Interview with Tom Allen, CEO of The AI Journal
I’ve been following Tom Allen’s work for the past three years, and I have to say—I’m seriously impressed. From starting The AI Journal as a passion project to turning it into a global platform with hundreds of contributors and thousands of engaged readers, his journey is nothing short of inspiring.
The goal of this interview is simple: to learn from Tom’s experiences and share valuable insights with aspiring entrepreneurs. Whether you’re just starting or looking for motivation to take your project to the next level, there’s a lot to gain from his story.
Position: Engineering, Senior Leader
Industry: AI, Emerging Technology, Media
Location: London, United Kingdom
LinkedIn: https://www.instagram.com/thallen/
Websites: aijourn.com
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your background? What did you study, and how has that influenced your career?
Tom Allen:
“I’ve always been fascinated by marketing and buying behaviours. What makes people buy a certain product or service and what part of a story captures them to make that decision. I studied Business Management and Marketing at Nottingham Trent University. After that worked a few different places between London and Nottingham. I took a lot of those skills, interactions, and ways of thinking to my career which ultimately led to me starting The AI Journal.”
💡 Pro Tip: Follow your natural curiosity — it often leads to meaningful career paths!
Q: You have experience in marketing and engineering—how did that combination shape your understanding of AI and technology?
Tom Allen:
“Well, I had a marketing role for an engineering company. I definitely don’t have the skills, precision, understanding of a hardware or software focussed engineer. But marketing those products and understanding them gave me a way to look at the automation systems and solutions that existed, how they were built, how they were integrated, and what kind of success it brought for the customer and the business. That’s where I started looking at more of the hardware side like automation and the way it built in with machine vision. That ultimately led me to AI. And from there it was a perfect match and curiosity I had.”
🤖 Tech Tip: Sometimes, you don’t need to be a technical expert to dive into tech — curiosity and understanding how things fit together can open new doors.
Q: What sparked the idea for The AI Journal? Was there a specific moment that made you think, “I have to do this”?
Tom Allen:
“Not really. It was more of an annoyance that not many places existed talking about these topics. And I wanted to find out how they worked from the people who were designing these systems. It was low cost to start, I think initially about £20 for the website, CMS, and basic website — which I knew little to nothing about and had to try and learn quickly. Plus, I didn’t have a network, grew a lot of it with help from people such as Kieran Gilmurray. And the more conversations I had, the more I realised it would be a good platform to grow.”
💡 Pro Tip: Start small, start curious — sometimes the best ideas are born from solving your frustrations!
🌱 Lesson: You don’t need a perfect plan or a big network to start — just the drive to learn and connect with others.
Q: What motivates you to educate people about AI and emerging tech? Where do you see The AI Journal in the next few years?
Tom Allen:
“I’m not sure where The AI Journal will be, maybe we will have sold it in 3-5 years. We’re in the planning process of building out several complimentary websites with a similar style and playbook so will see where they go. But I never meant to create a media business or platform. Did it because I was curious, interested, and wanted the platform to help people. And that’s still the reason we exist today.”
🎯 Insight: Passion and curiosity are powerful motivators — when you start for the right reasons, the impact naturally follows.
Q: Every journey has its obstacles—what were some of the toughest moments you faced while building The AI Journal?
Tom Allen:
“2023 for sure. Revenue dropped significantly. We made poor business decisions. And ultimately that has cost us a lot in terms of recovering from. We’ve still got a fair bit ahead of us but as we’ve fully leaned into being a media brand, things are improving again. The toughest thing is still being committed to a business even when the running gets tough, people tell you it’s not valuable, people say it’s not worth much, that it’s not special, all these things I’ve heard. But I really don’t care. It’s something I love and am passionate about so I’m sure we will see brighter days and learn a lot from those tough lessons. Everything from knowing who is truly by your side, how to handle money better, and what planning needs to be in place to stop those problems happening again.”
💥 Real Talk: Every entrepreneur faces hard times — resilience and passion are what keep you going.
Q: The AI Journal has an amazing network of experts from around the world. How did you manage to build such a strong community?
Tom Allen:
“Word of mouth and organic connections. A lot of hard work getting to know people who were key people in the industry. And taking an approach of just being kind, open, and curious with people I met. I’m glad people are still looking at doing things with us as I’m sure we looked questionable when going through our rough patch of 2023 / 2024.”
🌐 Community Insight: Strong networks are built on kindness, curiosity, and genuine connections — not shortcuts.
Q: What advice would you give to entrepreneurs trying to grow their audience and reach more people online?
Tom Allen:
“Do something you have a genuine passion for. It shows in everything you do, from the conversations, the questions you ask, a more raw approach of just being curious because you have a love for it. Actually engage in conversations, post things that you would love to know the answer to. Use data to refine and understand how the platform works to reach the people you want. And also ask people more. It’s amazing how many people don’t want to go talk to someone even though it’s an area they want to get involved in.”
📊 Growth Hack: Combine curiosity with data — experiment, measure, and refine to reach the right audience.
Q: You seem to love taking risks and stepping outside your comfort zone. Can you share a time when that mindset led to a big opportunity?
Tom Allen:
“Quite a lot actually from personal to business. Personally travelled by myself in places such as South America and South East Asia at a relatively young age, early-mid 20’s. Don’t think it was a moment of stepping outside of my comfort zone as I love taking risks, that is almost my comfort zone. Get me up and going for the day. And the amount of huge opportunities I’ve had because of the business is insane. If you risk nothing, you risk everything as Rob Moore would say. Or you miss 100% of shots you didn’t take as Wayne Gretzky says.”
🎯 Inspiration: Taking shots — even when unsure — leads to the biggest wins.
Q: If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Tom Allen:
“Be smarter with the money. Think longer term. Stop buying things you don’t want or need to impress people you don’t like or don’t like you. Do things simply because you enjoy them and would probably be happier, more driven, and ambitious a lot earlier in life.”
💰 Money Tip: Think long-term — financial discipline early on can unlock future freedom.
❤️ Happiness Hack: Do what you love — that’s where true motivation and drive come from.
Q: What exciting projects or initiatives are you currently working on? The tech world moves fast—how do you stay ahead and keep learning?
Tom Allen:
“Working on a few ideas for new businesses I want to see how they would get up and running. What it would take to start and get involved in. Always looking for a trend of how people are communicating and engaging in the modern day. Constantly reading newsletters, listening to various podcasts, having conversations with people, and getting involved in things that scare me. Realise they’re not as bad once you’re in them.”
🌟 Entrepreneurship Insight: Stay curious — always seek new opportunities and trends to explore.
📚 Learning Strategy: Continuous learning is key — from podcasts to conversations, don’t stop growing.
💪 Courage Tip: Embrace the discomfort — challenges often become the greatest learning moments.
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