Jenny Griffiths has made an unforgettable mark on the tech industry. As the founder and former CEO of Snap Vision, a ground-breaking AI visual search platform, she has been recognized as one of the top 50 women in tech in Europe and the world by Forbes and snagged a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) award along the way for services to digital innovation.
Her journey from entrepreneur to Oracle leader is a testament to her resilience, determination, and passion for innovation. Jenny recently caught up with Executive Leadership Recruiter, Chris Colson to share her story and explain what motivated her to join the cloud leader for global business.
Chris joined Oracle to recruit top talent and help clients thrive. He is always seeking ways to find, attract, assess, and onboard key executive talent to help drive growth.
Starting sensibly
Computer science’s blend of creativity and math had always appealed to Jenny’s love of the arts and sciences. Pursuing it as a career felt like the natural choice, so she dived into the field at the University of Bristol, where she was one of the few women in her class. “When I graduated, it was 2009 and a massive recession. I had three career options: I could go the entrepreneurship route, I had a job lined up as a project manager in a defense company, and then I had a PHD offer as well. I decided to be sensible and go the job route!” she explains. “I worked there for a few years and really loved it—it taught me a lot about leadership.” However, as great as the role was for professional development, it didn’t quite scratch her entrepreneurial itch.
Tinkering with the future
“In the back of my mind, I had my startup idea. I had written an algorithm at university and ended up winning a few awards—and I was still tinkering with it during evenings and weekends. It got to the point where I was enjoying it more than my day job.” Her passion for the project was enough to convince her to take the leap. Jenny set herself a budget, moved home, and committed to making her idea a reality.
It paid off.
“Fast forward 12 years and I was still running my company,” she shares. “As CEO and founder, I did everything from designing products and algorithms, to working really closely with the tech team (I was CTO as well as CEO). I wore that tech hat very strongly, but was also doing things like hiring, scaling a team, raising investment, sales—it was great fun.”
Snap Vision
Snap Vision (formerly Snap Tech) was a visual search engine that allowed users to find clothing based on a picture. The concept sounds simple, but the technology behind it was anything but. In fact, it didn’t exist at the time—Jenny’s breakthrough algorithm was the foundation of the platform. Despite facing funding challenges, she persevered and eventually won the British Innovation Gateway Award, which took the startup to another level.
So, what does it take to go all the way from an idea to an industry-shaking new technology?
“Definitely grit and resilience,” she shares. “It’s that kind of unshakeable belief in what you’re doing and that you’re the right person to do it, because you will be challenged on it a lot, especially if you are fundraising. Ultimately, it’s going to be something that you think about 24/7 for years, so it’s got to be something that you really genuinely love doing.”
This determination paid off as her company grew and evolved. She expanded her team, raised investment, and partnered with major brands. Eventually, the technology earned multiple awards, including the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Silver Medal.
CEO material
It’s been a startling trajectory for someone who started out as a self-confessed introvert who never saw herself as ‘CEO material’. Her evolution as a leader hasn’t come from any particular silver bullet, rather she’s learned to identify and pursue goals for the long term while inspiring people to join her journey. “Those comments are pretty early in my journey, and they are a symptom of being, frankly, a young female in that industry,” Jenny explains. “You get asked a lot about what’s it like to be a female founder? What’s it like to be a young founder? I had some people being super rude, asking when are you going to hire a real CEO?”
“What changed was seeing the impact that I had on the day-to-day lives of the people working around me. When you’re an entrepreneur, you are driven by that big, hairy, audacious goal. For me it was changing the way the world searches, but you can’t be driven by that day to day, because it’s years away. My day-to-day mission was around creating jobs that people loved. If I was coming into work, and people were happy and smiling and engaging with their roles, then I knew I was succeeding.”
Oracle beckons
After more than a decade of work, Snap Vision was acquired, and it was time for her to open a new chapter at Oracle. Jenny now leads a team focused on developing AI solutions for the Fusion platform as vice president of AI Innovation. As it turns out, her entrepreneurial experience was a perfect fit.
