Keyana Sapp

📢 Introducing our 2024 Upscale cohort! 📈 In its ninth iteration, #Upscale is here to empower the most ambitious founders and scaleup teams across the UK at a critical juncture in their journeys: post-Series A. We’re excited to empower scaling founders from all across the UK with half of this year’s cohort headquartered outside London and highlighting the incredible entrepreneurial talent spouting from the likes of Bristol, Cardiff, Manchester and more. Click below to check out our 2024 cohort innovating across Aerospace, Fintech, and Clean Technology 👉 https://lnkd.in/gzUMqEcf Kicking off today, the 3-month programme will focus on people, strategic growth, funding, and finance, whilst equipping cohort founders and their teams with the knowledge, connections, and tools needed to scale effectively and sustainably. Despite only making up 0.6% of UK businesses, scaleups generate 70% of total SME turnover in the UK, so tailored support for these post-Series A founders can significantly boost economic growth, increase employment, and drive innovation💡 HSBC Innovation Banking | Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati | OakNorth Jos Smart | Ellie Steel | Johnny M. #Upscale #WeAreTechNation #UK #Tech #ScaleUps #SeriesA #Growth

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🚀 The B Word: New Episode Alert! 🚀 In this episode Jesse Swash is joined by Stephen Millard from Notion Capital to explore the decision-making process of venture capitalists (VCs) when investing in Software as a Service (SaaS) businesses. 💡 🔍 Discover the specific triggers and criteria VCs look for in potential investments, especially those in the build or scaling stages. Our discussion dives deep into: ✨ The value VCs bring to the table ✨ The qualities they seek in entrepreneurs ✨ The key elements that influence their investment decisions Don't miss these invaluable insights! Tune in now to understand what makes a SaaS business stand out to VCs. 📈💼 #VentureCapital #SaaS #Investment #TheBWord #NotionCapital #Entrepreneurship #BusinessGrowth #Podcast #branding #brand 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eqR3Tags

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Are you a leisure marine startup founder seeking funding? Don’t miss the release of our latest theatre session where successful founders share their fundraising journeys and valuable insights. Hear from Gabbi Richardson (Yachting Ventures), Tom Loefler (Hullbot) Jonas Genchel (Zparq AB) and Carl Rehn (Pascal Technologies) as they discuss how they secured funding, who their investors are, and the challenges they faced. This session is essential viewing for anyone in the leisure marine startup ecosystem. Watch the full video on our YouTube channel and equip yourself with the knowledge to raise funds for your startup. #LeisureMarine #Startup #Fundraising #Entrepreneurship #MarineIndustry #Innovation #METSTRADE

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🎙️ Our podcast Spotify Wrapped is in! 🎙️ We're excited to announce that this year's top episode, which you all couldn't get enough of listening too, was "Breaking Barriers: Stories of Resilient Female Founders"💁‍♀️ In this episode, our editor Anna Wood speaks to Ceylan Boyce, Founder and CEO of Academy for Women Entrepreneurs all about the challenges female founders face, juggling entrepreneurship with motherhood and female founder success stories. Why not give it another listen here 👉 https://lnkd.in/epCBPEEx #StartupsMagazine #Startups #Entrepreneur #TheCerealEntrepreneur #TheCerealEntrepreneurPodcast #StartupPodcast #SpotifyWrapped #Spotify

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👫 Tips to Create a Culture of Inclusion in Your Startup 👫 Creating an inclusive workplace is vital, not just for employee wellbeing but also to increase innovation and creativity, which are key in the climate tech space. Yesterday, our Climate Tech Pioneers community had a great session with Rachel Crowther, the founder of Squash. She gave plenty of actionable pointers and advice to make sure people feel heard, supported and included. Some of our favourites were: ⭐ Food-based activities are always a winner. ⭐ Offering flexible working makes room for different backgrounds, commitments, lifestyles and neurodivergence. ⭐ Lunch and learns don't have to always be work-focused, lots of value can come from covering lifestyle and wellbeing topics. ⭐ Keep conversations open and schedule time to discuss things in detail and get feedback from the wider team about their needs. ⭐ Make sure performance reviews are metric-based to avoid bias creeping in. ⭐ Don't forget that inclusion often has to be facilitated. If you're a founder or part of the C-suite at a climate tech company in the UK and you're not part of the Climate Tech Pioneers community yet, comment CTP and we'll send you a link to join. 🙂 #DEI #Inclusion #StartupLife #ClimateTech

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✅ There is no shortage of impact and climate tech-focused events for founders... ❌ The problem is that they tend to work one way… 💡There is little to no interaction between the speaker(s) and the audience let alone between the audience themselves. 🤩 That's why at our London in-person meetup this week, we not only invited an experienced impact founder to speak for 20mins, we will hand over the mic to the audience for a 35 mins Q&A followed by Ask For Help from everyone from the floor to make the most of the hive mind. 🗓️ Join us this Wednesday (15th May at 6pm) at Runway East’s gorgeous space in Bloomsbury to hear AND speak with Tessa Clarke, Co-Founder and CEO of Olio • Share More, Waste Less as well as mingle with fellow Impact founders, investors and ecosystem partners. 🎟️ https://lnkd.in/gVG3Bj7q The ticket price is £10 to cover pizza and drinks. 🍷 🍕 In the 20mins off-the-record conversation, we'll cover: ⭐️ Building a marketplace offer serving businesses and consumers ⭐️ What finding product-market fit looks like for Olio ⭐️ Business model development ⭐️ Working with corporates ⭐️ Hiring, building, AND reducing your team ⭐️ Why all founders should have a cockroach plan ⭐️ The role and usefulness of a strong founder brand ⭐️ Getting the right messaging & comms ⭐️Fundraising (of course 🙃)

