Tara Keeney

😵 Only 3.5% of Ethnic Minority start ups succeed* 🫨 for every £1 of VC investment in the UK, all female founders get less than 1p* 🤑 75% of founders come from advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds CityVentures is working with entrepreneurs, researchers and investors to find out how we can make entrepreneurship more accessible to the whole community. Read about what we're doing on our substack to find out more: * British Business Bank figures

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CS is the Cheapest CAC Reduction Strategy on Earth - Period, Fullstop! Founders chase paid marketing to juice pipeline. The cheaper route? Delighted users. Strong onboarding. Clear outcomes. You don’t need a viral loop. You need customers who can’t shut up about the results you delivered. CS is a growth engine disguised as a cost center.

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A few weeks ago, I went to a brilliant South East Angels event. They invested in our portfolio company Tradeaze last year. They're an amazing community of angel investors. Lots of great conversation but three things really stuck with me: 1. Thesis vs. Founders – Good to have an investment thesis. But ultimately, back the best founders you can find. 2. The UK vs. US Problem – We keep losing companies to the US because we're terrible at later-stage investing. Early-stage funding? We're competitive. Growth capital? We fall off a cliff. 3. The 5-Year Rule – Lots of opinions about AI. Lots of predictions. But if you're trying to predict anything longer than 5 years away, you're kidding yourself. Angels want three things from government: ✅ Less regulation - Stop making it harder to invest. ✅ More democratisation - Make investing more accessible. Think tokenised angel investments for secondary liquidity. Think easier micro-funds and syndicates. Right now, the barriers are ridiculous. ✅ More money - Scale-ups struggle to raise follow-on rounds. Angels get frustrated watching their portfolio companies succeed early, then hit the growth capital wall. This stops them making as many early stage bets as they would do. Here's what struck me most: We have brilliant early-stage companies. We have engaged angel investors. But we're systematically failing at the next stage. Companies that should be scaling in the UK are moving to the US for Series B and beyond. That's not just bad for individual companies. It's bad for the entire ecosystem. The best angels understand this. They're pushing for structural changes, not just more deal flow. It pays to think about the whole journey, not just the entry point. Congrats Kristina Pereckaite on a brilliant event. What's your experience with UK growth capital? #UKGrowth #UKInvesment #Investment #Startups #Scaleups

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Most UK Sales Teams Are Running Too Lean Over the last 18 months, many UK companies reduced headcount. Lean became the strategy. Lean is efficient. But lean sales teams come with a hidden risk: Not enough pipeline creation capacity. When salespeople are: Closing Managing accounts Handling admin Running demos Prospecting becomes inconsistent. And inconsistent prospecting creates inconsistent pipeline. Which creates inconsistent revenue. The strongest companies right now aren’t necessarily hiring big teams again. They’re simply ensuring one thing: Pipeline never stops being created. Because when top-of-funnel slows, everything downstream feels harder. Lean is fine. Thin pipeline isn’t. www.sourcearep.com

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After being in the Outbound Cold Calling Lead Gen Agency world and focusing on helping early-stage start-up Founders get their first clients, we have learned some things that nobody even considers... 1. This is important: 1 to 1 meeting setting for busy Founders are the worst performing outcome and should be aggressively challenged by Founders looking to gain their first clients. Why? It should be obvious, but I'll say it as succinctly as possible: "Risk" Cold calling and booking 1 to 1 meetings with people who do not want to make mistakes, take risks, or look stupid in front of their peers often object to taking meetings with orgs they know nothing about. Agencies that set these meetings often set "quid pro quo" meetings through reflex response objection handling. For example, the prospects wants to get off the phone, so they ask the caller to send an email, and the caller responds with "Sure, but we like to put a meeting on the calendar to answer your questions; we can always move it if something comes up." <--- There are many flavors of this, but they are all... FALSE POSITIVE Meeting sets. False positive meeting sets lead to 3 things: 1. High No-Show Rate <--- Which wastes so much of the Founder's or the Founder's team's time! 2. Horrible Intro Calls because the Founder or their sales rep can't get the meeting off the ground, especially if it was a quid pro quo meeting set. 3. Losing hope in outbound and quitting the service So, we had to pivot and take aim at new goals, and here they are: 1. How do we get more out of first-time connects? 2. How can we help Founder's aim at AND achieve gaining new customers/revenue fast while eliminating the inefficiencies of 1 to 1 meetings? 3. How do we NOT cause the conditions where our clients are complaining or trying to manage our process <--- When the meetings no show or go nowhere, clients tend to start saying "You need to qualify more," and that's when it's over because a COLD CALL is not the place to qualify. The answer: For the last couple of years, we have been focusing on what we call: "Trojan Horse to Opportunity Outbound" Think of it as "Group Discovery" with your Target market, once a month, every two weeks, or as often as you want. This strategy completely eliminates the waste and frustration Founder's experience with 3rd-party lead gen agencies. Here's how: 1. No "1 to 1 meetings," it's a group meeting: Trust is built faster! 2. No-shows become a non-issue: Avoid getting pissed that your time is being wasted. 3. First time a cold call connects go smoother and convert at a higher rate than 1 to 1 meeting asks. The results: Trust is built faster, Qualified 1 to 1 meetings come out of the group meeting, and the increased volume and velocity to revenue is realized immediately. Get started and have your first group call with 20 to 30 of your next best customers as early as the 2nd or 3rd week of July. Use my calendar at the top of my profile. #TalkSoon