“The big puzzle at Oracle, which is great fun, is how to make it happen at scale,” she explains. “I joined Oracle just as generative AI hit the market. We’ve gone from working out what generative AI is and how it works, and who to partner with, to rolling out 50 solutions to customers within the year. That really rapid innovation has been absolutely amazing.”
Natural transition
Jenny already knew Oracle quite well from her startup days through the Oracle for Startups program. This would turn out to be her stepping stone to the company in more ways than one.
“I got to know people within Oracle really well. I was partnering with teams in Oracle Commerce Cloud, Oracle Content Experience, and Oracle Marketing Cloud. So, when an opportunity presented itself, I already knew my now boss and I had a lot of respect for her, so that transition felt very natural for me personally.”
“It’s like running a startup in many ways except you’ve got that framework around you to help scale and put momentum behind what you’re doing a lot faster than if you’re out there on your own.”
Leadership style
This sense of togetherness towards a common goal comes through in a leadership style centered on empowering teams and creating a culture of inclusion. She believes in giving her team members the autonomy to make decisions and take ownership of their work. All while supporting inclusion and lifting up those who may have been overlooked.
“My aim in all my work is to basically empower my team and to let them have the most fun and impact at work. I am really conscious of making sure that all the women in my team have equal opportunities to men, but also to make sure that you can be softly spoken and still be seen as a leader.”
“You don’t have to pretend to be someone else to be at work, you can be your whole self—that’s far more value to the company. Studies have proven again and again that more diverse teams are more successful. So, I love to think that my role as a leader at Oracle is to make sure that we are maintaining that diversity within our teams.”
AI for all
She believes technology too, should always keep the greater good in sight. Whenever Jenny speaks about AI, she likes to explain how it works and how it mimics the human brain through neural networks. But she always likes to remind people that it’s just code at the end of the day. “My team’s job and my job is to teach computers how to interpret a bunch of zeros and ones in a way that’s actually good for humanity,” she explains.
“We’re at this point in history, where we’re designing products and we’re designing systems and teaching computers how to interpret the world in such a way that can bring so much value to humanity, such as addressing bias and levelling the playing field, and imagining a world where AI can empower us to do the things we get the most joy out of rather than the things we have to do just as part of being human.”
Jenny believes that AI is integral at Oracle, with immense potential to unlock the value of data for customers. Her team is currently working on developing AI solutions that can be integrated into various Oracle products, including HCM, SCM, ERP, and CX.
“We probably have some of the biggest collections of data in the world. If we can use AI to unlock the power of that data and give it back to our customers… I think that’s Oracle’s real superpower. I think we’re one of the only companies in the world that has this opportunity.”
Banging the drum for women in tech
As a successful woman in tech herself, Jenny recommends not letting statistics get in the way of taking a chance. It’s a lesson that’s had a positive outcome for her in several ways, especially when she went to see The Killers armed with a sign that said ‘Drummer’.
“They’re my favorite band and once in a while they’ll get a guest drummer onstage. And they say all you need to do is hold up a sign, which I never quite believed… I practice at home, I’m a drummer anyway. I held up the sign. I got near to the front, and I saw the lead singer, Brandon Flowers, see it and smile. I was like, oh, he likes my sign. Then a few songs later the music dies down and I recognized the drumbeat, and thought ‘oh no, what’s happening?’”
“My stomach drops and then he points at me and goes ‘miss, are you ready to drum with us?’ I was literally dragged over a barrier, met my heroes, and started drumming. I think I survived…”
Creating opportunities
Right place, right time, right attitude. It sums up her approach in business and she encourages others to take risks to be their best selves. Inclusion is key, she believes, and leaders should strive to create a level playing field.
“Even in my hobbies, such as drumming, there’s a gender balance problem. I try not to let the stats get in my way, and not worry too much about it. I think we’re at a rare point in history where you can be a trailblazer for future generations. You can be one of the women that’s helped shatter the glass ceiling for your daughters and nieces and your friends and all the women behind you.”
“I think that in 50 years’ time this won’t even be a conversation, and I can be the person that helps that happen. Keeping hold of that is powerful.”
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