Dan Taylor

New venture helps founders reach their goals “Every deal is different, and our mission is to close the expectations and quality gap between founders and investors, to get founders match fit for when they engage to seek investment or exit.” A Greater Manchester-based venture company is set to support founders through growth and exits. End Game has been launched by five high-profile business leaders – Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL, Nick Richardson, CMRS, Naomi T., Giles Harridge and James Akrigg – to provide hands-on support for founders at critical stages of their company lifecycle. The founders say the company will aim to help entrepreneurs make optimal decisions as they scale and prepare for exit, offering practical guidance based on the team’s own experience navigating business highs and challenges. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/dCywfUTS

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📣 VCs! Does your deal flow funnel look a bit..... homogenous? With only 2% of UK VC funding going to all-female teams and less than 0.5% going to black founders - and nearly half of all capital going to companies based in London - we thought we would put together a few suggestions based on recommendations from reports looking at increasing diversity at the top of the funnel. If your top of funnel isn’t diverse, it’s rarely because diverse founders don’t exist. It’s because many quietly self-select out. A few practical ways to widen the funnel: 🗣️ Use inclusive, specific language (clarity beats vague “exceptionalism”) 🚪 Be accessible with clear contact routes, open applications or office hours 📜 Signal commitment (e.g. Investing in Women Code, Diversity VC certification) 👭 Diversify sourcing beyond the usual universities, networks and accelerators 👥 Build balance into teams, panels and visible moments 🧰 Offer support beyond capital at the top of the funnel 📊 Track who enters your funnel and make DEI part of how you operate You don’t need to lower standards — you need to remove unnecessary friction. You can’t invest in founders you never meet. Full piece here: https://lnkd.in/eDwsgWf7 With thanks to the Invest in Women Hub, Invest in Women Taskforce, Diversity VC, UK Private Capital, European Women in VC, Level 20, Extend Ventures, The Table, Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund, Ada Ventures, Astia, Alma Angels, Social Mobility Ventures, Bethnal Green Ventures, Unconventional Ventures, Sie Ventures, Black Seed VC, Startup Discovery School, Climate Mosaic, Women in Cleantech and Sustainability, Sophie Purdom and Ramsay Siegal for your research, support and leadership. #VC #Cleantech #Climatetech #ZeroCarbon #Diversity #Inclusion

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💷 The UK’s venture capital market is showing positive momentum again. In 2024, VC investment into UK companies hit £9 billion, supporting 378,000 jobs. In total, more than 9,000 UK businesses now have VC backing. The question now becomes how this capital can help product-led, globally ambitious companies scale from the UK, rather than relocating when they hit the $20-50M growth stage. In a new guest blog, British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) Head of Venture Capital Chris Elphick and Senior Venture Capital Executive Baderin Tejuoso dig in to this, taking us through the findings of BVCA’s latest Venture Capital in the UK Report, including: - What’s changing in 2025, - Momentum on pension fund participation,  - Why SaaS deserves to be seen alongside the hype categories it quietly powers,  - And what needs to happen next. Read the full post here: https://lnkd.in/evgySVqZ 

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Only 36% of recruiting & search businesses invest in marketing. Most see marketing as secondary, focusing mainly on business development and delivery. But without actively building your brand, you're compromising on your ability to scale. JAMES WHITELOCK🤙, MD at ThinkinCircles, highlighted three key insights in a recent chat with Kritika Swarup Shah 💡 The competition is fierce and without marketing your chances of truly standing out are diminished. 🤝🏾 Trust forms before sales—marketing must showcase your expertise. 🛞 Flywheels, not funnels, create lasting relevance. 🎯 Marketing isn’t optional; it’s a necessity now!

