In this week's episode, Simon and Anastasija talk with Funke Abimbola MBE, AI Governance Expert and Chief Legal Officer, about AI law and how it impacts UK businesses. If you are a UK based business founder you may not be fully aware of the local or international law that will either impact you now or as you grow. Did you know that the UK does not have any official single bill or legislation on AI regulation?

ABOUT FUNKE:

My name is Funke Abimbola and I am a multi-award winning  Corporate Lawyer, C-suite Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Leader, Healthcare executive, BBC media commentator, Non Executive Director, Public Speaker and Podcast host. 

Most importantly, I am a very proud mother to an exceptional son who is a software engineer.

Funke's linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/funkeabimbola/

Funke's personal website - https://funkeabimbola.com/

BUILDING GREAT TECH

In this episode of Building Great Tech. Anastasija and Simon talk with Jennie Vandegrift, Chief Customer Officer at Nuqleous, about the pressures that companies face to KEEP clients through the turbulant phases of mergers, aquisitions and the addition of bolt-ons. They break down the GRR metric and debate it's usefulness when calculating customer health, they also uncover some key strategies for improving retention and renewals.

Connect with Jennie:

In this episode of Building Great Tech, Anastasija and Simon talk with Grzegorz Blazewicz, founder of SALESmanago. They talk about pressures facing the marketing industry amidst the AI revolution and how AI can be used as a tool to help target marketing campaigns more effectivelty. They also break down Grzegorz's jounrey from B2B to B2B and back again, and how he managed to get funding from two seperate PE firms, eventually resulting in a 9-figure exit!

ABOUT GRZEGORZ

An entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in marketing and management. Founded Salesmanago and as a CEO bootstrapped the company from EUR 0 - 20 mln ARR and led the company to EUR 9-digit exit. Prior to starting Salesmanago worked in marketing agencies in New York and London, was CMO of Comarch, one of the largest IT companies in Europe (2000-2006), and CEO of Interia, Poland’s 3rd largest Internet portal, quoted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (2006-2008) which he managed to exit at EUR 100 mln valuation.
Academic lecturer, startup mentor and author of the popular book “Marketing Automation. Towards Artificial Intelligence and Hyperpersonalization”. Finalist in the 2014 EY Entrepreneur of the Year award.
Specializes in GTM Strategies, M&A, Product Development.

GUEST LINKS

Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/grzegorzblazewicz/

Book "Marketing Automation: Towards Artificial Intelligence and Hyper-personalization" - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Marketing-Automation-Artificial-Intelligence-Hyperpersonalization/dp/8301222220

SALESmanago - https://www.salesmanago.com/

BUILDING GREAT TECH

In this week's episode of Building Great Tech, Simon and Anastasija talk with Thomas Varan, a delivery leader for PE-backed software companies during post-acquisition integration. They talk about the key issues that affect acquisitions, why PE firms should think twice before adopting a bolt-on "buy and build" strategy, and how AI will redefine what it means to be agile in the software industry.

ABOUT THOMAS:

My career began on the phones — three years as a carrier sales account manager at Coyote Logistics, a company later acquired by UPS. That experience shaped everything I’ve done since: every engagement I run is ultimately about the customer’s outcome, not the internal process.

From there I moved into business analysis, led teams of analysts and offshore developers, managed global implementations across three continents, and built an organization’s first structured delivery practice from zero. Each step added a layer — technical fluency, cross-functional leadership, the ability to operate at the intersection of business strategy and engineering execution.

In 2018 I founded TV Consulting LLC and went independent. Since then I’ve worked inside PE-backed companies post-close — closing the gap between what diligence identifies and what actually gets fixed. Roadmap governance, sprint predictability, R&D metrics, board-level reporting. The work that turns engineering from a black box into a transparent, governed operation.

Simple philosophy: make the framework work for your organization, not the other way around.

GUEST LINKS:

Website - https://thomasvaran.com/

Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasvaran/

BUILDING GREAT TECH

In this episode of Building Great Tech, Simon and Anastasija talk with Jim Milbery, partner at ParkerGale. They discuss the evolving software markets, how AI and the SaaSpocalypse is changing what investors are looking for, and why founders now want AI in everything!

In this episode of Building Great Tech, Anastasija and Simon talk with David Pratley Mc-Gill, Client Solution Director, GTM & AI Labs at Salt. The episode explores how AI can empower sales teams to become more efficient. AI can conduct research for market outreach and even send emails on your behalf, but to what extent is AI actually harmful to the sales process? And could you replace your whole sales team with AI?