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I chatted with a VC last night who's had 18,000 investment pitches uploaded to his website since 2022. How many has he invested in? One. Not because they don't invest. This is one of London's most active seed funds, with 70+ companies backed since 2022. But their online Submit a Pitch form isn’t there to boost deal flow .. .. it’s to LOOK inclusive, so they can’t be accused of only backing the old boys’ network. Founders, a word to the wise: Don’t bother cold-pitching venture capital funds! This investor went on to share that one of the key founder traits they look for is tenacity. And if you can’t find a way to a warm intro to the fund, or even connect with the investor on LinkedIn, then it’s unlikely you’re going to hustle your first sales. You’re not tenacious enough. The ideal signal the VC is watching for is that people who know you and your market well have already invested. Ideally you've already got small angel investments from: ✅️ Your early customers' founders ✅️ Your suppliers ✅️ Your former boss ✅️ Your friends I’ve been guilty in the past of filling in the 'Apply for Funding' form on a VC website, but it’s never come to anything. Don’t be tempted.

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Ai is going to make the SDR remits redundant. 🚫 Nope. Ai is going to streamline SDR and simple sales work, improving efficiency and performance. However, if you are in a role, or manage a team of glorified 'meeting takers', then yes, your role is at risk. Skilled SDR and entry level sales professionals are going to be around for a very long time and the reason is simple; Trust. Building genuine relationships and establishing trust with clients remains a human skill that AI cannot replicate. While AI can handle repetitive tasks and provide valuable insights, the core of successful sales; listening, empathy, understanding nuances, and forging authentic connections, still relies on human interaction. So, instead of replacing SDRs, AI will empower them to focus on high value activities that require a personal touch, ultimately elevating the role of skilled sales professionals and reinforcing the importance of trust in the sales process. What this means for you: Upskill. Make sure that you are continually learning and that as entry level sales people or managers, that you are developing skill sets to be future ready.

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Our most recent episode of Ameba meets was a truly special one - last week I sat down with Marco Gomes and João Gomes, the brothers at the helm of Anglotex. Anglotex was one of Ameba's earliest customers, and I have always been so inspired by the innovative mindset of the leaders of this family business who are constantly pushing to be first movers in their field, and as a result are partnering with some of the most exciting and fast-growing fashion businesses today. We spoke about their experiences over the past decade transforming Anglotex from a business at risk of bankruptcy to a business that is setting new standards for quality and pace in the industry; why everything comes down to people and culture when it comes to running a successful business; why they chose to partner with us as we build out our AI supply chain solution; and their plans for the future. I'll be sharing more snippets from this great conversation over the coming weeks - I have learnt so much from these brothers not only about garment manufacturing, but also about leadership. Check out the full conversation on YouTube or Spotify - link in the comments!

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🚀 Exciting News. We’ve rebranded! If your business is ready for a fresh new look, now’s the perfect time to refresh your online look too. Whether you need a brand-new website, brand bible, or just a performance-focused website audit — we have you covered. Let’s build something bold together. 🔵 Contact Kai Gabini Elliott Ullah or Ben Fairhead or myself for more information. #WebDesign #BrandRefresh #MXWebDesign

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Your brand’s real moat is the relationship you build with your customers. Every week I sit down with Yousif Aslam, founder and MD of Heavenly Desserts, to talk about life and business. We’ve started recording parts of those conversations to share with you. Attention is easy to buy. Hard to keep. Loyalty compounds.

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In 2018 there were just 200 female-founded scale-ups in the UK. Today there are 1,887 businesses turning over more than £10.2m (or with £5.1m+ in assets) — including 144 now scaling beyond £50m in revenue. ⬆️ That’s a 43% increase year-on-year. Thursday night I had the privilege of closing the market at the London Stock Exchange alongside many of the women building those companies. The numbers come from the new Female Founders Index, launched by the ScaleUp Institute and The SuperScalers. At the moment the public conversation about the UK economy is pretty gloomy. We talk ourselves down a lot. But spending time with founders who are actually building and scaling businesses tells a very different story. And for those who inevitably ask “where are the women building big businesses?” — they’re right here. Founders like Henrietta Morrison (Lily’s Kitchen), Louise Hill (GoHenry), Kate Prince (Ancient + Brave), Vivien Wong (Little Moons), Pippa Begg (Board Intelligence), Darina Garland (Ooni) and Sally Alington (Ethos Farm) — to name just a few of the 144. If the UK wants growth, we need more companies reaching £50m, £100m and beyond. Scale-ups drive a disproportionate share of jobs, productivity and innovation. And if we want more of those companies, we need the widest possible pool of people building them. This isn’t just about women. It’s about making sure the next generation of great British scale-ups reflects the full breadth of talent in this country. Because the bigger and more diverse the group of people building companies, the bigger the economy we all benefit from. Props to the indomitable Sam Smith & Rosaleen Blair, CBE, ably supported by Irene Graham OBE, Julia Hoggett & Oli Barrett. Bravo!