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shipshape.vc and @Place. Join Forces in a New Partnership to Support Scaling Founders 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Shipshape.vc, the free investor search platform and FinTech Wales member, has partnered with strategic talent specialists Place. to help startup founders scale with greater clarity, confidence, and intent. The collaboration between Daniel Sawko and Kieran O'Connor brings together Shipshape’s investor intelligence platform with Place’s deep experience in people strategy, addressing a critical but often overlooked challenge in early-stage growth: building effective, high-performing teams. The partnership launches with a regional focus on South Wales, with plans to expand internationally. As a first milestone, the two companies have released the Strategic Founders Hiring Guide: a free, practical resource for founders currently raising investment. 👉 Read more about it here: https://lnkd.in/gYsbCDM8

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🔭 Looking ahead to HR in 2026 As we head full throttle toward the end of 2025, the way we work, lead, and manage people is evolving fast. From those much discussed employment law changes to AI shaping everyday processes, 2026 will bring new opportunities for startups and scale-ups to get their people foundations right. 💡 I’ve pulled together a short read on 6 trends UK startups and scale-ups should watch, plus a practical checklist for you to see where you are on your People road ahead! Happy reading! 📖 https://lnkd.in/ecg3KJqP #HR #Startups #Scaleups #FutureOfWork #PeopleStrategy #UKBusiness #FractionalHR

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Some thoughts for coworking leaders in the UK. The time has come to create and share* your hyperlocal economic impact reports. It's one (important) thing to share how many businesses you host, and what the changes in business rates may mean to you and your ability to support and house these businesses. It's a whole other thing to show just how many pounds and pence go into the neighbouring economy. Ideally, by now, we'd have a way to better track this, but here's a running start: 🚊 Ask: members how they get in to the office. 🍲 Ask: members what they get for lunch (and from where). 🍻 Ask: members how often they go out nearby in the evenings. ☕️ Guestimate: number of coffee cups from nearby vendors thrown away each week. 🍽️ Guestimate: local catering, services and other spend. 🏋️‍♀️ Guestimate: local gym, spa, yoga, wellness spend. Those numbers, added together, are a fraction of the hyperlocal economic impact your space(s) drive. If spaces like yours go out of business, that spend vanishes almost instantaneously. Local leads, Paul Dutnall, Gabriela Hersham, Freddie Fforde, Wybo Wijnbergen, Greg Miley, Rupert Dean, Marc Brough, Paul Nellist, Simon Carter, Lawrence Hutchings, Natasha Guerra, Jon Trigg, James Hennessy, Jonny Rosenblatt what say you? *I am ready and willing to put the full amplification of This Week In Coworking on any economic impact reports sent my way. Plus I'm fairly certain Caleb Parker, 👩🏻‍💻Emilie Lashmar, Bernie J Mitchell, and Jerry Alexander will all help widely promote such reports.

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Yay - Claromentis is now an official supplier to the British Franchise Association (BFA). This recognition reflects our commitment to helping franchisors deliver training, communications, and compliance across every location, all within one hub. As the franchise sector continues to modernise, we’re excited to support BFA members with technology that drives clarity, consistency, and growth. https://lnkd.in/ehx5swpe

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BusinessCloud has joined forces with the UK’s largest community of board advisors to hold a series of exclusive UK-wide masterclass business events in 2026. VirtualNonExecs.com is the UK’s largest community of board advisors, giving corporate partners unparalleled access to the boardrooms of over 50,000 SMEs.   The company, which was acquired by Leonard Curtis in 2024, specialises in connecting companies, private equity, venture capital and family office funds with non-executive and chair professionals.   VirtualNonExecs has big ambitions to grow and have teamed up with BusinessCloud to hold a series of face-to-face masterclass events.   Experienced Dominique Dempsey has joined as events manager and the first two business breakfast has been earmarked Leeds for the end of February on how to scale internationally.   Gary Cain, managing director of VirtualNonExecs, said: “We’re delighted that Dominique has joined us and to be partnering with BusinessCloud.   “By combining these in-person events with VirtualNonExecs’ existing virtual networking, we are creating a powerful hybrid model that really enhances our offer.”   Christopher Maguire, executive editor of BusinessCloud, said: “We’re delighted to be working with VirtualNonExecs. I’ve known Gary and Dominique for a long time and we can leverage our respective networks to produce the best events.   “I’ve followed the growth of VirtualNonExecs since it was founded in 2019 and we’re honoured that they’ve chosen BusinessCloud to be their events partner.” Full story here https://lnkd.in/ekbZ5Zw4

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