When Unicorns Fly - The Startup Podcast

Saj Huq is the Director of LORCA (London Office for Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement) - a cybersecurity programme funded by the department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and delivered by Plexal. In this episode, we discuss the importance of building an ecosystem when growing your business and specifically the benefits to sector specific and/ or deep-tech areas such as cybersecurity.

Padraic Geraghty is a Senior Market Advisor at Enterprise Ireland who takes us through the various offerings Enterprise Ireland has for the Irish startup ecosytem. We specifically dive into:

 - What is Enterprise Ireland & the appeal of setting up a business in Ireland

 - Overview of the three main areas of support including:

1) New Frontiers Entrepreneur Development Programme - The national development programme for the first stage of your business 

2) Competitive Start Fund - £50k funding for 10% equity 

3) The High Potential Start-up unit (HPSU) - Seed investment matched funding 

- Extra support options available for HPSU clients 

- Feasibility grants & Market Discovery Fund  

- The rationale behind Enterprise Ireland directly investing in startups  

- Examples of company success stories

Lars Kvaalen is the Partner of Antler, an early stage VC with a unique incubator programme. Lars Kvaalen talks us through the purpose of incubator programmes and specifically how Antler helps maximise your chances of success. In detail we covered:  

Pre-programme:

- The structure of Antler's programme

- Whether an incubator would be right for you and what level of experience is required

- The costs involved

During programme:

- Tips to help you find a co-host and develop your business concept

- What to expect during the 2 month build phase

- How to best prepare for the investment committee and demo day

Post programme:

- Making the most out of the alumni network

- Success stories

- Terms of Antler's investment

Jeff Lynn is the executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Seedrs, the UK's largest and leading equity crowdfunding site. We discuss with Jeff whether crowdfunding is right for your business and then move onto how to run a successful crowdfunding campaign. We cover in detail the following:

- The key benefits and potential risks of crowdfunding  

- How crowdfunding fits into the overall fundraising process 

- Deciding what fundraising target to set & company valuation  

- How to make your campaign as attractive as possible to investors

- Company document requirements and disclosure of data  

- What happens if you miss your fundraising target  

- Seedrs fees 

Spencer Lake is a Partner at Element Ventures, a $150m fund founded in 2019. Spencer guides us through a textbook journey of relationship building with a VC both pre-deal & post deal. Specifically, we cover:

- What makes a company an attractive investment proposition

- Preparation & expectation required for a first meeting  

- Good questions founders should be asking  

- The importance of soft skills   

- Good practices for maintaining your investor relationships  

- What a founder should expect from a VC joining their board  

- Managing conflicts between founders & investors

James Kaye is the Director & Co-Founder of Big Ideas Machine, a B2B technology PR & Marketing agency. James helps us to tackle a key problem for early stage businesses whereby your brand is relatively unknown and unestablished, there is no marketing or PR function inhouse and it takes time, money & skills to run an effective PR campaign. We specifically dive into:  

- Building your PR & marketing strategy  

- Understanding your target customer  

- Recommended content creation  

- How to maximise PR publications & marketing channels 

- Measuring the ROI of a campaign  

- What to consider when hiring inhouse  

- What to expect when engaging with a PR agency  

- Cost considerations for inhouse hires, agencies and freelancers

Work in Startups General Manager Stephen Oldroyd started his career at Goldman Sach's investment banking division working both in London & New York. Stephen takes us through the end-end process of start-up hiring including creating a job specification, ensuring it gets maximum exposure and then subsequently filtering through the applicants. We will be discussing:

- The importance of the first hires in a business  

- How to write an engaging job specification  

- Using multiple platforms/job boards to maximise exposure  

- How to use social media effectively  

- Key considerations when budgeting for recruitment  

- Applicant tracking systems (ATS) and candidate screening 

Anthony Rose is the Founder and CEO of SeedLegals, the world’s first platform that lets founders easily create and negotiate legal documents they need for their business. In this episode, we dive into the detail with Anthony on: 

- The legal documents and contracts you should have in place when incorporating your business   

- Intellectual property rights and how to protect yourself   

- Simple rules when issuing equity in your business  

- Share options, the best way to issue them and their tax implications  

- Fundraising term sheets and company governance  

- The low cost approach to raising capital