Pat Farr

Will AI do away with developers? After a few weeks of taking one out for a spin, I can safely say... ...not for a fair while yet. I've been using Claude Code for a month. For the uninitiated, you plug it into your codebase, it has a look through, and then you can ask it to make changes. You can review those changes one by one, or if you're feeling particularly brave, you can tell it to just plug on without review. My thoughts? It's still just clever auto-complete. But if you're not specific enough, or if there's scope for confusion, then it will get confused. An example - my little side project (https://projectboo.co.uk) allows people to run boardgame conventions. Those will have three different types of labels - one for the attendee themselves, one for games listed in the bring and buy and one for games provided in a gaming library. Historically all three were the same size, but one convention wanted smaller labels for the attendee. So at that point, attendee labels had two size options, the others weren't configurable. This year, one convention wanted larger labels for the attendees. So I first asked Claude to create a new size of label for attendee labels, and then also implement the same choice across the other two types of label. I'll say this much, it worked pretty well - it had a look through the codebase and realised that the settings for the label sizes were stored in the database, so amended all three options to allow for corresponding values to be stored. It also picked up that when new settings were implemented, there's a job that's run as part of the push process that populates the defaults of the new settings to each convention, and added to that. Where it didn't perform as well, however, was where it couldn't easily intuit from existing code what needed to be done. The labels themselves, when generated, are built as HTML and then rendered via DomPDF as a PDF. New sizes mean new HTML templates (well, Blade templates, technically) but with the added complication that the organisers can choose to show / hide the attendee's barcode (on attendee labels) and the convention's logo (on all labels) so the amount of space available would change. It approached this as one would do for building any HTML page, which is to use flex to take up the whole height, then specify the amount, in percentage terms, each section (barcode, name, logo) can take up. But because the output was being rendered as a PDF, which doesn't like percentage terms, it struggled. A lot. For simple tasks it lightens the load, but for anything more complex it struggles. I'll probably keep using it, but treating it as a very junior developer. Patiently explain what it is that I need, chat through questions, and check carefully over what it does. But it does help, to a degree. Plus, when I asked it, it reckoned that Project Boo's codebase was well-built, feature-rich and functional, although it could be a bit more elegant. Not unlike myself, really.

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The JSL changes impacting the recruitment sector in the UK are nearly here, and its not clear the impacts are overly positive. The rise is requests for credit terms and rebates (kick backs to the recruiter from the Umbrella firm, paid for by the contractor) seem to be at eye watering levels. We're fortunate, our Hiring Partners love our service, and our contractors fight back if they're told to move to a different Umbrella firm. No Worries Red Umbrella Limited operates an ethical and transparent business model. Want to remove JSL supply chain risk? It business-as-normal for us. We don't pay kickbacks (sorry, I mean rebates), we don't have a drawer of brown envelopes, and we don't over-charge our contractors so we can pay for their recruitment firms Golf Day. We often skip PSLs (Preferred Supplier Lists), and work with some of the UK's largest and best Hiring Partners (and also a lot of small firms with just 5-10 contractors). How do we do this? Our service is unparalleled, our contractors want to keep working with us, we're FCSA accredited, all payslips are audited by veriPAYE, our overall business is audited annually by Jones Hunt Keelings, and we provide a live feed to our payroll data AND are bank account, so our Hiring Partners can always see, 24/7, that their JSL risk sits at zero. No Worries Red Umbrella Limited is ready for you too :) #UmbrellaCompany #RecruitmentUK #JSL #PayrollCompliance #HMRC #Transparency #ContractorPay #IR35 #FCSA #OpenBanking

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"What actually makes your pitch stand out to investors?" We asked founders at our recent TECH WEEK by a16z event - some clever strategies in here! 🧠 What's your answer? #SFTechWeek #TechWeek2025 #AIFundraising

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Noticed something interesting when doing an end of year database clean a few weeks ago... Specifically, this is our client contact database, so it's almost entirely founders and tech leaders working in the startup & scaleup space, and it's separate from our candidate database. Anyway, we keep it mostly up to date manually throughout the year, especially for those we're having conversations with, but things like locations, job titles, promotions etc. - it's hard to stay on top of that in real time. So every year we'll enrich the database to bring it back to full accuracy, and then those that have moved out of the startup scene or who are no longer in our ICP for whatever reason get removed (aside from some edge cases). This year, more than 10% of all contacts in the database have left Australia to move overseas (it's based on LinkedIn location so it's not 100% accurate, but it gives a decent idea at least). There's ~6,000 people in this database, for reference. So that's 600+ of Australia's founders and tech focused startup operators leaving our market to build their's or someone else's startup elsewhere. Over half have gone to the US, perhaps unsurprisingly - but I'd also assume the US locations are least likely to be accurate, as lots of people put SF on LinkedIn even though they still live here (make sales & funding easier, perhaps). But there's also lots of London, New Zealand, India, and even a couple now in Brazil! I talk a lot about how Australia is losing talent to other geographies and how concerning it is - I've also talked about how the best founders and the most successful startups we have typically rush to the US as quick as they can. At times I wonder if I'm just being a bit alarmist - but then you have to ask... Have we imported 600+ founders and tech operators of similar quality to replace them? I'd be surprised.

