Orr Vinegold

In the past two weeks, hundreds of startups worked with experts from our ecosystem to address the BIGGEST challenges they face - head on. Here’s what I learned: US expansion is front of mind for UK startups at the moment - incorporating as a Delaware C-corp is becoming a really popular route for them to raise and expand into the biggest market in the world. I was also struck by how startups are using AI agents to go-to-market with lighting speed - emerging standards (MCP, knowledge graphs) are being leveraged to achieve scale without endless custom builds. And on the fundraising side, revenue growth is the no. 1 thing to show investors - and it has to be recurring and repeatable - not a one-off. The market may have shifted - but selling is the same. Now more than ever, framing sales around solving urgent business pain in cost, risk, and revenue terms is KEY. We've got one more session coming up in September and I'm super excited for it! Denys Prysukhin from Corewide LLP will be sharing how to build fast -without making expensive mistakes. If you’re looking to build your first production-ready cloud infrastructure, or you have a live product and are facing scaling and performance issues - this session is for you. Link to sign up in the comments. 👇

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In 2024, early-stage rounds made up a third of all UK VC deals, with seed rounds averaging £4.1 million and Series A at £17.9 million – the highest since 2021. But every successful fundraising journey starts with one critical document: the term sheet. Every term sheet is essentially a negotiation – but only if you know what to look for. 📄 In this latest article, Jas Bhogal highlights the red flags founders should look out for, including: 🚩 Loan terms that seem 'standard' but carry costly strings 🚩 Valuations that flatter upfront but erode long-term value 🚩 Giving away too much equity too early 🚩 Fundraising restrictions that limit future growth Read the full article linked below to understand how to protect your position and keep your business on track for growth. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/enY4ssZc #startupfunding #termsheets #venturecapital #corporatefunding #corporatelaw

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Preparing to raise VC funding? This is for you. Boardwave has launched a new Fundraising Fundamentals masterclass series - designed to help founders navigate the fundraising process with confidence. Across seven on-demand sessions, founders and investors share practical insights on how to: 💡 Build the foundations of a successful raise 🎯 Craft and deliver a compelling investor story 🤝 Negotiate and close the right deal We’re delighted to have collaborated with the Boardwave team for the first masterclass. Ian Merricks, FBCS FRSA, features in the opening episode alongside Mike Reid, Frog Capital, and Thuria Wenbar, Evaro - offering real-world advice from both sides of the table. Part 1: Ready to Raise is live now - watch it here: https://lnkd.in/eJy83rAZ

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Next week, new episode of BizPodRoohi with Cyan Banister of Long Journey Ventures Cyan's views on breaking into VC- are to build your network and more Was an honour and pleasure to host someone who's inspired me Cyan has invested in some phenomenal companies- and is one of the legendary VC's of the US This episode was a deep dive into Long Journey Ventures

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What age did some of the best GP founders start their firms? The data might surprise you. Stable's Project Legends dives into the data ... hear from Founder & CEO Erik Serrano Berntsen (who started Stable well before 33!) on the latest Alt Goes Mainstream podcast. https://lnkd.in/eRQKt-b5

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👀 Hopefully, you've heard by now that we run free fundraising accelerators for seed founders... 👉 What makes this next programme particularly unique is that we teamed up with 4 other organisations - GC Angels, Stronger Stories, Foundervine and Firstport to deliver a brand new initiative called Venture Forward. It combines our decade of experience of running programmes with partners from across the UK to deliver a new initiative, fully funded by Innovate UK, to support a whopping 160 companies in the next 15 months. 🇬🇧 We will deliver these workshops to companies all over the UK, including London, Birminghman, Manchester, & Edinburgh. 🚀 We will also be focusing on under-represented founders (more details in the application form). The programme will consist of fundraising workshops, 1-on-1 mentoring, regional meet-ups, national investor days, centralised resources and an active alumni community. ✅ Applications are now open via ventureforward.co.uk

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740 UK startups announced funding rounds in 2025. Where are they based? 🔎 It comes as no surprise that London dominates UK tech 📌 but it's great to see that over a third of firms were based outside the M25 last year. Which VC funds and angels are backing startups outside the capital? We keep seeing... Mercia Ventures The FSE Group Maven Capital Partners PXN Group BGF Foresight Group SFC Capital Scottish Enterprise Northern Gritstone Fuel Ventures 🚀 Parkwalk ACF Investors Haatch ...who have I missed? Soapbox insights brought to you with K&L Gates | Venture Comet LTD | Sage