ABOUT DAVID:

My career has centred on building momentum where growth is being blocked. That has meant different things at different stages, from recruitment and talent solutions, to digital business building, to helping shape the commercial direction of an AI SaaS product. Most recently, I played a key role in developing @Answertree’s commercial engine, website, messaging, SEO foundations, outbound structure and enterprise-facing positioning during a critical stage of growth.
I am now Client Solution Director, GTM & AI Labs at Salt, where my focus is on helping build new AI-enabled and platform-led solutions that bring together talent, teams and transformation in a more connected and commercially effective way across the group.

GUEST LINKS:

David's Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pmcg/?originalSubdomain=uk

BUILDING GREAT TECH:

In this episode of Building Great Tech, Simon and Anastasija are in conversation with Rich Amsinger founder ManyCo.ai. An Ai-Driven inventory sell through engine. Rich explains how he let his Ai run wild with the company credit card, sometimes making werid and wonderful purchasing decisions. He also tells the story of how he lost $4 Million in shop inventory in a fire!

ABOUT RICH:

I’m the co-founder of The Many Company, where we’re building software to solve one of the most persistent and expensive problems in commerce: what happens to inventory after full-price selling ends.

In a market defined by fragmented tools, manual workflows, and disconnected resale channels, we built a unified SaaS platform that gives brands and retailers a single system to manage excess inventory, returns, and resale. Our software uses proprietary data and decisioning to determine where each item should go to generate the most profit, reach new customers, and reduce cost, while maintaining brand control.

The Many Company was founded with my co-founder and CEO, Carolyn Butler, on the belief that post-purchase commerce needed its own operating system—one built for margin recovery, compliance, and scale.
Today, I focus on helping brands turn excess inventory from a cost center into a strategic revenue layer. We’re building the infrastructure that modern apparel companies rely on as commerce, regulation, and consumer behavior continue to evolve.

GUEST LINKS:

See how Manyco.ai can help you - https://www.manyco.ai/

Connect with Rich on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardamsinger/

The Many Company on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-many-company/

BUILDING GREAT TECH:

Simon’s Linkedin: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonvhook/⁠

In this episode of Building Great Tech, Simon and Anastasija speak with Fessal Rahman, originator of the Agentic Commercial Model framework and founder of FR Advisory, about the impending upheaval of SaaS platforms due to AI integration. Is the “SaaSpocalypse” real? And is it coming sooner than we anticipated? They also discuss what the PE landscape looks like in 2026, and what PE firms are looking for when investing in ever changing markets.

Simon’s Linkedin: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonvhook/⁠

In this episode of Building Great Tech, Simon and Anastasija are in conversation with Dr.Travis Hoppe, Chief AI Officer at GroundVue and Former White House Assistant Director of AI Research and Development at OSTP. Travis also co-developed The Pile, the first open-source data pile for large language models. In this episode they discuss how AI will shape the future of democracy and the science behind developing large language models.

CDC Vision and Retun on Investment: https://www.cdc.gov/ai/vision/index.html

More background on GroundVue and the Founders: https://fedscoop.com/former-federal-technologists-tap-public-meetings-data-new-ai-venture/

https://buildinggreattech.com/

In this episode of Building Great Tech, Simon and Anastasija talk with Josh Dorfman, Founder of Plantd and host of The Supercool Podcast. They talk about how AI will actually save the planet from climate change, and why companies need to STOP talking about the environment to actually make consumers care!

Follow Josh on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dorfmanjosh/

About Supercool - https://getsuper.cool/about/

Buy Josh's Book "The Lazy Environmentalist" - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Environmentalist-Guide-Stylish-Green-Living/dp/1584796022

About Josh:

He is co-founder of Plantd, a carbon-negative materials company that converts atmospheric carbon into high-performance products, starting with building materials. As CEO, Josh led the company through its Seed and Series A rounds and helped secure a partnership with D.R. Horton, which has since scaled to more than 10 million carbon-negative structural panels.
He recently returned as fractional CMO to lead Plantd’s brand evolution, market positioning, and commercial strategy as the company scales.
Josh is also co-founder and host of Supercool, a media platform covering the companies building the low-carbon economy. Through founder interviews and editorial storytelling, Supercool highlights how climate companies gain market adoption by leading with performance, cost, and customer value.

Follow us on Linkedin!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonvhook/⁠

We dive into customer-focused strategies, killer product experiences, ethical tech, team dynamics, and smart roadmaps. Expect expert interviews, startup case studies, and practical advice to help make your tech profitable, scalable, and deeply aligned with your mission.

Build better tech. Serve more customers. Scale with purpose.