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Many #Neurotech founders might think they’re getting close to a yes. In reality, they might not even be in the conversation. If you're receiving comments such as this.. “Stay in touch” “Not quite for us right now” “Circle back when you’ve hit X” It's not progress. It’s a soft no. And it's not helpful. Why not instead refuse to leave ambiguity on the table? Before you present to an investor: “If this isn’t for you, I’d genuinely value direct and honest feedback. Good or bad.” Simple sign-posting. Massive difference. It turns vague signals into something you can actually act on. So far, this is one of the most simple yet profound pieces of advice to come out of these conversations. As well as the above, there are themes emerging from the Neurotech Capital Signals interviews such as treating fundraising as a structured process, prioritising momentum over perfection, a relentless focus on de-risking, and understanding early where reimbursement will make or break the story. To be clear - this advice isn't coming from me - it's coming directly from CEOs who’ve closed rounds while most of the market hasn’t. Lot's more to share from the conversations already recorded, which I’ll be putting out over the coming weeks.... and if you’re a neurotech CEO who’s raised in the past couple of years and you haven’t yet been part of these discussions - and you'd like to bring some value to this topic and your peers in the industry - I’d be keen to speak. The objective is simple: Surface what actually works And share it with those still trying to figure it out.

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Cursor Automations is something that when I first saw I thought - yes that's obvious. I have now started to look at it more and explore it - it is a really smart way to turbo charge so much and it is a brilliant productisation of what is happening anyway just in a really nice package. It points directly at - just leave it with me and that list is potentially massive leaving the builder to focus on the critical thinking. It's also a bit of a lock in - which I am sure they are fully aware of......

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SaaS stands for Software as a Service. But too often, I see software companies forget the service part. If you're a GP juggling deals, investor comms, distributions, and reporting — the last thing you need is clunky software that creates more work. Software should feel like an extension of your team. It should reduce friction, not add it. It should serve you — not the other way around. That’s the mindset behind RECAP: - AI that saves you hours on comms, reporting, and waterfalls - Built-in automation that cuts manual work across the board - Tools designed for speed, clarity, and confidence If you're building your firm for scale, we’d love to show you what we’re building for you.

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There's a specific kind of dread that hits on a Sunday evening when you realise you haven't posted anything all week. You know you should. You've got things worth saying. But between client calls, chasing invoices, and fixing whatever broke on Friday afternoon — content is always the first thing to slip. The frustrating part? It actually matters. Early on, the people who might hire you, refer you, or buy from you often check your LinkedIn first. Silence reads as dormancy. But you're not dormant. You're just underwater. A few things that genuinely helped me get more consistent: Write the moment you have a thought — even one sentence in your notes app. Most posts start as a half-formed observation from actual work, not from a dedicated "content session." Batch when you're already in that headspace. One week I had three client conversations that sparked real insights. I drafted all three posts in about 40 minutes while they were still fresh. Scheduled them across the week. Done. Stop trying to sound interesting — try to be useful instead. The posts that get actual responses are the ones that help someone solve a specific problem, not the ones that perform depth. I've been building ByVeya Labs partly to tackle this exact problem — keeping up a consistent, meaningful presence without having a whole team behind you. https://byveya.com Still figuring out what works though. For other founders in here: how do you actually stay consistent with content when you're also the one doing everything else? #UKFounders #EarlyStage #SoloFounder #ContentStrategy #FounderLife

