Building And Growing

Joe and Lucas discuss how to scale recruitment companies while prioritising customer experience, collaboration and maintaining the right values. Joe discusses the importance of recruitment companies proving their worth during difficult economic cycles, the challenges the hospitality industry has faced post-Brexit and the importance of businesses focusing on profit (or revenue if they've just r...

Eva and Lucas discuss the challenges faced by early-stage founders, the importance of building out a personal brand and the Block Dojo incubator program. About Eva Dobrzanska Eva Dobrzanska helps early-stage founders grow their businesses and raise capital better with strategic advice on equity fundraising strategies, investor outreach & targeting, scaling a business and expanding internationa...

Ammar and Lucas discuss Finalrentals, which enables small and medium car hire companies to transform their operations and distribute via online channels across the world. The car rental market is fragmented, with local SMEs representing more than 50% of the market. Finalrentals and its franchisees now serve more than 32 countries, bringing low-cost car rental solutions to consumers from Wales, to...

Stuart and Lucas discuss how RiskTalk collects conversational data to help build safer and more efficient workspaces. Conversational data has many advantages relative to paper checklists such as the ability to measure vocal data points such as tone, confidence and glottal movements. The casual manner in which data is collected allows management to identify risks that are discussed amongst team mem...

Ray and Lucas discuss how Ufurnish.com aims to solve the problem of finding furniture online by aggregating retailers into one platform and providing valuable consumer insights. Inspired by the likes of Rightmove and Auto Trader, ufurnish.com operates as a marketplace, working with leading brands to serve consumers across the UK. ufurnish.com  is the UK's leading search and comparison website...

Firat and Lucas discuss Large Language Models (LLM), which powers ChatGPT and Bard. They discuss trends in the space, notably the emergence of industry specific LLMs that can dive into deep levels of detail within their particular vertical e.g. a radiology specific LLM that assists with diagnosis, and the fact that LLMs will lead to higher expectations from the workforce e.g. one analyst may be ab...

James and Lucas discuss strategic communications and the importance of understanding people's motivations and addressing their challenges, both in the business and political spaces. They discuss the importance of the consistent repetition of simple messages in order to build trust, a multi-channel approach to address different audiences and how to ensure firms don't get pigeonholed, that i...

Enis and Lucas discuss 500 Emerging Europe and their work investing in local entrepreneurs to build global businesses. 500 invest in entrepreneurs who think globally and are willing to move to the US to build businesses for the higher tech markets in the west. Enis explains how 500 actively source and build up their funnel to have an advantage when it comes to deal flow, how ChatGPT is increasing...

Pablo and Lucas discuss the importance of accepting local payment methods when expanding into new markets in Latin America, particularly Brazil, whilst managing currency risk and maximising sales. Pablo shares valuable insights for businesses entering the Brazilian market, emphasizing the importance of strategic partnerships and leveraging influencers for marketing success. Pablo Klein founded Pri...

Alia and Lucas discuss how RegTech companies and AI have helped fintechs and the banking industry to scale whilst mitigating risks.  Alia explains the fundamentals behind the types of due diligence financial institutions are required to complete, what types of responsibilities institutions and compliance individuals face and the importance of ensuring that RegTech promotes financial inclusion.    ...

Alex discusses his latest project Appeggio, and how it was inspired by previous banking and IT experiences gained whilst building multiple neobanks and growing multiple traditional banks and corporations. Appeggio aims to democratise enterprise grade development for everyone, through its no-code platform, unlocking code reuse, multi-platform deployment and server-less infrastructure. Alex Twigg is...

Jake and James discuss how they founded Epigroup and grew it to become a leading professional services firm. They discuss the importance of focusing on the how during project delivery, investing in the right employees and culture, as well as how they provide risk management and assurance services to help to improve health and safety in businesses in Australia. Epigroup was founded in 2012 by two f...

David Foreman is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Praetura Ventures, the award-winning, Manchester-based VC which has raised £140m since 2019 and invested in 50 businesses to date. Outside of capital, Praetura Ventures is known for providing More Than Money to exceptional early-stage founders across tech and life sciences, including Northern success stories like Peak, Culture Shift, XR Games...

Cam Sinclair founded Ammo, a fast-paced growth marketing team geared towards working with tech startups, after an extensive career in the political sphere. Cam and Lucas discuss the similarities between marketing and political campaigning, diving into a number of different strategies that are used across both.

Benjamin Small, partner manager at Superscript, discusses his background in FX brokerage, how Superscript is creating value for VCs and tech firms, and all things partnerships! Lucas and Ben discuss the key success factors of a partnership, how partnerships differ depending on who they are e.g. high-net worth advisor vs. influencer and Ben provides a few key tips for people hoping to get into part...

James D'Mello discusses how he manages investor relations in his role as Head of Strategic Partnerships at Fuel Ventures.  James and Lucas discuss the different types of VC funding available for founders (tranched and up-front), the type of due diligence that investors conduct on funds and their portfolio companies, as well as the process behind building a funnel and network.   

Clara Probert and Pauline Li, co-founders of Madonna Capital, share their stories and how they came together to focus on bridging the gender funding gap.  Female founders receive between 1-2% of VC funds in the UK each year, slightly behind the US, leaving both markets with a long way to go.  Clara, Pauline and Lucas discuss how Madonna Capital helps prepare founders to be investor ready...

Ahmet and Lucas discuss private equity from sourcing deals to engaging advisors during the due diligence process and the different reasons companies would consider it as a source of funding as opposed to other methods such as venture capital, listing on an exchange and taking loans from banks.  They also dive into different use cases for private equity in developed and emerging markets. ...

Firat Gonen discusses all things data science, and his journey from completing his PhD to founding his own startup, leading data at Turkish super app Getir, Allianz and Vodafone.  Firat and Lucas dive into the importance of commercial acumen for data scientists and data acumen for commercial teams, the different types of coding languages that exist, why real-time data isn't always achievable...

John Ryan, Founder of Gigable, discusses his story of building a two-sided marketplace for merchants and gig economy workers in order to bring cost transparency to the industry.  John and Lucas cover problems faced by restaurants who lose on average £1 per order with aggregators, couriers not knowing how much they'll make in a shift and how viral growth helps lower the CAC:LTV ratio.  &n...

Pedro Pinto, VP of Growth at Soldo, discusses his key takeaways from a tech career focused on growth at Revolut, Neat, Huddle and Box.  Lucas and Pedro discuss product led growth, localisation strategies and full funnel acquisition.   

Dennis Helderman, co-founder of easyHire, discusses how to prepare for a funding round, the benefits of crowdfunding and easyHire's strategic position in the European rental market.  easyHire's franchisees represent £70 million of equipment assets, a number which they are hoping to grow as a result of increasing the number of franchisees they work with across Europe.  Dennis and Lucas al...

Joanna Wlazlak, Head of Platform at Element Ventures (an early-stage B2B fintech-focused VC), discusses the history and importance of the platform role in creating value post investment for portfolio companies through process improvements, partnership development and gathering data insights.  Joanna previously spent over ten years working in and with startups and her previous experience inclu...

Ken and Lucas discuss ways that startups and corporations collaborate together, and the excitement and challenges that come with it.  Ken is Partner/ co-founder at Progressive Acceleration where he helps brands across all sectors (inc. P&G, Mercedes, GSK) to successfully partner with best in class start-ups, in order to accelerate, test and to unlock new growth. He is also the co-author o...

Howard and Lucas discuss legal considerations during fundraising, trends within the tech industry and how the VC space has grown over the years.  Howard is a a corporate transactional partner at Fladgate LLP, with a particular focus on UK and European venture capital.