David Sloly
What I Do
I help organisations unlock sustainable growth by aligning strategic clarity, a compelling narrative, and intelligent technology, working at the intersection of creative technology, behaviour, and systems thinking.
Building B2B Growth with HarveyDavid
Through my B2B growth agency, HarveyDavid, we design, implement and maintain the technologies and content that support sustained commercial impact. The work is grounded in a simple belief: real growth doesn’t come from doing more, but from doing better, through clearer focus on what already works, stronger human connection with the audiences that matter most, and thoughtful use of AI to scale what is already effective, bringing humanity and technology together. Alongside delivery work, I develop practical AI playbooks and implementation guides for B2B leaders, focused on applying AI responsibly to real commercial workflows.
Speaking, Writing and Thought Leadership
Alongside HarveyDavid, I write, speak, and appear as a podcast guest on storytelling, innovation, and intelligent technology. Much of my work explores how emerging tools are reshaping communication, decision-making, and creativity, and how to use them with judgement and humanity, with respect for creative labour and human agency. I also write regularly about applied AI in day-to-day work, creativity and productivity, sharing practical reflections on how these tools are reshaping professional practice.
I’ve delivered talks and keynotes for organisations and platforms including TEDx, SXSW Austin, Texas, the MIX conference, Natural History Consortium, Google, Microsoft, and The Prince’s Trust UK. Most recently, I’ve been presenting my talk, Truth, Lies and AI Hype, to senior leadership teams who want a clear, practical understanding of the real-world impact of artificial intelligence on strategy, performance, and decision-making.
I also appear on podcasts, including Strive & Thrive, a business and leadership podcast for founders and SME leaders exploring practical strategy, mindset and growth in a changing world. I also publish The AI Marketing Newsletter on LinkedIn, a weekly newsletter that shares curated news and insights on marketing AI innovation for marketing leaders and teams. Alongside my creative practice, I have contributed to cultural and policy discussions on AI, including a recent collaboration with King’s College London exploring creativity, labour and copyright. Upcoming: On 25 February at Artist Residence Bristol, I’ll be leading and co-chairing a round-table discussion on the ethical use of AI in e-commerce with senior founders and leaders.
​Research & Futures Scanning
Alongside this public-facing work, I also co-author HScan11, a futures-scanning project exploring early signals in emerging AI, biological computing and agency across human and non-human systems. You can read HScan11 here.
Creative Practice with AI
I’ve deepened my engagement with artificial intelligence through study at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. Bringing that learning together with my background in broadcast comedy, I wrote and created Made in AI, the world’s first AI co-created podcast sitcom, now being developed as an animated series, written and animated by a human creative team. The project follows an AI robot family abandoned by their manufacturer and left to navigate the real world.
Storytelling, Communication and Behaviour
My career has been deliberately non-linear. After a period of travelling, where I became deeply interested in people’s stories and how they shape behaviour, I began my professional journey with a BBC bursary and moved into radio and television production. I worked on projects for Radio Caroline, MTV, BBC Radio 1 and the Pepsi Network Chart Show before joining the launch team at Heart FM in London. I later helped revitalise the Kiss FM brand as producer of Steve Jackson’s Morning Glory. During that time, our team earned a Sony Gold Award and a MOBO, and the show was named by The Guardian as one of the UK’s most influential radio programmes. This period cemented my interest in storytelling, audiences and how ideas move people at scale.
After studying at D&AD, I became a Creative Director at a global marketing agency. Wanting a deeper understanding of how people think, decide and change, I later studied behavioural economics and went on to found a behavioural change company. This led to the design and delivery of transformation programmes for international organisations operating in West Africa.
Music, Machines and Systems Thinking
Alongside my work in strategy and behaviour, I’ve maintained a long-standing relationship with electronic music, as a DJ and as someone drawn to understanding how systems function beneath the surface. From an early age, I learned by dismantling and rebuilding radios, watches and electronic equipment, developing an instinct for structure, pattern and cause and effect. That early way of engaging with machines continues to inform how I think about complexity and shapes my creative and professional work today.
I was involved in prototyping some of the earliest digital DJ and broadcast systems in the UK and Ibiza, performed at venues such as Pacha, Space and Café Mambo, taught at Point Blank Music School in London, contributed to a radio training mission for producers working within OSCE programmes, and DJed at youth initiatives supported by NATO in conflict-affected regions. I also studied at STEIM in Amsterdam, an independent centre for research and development of instruments and tools for performers in the electronic performance arts.
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Lux Nova - making the invisible audible
Music has remained an important parallel thread in my creative life. More recently, I’ve returned to music through Lux Nova, a collaborative project with my wife that reveals hidden musical patterns embedded within large datasets from NASA and the European Space Agency. Notes from Your Universe, the first soundscape from the project, draws on data from major astronomical events and missions, including giant solar storms, the Voyager 1 mission, and spikes in high-energy electrons and protons, shaping latent musical material into immersive compositions that allow vast systems to be experienced as sound rather than information. Upcoming: We’ll be presenting Lux Nova at The Studio, Bath Spa University, at the end of March.
Writing, Boards and Community
I sit on the board of Strange Thoughts and Arcade Strange, a tech-led creative activations agency, where I contribute to its mission to use technology for joy. In 2025, I joined the Caples Awards jury, judging AI-driven creative work from around the world. Across all of this work, the consistent thread has been helping people turn ideas into action through storytelling, creativity and technology.
My writing includes Zoom! The Faster Way to Make Your Business Idea Happen, featured in The Independent’s Top Ten Business Books, as well as Mash Up! How to Use Your Multiple Skills to Give You an Edge, Make Money, and Be Happier, co-authored with Ian Sanders, and Why You Need a Business Story and How to Create It. Earlier in my career, I wrote several widely used DJ guides, including Basic DJ Techniques.
I live in Bristol with my family and continue to draw inspiration from the city’s creative energy and independent spirit. I also volunteer with the Bristol Speakers Club, sharing my experience in speaking, communication and storytelling.


