Getting Fired 5 times with Karina Robinson, Redcliffe Advisory CEO & The City AI and Quantum Summit
"I've been fired five times in my life. So that was a low. It's funny now, but it certainly wasn't funny all the different times."
"my husband died he committed suicide. And it was obviously incredibly tough emotionally because I found my soulmate and to lose your soulmate was pretty difficult."
"I understood enough to see how revolutionary quantum could be in its different forms for GPS or for portfolio optimization or in cybersecurity."
"We started this headhunting firm called Robinson Hambro. It was headhunting for boards of directors and also CEO, chairman advice, because both of us had done lots of different things in life. It was very bespoke."
"we started this conference called the City Quantum and AI Summit and it took off. So it's now in its sixth year."
Karina Robinson has been fired five times, and spent the first part of her life as a financial journalist before co-founding a City headhunting firm with Rupert Hambro. She now runs the City Quantum and AI Summit and shares a deeply human and compassionate story of serial reinvention powered by refusal to treat any ending as final.
What you'll learn
- Karina was fired five times across her career, each time rebuilding from a different starting point.
- Her husband died by suicide in 2008, a loss she names directly and credits with fundamentally reshaping her relationship to risk and recovery.
- She co-founded Robinson Hambro with Rupert Hambro, placing senior figures across the City of London.
- The City Quantum and AI Summit is now in its sixth year, positioning her at the intersection of finance and frontier technology.
- She worked with Multiverse Computing on its €500M Series C, one of Europe's largest quantum computing funding rounds.
- She advised on NATO's quantum strategy, extending her work beyond finance into geopolitics and national security.
- Her core belief: no ending is final unless you decide it is.
Key moments from the conversation
Five Firings and Five Comebacks
Karina was fired five times. She describes each dismissal as a moment she believed was terminal, and each rebuild as a lesson that endings are only final if you treat them that way. The pattern, repeated across decades, produced a resilience she now considers her primary professional asset.
The Loss That Reframed Everything
In 2008, Karina's husband died by suicide. She names it directly and credits it with fundamentally reshaping her relationship to risk, to recovery, and to what actually matters. She does not frame it as something she overcame, she frames it as something that changed her, and continues to.
Building Robinson Hambro with Rupert Hambro
Karina co-founded Robinson Hambro with Rupert Hambro, placing senior figures at the highest levels of the City of London. She describes the partnership in terms of complementary architecture: Rupert brought deep City relationships; she built the operational and strategic structure around them.
The City Quantum and AI Summit
Now in its sixth year, Karina's summit sits at the intersection of finance, technology, and geopolitics. She describes the event's longevity as a function of the questions it asks remaining unanswered, quantum computing's implications for finance and security are still being written.
NATO, Multiverse Computing, and the Quantum Frontier
Karina advised on NATO's quantum strategy and worked with Multiverse Computing on its €500M Series C, one of Europe's largest quantum funding rounds. These engagements position her not just as a finance figure but as a strategist at the intersection of technology and national security.
Frequently asked questions
How many times has Karina Robinson been fired?
Five times. Each time she describes initially believing it was the end, and each time rebuilding from a new starting point.
What is Redcliffe Advisory?
Redcliffe Advisory is Karina Robinson's advisory firm, through which she works with companies and leaders at the intersection of finance, quantum technology and geopolitics.
What is the City Quantum and AI Summit?
It is Karina's annual event, now in its sixth year, that brings together finance, technology, and geopolitical leaders around the implications of quantum computing and AI.
What is Karina Robinson's connection to Multiverse Computing?
She worked with Multiverse Computing on its €500M Series C, one of Europe's largest quantum computing funding rounds.
Who is Karina Robinson?
Karina Robinson
Founder · Redcliffe Advisory
Karina Robinson FCSI (Hon) is the CEO of Redcliffe Advisory Ltd., which provides Chairman/CEO Advisory services. Karina connects the worlds of Finance, Deep Tech and Defence, and has a reputation as a benign disruptor. She has also been around a very, very long time, which explains this excessively long biography. She sits as Non-Executive Director on the Board of Atlanti, an Anglo-Swiss Fund Management firm. In the quantum ecosphere, Karina is Senior Advisor to Multiverse Computing, Europe's largest quantum & AI software firm, winner of Europe's Future Unicorn Award 2024. She is the Founder of The City Quantum and AI Summit, a unique event in the heart of the City of London, now celebrating its Sixth Anniversary of bringing together the international quantum ecosphere, the Global City and Defence. She was involved in brainstorming NATO's Quantum Strategy. She is an Advisor to both MissionLink, which supports national security, and The Entrepreneurs Network, the think tank for the UK's entrepreneurs. She recently joined the Global India Business Corridor (CIBC) as Executive Advisor to the Board, with the aim of deepening trade and investment between the UK and India. In the City, she was Chair of the Lord Mayor's Appeal Advisory Board, Past Master of the Worshipful Company of International Bankers, and is an Honorary Fellow of the CISI. Karina ran Robinson Hambro with City legend Rupert Hambro CBE for over a decade. At the London School of Economics, she is an Emeritus Governor and Co-Director of The Inclusion Initiative. The first half of her career was spent as a journalist at The Banker magazine and Bloomberg/TV. She began her career at merchant bank Morgan Grenfell as the Spanish Equity Analyst. She was educated in Madrid, at the Hotchkiss School in the US and at the London School of Economics.
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