Swiftkey app: How a man sells stake in company for a bike, before it was sold for $250 million

Civil servant Chris Hill-Scott, 29, sold his stake in mobile phone app too early after growing tired of working long hours. He used his returns to buy a bicycle, only to watch the company soar into a giant worth a whopping $250 million. According to The Times , he set up the firm in 2008 with university friends Jon Reynolds, 30 and Ben Medlock, 36, but left after a matter of weeks to embark on a career in photography, and eventually settled in a career building websites for the government.  Recently,  it emerged the Cambridge graduates agreed a deal with Microsoft and sold the London-based firm for $250 million, one of the most lucrative acquisitions of a British technology company in recent years.

Chris Hill-Scott

 Jon Reynolds (l) and Dr Ben Medlock (r) invented SwiftKey

Mr Reynolds and Dr Medlock are said to have made about $33 million each in the sale of the app, which is based on a predictive keyboard powered by artificial intelligence. Their creation has become so successful it is now used on 300 million devices every day. Records held with Companies House state Mr Hill-Scott's appointment as a director of SwiftKey's parent company, TouchType Ltd, on August 13, 2008, before resigning on October 24 2008.
A SwiftKey spokeswoman told The Times he "left on good terms", adding: "When SwiftKey was found there were three founding members, Chris was a friend of Jon's from school and Ben was a friend from his university in Cambridge.
"Two months after forming the company Chris decided to leave, Jon and Ben bought his shares."