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Steve Rackley

Steve Rackley

Co-Founder, James Chase | Silicon Brighton & EVOLVE | Building ventures

Brighton, England, United KingdomInformation Technology & Services
Company
James Chase
Title
Co-Founder & Director
Seniority
Founder
Department
C Suite
Location
Brighton, England, United Kingdom
Industry
Information Technology & Services

About

I build and scale ventures at the intersection of technology, talent, and real-world impact. I lead James Chase, a consultancy and talent partner focused on helping businesses solve complex technical challenges, from product innovation and platform scaling to building the teams needed to deliver it. Our work is hands-on and outcome-driven. We partner with startups, scale-ups, and enterprises to move quickly, solve difficult problems, and execute with commercial clarity. Alongside this, I’m a co-founder of Silicon Brighton and EVOLVE, bringing together founders, operators, and investors to connect ideas, talent, and opportunity across the South Coast. Across everything I do, the focus is simple: build things that work, connect the right people, and create momentum where it matters.

Experience

Co-Founder & Director

James Chase · Brighton

Present

I co-founded James Chase to help businesses solve complex technical and growth challenges. We operate as a consultancy and talent partner across product development, platform scaling, and team growth, blending hands-on delivery with strategic hiring. Our work typically sits at the point where businesses need to move faster, scale smarter, or unlock something technically challenging, whether that’s building new products, enhancing platforms, or embedding high-performing teams. We work across startups, scale-ups, and enterprise, with a commercial-first approach to delivery.

Co-Founder

Silicon Brighton · Greater Brighton and Hove Area

Present

Co-founder of Silicon Brighton, a community-driven organisation supporting the growth of the local tech ecosystem. We connect founders, technologists, and businesses through events, meetups, and partnerships, helping drive skills, collaboration, and opportunity across the region.

Co-Founder

EVOLVE: Shaping Tomorrow · Brighton

Present

Co-founder of EVOLVE, a UK tech conference bringing together founders, investors, engineers, and leaders to explore the ideas shaping our digital future. Launched at Brighton Dome with 1,200 attendees and now scaling to 4,500 at the Brighton Centre for EVOLVE [26], building one of the South Coast’s most ambitious technology gatherings.

Commercial Director

VIDEAR Ltd · Brighton

Present

As Commercial Director at VIDEAR, I lead the commercial strategy behind CPAS, focusing on building the partnerships, funding pathways, and institutional support required to scale from validated prototype to national infrastructure.

Co-Founder

Diverse Sussex · Brighton

Present

Co-founder of Diverse Sussex, an initiative focused on improving diversity, equity, and inclusion across the region’s tech sector. We bring organisations together to share data, insight, and best practice, helping drive measurable change and greater transparency across the ecosystem.

Co-Founder

Our Brighton · Brighton and Hove, England, United Kingdom

The way Brighton works changed due to the pandemic, and businesses needed to change too. Those who wanted to create an online store, adapt processes for remote working, make improvements to an existing website, increase their digital marketing presence, or better understand new website traffic were able to turn to Our Brighton for support. Whatever the challenge – local volunteers from our community could help.

Senior Consultant

RDF Digital · Brighton

Focused on software services sales, consulting, and specialist recruitment across development and engineering teams.

Consultant

Hays Information Technology · Brighton

Delivered permanent and contract recruitment solutions across infrastructure and development, from ad-hoc hires to large-scale campaigns.

Junior Consultant/Resourcer

Aristotle Corporation (formally Eurolink) · Brighton

Started in delivery, progressing into consultancy supporting Sussex-based clients with technical hiring across development.

Education

University of Brighton

BA (Hon's), Accountancy and Finance

King Edward VI Five Ways Grammar

A-Levels - Maths, Economics and History

Aylesbury Grammar School

GCSE's x 11

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