We’ve been extremely busy at TableCrowd HQ this week, with five dinners and some phenomenal feedback about the amazing speakers that joined us. If you haven’t read it already, check out our roundup of our International Women’s Day dinner, before reading on to find out all about what else happened this week. Seedcamp stole the show
For those of you who frequent our dinners regularly, you’ll know there’s a recipe we use to make our dinners so successful for our diners. Carlos, from Seedcamp, flipped this on its head and took the entire dinner into his own hands. And we love him for it! After answering everyone’s questions, talking about Seedcamp and what the company do, Carlos opened the whole room up to a dry pitch workshop. What an unexpected turn of events for our diners. The volunteers had three minutes to pitch their business, this was then analysed, dissected and the room gave constructive feedback on how they could improve the pitch for next time. All in all, the focus in the room was amazing, with Carlos leading the whole evening with clarity, passion and a huge amount of knowledge.

Freebies galore at Beverages #MeetandEat
In a beautifully intimate setting, our beverage industry group dined on Wednesday night at Aubaine, Regent Street. James Shillcock of Vivid drinks gave an honest and open account of each stage of his businesses growth, providing the diners with lots of tips and advice. His audience were transfixed throughout his after-dinner talk and came away feeling inspired and armed with copious ideas to move their businesses to the next stage. He also handed out his yummy Vivid drinks to everyone at the dinner. Another diner, Dave from ¡Cho! Gazpacho, also followed suit providing his ‘salad in a bottle’ drinks which are truly delicious!

Humble CEO puts business needs first
Our eCommerce dinner at The Noodle House, Soho was one dinner that burnt the midnight oil – with our speaker Ivan Retzignac, founder and CEO of MedicAnimal, answering questions ranging from the rapid growth of the business and the importance of fundraising, to the idiosyncrasies of dealing with company culture and staff moral. An extremely down-to-earth, straight-talking person, his talk covered the journey of MedicAnimal from its humble beginnings as a two-man band to over 250 people in six years. As a late starter into the online pet industry, they were seen by many as the underdog, but what Ivan believes has made them so successful was the reason behind their business; they are on a crusade to bring the veterinary world and manufacturers into the 21^st century.

There needs to be a higher purpose; it has to be about more than making money.

Our speakers this week were joined by: Fruveju, Food Startup School, Cinnamon Bridge, ¡Cho! Gazpacho, Cocomojo, Berry Clever, Dyn, BorrowMyDoggy, Quill Content, The Webinar Vet, Zoom Labs, Modern Times Group, Pinipa, Bill+Mar, Vernez, upReach, Snappetite, Hyghlyne, MICEBOOK, The Sweat Experience as well as others.

Here are a few snippets from the evenings:

Special thanks to our partners Alma CG and Rackspace.

We’ve got some more great dinners coming soon, take a look here.