The Lounge

Dates: 12th and 13th November 2025, 10am-5pm Location: Hall N5-N8, Excel London If you're starting or growing your business, there are plenty of opportunities out there—but many often come with steep fees and expensive tickets. Now, picture a two-day event that's completely free to attend, filled with expert advice, hands-on support, and access to hundreds of top business services from across the UK—all in one place. Hear from successful entrepreneurs and business influencers, some with audiences in the millions, as they share their stories and advice in powerful keynote sessions. These are people who once started just like you. Whether you’re launching, growing, or expan…

Your First Impression Could Make or Break Your StartupIn the fast-paced world of startups, visuals speak louder than words. Investors, partners and potential customers often make snap judgments based on the look and feel of your presentations, social media and website. A sleek, professional design can inspire confidence. A sloppy or inconsistent one can raise doubts. The challenge? Not every founder has a design team, or the budget to hire one. Even if you do, the turnaround time for high-quality graphics can slow down critical campaigns and pitches. That’s where startup design tools come in. Canva, in particular, has become a go-to platform for early-stage founders and s…

Most people only think of satellites as far-off tools for GPS, weather forecasts, or telecoms. Silent dots orbiting above, out of sight, out of mind. But here’s the kicker: they’re already transforming disaster response elsewhere. In Australia, satellites map wildfire spread in real-time, helping firefighters allocate resources within minutes, not hours. In Bangladesh, they track floodwaters across vast deltas, guiding evacuations and aid before the worst hits. Meanwhile, the UK is already vulnerable: coastal floods, flash floods in urban centres, moorland wildfires. Yet, despite being a global hub for satellite research (hello, Harwell Space Cluster), we’re barely scr…

Running a startup means balancing a long list of priorities with limited time, budget and people. Founders often find themselves doing the work of multiple roles like managing strategy, operations, marketing and customer service, sometimes all in the same day. In this context, productivity tools aren’t about chasing trends; they’re about freeing up capacity so you can focus on the highest-impact work. One tool that has become increasingly relevant is ChatGPT. When used well, it can support a range of tasks, reduce repetitive workloads and give founders better access to information. This article explores practical ways startups can integrate ChatGPT into their workflows, w…

UK Govt: Women-led startups receive only 2% of total VC investment in the UK, yet generate twice the revenue per £ invested! Why should VCs be more interested in female-led startups: ✦ 35% higher ROI Women-led startups deliver 35% higher ROI than male-led ones, despite receiving far less funding. In the UK, they generate nearly double the revenue per £ invested. Reports from the US (BCG, 2018) and EU Zone showed quasi-identical results. ✦ Access to Untapped Markets Female founders often tackle underserved markets, especially those influencing the majority of global purchasing decisions - women. ✦ Economic Potential Closing the gender entrepreneurship gap could add $…

Why Founders Are Paying AttentionHave you ever wished you could turn your startup idea into a working website or app in minutes - not months? Bolt.New is making that possible. You don’t need to be a developer - just describe what you want in plain English and Bolt builds it for you. From there, you can see your app live in the browser, make quick changes and even publish it instantly. In just five months, people have used it to create over 1 million live sites - proof of how quickly it’s becoming the go‑to tool for founders who want speed without the technical hassle. Bolt.AI isn’t just another no‑code tool. It’s a startup automation powerhouse and AI productivity tool th…

Is Your Startup Workflow a Messy Web of Tabs, Tools and Lost Documents? If you’re a founder, business owner or investor juggling multiple priorities, you’ve probably experienced this: twenty browser tabs open, a half-written pitch deck in Google Docs, a team conversation buried in Slack and your product roadmap scattered across whiteboards and sticky notes. You swear you saw the latest sales strategy doc last week, but where? Welcome to the daily grind of modern startup life. In an age where agility is key and distractions are many, clarity can feel like a distant dream. You need structure, you need visibility and you need control. And most importantly? You need everythin…

You paste on your best “killing it!” smile, swig your third coffee of the morning (it's only 9:47 am), and power through your inbox while mentally rewriting your pitch deck and wondering if your last investor ghosted you. If this sounds familiar, take a deep breath. You might be doing brilliantly. But you also might be burning out. In the breakneck world of startups, hustle culture is practically tattooed on the inside of our eyelids. We glorify the 16-hour workday, wear stress like a badge of honour, and often forget that humans, unlike code, can’t be debugged so easily. And while building the next unicorn is thrilling, doing it at the cost of your sanity isn’t quite the…

