Eleanor Ford - Innovation Director, Time Out

Eleanor is a networks person with a passion for new ventures. She believes that people are at the heart of everything, and spends much of her time connecting people and ideas and building the right team around the right projects. She is an anthropologist by training and an entrepreneur by default, and was a documentary maker somewhere in between. She translates and communicates ideas between sectors and worlds, and likes to bring profile and ambition to things she believes in.

As an entrepreneur, Eleanor founded LikeCube in 2006 with an exceptional team. Based on her frustration at the lack of sources for personalised recommendations for travellers, Eleanor won support and initial finance from NESTA, as part of the ‘Creative Pioneer Programme’ and went on to build a recommendation system which was described by users as “10 out of 10”, “spooky” and “bang on the money”. LikeCube was successfully acquired by Time Out in July 2011, and Eleanor is now Innovation Director at Time Out, looking at network creation, digital profile and innovation strategy. She is now 100% committed to make a brilliant global brand go even further.

Previously, Eleanor has made films in Colombia and Pakistan, established a university course in Human Rights and Film, and has lived in Spain, Italy and Indonesia.