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New episode with Seyon Indran from Concept Ventures Vibe Coding in VC: Custom Tools and the New Wave of Founders Seyon is the Head of Research at Concept Ventures, the UK’s largest dedicated pre-seed fund. He’s leading their effort to develop a founder assessment platform that brings data and structure to one of venture’s most subjective decisions: who to back. In this episode, we dive into how AI and vibe coding are reshaping the landscape of early-stage investing—from how VCs operate to who gets funded. We also discuss his experience using Replit to build internal tools as a non-technical builder, the rise of solo founders, and why storytelling and lived experience are becoming powerful signals in founder evaluations. Listen now 👇 🎥 YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gBTM75Pt 🎧 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gacSiYwk 🍏 Apple: https://lnkd.in/gBGrKBWJ What you’ll learn: 🔸 How Concept Ventures is building a platform to surface exceptional founders early 🔸 The role of AI and vibe coding tools in democratizing software creation 🔸 Why the next wave of startups may come from solo, non-technical founders 🔸 The importance of founder narrative, insight, and “vibe” in a post-SaaS world 🔸 The shift from gut feel to structured, data-informed decision-making in VC 🔸 What vibe coding actually is—and why it’s here to stay 🔸 Why more VCs are building their own internal tools 🔸 What makes Replit uniquely effective for non-technical builders

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An underrated way to get in touch with VCs - get in touch with their portfolio company founders first. If there's a VC you believe is a strong fit for your business, odds are you'll have a much easier time getting in touch with a founder they invested in than the VC themselves. You can reach out saying you're considering reaching out to the VC, and want to hear about the founder's experience working with that investor over a 10-minute call. If you hit it off, you now have: - A potential intro from someone the investor trusts - Real insight into what that investor cares about - A connection who's likely connected with a number of VCs in your space And lastly, you can also do this after you've already reached out to the VC. If they haven't responded, this can be a more effective way to follow up. #startups #venture #VC #tech #entrepreneurship #fundriasing

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🚀 Excited to kick off the 2025 podcast mini-series with a deep dive into the exciting world of fashion and retail tech! In this episode, we share insights on the global perspective every VC needs, how AI and sustainability are reshaping the industry, and why VCs need to bring more than just capital to the table. Tune in for a peek into the future of fashion tech and the forces shaping its innovation! 🔮👗✨

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NOTWICS really enjoy working with Daria Partas, MIRSoc and Maria Tsarkova (pictured here) from Solid Water Marketing Agency. We delivered a wonderful event in the spring that people (both VC and Founders) still highlight to me as being the most insightful they’ve been to in the last 12 months, which is great to hear. I wanted to just take a chance to re-share the findings of the survey we conducted and the wonderful conclusions from the event again, for those that couldn’t attend and may also want to find out more from the super team at Solid Water. VCs are brilliant at spotting product-market fit. But hen it comes to growth marketing… many are still getting it wrong. The takeaways: 🔍 Most VCs admit their portfolio companies struggle with marketing. 💸 Most founders admit they don’t know what good looks like. 🤯 And yet… almost nobody is actually fixing it. If LPs had been in the room, some of the confessions would’ve made them squirm. But the conclusion was unanimous: 💡 If you allocate budget and talent wisely into marketing and growth — you’ll scale smarter, retain more, and duh… make more money. There’s a serious gap in the ecosystem: VCs recognise their portfolio companies lack the right strategy Founders struggle to hire or afford senior growth talent Traditional agencies keep playing their own game Everyone agrees this needs to change… but few are taking action So what’s the opportunity? 💼 There’s a clear market gap: Founders need strategic growth partners, not just freelancers VCs need confidence in GTM before writing a term sheet Portfolios need scalable growth engines, not just digital ads There is also a huge opportunity for agencies that truly understand early-stage growth dynamics to step in and lead. From what I have seen, Solid Water are positioned perfectly to fill that gap. They understand full-funnel, data-driven growth — and they know how to speak to both founder and investor. We’ve captured it all in a white paper: 🧠 Insights from 183 VCs 📊 The biggest mistakes in early-stage marketing 🔧 Playbooks for fixing the leaky bucket problem The survey findings can be found in the white paper - download it from https://lnkd.in/e7ynx7x5 home page. Many thanks to the Solid Water founders Daria Partas and Maria Tsarkova as well to the hosts of the round table at CMS Charles Kerrigan and to the panel Martina King, Priya D. And Chris Averill. Thanks Also: Andriy D. Ian Wallis #startup #scaleup #vc

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SME founders: here’s what buyers are looking for I was asked about this on the TechExits podcast, so here are some of the main criteria search fund entrepreneurs look for in SMEs. If you are preparing to sell, focus on these four areas: 1️⃣ 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺 Buyers want to see consistent growth and a clear path forward. If the economy is slow, growth through acquisitions can also be a valid strategy. 2️⃣ 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻𝘀 Strong margins make the business more attractive and give buyers confidence in the quality of earnings. There will be years when you want to invest in team members and product, but if your plan is to sell the company, it may be better to make sure you have the right balance of growth and margins. 3️⃣ 𝗟𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 You can build a great business with a single major client, such as a public sector entity. However, that is often not a sellable business for search funds. If one, two, or three customers represent a large share of revenue, buyers will see that as risk. Customer diversification is a key requirement. 4️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 (𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗻) This is especially important in software. High churn weakens the case for durability and future growth. These four metrics matter a lot, but timing is also near the top of the list. If possible, sell after a few years of strong performance, when the business has clear momentum and healthy margins.

