Ex-BBH Growth Chief Sets Up Incubator MADMADE in Response to 'Manmade Madness' of the Corporate World

Tim Harvey left his global role at BBH at the end of May after nine years working across the network and is now focusing on building products, services, and ultimately brands, that give back to customers as well as colleagues and investors/shareholders. His new (ad)venture, MADMADE (Make A Dollar Make A Difference Enterprises) strives for a better way ‘Where Big Ideals meet Big Ideas’ following a mad 18 months across the world.

Harvey states: “What’s mad is that at a time when the world should have been more united than ever, the wealth gap increased, with US billionaires getting $1.2 trillion richer (according to Forbes) during the worst global pandemic in modern history.”

The company’s aim is to create products and services that provide quality and equality for customers, colleagues and shareholders, in some instances this could be through financial reward for customers, and in other instances through projects purely focussed on creating employment for those out of work.

“After 15 years working with some of the world’s biggest brands, I haven’t got bored of big ideas but I do increasingly feel like there is a gap for big ideals too. At MADMADE we believe that you can build products and services that make money AND make an impact for investors, colleagues and customers alike. Too often there is no equality in wealth distribution, with investors and shareholders reaping the rewards. I’d like to think there is an opportunity to re-balance the scales.”

The name MADMADE also signifies a process in terms of how the company will operate, challenging many manmade industries with broken models. 

“The pandemic taught us all a great deal about mental health, and the importance of not only our personal lives but the weight of our professional ones too. My intention is not only to create products and services that challenge what I believe to be broken businesses and industries, but also broken working models.”

Creating flexible working patterns, co-founder equity options beyond the C-Suite, and working with historically neglected communities to build teams across the portfolio of products and services, MADMADE is aiming to tackle the madness of manmade industries who often put profit ahead of people.

The business will avoid traditional capital raises in the coming months and instead opt for a sustainable path to growth. “Too many companies have crazy high valuations without meaningful impact. I’m more concerned with building a company with strong values than a strong valuation, the rest will follow," said Harvey. "As 'Adventure Capitalists', we have already given a sneak peak of where the MADMADE ‘adventures’ will start, from products aimed at simplifying subscriptions to helping tackle the homeless epidemic in Hollywood. The plan is to prototype first, before outlining broader plans for investment, and with respective co-founders to be announced in the coming months. And, while the company is going on its own ‘adventures’, it’s also open to working with like-minded brands and founders through consultancy and partnerships too."