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Trying to find product market fit in an early stage company is very tricky, due to a number of things, but in particular 'value perception'. By value perception, I mean the value the user gets from using your product. In the early stages of a business, it is always great to have lots of people using your product, but it can be difficult to figure out why they are using it which will inevitably cause problems. Hypothetical example: Imagine you sell cups of water on the beach full of people and everyone buys from you. However, half buy the cup of water, say this is the best water ever, and discard the cup. The other half say this is a great cup for building sand castles and discard the water. You have 100% market share, but the value obtained from your cups of water is different to 50% of the market. This may sound great at the start (100% market share), but eventually you will want to evolve your product or the buyer may ask for changes. The 'water' half will ask for changes in the taste or colour of the water, while the 'cup' half will ask for changes in the size or composition of the cup. Which do you do when you have limited runway? I don't think there is a definitive 'right' answer in this scenario. This is part of the inevitable PMF dilemma that occurs when founders figure out how their product actually delivers value and they need to decide on changing either the product or the target market on a limited budget. That being said, the earlier you can figure this out the better because the more budget you have, the more options you can take. PS The below is an AI generated photo and yes I'm not sure how he's holding both cups of water either. 😊

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Some of our best Ostana features started as throwaway comments. Not feedback forms. Not surveys. Just a business owner on a call saying “wouldn’t it be great if...” and us actually writing it down. We almost missed half of them because they didn’t sound like feature requests. They sounded like small frustrations. Turns out the best product decisions weren’t made in our planning docs. They were made in those conversations. Stop guessing. Go talk to your customers.

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Hot take (especially for UK founders): You don’t need more leads. You need a sales engine that actually converts. I’ve lost count of how many founders I’ve spoken to who say: “We need more pipeline.” But when you dig in… The problem isn’t volume. It’s conversion. So they do what feels logical: → Hire a senior marketer → Invest in campaigns → Push for “more activity” And still… revenue stalls. Because: You can’t scale what isn’t working. Here’s what I see again and again in UK scale-ups: • Messaging hasn’t been properly tested in real conversations • ICP is still too broad • Sales process lives in the founder’s head • Conversion is inconsistent at best And yet — the instinct is to hire. Either: A senior marketer to “drive demand” or A senior sales leader to “fix sales” Both too early. No proven engine = nothing to scale. And this isn’t rare. It’s the norm. Most founders hit this messy middle: Founder-led sales is no longer enough… But a full-time hire is too much, too soon. That’s where growth stalls. What actually needs to happen here isn’t hiring. It’s building: • Clear, tested messaging • A defined ICP • A repeatable sales process • Early signs of consistent conversion In other words — a sales engine. Then marketing has something to amplify. Then a sales leader has something to scale. Until then? You’re just adding cost, not capability. The founders who get this right don’t rush to hire. They fix the fundamentals first. Curious — have you seen this play out in your own business or others? #SalesStrategy #CommercialLeadership #ScaleUp #B2B #RevenueGrowth Mathew Boyle Belinda Boyle Simon Drake Business Growth Support Services Ltd

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Founders, do not ignore the science of selling… Last month I made more money on consultation fees telling companies NOT to hire rather than to hire. Heres what happened… Two founders, both looking to hire their first sales rep to drive new ARR and double revenue by 2026 Both founders were technical, not commercial.. Four answers in the discovery call made me question their hiring decision: ➔ Who is your ICP? “everyone really”  ➔ How do you expect to double revenue? "double the customers"  ➔ Who will they report into? “Me, but I know nothing but about sales” ➔ What CRM do you use? “None, we use spreadsheets” The structure and strategy wasn’t there, and bringing in a pure hunter could be damaging. Why? Because here's what will most likely happen: The salesperson starts with no strategy or direction, struggles to perform, and the founders are left confused after pouring time and energy into a hire with no results. The rep can sell but can’t build a GTM strategy, feels deflated, and quits. By mid-2026, revenue is behind last year’s. Founders lose confidence in hiring and themselves blaming external factors like “those fe*ckin recruiters…” But the real issue? They hired for the wrong person. And no one told them… What they actually need? They need another layer between them and the sales rep. Why? Because this is a strategy layer that steers the ship to 2x ARR. It could be a fractional VP of Sales, contracted VP, or advisor. They will own: ➔ Sales Process ➔ ICP definition ➔ KPI structure ➔ Messaging And that exact hire could even tap into their own network when the time is right to hire that first sales person in their business… In this case I intro'd the founder's to an advisor to support. 𝐌𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞? ➔ Do not ignore the science of selling, its the hidden force that actually makes sales people truly effective. Interested in understand more about fractional GTM leadership? drop me a DM and we can chat.