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Building What People Want: A Start-up's North Star 🌟 Excited to share our latest blog post on The Founder’s Brew by The Percolator. "Building What People Want: A Start-up's North Star" delves into the key principle of making something people want, drawing insights from successful startups and Y Combinator's teachings. Discover how to put this principle into practice in your startup journey. Read more at: https://buff.ly/3AfqAjk. Subscribe for more exclusive content and tools to aid your founder journey. #startups #founders #entrepreneurs

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Today TechRound announced its AITech35 listing, and Lumai was featured as one of the most innovative AI companies across the UK and Europe!   The initiative celebrates entrepreneurs and companies at the forefront of AI advancement.   One judge commented: “It was inspiring to see both established firms and emerging startups pushing the boundaries of AI technology. The level of creativity and dedication to solving real-world problems was remarkable, making the judging process both challenging and rewarding.”   Want to learn about how Lumai’s is developing the world’s fastest and most energy-efficient AI datacentre accelerator? Read more: https://lumai.co.uk/

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Are you feeling the pressure cooker of startup growth? You're not alone. As I meet founders across London's tech scene, one challenge emerges time and time again: the relentless push to scale at breakneck speed, often at the expense of building something truly sustainable. Last week, we sat down with a founder who had just closed a significant Series A. Instead of celebrating, they confided their anxiety about meeting aggressive growth targets whilst trying to maintain their company's culture and operational integrity. This conversation wasn't unique - it echoes a broader tension in today's startup ecosystem. Drawing from our experience working with over 100 VC-backed startups, I've observed a critical shift in how successful companies approach the scale-up challenge. Today, we want to share insights about navigating growth pressures without sacrificing your company's long-term health. Check out our new blog and weigh in on rapid growth vs sustainability: https://wix.to/JWSTYf9 #StartupGrowth #VentureCapital #BusinessStrategy #StartupSuccess #NewFounder #AspiringEntrepreneur #BeYourOwnBoss #Pulse #PulseIsHere #PulseForFounders

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There reaches a point in every scaling founders’ journey where they have to make the transition from founder to CEO. Here’s a recap from when Joe Knowles, Partner, Smedvig Ventures, joined us to give us a VC’s perspective on the importance of that role change and how to navigate it. GEN UK #GEW2024 #VentureInsights

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🌟 Dive into the essentials of investment preparation with 'Prep School: Getting Ready for Investment' written by AIO's VP of Business Development & Operations, Kate Tomen. Originally crafted for Toronto Business Development Centre, this guide is a goldmine for founders looking to navigate the complexities of raising external funds. 💼🚀 👉️ Get ready to tackle the big questions and pave the way for your business's success https://lnkd.in/gsJN_MjH #ontarioangels #TBDC #EntrepreneurJourney #InvestmentPrep #AngelInvestors #BusinessGrowth #KateTomen #StartupSuccess #InvestmentReady

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Are you an investor looking to lead the future of innovation? We’re a venture studio and we offer tech, capital, and advisory services to fuel the growth of UK AI startups and scale-ups. 1. Tech build: Our specialist engineering company, thestartupfactory.tech, provides technical expertise, design, and build services for startups and scale-ups. 2. Capital: Our upcoming EIS-qualified fund will invest in UK-based AI entrepreneurs, starting at £250k (pre-seed) to over £1m (Seed+). We invest in what we build, so you can be confident that we're backing companies with the potential to succeed. 3. Advisory: Strategic support covering everything from planning to legal/IP— because we're entrepreneurs helping entrepreneurs. Join our funding revolution and start backing today’s AI winners: https://ehe.ai/register/ #VentureStudio #Innovation #EHEVentures #TechFunding

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After seeing a brilliant post on here from David Foreman about the hierarchy of traction, we couldn’t agree more with its importance for founders pitching to VCs. At Venture Catalysts, we actively use this framework to evaluate ventures for funding and scale viability. Traction is one of the clearest signals of progress and market validation that investors look for—but not all traction is created equal. We’ve expanded on David’s insights in our latest article: 👉 https://lnkd.in/eR4PNMiZ In it, we break down the key levels of traction, from Revenue and ARR to Pipeline Value, and share actionable tips to help founders climb higher in the hierarchy. Whether you’re working with Letters of Intent or scaling paid Proof of Concepts, this guide will help you position your business in the best possible light. 💡 If you’re a founder navigating the investment landscape or an investor assessing early-stage startups, this is a must-read. Thanks again to David Foreman of Praetura Ventures for the inspiration! #startups #VC #venturecapital #traction #scalability #fundraising

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Startup growth is a complex problem, but sometimes, you just need to survive. 🐢 Serial entrepreneur Alexandra Depledge, MBE, CEO at Resi is no stranger to lean times. At her TURING X SYSTM talk and tactical roundtable, Alex will open the book on the #resilience you need to persevere and succeed in a competitive and unforgiving market. 🔥🔥 In her talk, Alex will share stories of where she failed in the past, the hard lessons she had to learn, and the tools she developed to cope and eventually #grow. 📈 ⭕️What’s more, you’ll be able to sit down with Alex and talk to her to really grasp the learnings at the apres-talk roundtable. Grab a seat at the table and join “Resilience: What could have killed us made us stronger” at TURING x SYSTM Growth Summit, November 6th. Just one week to go! #TxS #founders #growth #growthsummit #growthmindset

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