Founder Of The Week: Tom Ridges

• Tom Ridges is the founder and CEO of Herdify, a company that helps brands grow by understanding how people influence each other’s decisions.
• Ridges has worked in technology and data for over 20 years, including a period at Microsoft.
• He started Herdify after becoming interested in why some recommendations spread more effectively than others, leading him to study behavioural science.
• Today, he helps businesses and charities use word-of-mouth marketing more effectively by identifying influential communities and reducing wasted marketing spend.

Tell Me About Yourself and Herdify

I’m Tom Ridges, CEO and founder of Herdify. I’ve worked in data and tech for 20 years, including some time at Microsoft.

At Herdify, we focused on helping brands grow by harnessing behavioural science, specifically the power of herd mentality (Herd-ify, get it?) or, more colloquially, word-of-mouth. This force is so powerful that Rory Sutherland described not understanding it as akin to trying to launch a moon rocket without understanding gravity.

We help brands and charities such as Transport for Wales, Perrys Motor Sales and the RSPCA reduce wasted marketing spend and achieve stronger results by targeting influential communities, rather than relying solely on traditional audience segmentation.

What Inspired You To Start Herdify, and What Problem Were You Trying To Solve?

Herdify started from a surprisingly common experience. Back in 2011, I was in Paris with my wife, trying to find somewhere good to eat. Like most people, I checked the reviews, but every restaurant had five stars. A tiny local bakery was rated the same as a global fast-food chain, which made me question how useful ratings really are when everything is rated the same.

I realised the problem wasn’t reviews; it was context. A five-star experience means different things to different people, which made me think: why do recommendations spread in some communities but not others? This curiosity eventually led me to behavioural science and Dr. Tim Drye, a specialist in how behaviour spreads through communities.

From there, we built Herdify to uncover and measure those hidden social influences, helping brands understand where genuine advocacy and momentum are actually happening in the real world. I also want to make sure as many people as possible know about this powerful influence on our behaviour.

What Has Been Your Biggest Challenge So Far, and How Did You Overcome It?

Ironically, it’s the problem we solve. In short, people buy the products that other people buy; this is why it’s so hard to topple a category leader and new entrants struggle. Add to that: we’re the first people ever to do what we’re doing, which makes adoption slow.

So, we turned to our science to help us. We’ve started with a niche audience, so we can be “famous” in a small group. To ensure we create herd behaviour in this group, we’ve also brought on advisors such as Rory Sutherland, who shares our passion for the subject of complexity theory. From here, we’ve built a solid base of case studies and fans to help us spread our mission.

Can You Describe a Pivotal Moment That Significantly Shaped the Direction of Herdify?

A pivotal moment came when we realised that building a great product alone wasn’t enough; we needed to focus just as heavily on visibility, momentum and market confidence. Early on, we spent too much time refining behind the scenes rather than actively getting in front of customers and testing demand. Once we shifted our mindset towards consistent outreach, conversations and proving traction in real-world environments, everything accelerated. That change helped us better understand our audience, sharpen our proposition and create stronger commercial opportunities. It reinforced an important lesson: startups grow through action, feedback and visibility, not perfection.

How Do You Define Success?

For your business: Beyond the obvious commercial metrics of profit and growth, I’ve always said I want to build a business that goes so well we can sell it, but built it in a way that means we don’t have to. That means creating a place where we’re all having fun and enjoying what we do, while helping to move our mission forward.

As a founder: To show you can build a business that makes money, helps the world and that people have a great time working there.

What Advice Would You Give To Someone Thinking About Launching Their Own Startup?

Read “The Mom Test” – it’s really hard to get objective feedback in the early days. People will give you positive feedback and love the idea, but it doesn’t mean there is a business there. Be brutal; ideas are the easy part, execution is hard. Make sure you pick something you truly believe has legs and something you care about to spend years doing it. Most businesses don’t explode overnight!

What’s Next for Herdify? Any Exciting Developments We Should Watch Out For?

From a founder POV, we’re going to be deliberately boring. Sometimes you need to make waves; sometimes you need to be consistent. We’ve spent a lot of time finding our message, and now we need to double down and focus. That’s not to say we don’t have some great features coming, but sometimes being a founder is knowing when things need to be a bit less “magpie” and a bit more boring.

Want to be featured as TechRound’s Founder of the Week? Find out more about this weekly feature and how to get involved here.

Founder’s 5 with Tom Ridges

We wanted to know a bit more about the man behind Herdify, so we’ve put together the exclusive Founders’ 5 with Tom Ridges.

Favourite business tool

A walk. 30 minutes of fresh air can make me more productive than any tool can.

One lesson you learned the hard way?

Not making our target audience small enough, early enough.

One future trend you’re watching?

The rise of local. With the rise of high-quality AI images and videos, I’m interested to see how our trust and relationship with online content change. I believe our real-world relationships will carry (even) more weight.

One quote you live by

The best time to plant a tree was 100 years ago. The next best time is today.

One book/podcast you recommend

“Change” by Damon Centola.

Want to be featured as TechRound’s Founder of the Week? Know someone who deserves to be recognised as a founder making waves in the startup landscape? Find out more about this weekly feature and how to get involved here.