Imagine waking up at 5:30 am with the enthusiastic conviction that you're about to change the world. By 11:00 am, you're wondering if you should’ve just started a coffee shop. At 2:00 pm, you’ve bagged a major investor meeting and feel like the next Elon Musk (without the X meltdowns). By 6:00 pm, your lead developer has rage-quit via Slack, and your marketing budget is down to £37.12 and a Pret sandwich voucher. Ah yes, welcome to the daily theatre of founder emotions. Starting a business is a bit like joining an emotional boot camp you didn’t sign up for. You lurch from euphoria to existential crisis faster than a Tesco self-checkout yells at you for an “unexpected ite…

Let’s get one thing straight: startup branding is not just a jazzy logo slapped on a pitch deck or a vague colour palette your cousin chose after watching one YouTube tutorial. Oh no, dear founder, branding is your startup’s personality, its charm, its voice, the reason people stop scrolling and go, “Ooh, what’s this then?” Whether you’re bootstrapping a tech unicorn from your mum’s garage or finally turning your lockdown sourdough hobby into a real thing, you need a brand that stands out, sells hard, and sticks like Marmite (but hopefully appeals to more people). Let’s break it down, bit by bit, with some good old-fashioned examples to inspire you. What Exactly is a Bra…

Let’s be honest: launching a startup feels like being dropped in the middle of the wilderness with a butter knife and a dream. You’re meant to survive, build an empire, raise millions, disrupt a few industries, and still have time for yoga on Tuesdays. But here’s a secret no one wants to shout too loudly: even the most successful founders didn’t go it alone. They had mentors. Plural. If you’re wondering whether you need a startup mentor, the answer is probably yes, unless you’ve already mastered fundraising, customer acquisition, product-market fit, hiring, leadership, cash flow management, and networking! If not, read on. What Is a Startup Mentor, Anyway?A startup mento…

Let’s face it. At some point during your startup journey, possibly while debugging at 2 am, pitching to a half-interested VC, or comparing yourself to a unicorn founder on LinkedIn, you’ve probably asked yourself: "Am I actually good enough to be doing this?" Welcome to the awkward dinner party no one wants an invite to: impostor syndrome. It's the inner saboteur whispering, “You’re a fraud, and soon everyone will know.” And you’re not alone. Impostor syndrome isn’t some rare psychological quirk reserved for first-time founders. It’s practically a rite of passage in the startup world. It's the nasty roommate in your brain that doesn't pay rent but definitely raids your co…

We get it, spreadsheets are comforting. They’re neat, familiar, and have probably helped you survive the early chaos. But it’s 2025, and the CRM world has evolved in leaps. Whether you're just starting out or scaling fast, there are some brilliant tools out there designed specifically for startups like yours, tools that make it easier to grow without drowning in admin. You don’t need an enterprise-sized budget, a team of 30, or a degree in data science. You just need the right tool. The best CRM for startups isn't about features you’ll never touch, it’s about simplicity, affordability, and helping you actually close deals. Whether you’re bootstrapped, venture-backed, o…

Most transport systems weren’t built with rural communities in mind. People living in remote and regional areas are often left navigating infrastructure that doesn’t serve their daily realities. While urban mobility has advanced rapidly with things like ride-sharing, micro-mobility and EV networks expanding, rural transport remains fragmented, underfunded, and outdated. For millions, reliable transport isn’t a convenience, it’s a barrier to education, employment, healthcare and social connection. This isn’t just a policy issue. 👉 It’s an overlooked market with real demand. 👉 It’s a sustainability challenge with environmental and economic stakes. 👉 It might just be your n…

In all honesty, building a startup is glorified chaos. You're juggling product development, customer service, marketing, sales, HR and finance before your second cup of coffee of the day. Every hour counts, every task matters and every unnecessary process drags you down. But imagine if you could automate the repetitive, mind-numbing tasks? The boring admin work, the manual data entry, the ‘copy this from here, paste it over there’ routine. What if all that could disappear? This is exactly what Zapier can do for you, it could become your startup’s silent co-founder. So, What is Zapier?Zapier is an automation platform that connects your favourite apps and tools (think Gm…

Most educational tools weren’t built with neurodiverse learners in mind. Students with ADHD, dyslexia, autism and other cognitive differences are too often forced to fit into systems that don’t fit them. Despite the rapid growth of EdTech, the vast majority of platforms still prioritize neurotypical users which overlooks the unique needs, strength and potential of millions of students. These learners aren’t lacking talent or motivation, they’re simply being underserved by tools that weren’t designed with them in mind. This is more than a design flaw. 👉 It’s a massive gap in the market. 👉 It’s a moral imperative for inclusive innovation. 👉 It might just be your next big mo…

