James 'the carrot' Crawley

James considers the glitter ball one of the crowning achievements of mankind. He loves a festival, anything sparkly and generally likes to show off.

He has been a business advisor for more than 15 years working mainly in the Social Enterprise and Criminal Justice sectors. He is constantly looking for ways to solve problems and has been called 'dangerously enthusiastic' before.

He met Neil while working at Man Met University and their love grew out of their shared sense of humour (dark) and the joy of watching people have lightbulb moments in their sessions.

After 4 years of working together James plucked up the courage to propose a more permanent union and KiN was born in December 2021.

 James is the perpetual carrot in this double act, giving the strokes, kind words and general cheerleading that we all need from time to time. 

Neil 'the stick' Simpson

Following a 15 year career in professional dance, film and unprofessional comedy, Neil retired from performing in 2001 and has since spent nearly two decades bringing sensational innovation to businesses helping them to grow by turning their ideas into money.

Based in Manchester, Neil specialises in ideation, digital marketing and innovation, assisting entrepreneurs to profit from their intellectual property, brand value and existing in-house genius.  He has worked with hundreds of clients of all sizes including British Telecom, and guest lectures at most universities across the North of England. Neil was CEO of Storey Creative Industries Centre in Lancaster and has helped a range of businesses flourish both in the UK and internationally.

He has won a national film-making award and, is a published author and public speaker about branding, social media and how to build successful businesses from the inside out.  

Neil has a knack for helping people to keep their main thing as THE main thing for their business (which sounds a little nicer than being the 'stick').