Tristan Findlay

The World’s Best Products & Why They Succeed | Chief Growth Officer @System1 | Innovation Effectiveness

Greater Oxford Area

About

I am passionate about innovation, passionate about insight and passionate about my clients growing through technology lead research that is grounded in expertise, behavioural science & emotion. I thrive on creating, growing, and leading teams who are driven, who challenge, who look out for each other, who laugh, who are successful and who have the client at the heart of everything they do. I also love a bit of innovation thought leadership, which hopefully I bring to LinkedIn every now and again?

Experience

  • System1 (London Area, United Kingdom)
    • Chief Growth Officer
      Feb 2026 - Present · 5 mos

      Chief Growth Officer for System1's innovation business. Responsible for our proposition, partnerships, thought leadership, and global growth

    • Managing Director of Innovation
      Jan 2025 - Feb 2026 · 1 yr 2 mos

      System1 has revolutionised how brands measure and predict the success of advertising and innovation through the power of behavioural science & emotion. As Managing Director of Innovation, I lead the innovation arm of the business. Together with our dedicated Innovation Squad (iSquad), we're redefining what an innovation partner can be: - Expanding and evolving our innovation offer - Partnering with forward-thinking organisations - Delivering relevant, compelling thought leadership - Becoming trusted advisors on all things innovation Our mission is simple: to make innovation testing smarter, faster, more human, more predictive, and more impactful (while having a bit of fun along the way).

  • Toluna (Full-time · 2 yrs 7 mos)
    • Group Commercial Director
      Jul 2024 - Jan 2025 · 7 mos

      The Toluna Group delivers on-demand access to unparalleled expertise through our platform and people, providing insights that help grow brands and businesses. I lead a team of awesome insight partners who span the Alcohol, CPG, Gaming, Media & Technology sectors. We pride ourselves on the unique combination of harmonisation and flexibility that we can bring given the innovative portfolio at our disposal, our flexible tech stack (Toluna Start), access to 79 million 1st party panellists and one central account team. In addition, I am European commercial lead for AI and Global head of company values.

    • UK Sales Director - Media Entertainment Sport & Tech
      Jul 2022 - Jul 2024 · 2 yrs 1 mo

      Toluna combines innovative technology, award-winning research design, vertical expertise and a panel of over 73+ million consumers. I am responsible for revenue and growth across the technology & entertainment division in the UK. Leading a high performing sales team and ensuring Toluna remain a trusted partner across the Technology, Media, Sport & Entertainment sectors.

  • MMR Research Worldwide (3 yrs 1 mo)
    • Chief Growth Officer & Member Of The Board
      Nov 2020 - Jul 2022 · 1 yr 9 mos

      MMR is the only research company who can work with organisations at every stage of their innovation process. From white space understanding, co-creation, product formulation, concept optimisation, concept validation, branding, product validation and launch execution. We don't believe in a one size fits all model, with expertise around both qualitative and quantitative methodologies in order to drive correct decisions for our clients at the appropriate stage of development.

    • Chief Growth Officer
      Jul 2019 - Nov 2020 · 1 yr 5 mos

  • ZappiStore (1 yr 6 mos)
    • Vice President Head of Innovation Practice
      May 2018 - Jul 2019 · 1 yr 3 mos

      Revolutionising the market research world by providing an agile and robust product testing platform that enables clients to test more (explore), test smarter (save $ and time) and most importantly launch better products (make $$).

    • Vice President Strategic Partnerships
      Feb 2018 - May 2018 · 4 mos

  • Nielsen (11 yrs 6 mos)
    • Innovation Business Partner – Director. Nielsen Innovation Practice
      Jun 2015 - Feb 2018 · 2 yrs 9 mos

      Helping clients solve innovation challenges - whether it be white-space identification, concept optimization, exploring groundbreaking pack designs, product improvement or challenges related to activation (forecasting, pricing and portfolio management). Currently leading a multi million dollar global account within one of the worlds largest FMCG companies.

    • Director - Nielsen Innovation Practice
      May 2014 - May 2015 · 1 yr 1 mo

      Global Innovation Leader for a category within one of the biggest Innovation Practice clients: Lead a team of 8 with revenue ~$3 million. Responsible for continuing to deliver the exceptional service that my clients continue to expect from my team whilst also driving the evolution necessary within the research world to ensure findings remain actionable and ultimately drive innovation success.

    • Account Manager - Nielsen Innovation Practice
      Sep 2011 - Apr 2014 · 2 yrs 8 mos

      Drive successful innovation across multiple FMCG clients by providing accurate sales forecasts and diagnostic consulting through various tools. Manage a multi million dollar global account and a successful team who are seen to be the best in class. Grow the BASES business by successfully demonstrating to new clients how a partnership with BASES can improve the innovation success of any company. An expert across the tobacco and household care categories, with vast experience in many others.