreditch. I also interviewed Goldie and watched him chainsaw a tree, which was nice.
I can mainly be found online on Bluesky or LinkedIn or adding occasional longer updates on this site (see below).
Writing, speaking, etc.
-   Browser wars— Notes on chatGPT Atlas one day in Article· Wed Oct 22 2025   
-   Writing Blog Posts with Claude Code on iOS— Meta-blogging: Using Claude Code on my iPhone to write about using Claude Code on my iPhone Article· Mon Oct 20 2025 
-   Redrawing the Map: How AI Is Splitting the Future of Product Design— Why designers may face a choice between technical mastery and creative vision Journal· Sat Sep 13 2025   
-   Designing closer to the edge— Will the process of designing in product teams finally get its upgrade? Journal· Sun May 25 2025 
-   Lean In— A reflection on the importance of engaging with AI Article· Mon May 12 2025 
-   A(I) Hack Week— Just 6 guys and we're vibin' a good time Article· Fri May 09 2025   
-   The entrepreneurial escape hatch— On entrepreneurship in the age of AI Journal· Thu Mar 06 2025 
-   A faustian pact?— On throwing ourselves into the AI abyss Article· Fri Jan 31 2025   
-   Introducing: Found Up North— Because The North needs more founder community Journal· Wed Jan 29 2025   
-   Why's my CEO being an asshole?— They're probably staring into the abyss Article· Thu Jul 11 2024 
-   Wait for it— It's amazing how fast things can happen when you've put in the time Newsletter· Mon Mar 08 2021 
-   Distraction and Flow State— Perhaps we can't blame our phones... Newsletter· Tue Feb 23 2021 
-   What did I work on last month?— And the value of building for fun Newsletter· Sun Feb 14 2021 
-   Progression update: early vs late— A quick one about the A12 Newsletter· Tue Feb 09 2021 
-   Radio on the internet— On Spotify and the future of podcasting Newsletter· Sun Jan 31 2021 
-   A birthday reminder— And the one job in my life that Facebook was actually good for Newsletter· Sun Jan 24 2021 
-   Love it or hate it?— On Marmite and first time user experiences. Newsletter· Sun Jan 17 2021 
-   Introducing the 500 word founder: Concise regular ramblings of an early stage tech CEONewsletter· Sat Jan 09 2021 
-   Two years of progressing— On the eve of a launch, a reflection Article· Wed Apr 29 2020 
-   Growing at work – the importance of progression— A conference talk at Jam London Talk· Tue Oct 29 2019   
-   Climbing your mountain— Talking about my personal journey at Jam Barcelona Talk· Mon Sep 30 2019   
-   The power of naïve optimism— When is it OK to believe that everything will be OK? Journal· Sat Sep 21 2019   
-   Am I a Junior Content Designer?— On writing becoming my highest leverage skill Journal· Sat Aug 24 2019   
-   Lost, but making good time— Switching to sales as a non sales-person Journal· Sat Aug 10 2019   
-   I have a co-founder!— It's taken a long time but is totally worth the wait Journal· Mon Jul 01 2019   
-   Holding My Breath— The Alpha begins. What the hell happened for the last six months? Journal· Sun Mar 17 2019   
-   Designing your Design Career (on Youtube)— A talk at Design Club in London Talk· Fri Jan 18 2019 
-   Startup Van Interview (on Youtube)— I was interviewed about bootstrapping and progression Interview· Fri Dec 07 2018 
-   Progression update: From pilot to alpha (on the Progression blog)— Moving from Pilot to Alpha, and why Article· Mon Dec 03 2018 
-   Week 17: An Indian Summer— It's been a wild couple of months. Still haven't launched. Journal· Sun Oct 07 2018 
-   Week 9: Revenue!— First paying customers! It's alive... Journal· Sat Aug 11 2018 
-   On Focus— I’m struggling to stick to a plan… Article· Tue Jul 24 2018   
-   Week 5: Bad Goals— Becoming comfortable with doing lots of things I don't know how do Journal· Sun Jul 08 2018 
-   Week 3-4: ProgressionJournal· Fri Jun 29 2018 
-   Week 2: Lifestyle businessJournal· Wed Jun 13 2018 
-   Week 1: Doubling down on riskJournal· Tue Jun 05 2018   
-   Building conviction– how one false assumption changed my founder journey— My first 100 days as a (kind of) startup founder Article· Sat May 26 2018 
-   ShellsuitZombie, this is the end. You’re all legends.— A letter to everyone that ever helped with our little creative graduate magazine Article· Sun Dec 17 2017 
-   Go out and empathise!— How we’re using Experience Principles to keep each other honest at Deliveroo. Article· Thu Nov 23 2017 
-   The Deliveroo Design process (on Youtube)— A talk at Ironhack in Madrid Talk· Fri Sep 29 2017 
-   Deliveroo x Framer–One Month In— An honest look at how our design team is incorporating Framer into our workflow. Article· Wed Mar 22 2017 
-   4 principles for shipping good design when everything’s on fire— Or how to make friends and influence (product) people Article· Fri Dec 09 2016 
-   We know how Hangry you were last summer— ...and we're working out how to feed you Article· Tue Aug 23 2016 
-   Observe Orient Decide Act (and repeat)— How anyone can use an O.O.D.A. loop to get to answers quicker Article· Sat Jan 03 2015   
-   Aspiring to design in a product team?— Drop your one day side project and stick with something for a year. Article· Sat Jan 03 2015   
-   Meeting Mr. Goldie— An interview with Drum n Bass legend Goldie Interview· Sat Mar 22 2014   
-   It's really Nice That— An interview with Will Hudson and Alex Bec of It’s Nice That Interview· Tue May 14 2013   
-   Not bowling with Tim Key— Tim Key is weird. Interview· Tue May 14 2013   
-   Placement Man— He does the placements so you don't have to Article· Sat Aug 06 2011   
-   Skyping Vince Frost— An interview with British ex-pat design legend Vince Frost Interview· Sat Aug 06 2011   
-   The great ape Dave Brown (Bollo)— An interview with Dave Brown, AKA The Mighty Boosh's Ape 'Bollo' Interview· Sun Jun 05 2011   
-   Pool with Creative Review— The team behind one of the most successful non-celebrity twitter accounts in the UK Interview· Wed Mar 09 2011 