This week, we were over at The Clerk and Well to dine with Tim Jackson from Lean Investments, and discuss the various options that are available to start-ups who are looking for funding. We had a great crowd of entrepreneurs from different businesses, ranging from the co-founder of Weengs, a logistics and supplies firm, to Clipsta, a sharing app launching in November.

Let’s find out what went down over Thai beef salad and spring rolls…

Tim Jackson fundraising dinner

We live in deeply exciting times.

What better time is there to launch your own start-up? For Tim, who started out as a journalist writing for the Financial Times and The Economist, there is no better time than now. The changes we are seeing in technology and business at the moment are of millennial significance. All the more reason to get out there and connect with others, Tim stressed, as he explained what drove him to become interested in the start-up world to our diners.

It’s not always easy, however. Tim is no stranger to admitting his own mistakes and even shared with our diners some of his challenges. For example, whilst working at his previous business, he once sent out a viral marketing email to his customers on New Year’s Eve, and due to a technical error, ended up sending the email 53 times by mistake!

Winston Churchill’s famous words on success were at the front of his mind when recalling this embarrassing anecdote, which are:

The definition of success is moving on swiftly from disaster to disaster.

The journey of a successful start-up is a rocky one, and for Tim, this kind of resilience is needed in order to withstand the pressure.  Ultimately though, it’s about improving your product and continuing to grow that will get you places.

Keep trying what you did yesterday and do it better.

Tim also shared the differences in the characteristics of VCs, angels and crowdfunding, and his tips on which to choose. You can find all these gems here.

Our speaker was joined by Clipsta, Sleekster Club, MyGravity, Klusttr, Weengs, Project X Fitness, Cultisan, Meetingrooms.com, PressUp, The Lucid Agency, Local Fame, Fantastic Services, Ignition Law, Scrummy, Buto, and Big Button amongst others.

Many thanks to our speaker Tim for sharing such valuable advice.