Duncan sees what’s coming before it has language—and then figures out whether it’s worth building.
Over 20 years, he’s built technology across industries that punish bad architecture: healthtech, fintech, social media, and venture infrastructure. He’s a named patent holder, a serial technical co-founder, and the person founders call when they sense something significant is possible but can’t yet articulate what it is or how to get there.
His edge isn’t just technical assessment. It’s pattern recognition. Duncan notices what’s emerging at the edges—market shifts, technology inflections, structural opportunities—before they’re obvious. That futures-sensing capability, combined with deep technical credibility, means he can tell you not just whether your vision can be built, but whether it’s aimed at the right future.
His experience spans two ecosystems: the US and South Africa. That cross-continental perspective shapes how he thinks about market entry and building products that work beyond their home turf. For founders eyeing US expansion, Duncan has walked that road.
At Openfin, Duncan owns product vision, technology strategy, and branding. He’s the strategic gut-check for the portfolio—helping founders see around corners, make smart build-versus-buy decisions, and sequence their roadmaps to match both their capital and the futures they’re building toward.
What sets Duncan apart: he’s not an advisor who reviews architecture diagrams from a distance. He builds. He’s shipped products across multiple industries, scaled platforms, and worked shoulder-to-shoulder with founders in the messy 0→1 phase. That builder credibility—combined with the ability to see where things are headed—means founders listen when he challenges their assumptions.