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Founders these are the steps you must take to protect yourself from a pulled term sheet 👀 1. Trust your gut Some funds issue term sheets to secure an option for your round If something feels off - particularly if they haven't done a sensible amount of due diligence on your company - be extremely wary about signing I'd expect a serious fund to have taken customer and founder references, asked a wide range of thoughtful questions, written an investment memo and held an investment committee with all the partners present 2. Watch out for conditions The only thing left by the time you get to a term sheet should be the legals This is what our term sheet says: Completion is conditional on the finalisation of definitive legal documents and satisfactory completion of legal due diligence (if any) If funds are adding technical, commercial, financial or other types of due diligence this increases the risk they can find a reason to walk away I'd push the investors to do all their work prior to signing the term sheet or at least have a checklist of items that need to be satisfied rather than allowing open ended language to be included 3. Ask around Reputation is everything is venture and pulling term sheets is really s*itty behaviour so word gets around Ping your founder groups, ask your lawyer, speak to your existing investors or advisors - anybody who might have some intel 4. Reference calls Taking extensive reference calls on the fund is critical Take the ones the fund recommends and then pick another 2-3 from their website Obviously you won't hit on pulled term sheets here, but you can get a good sense of how they operate post investment to validate your gut feeling There is no data on how big the problem is, but it's good practice to ensure you run a tight process and maximise your chances of a successful closing Questions? Just let me know if the comments 👇 #startups #venturecapital #entrepreneur #entrepreneurship #founders #fundraising #investing #technology #innovation

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Too many founders treat product market fit like finding coins in the sofa - a one-time discovery you celebrate and assume means victory. But product-market fit isn’t something you find. It’s something you keep or lose. It’s a fluid concept that is always running away from you. Markets shift. Competitors catch up. Customers want more. What works today won’t stay still. The best founders don’t chase a single breakthrough; they build what I call a "system for repeatable genius". They stay curious, keep experimenting, and treat every version like the next prototype. Back in my design days, I learned that craft isn’t about getting it perfect once - it’s about caring enough to keep reinventing and refining it. The same is true for building a company.

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Start-ups from Cambridge had their second-best year on record for venture capital investment in 2024, pulling in £1.7bn, according to new analysis. Research from data platform Dealroom in association with Founders at the University of Cambridge found that start-ups in the city raised almost double the investment from the year prior’s £893m, despite a wider macroeconomic slowdown. The success in Cambridge also makes it the top global city for the amount of seed companies that mature to Series A, beating London, Oxford and even San Francisco, with 41% of Cambridge-based tech firms reaching the milestone. https://lnkd.in/ea3q2TsE

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Cambridge have been setting itself apart in AI, life sciences, deep tech and quantum computing ventures. Now its early stage ventures are setting themselves apart from the Bay Area. “New data from Dealroom.co shows that 41% of Cambridge’s seed-stage companies progress to Series A, outperforming Oxford, London and even the Bay Area.”

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Shaping the board actively is massively underrated at Seed. I had a couple of v strong examples in the portfolio where it helped prepare the company for Series A. Rather than assume it will be the seed lead investor + the founders, or that it's something to worry about later... I now think a smart and ambitious founder should use wisely those couple of years between seed and the A round. And not just let the seed biggest chap call the shots. Actively take an interest as it can pay off. Thoughts?

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There’s a well-trodden path for startups: build, get traction, raise capital. Here in the UK, that path is practically paved with gold thanks to the SEIS scheme (a brilliant policy from the coalition government back in 2012 that makes angel investing incredibly attractive). So naturally, lots of lovely folks are asking: "Are you raising?" / "Can I Invest?" And honestly, it's tempting. The big announcement, the hype, the validation, that magic "valuation" number… BUT. Every time I consider it, I come back to a simple truth... Why give away equity when I back this business unconditionally AND am willing to throw my everything at it? So for now, we're choosing conviction over capital. The build is well underway, we have a clear path forward and a powerful plan to unlock global distribution. Would I like the short term validation of a chunky valuation? Sure. Would I prefer to not dilute ownership and ensure we execute a strategy that will unlock peoples futures everywhere, on our own terms? 100%. Will we raise at some point? I'm sure we will. But to quote the wonderful Juba in Gladiator... "but not yet...." #Bootstrapping #Founder #SEIS #Conviction #Startup #OnOurOwnTerms

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