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📌 Tech Futures Summit | Post 6 of 7 - Scaling Here: Learning from Palo Alto Saul Klein helped back Figma, Wise, and dozens of the UK's most important startups as a serial founder and investor. Next week he's coming to Gloucester to explain why he believes our wider region can directly rival Palo Alto - putting Gloucester on the map. 📅 Scaling Here: Learning from Palo Alto | 19 March | 2:30pm – 4:00pm | Patch Gloucester 🎟️ Free to attend 🗣️ Saul Klein is the co-founder of LocalGlobe and Phoenix Court - the UK's leading early-stage VC fund - and co-founder of Seedcamp, one of the most prolific early stage investors ever in the UK. He's the person behind the New Palo Alto thesis: the idea that world-class innovation ecosystems don't need to be in Silicon Valley, and that we have a prime case in the cities surrounding London. He'll be making the case that Gloucestershire is part of this mix and has the key ingredients, followed by a conversation with Reid D. and moderated by our very own Paloma Strelitz 👤 Reid is a chartered engineer and technology leader with 35 years of experience in UK Defence and National Security, leading innovation programmes across counter-terrorism, cyber security, and data science. He currently serves as Ecosystem Lead in National Security, connecting the world's best innovators with HM Government to solve the hardest national security challenges through science and technology. He's a Director of CyNam, an Aegis Professor of Innovation at the University of Bristol, sits on the Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellowship Selection Panel, and advises Cheltenham Science Festival. He is a Fellow of the IET and the RSA, the kind of person who has a network that reaches from Gloucestershire startups to global governments, and a champion for Gloucestershire. Reid was also diagnosed with ADHD in 2021 and has since become a vocal champion for neurodiversity in the workplace. That perspective matters in a room talking about the future of innovation. 🏢 Both summit days include free coworking, lunch and networking throughout Patch. Stay for the full day or drop in for this session. 🔗 Book your place: https://lnkd.in/eF5RGm4R Part of the CyNam x Patch Tech Futures Summit | 18–19 March | Patch Gloucester | Free | In partnership with UK Tech Week Please share, especially with anyone who's ever been told they need to move to London to build something big. They don't! 👇

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“Never, never, never give up.” – Churchill Quarter-end is here. For some organisation including my previous one, Q3 close sets the stage for a strong year-end finish. At this point, your deals are qualified — so for sales reps, the game is when and how... Monday email? Tuesday call? Quarter-end discount or stick to value? Close now or build Q4 pipeline? When I was a rep (and later when I managed them), I found the best way to build urgency was to tie quarter-end to the customer’s own priorities. If your SaaS tool unlocks a new revenue stream, remind them that closing now means those Q4 numbers hit faster. If you save costs, highlight that every month they wait is money left on the table. If compliance deadlines loom, show how acting now avoids year-end penalties. If it’s about efficiency, frame it as giving their team a smoother run at Q4 targets. Quarter-end urgency isn’t about your quota — it’s about helping them win sooner. Stay sharp. Stay persistent. What’s your best quarter-end story?

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🚀 From Seed to Success: The Inside Track to Series A Only 6% of UK start-ups make it to Series A, and for those who raise a Seed round, 3 in 4 fail to progress further. To help founders beat these odds, Tech Nation and Founders Forum Group (in partnership with Airwallex) have released The Scaleup Playbook, distilling lessons from over 300 European tech founders. 💡 Key Insights for Your Scaling Journey: ✨ Product-Market Fit is Won in Conversations: Despite the rise of AI, 69% of founders cite direct customer interviews as the most effective validation method. ✨ The "Runway" Trap: Underestimating cash runway is the #1 financial blind spot, disrupting growth for 1 in 3 founders. ✨ The Talent Bar: Hiring the right early team is the biggest operational hurdle for 50% of start-ups. Pro tip: 25% of founders rate a Senior Engineer/Technical Lead as their most impactful first hire. ✨ The Fundraising Paradox: While 38% of founders struggle to find the right investors, many overlook the basic financial infrastructure like cross-border payments needed to support the global growth those investors expect. ✨ AI as a Force Multiplier: 1 in 4 founders are intentionally leveraging AI to accelerate growth in the next 12 months. ✨Scaling isn't just about moving fast; it's about building a foundation that actually holds. # Thier #TECHNATIONTECHNATIONTECHNATIONTECHNATION

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