Author Archives: Silicon Roundabout

My hardest lesson from fundraising? You probably don’t need to fundraise. Or at least as much as you thought you did. Fundraising itself is hugely distracting. And once you get a big raise done, now you have investors to manage, …

Introduction: The Employment Law Landscape in the UK Employees based in the UK have a number of mandatory legal protections. Some of these may feel intuitive and obvious to founders, whilst others may take some getting used to.

Introduction: The Funding Landscape Raising your first investment round is hard work. Founders often spend months cold-emailing investors, refining pitch decks, presenting to rooms of sceptics, and navigating the long road of due diligence. 

It’s been a tricky two years for the deals market here in the UK and the FT’s recent article really emphasises how frustrated founders are feeling. I review and comment on the quarterly data for KPMG’s Venture Pulse reports (KPMG Private …

To onboard early users as a founder, start with direct, personal outreach. Message potential users through LinkedIn, Twitter, or email. Not with a hard pitch, but by asking for feedback and involving them in the journey. Focus your efforts on …

I never set out to follow a traditional career path. In fact, I’ve spent most of my career doing the opposite—questioning the way things have always been done, stepping into stretch roles, and making bold career moves that didn’t always …

I am a lawyer. Give me a set of rules. Give me a problem. Understand the problem. Apply former to the latter. Understand the client, the business, the industry and the technology. Horizon scan, be commercial, flex communication style. Deliver. …

I remember my first “job in tech” well. It was my final year of high school, and a friend of my father needed his printing machine fixed. All I had to do was preinstall some drivers. Simple enough. But that …

Adopting a beginner’s mindset and sense of curiosity is a good place to start. Recognising that we are never the finished product I am always striving to surround myself by those more talented than me and those who inspire me to …

Burnout doesn’t strike like a lightning bolt out of nowhere. It builds over time as you push through exhaustion, override discomfort, and convince yourself that slowing down isn’t an option.  As founders, we live under relentless pressure. Not just to …