Startup Founders Meetup

"How to deliver long-term growth with short-term funding" is our fireside topic with Callum Murray of Amiqus - ending 2024 with a bang! 🎇 🎫 Book your free ticket here: https://lu.ma/peapnfnb 🧑🏫 What will you learn? Callum and Robert Gelb will debate all things "B2B SAAS Growth"...But not at all costs. You'll learn how Amiqus navigate funding, growth and VCesq expectations whilst funded with £10, a bag of crisps and a team of 70+ people. 💭 Who is Callum? Callum Murray is CEO / founder of Amiqus, the UK’s most trusted staff and client onboarding platform, helping organisations provide simple, accessible, and reusable online services. Amiqus is trusted by and partners with government, regulatory bodies, 9 out of 10 of the largest volume law firms in the country and hundreds of organisations across sectors. Over the last four years, over 2 million checks have been run as part of onboarding journeys powered by Amiqus, helping people to move jobs, move home or engage with a professional advisor digitally. You can learn more here: https://amiqus.co/ #startups #techstartups #techmeetup #startupmeetup #startupfounder #foundersmeetup #startuptips #startupevents

Why do startups fail? 🤔 It’s important to learn from the mistakes of the past to avoid repeating them in the future 🙏 This poll is one of our favourite topics to debate about building #startups 🤩 Add your thoughts below! 👇 #techstartups #startupfounders #startuplessons #startupfailure #failure

The last Startup Founders Meetup of 2024 is on the 11th of November! 🎆 🎫 Book your free ticket here: https://lu.ma/peapnfnb 🍕 Complimentary drinks, delicious pizza and luxurious office space provided by the Start to Scale team by Shepherd and Wedderburn 🔥 We have a special fireside guest to close off 2024 with a bang! Stay tuned for an announcement soon 🔜 See you all next month! #startups #startupfounders #techstartups #startupmeetup #startupevent

“Enjoy the journey” was the humbling lesson from Tadas at the October #startupmeetup ☺️ 🔥 This month’s fireside chat was possibly our most honest, insightful and transparent so far. Tadas shared his story at Prodsight (Acquired by Playvox) from “Idea to Exit in Four Years” - an impressive result with an incredible journey and many inflection points. No stone was left unturned and no question unanswered. 🎢 It may seem cliché but the most enjoyable elements of the startup journey are often overlooked during the chaos of growth. It sometimes feels like a rush to build your product, raise funding or achieve an early exit. However, before you know it, your journey will be over. 🔑 Key takeaways (a short snippet): - Having a co-founder and a support network can really help to sense check and bounce ideas off. - Testing and validating your idea before fully committing to it can save you a lot of time and headaches finding PMF. - Understanding your commercial strategy, route to market and deal economics (not just user metrics) is critical, especially post fundraising. - If you’re not growing fast enough, you may be unable to raise further venture funding. At that point, you have to focus on sales and profitability. Don’t let that take you by surprise - it should always be at the forefront of your mind. - The “exit” is not the end of the journey. Post-acquisition (the earn out period) can be just as challenging depending on your milestones. - You never know how your journey may unfold. Most big successes seem to come from random opportunities (often referred to as “luck”) but it’s up to you take advantage of them. 🎫 Book your ticket for the final event of 2025 here: https://lu.ma/peapnfnb #techstartups #meetups #startupmeetups #startupevents #founders #foundersmeetup

Only a few tickets left for the October 2024 #startupfounders Meetup! 🎉 If you’re a #founder or thinking of starting a company - this event is for you ☺️ 🎫 Book your free ticket here: https://lu.ma/ghilru7n 🔥 Fireside chat with Tadas Labudis, founder of Prodsight (Acquired by Playvox), about his journey from “idea to exit in four years” 🥤 Speed networking with 50+ startup operators, investors and founders 🍕 Complimentary pizza and drinks provided by the wonderful Start to Scale team 🌅 Sunset views of Edinburgh from the gorgeous Shepherd and Wedderburn offices 🎙️Your host for the evening will be Selby Cary, co-founder and COO of Lenz Labs See you all on Monday! #startups #startupmeetup #startupevent #techstartup #foundersmeetup

