News / AI
Tech entrepreneur’s second act after pandemic-hit restaurant app
After the pandemic ended his food and drink discovery app, Wriggle, Bristol-based tech founder Rob Hall had to step back into employment to stay afloat.
But in doing so, he spotted a problem in the world of AI and cyber security.
Bristol’s growing prominence in AI added further momentum to his thinking. Now his new venture, Tempo Audits, is scaling faster than he expected.
For eight years, Hall was a familiar face in Bristol’s tech scene.
Rob Hall was the founder of the popular restaurant and event app Wriggle – photo: Wriggle
As the founder of Wriggle, the app that helped thousands of Bristolians discover independent restaurants and snap up last-minute dining deals, he built a business woven into the city’s hospitality culture.
At its height, Wriggle worked with around 400 venues and processed more than 1,000 transactions a day.
Then the pandemic hit.
“Overnight, we went from about 1,000 transactions a day to zero,” Hall told Bristol24/7.
“We just turned it off.”
Restaurants closed. Lockdowns came in three waves. Even when venues reopened, they operated at reduced capacity and no longer needed help filling tables. A business built on footfall and spontaneity tanked.
By 2022, it was over.
“It was an eight-year journey. Ultimately unsuccessful,” Hall said.
“But it was the most amazing experience along the way.”
For some founders, that might have been the end. For Hall, it was time to restock.
With the launch of Wriggle, Hall was a familiar face in Bristol’s tech scene for many years – photo: Sarah Rice
After closing Wriggle, he did something he had not done in nearly a decade: getting a job and working for somebody else.
He joined a firm preparing tech companies for ISO 27001 audits, the internationally recognised standard proving robust data protection systems.
If Wriggle had been about food and community, this was compliance, controls and risk.
But he quickly saw a disconnect.
“I saw how old-school and slow-moving the audit process was,” he said. “The auditors were stuck in the 90s. Suits. Clipboards. Acting like the police.”
Meanwhile, Bristol’s tech ecosystem had matured.
When Hall launched Wriggle in 2014, the Engine Shed had just opened and major funding rounds were rare.
Hall’s new venture audits tech firms and certifies their data security and AI governance – photo: Tempo Audits
Today, Bristol regularly appears among the UK’s top AI hubs. Deep tech and SaaS firms raise multimillion-pound rounds as venture capital and angel investment gravitate to the city.
“There are so many impressive engineering companies spinning out of Bristol now,” Hall says.
“You keep finding these amazing businesses doing really cool stuff that have raised £5m and you’ve never even heard of them.”
The companies had evolved. The audit model had not.
So, Hall built again.
In early 2024, he launched Tempo Audits.
On paper, it audits tech firms and certifies their data security and AI governance. In reality, Hall sees it as part of a wider trust crisis.
“Data hacks and leaks are growing every year,” he says.
“Marks & Spencer, the Co-op, Jaguar Land Rover – it’s in the news constantly. It’s really important that companies looking after our data are doing it responsibly.”
Certification does not prevent every breach. But it creates structure, accountability and proof.
Layered on top of traditional information security is AI governance.
“We’re in a brave new world with AI,” Hall says. “It’s one of the biggest risks not just locally, but globally. You need systems in place to ensure people are using it responsibly.”
“Overnight, we went from about 1,000 transactions a day to zero,” said Hall – photo: Wriggle
Tempo’s pitch, Hall said, is rigorous audits delivered in a way modern tech founders recognise.
“We’re trying to do it in a fast-moving, friendly way,” he said.
“Founders don’t want to wait months for a certificate. They want someone who understands their tech stack and how they work.”
Tempo secured its first customers in July 2024. Less than two years on, Hall says the company has already hit the targets he set for year six.
“I’m amazed by it,” he says. “This is the first time I’ve created something where we’ve launched it and it’s just worked off the bat.”
The team now includes six full-time staff and nine contract auditors. Clients range from Bristol startups to firms further afield.
Unlike Wriggle, which required constant experimentation, Tempo has felt more direct.
“With Wriggle, we were always trying different things to make it take off,” Hall says.
“Here, it’s working. Now it’s about building the brand and letting people know we exist.”
A rebrand is underway. The ambition is to become Europe’s leading tech-focused audit provider, from Bristol.
He also acknowledges the use of what he calls “useful naivety”.
“There’s something about being young and obsessed and gritty,” he says. “You’ll go through ups and downs for 10 years. That passion carries you.”
Now older and more measured, the grit remains, but with sharper judgement.
Hall credits Bristol as a formative forge. A graduate of the University of Bristol who started his working life as an associate solicitor, Hall’s foray into tech had a lot to do with Bristol’s significance in both tech and its vibrant food and drink scene.
“I gained massive value from the Bristol ecosystem,” he says. “It was a formative place to build a business.”
Rob Hall acknowledges the use of “useful naivety” to succeed in business – photo: Sarah Rice
“In a world of reduced trust,” Hall says, “proving you’re responsible really matters.”
Main photo: Sarah Rice
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