As always our dinners with VCs prove to be particularly popular and this week's dinner with Nancy Fechnay was of no exception. A venture capitalist for 5 years, Nancy currently advises seed companies, so her talk on the "do's and don'ts" of fundraising was quite a hit. So much so in fact we've got two Top Tips articles, one on The Importance of a Co-Founder, and the other on ...
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As startups, we all want to be the big fish in our chosen industry - more often than not this entails raising funds in one way or another. It's always pretty helpful for startups to know what's what when raising investment, so we have great pleasure in welcoming Nancy Fechnay for dinner where she will be giving a frank and honest view on all the "do's and don'ts" when it comes to fundraising. Nancy is an ...
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Yesterday's dinner was a great opportunity for our members to meet Nick Verkroost, a Principal at DC Thomson Ventures. Dining at one of our regular haunts, Aubaine, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the topic of PublishingTech and how changes in publishing have opened up a world of new opportunities for entrepreneurs. Publishing is a reserved and traditional business with digital coming in to disrupt traditional revenue streams and content. Nick's after-dinner talk highlighted the ...
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In celebration of International Women's Day, we held one of our regular women's only dinner on Tuesday night with Anita, Randy and Tamar as co-hosts. This series is all about women sharing ideas and learning around personal and professional development; what better way to spend the evening of International Women's Day than at a inspirational dinner. We also held one of our popular investor dinners too - read on ...
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One important question that needs an answer for a multitude of reasons is a relatively simple one - what sets you apart? Do you know the answer? And if you do, are you able to explain it succinctly? One particular situation where knowing this comes in handy is when you're off scouting for some investment. Wouldn't it also be useful to get an insight into what an investor looks for when ...
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It feels a bit mad that we are on the precipice of March already (where does the time go?!) but here we are on that strange day that pops up every four years. With spring so close we can almost touch it, let's take a look at what's coming up next week (and briefly touch on what's happening in the rest of March too). We have a two fantastic dinners lined ...
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Diners were out in full force last week, firing questions at the wonderful Matthew Bradley, Investor at Forward Partners, on a variety of topics. Here's a selection of what was asked and answered after dinner: What is the definition of a 'co-founder'? A co-founder isn't just a job title. Investors are interested in businesses that have a 'founding team'. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, a co-founder should bring their own skills ...
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At our recent dinner with Forward Partners, their investor Matthew Bradley enlightened his fellow diners on their framework for making an idea into a viable business within 12 months. (Hey - everyone loves a deadline!) So, here is a taster into the glory of their three step-process: Idea Validation > First and foremost, get a landing page up and running. Put your idea out there for people to see. > You need ...
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We had a brilliant dinner last night at Jamie's Italian in Piccadilly, with the equally superb Matthew Bradley, an investor at Forward Partners, speaking on the topic of turning an idea into a valuable business within 12 months no less! He started off by giving a quick run through on his background, including how he started his career in investment banking, followed by an MBA and setting up a business in ...
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We've all been there, brimming full of ideas that could be the next 'big thing'. Not only does it take a leap of faith to get a business off the ground, but also a lot of hard work and dedication to make a dream into reality. So who better to give a pep talk on turning an idea into a valuable business within 12 months (hey, everyone loves a deadline!) ...
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