“From idea to exit in four years” is our fireside topic for the October Startup Founders Meetup! 🎢 Tadas Labudis has kindly offered to share the story of starting Prodsight (Acquired by Playvox), navigating early sales, hiring, fundraising, getting acquired and making it through the earnout 👏 🎫 Book your ticket here: https://lu.ma/ghilru7n What will you learn? 👨🏫 - The power of building on top of other ecosystems, such as Zendesk and Intercom - The struggles of going solo and why you should seek a co-founder - Importance of founder-led sales and figuring out the playbook before delegating it - Trade-offs of exiting early vs building a 10+ year business Who is Tadas? 😎 Tadas Labudis is a repeat software entrepreneur and product leader with a wealth of experience spanning B2B SaaS, AI, and Mobile. He was the founder and CEO of Prodsight, an AI-powered contact centre analytics platform, which was acquired by Playvox in 2022. While at Playvox, Tadas led the integration of Prodsight technology and other AI initiatives as a Senior Product Director. Currently, he is supporting the next generation of founders through mentorship, speaking, writing, and consulting. #startupmeetup #startupfounders #startupevents #techstartup #techmeetup #founders #startups

Join us on the 14th of October for the 2nd last Startup Founders Meetup of 2024 (the spooky edition)! 🎃 🎫 Book your free ticket here: https://lu.ma/ghilru7n 🔥 Fireside chat guest to be announced (stay tuned) 🍕 Complementary food and drinks provided by the wonderful Start to Scale team 🏢 Hosted at the gorgeous Shepherd and Wedderburn Edinburgh offices #techstartups #founders #startupmeetup #startupfounders #startupevent

Save the date! The 14th of October is the next Startup Founders Meetup 📆 🎫 Secure your spot here: https://lu.ma/ghilru7n 🎢 Who should attend? Founders, startup operators, investors and entrepreneurs 🍕 Complimentary food, drinks and a gorgeous view courtesy of the Start to Scale team 🏢 Location - Shepherd and Wedderburn’s Edinburgh Offices (Haymarket) 🔥 Fireside chat to be announced soon! See you next month! #startupfounders #startupmeetup #startupevent #techstartup #startups #founders

“There are many paths to building a startup” was the key message from the Sept 2024 #startupfounders Meetup 🧭 Seyed Danesh of Pommelhorse kindly and humerously shared his lessons and advice from building, scaling and exiting multiple startups 🙌 This month we welcomed new founders, connected with old friends and shared fundraising lessons from international trips 🙌 Thanks again to Robert Gelb for hosting and the Start to Scale team from Shepherd and Wedderburn for sharing your lovely offices with the community ☺️ 🎫 Book your slot for the October Meetup here: https://lu.ma/ghilru7n Now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for… Our Key Fireside Takeaways 🔥 - There are many paths to achieving a successful company / exit. Bootstrapping is an option if you have the right customer buy-in. - There are overheads to raising funding / capital. Eventually, someone has to manage your shareholders and investors and, over time, this can become a full time job. - The senior leadership team and founders need to be on the same page to reduce friction and make effective decisions. - Everyone is human and everyone has blind spots. You need to determine their strengths and weakness. - Get to know your board and advisors outside of the workplace and keep them updated on the things they know less about. They will perform best when they are fully aware. - Prepping for your board meetings helps you simplify the evidence to the foundation and understand the essence of your argument. Only set 3 key agenda items, send updates ahead of time and provide lots of context. - Assign clear roles for your board and agree the time period of your directors. It gives you the chance to extend their term if required. Your company changes fast and your board may not have the right skills in 2-3 years time. - Choose the right board members for the right stage of growth. Ideally, for the next 12-24 months goals. - Constantly challenge yourself about whether you’re going in the right direction. Pivots are hard but important to do quickly. Communicating your pivot and making a case about your position and the why behind your moves is key. - Intentionally hire people that you don’t know well to give you a different perspective. You will have more disagreements but more viewpoints. - Recommendations are valuable, it helps you overcome the trust and competence barrier. - Hire the right person for the job and the stage of your startup. Everyone has a level of complexity that they can deal with. Corporate sales leads may not be able to lead startup sales. - You need to understand the context of a topic before you get professional help. It’s tough to understand everything but you have to spend time figuring it out. Talk to people, ask questions and dig deeper. - Learning and progression is a power move. You don’t need to be amazing at everything but you need to learn about it. See you next time! 🕰️ #startups #techstartups #startupevents #startupmeetup

6 more days until the September #startupfounders meetup - the best place to meet and connect with other #founders, #investors and #startup operators 🙌 🎫 Book your free ticket here: https://lu.ma/wdvurvvx 🔥 Fireside chat with Seyed Danesh of Pommelhorse and Robert Gelb of Midnight Trading Co. on how to maximise value from your boards and advisors 🍕 Complimentary food, drinks and a gorgeous view provided by the Start to Scale team by Shepherd and Wedderburn 👏 Special thanks to Bethany Barclay and Selby Cary for coordinating this event See you all next week! #startupmeetup #startups #techstartups #scottishstartups #startupevents