Dear First Time Founder

I celebrated International Women’s Day at 10 Downing Street A day dedicated to championing women, yet… It’s 2025 and women still: 📉 Receive just 2% of venture capital funding; 📉 Spend circa 9+ hrs/week on unpaid labor vs men; 📉 Hold only 27% of executive leadership roles globally. → Yet female-led businesses see up to 35% more profit! So it’s not just ‘good’ to invest into women; it’s good business. And with this year’s theme is ‘accelerate action.’ So, let’s close the gap, and invest into more women!

Oh how time flies… 3 years ago today I won my first award. 7 years ago I got my first corporate job. 6 years ago I got my first promotion. 5 years ago I was made redundant. 4 years ago I started my first business. This year, I’ll celebrate how far we’ve come; With great tech. Global partners. Major investors. Hindsight gives perspective: Life may not seem “successful” all the time, but when you zoom out it’s pretty great 😎

How I prepare a keynote (as a HUGE introvert 😝): 1. Start with “why”. What are my 3 main points? 2. Centre my presentation around them. 3. Create some slides with prompts. 4. Practice. Practice. Practice! But that’s not all. Before I get on stage, I do some breathwork. Then when I get on stage? The first 30 seconds are key to how people perceive me; So act confident (even if it’s not real). And one last thing I do? Don’t try to stick to a script. Remember the main points and articule it freely. Hope that helps 💅🏼

Dear First Time Founder, Rapid execution always outperforms perfection. The quicker you act, the quicker you’ll; Learn, iterate and improve. Think about it; → Founder #1: Perfects every detail, endlessly refines the product, and waits for the perfect moment to launch. → Founder #2: Takes action, even with imperfections, learns from mistakes, iterates quickly, and adapts to demands. In the end, Founder #2's agile approach leads to success. Meanwhile Founder #1 is still perfecting their product. 😆 And that’s just something I’ve learnt along the way. So, get comfortable with rapid testing. Because your company depends on it.

Forbes 2024, loved every second of this 🤍 #speaker #summit #forbes Had fun speaking about: ✘ Welcome Speech Women In Tech Awards; ✘ “How, When and Where to Invest”; ✘ “Women in Tech Panel”.

With the market set to hit $37.1B by 2033—and NVIDIA relying on them for AI—why aren’t we talking more about: ✨ Rare Earth Elements ✨ Aka; the materials we need to build any hardware?! Because we need them for all things A-Z; ↓ 1. TVs 2. Lights 3. Phones 4. Electric Vehicles 5. Or Medical Devices We talk about the future of AI, Clean Tech, and data — but none of it exists without rare earths. And with fragile supply chains; why ignore it? So does that make Rare Earths & Data the new oil?

Missing my Dubai and ME friends! People always ask me how Dubai compares to London. And to be honest, it’s a fairly easy choice… Dubai. Dubai. Dubai: 1. Less red policy tape; making it easier to get business done. 2. There are so many Government incentives; taxes, grants… 3. A culture of ambition; THE place for entrepreneurs. Despite many visits; I still come away thinking the same thing; The culture here is ambitious, forward-thinking, and open to new ideas. It’s the perfect place for businesses to grow. And not just Dubai — many parts of the Middle East. In fact it grows on me more each time! 🇦🇪

Reminder: That "bad day" That "failed business" That exam you "failed" That relationship that ended; That opportunity that slipped away; These “failures” don’t define who we *will* be. The start to a new year can often make us feel like failures. But a recent fact which gave me confidence is: → Previous failure boosts success chances by 20%. So more failures equal more success?? Well, safe to say; keep failing! But learn from it too. It means if we keep going, we’ll eventually succeed. Let’s go 2025. 🤪

Dear First Time Founder, Rapid execution will always outperform perfect. The quicker you act, the quicker you will; learn, iterate and improve. Think about it; → Founder #1: Perfects every detail, endlessly refines the product, and waits for the perfect moment to launch. → Founder #2: Takes action swiftly, even with imperfections, learns from mistakes, iterates quickly, and adapts to the market demands. In the end, Founder #2’s agile approach leads to success. Meanwhile Founder #1 is still perfecting their product. 😆 So, get comfortable with rapid testing. Your company depends on it.

11 things I wish I’d known sooner as a founder: 1. 90% of your job is solving “people problems”. 2. Your pitch will change 100 times. 3. Most meetings could’ve been an email. 4. Everyone has advice; very little is worth taking. 5. Pivoting is not a failure; oftentimes it’s a strategy. 6. You’ll spend more time on paperwork than on innovation. 7. Hiring the right people is harder than building the product. 8. Investors care about traction more than your ‘genius idea’. 9. Scaling too fast can be as dangerous as not scaling at all. 10. You’ll feel like you’re faking it; imposter syndrome is real. 11. Your BEST ideas come in the shower or as you fall asleep. 👀🤣✌🏼