The pitch for revenue-based financing is the most seductive proposition in business funding, and it is seductive because most of it is true. No dilution, no board seat, no fixed monthly instalment, no personal guarantee in many cases, and a …
The Growth Guarantee Scheme: Expanded Capacity, Eligibility and How to Actually Access It
Most of the businesses I speak to about the Growth Guarantee Scheme have one of two misconceptions, and both of them cost money. The first is that the government is somehow paying for 70 per cent of the loan. The …
How Innovate UK Applications Are Scored, and What Assessors Actually Look For
Most founders write an Innovate UK application the way they would write a pitch deck. They lead with the vision, emphasise the market opportunity, keep the technical detail light because it slows the narrative down, and treat the risk section …
How to Build an Investor Pitch Deck That Gets the Meeting
A pitch deck’s job is not to win you the money. Its job is to win you the next meeting. In 25 years advising over 2,000 UK businesses, I have watched strong companies under-raise because their story was buried in …
SEIS and EIS Advance Assurance: A UK Founder’s Guide to Getting It Right
For most early-stage UK raises, the SEIS and EIS schemes are the single biggest lever a founder has, and advance assurance is what turns them from a nice idea into a reason an angel actually writes the cheque. In 25 …
The UK Funding Readiness Sequence: What to Fix Before You Raise
The founders who get turned down are rarely the ones with a weak business. They are the ones who were not ready to be looked at closely. In 12 years advising over 2,000 UK businesses, I have watched capable companies …
The UK Funding Sequence: The Seven-Phase System to Get Your Business Funded
Most founders I meet are trying to raise money in the wrong order. They have a pitch deck before they have a defensible number, they are emailing investors before they know whether their business even suits equity, and they are …
The Startup Financial Model Investors Actually Interrogate
More UK raises are lost on a broken spreadsheet than on a weak idea. In 12+ years of advising over 2,000 businesses and helping facilitate more than £250M in funding, I have watched founders with genuinely good companies talk themselves …
How to Find and Approach Investors in the UK
A raise is a sales process, and the founders who close run it like one. In 12+ years advising over 2,000 UK businesses, I have watched disciplined outreach beat a better business almost every time, because the better business was …
Founder Pay: What to Actually Take Out of Your Own Company
Most founders decide how to pay themselves once, in the first year, on the advice of whoever set the company up, and then never revisit it. That was defensible when the numbers held still. They have not held still. The …