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Virtual offices in the UK are surprisingly misunderstood. I keep seeing founders get stuck on the same questions. Is it legal? Does Companies House accept it? Is it basically a PO Box? Most problems don’t show up on day one. They appear later when banks, HMRC, or compliance checks get involved. I put together a short, founder focused breakdown explaining what actually matters. No sales. No comparisons. Just clarity. It covers legality, compliance basics, common mistakes, and the things most people only learn after it’s too late. If you’re setting up a UK company or thinking about using a virtual office, this might help you avoid unnecessary friction. I built BetaOffice after running into these exact issues myself, so this is written from experience rather than theory. Happy to answer questions if helpful. #UKStartups #Founders #Entrepreneurship #CompanyFormation #BetaOffice

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Non-technical co-founders have always been pretty useless at the core aspect of a software startup: Development That is until Claude came along. I still leave the actual development to my amazing technical co-founder Marissa Bond and our brilliant first hire Thomas Ranieri… But as we’ve been building out new features for Thinking Mode, often there is something in my head I’d like to be able to describe in detail. This time last year, I was sketching crappy paper diagrams to attempt to show my thinking. Today, here’s my workflow with Claude: 1. Screenshot our current UI 2. Get Claude to reverse engineer the interface 3. Ask Claude to build what’s in my head until I’m happy. 4. Send to Marissa 5. She chucks out 95% of what I thought was good and ends up building something even better. 5% is still better than useless… 💪 Anyone else using AI to add value towards something you’ve always felt ill-equipped to support?

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Such a blast recording pod with Timothy Armoo yesterday, so many nuggets in this one for folk who are building, considering building or thinking about exits. My favourite? How the best businesses are built around what Timo calls "The Expertise Gap". A simple concept but deeply consequential. Think about the world of software development, for example. Till now you'd have paid a dev agency (or hired a team) to build any kind of software. And they could charge a fair whack for their expertise because you lacked the time, desire or interest (all of which build into expertise) to learn how to do it yourself. That game has shifted. Collapsed even. Because now the only expertise you need is how to describe a problem and the outcome you want and (with a bit of to and fro to figure out the detail) and with the right app and some tokens you've just compressed not only the cost to build, but the time to build too. Watch out for this episode of Nothing Ventured over the coming weeks - it's a gem 🔥

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When a fast-growing London consultancy spins out a 20-person staffing arm in 4 months, you need systems that scale without breaking. MLabs' results with Ropes tell the story: * 30 risky/fraudulent candidates stopped before client submission * 3 new major clients won with Ropes as a key differentiator * Now used in 100% of sales conversations But here's what really stood out from our conversation with Georgia Kingston (Sales, Marketing & Partnerships Director): "Remote roles attract a huge volume of candidates now, and the reality is that not all of them are legit. We needed to make sure we weren't just moving fast, but actually surfacing the right candidates and giving clients confidence in who they were speaking to." On differentiation: "Instead of just saying we vet candidates properly, we can show them exactly how. It gives us a clear, concrete answer when clients ask what makes us different." MLabs turned a fraud incident into a competitive advantage. They built a trust layer that's now embedded in every submission and every sales conversation. When clients ask "What makes you different?", having a concrete answer changes everything. Full case study below!

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Reform UK is now leading election polls, and if you’re a startup founder, here’s what you need to know! Far from expectations, 𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝟏𝟔% 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐬. Like it or not, they’re not just beating Labour but are even projected for 344 seats. So I went through their manifesto 😥 on behalf of all of you. Here’s what they offer the tech sector, kept easy to digest, but still buckle up! Directly about tech: not much. Just a vague line of “we’ll help it grow faster!” What!!! The only detail → Incentives and tax breaks for Britain’s defence manufacturing and tech sectors. 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡: → A corporation tax-free allowance of £100k profit → VAT threshold raised to £150k (from £90k) 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫. A win for small, profitable startups and sole traders approaching VAT registration. Tech goes hand in hand with immigration and foreign investment, but Reform’s core pillar is freezing non-essential immigration. → Employers would pay 20% NI for foreign workers vs 13.8% for British staff (exceptions: health, social care, very small businesses). 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐈, 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐊. No word on global talent policy [yet]! Scrapping net-zero targets is another. 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧-𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 (𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫, 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐄𝐕 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐧) 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 the most as they rely on policy certainty to draw investors. Many will have to pivot abroad. Reform doesn’t show a clear “tech spokesperson.” Buuuuuttttt they did set up a “Department of Government Efficiency” briefly led by tech entrepreneur Nathaniel Fried (later resigned). Somehow like Elon Musk and his Doge 👀. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐩 𝐃𝐄𝐈 𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬. UK gov grants like Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund or Disabled Facilities Grants will be gone and the ones that have partnership with gov might be affected. Like F100 Growth Fund and Black Founders Programme (Creative Industries). UK tech is already behind, only 2% of VC funding goes to women. So imagine this. So what do you think? Terrified or looking forward to it? Follow Jasmine Sayyari for more on the future of work (and a bit of politics).

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