How Ideas Are Born: A Founder’s Guide to Spotting Genius in the EverydayDiscover how startup founders generate world-changing ideas. Learn frameworks, tools, and mindsets to turn everyday frustrations into powerful business concepts. Attention: So, Where Do Good Ideas Come From?Here’s a truth bomb for you: most good ideas don’t just fall into your lap while you’re sipping an oat milk flat white. They rarely strike in a Hollywood-style “eureka” moment. Instead, they emerge quietly from conversations, complaints, clunky processes, or sheer frustration. Great founders don’t sit around waiting for a muse. They notice. They observe. They ask: “Why is this still so painful?” a…

Why Bubble.io Might Just Be the Secret Weapon Your Startup Needs Have you ever dreamt of launching an app over a weekend without summoning an army of developers or blowing your seed funding? Welcome to the future. The no-code movement is booming in the startup community and one tool in particular is quietly powering a wave of new digital products, namely, Bubble.io. If you’re a founder or part of a startup network looking to build quickly and test ideas, Bubble.io might just be your new best friend. The Startup Founder’s DilemmaYou’ve got a killer idea and you want to start a business. The pitch deck is hot off the (virtual) press. Now what? You could hire developers if…

If you’ve ever found yourself pitching in a room full of VCs, sweating through your "smart-casual" blazer, and desperately hoping your slide deck doesn’t crash (again), you’re not alone. Capital raising can feel like a blood sport: everyone's armed with buzzwords, and only the sharpest survive. But what if the well-trodden routes, angel investors, VC rounds, and awkward coffee chats at startup meetups aren’t the only ways to raise startup capital? Let’s explore seven often-overlooked, but entirely practical ways to raise the money your startup needs. Spoiler alert: none of them involve begging, borrowing or compromising your vision. What’s Your Capital Raising Strategy M…

5 Types of Founders You Meet at Demo Day Attention: The Startup Safari Begins... Welcome to Demo Day, the grand finale of startup accelerators and incubators a whirlwind of startup pitches, frayed nerves, VC notepads, and way too many flat whites. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, angel investor, or a curious outsider hoping to catch the next unicorn before it gallops away, Demo Day is your ticket to the startup circus. Held in buzzing cities like London, San Francisco, and Berlin, these events are more than just PowerPoint marathons. They’re social safaris where startup founders emerge from their coworking caves, eager to pitch, network, and (ideally)…

Bridging Britain’s Digital Divide: Boosting Literacy in Underserved CommunitiesThe Digital Divide is Real (and a Bit Rude)Fast-forward to 2025. Somewhere in the UK, a job ad reads: "Remote work only. Must be familiar with Microsoft Teams and Google Workspace." Now imagine the thousands of adults who glance at that ad and feel instantly excluded because they’ve never used Google Workspace, let alone heard of it. That is the digital divide and it’s not just inconvenient; it’s exclusionary, alienating, and quietly devastating. Who Are the Underserved?When we say underserved communities, we're referring primarily to people from lower socio-economic backgrounds including, but…

Are you an early-stage founder who often feels like you have no idea what you’re doing? Like you're one wrong decision away from it all falling apart? Well, welcome to the club! Dealing with days of startup uncertainty where you have more questions than answers isn't just common, it’s practically a rite of passage in the world of startups. The startup journey is often glorified and visionary founders are praised for their unwavering clarity. But behind the scenes, even the most successful founders have wrestled with doubt, ambiguity, and the persistent sense that they are making it up as they go. In reality, not knowing what you are doing as a founder is a sign that you’…

The Role of Failure in EntrepreneurshipWhen we think about entrepreneurship, it’s easy to get caught up in the highlight reel: flashy funding rounds, media coverage, product launches, and dream exits. But here’s what those glossy LinkedIn updates rarely show you: failure. Failure is a word many early-stage founders and UK small business owners fear. But in reality? It’s not just part of the entrepreneurial journey it’s essential to it. In fact, most successful entrepreneurs have failed more than once before making it big. They didn’t win because they avoided mistakes; they won because they learned how to fail better. This article explores why failure is an unavoidable (an…

The Hidden Struggles of Startup Life: What Founders Don’t Always Talk About Entrepreneurship gets a lot of buzz for the good stuff flexibility, passion, creative freedom, big exits. But if you’ve ever tried to build something from scratch, you know the behind-the-scenes version looks very different. Forget the highlight reels on LinkedIn. Behind every product launch and funding round is a founder battling uncertainty, burnout, and the creeping doubt that maybe they’re not cut out for this. This article pulls back the curtain on what really goes on in the startup world. Whether you're building a side hustle, launching a SaaS platform, or scaling a UK small business, this g…

How to Raise a Seed Round: A Founder-Friendly Guide to Getting Funded Raising your first seed round can feel like stepping into a whole new world. Between pitch decks, investor lingo, and endless articles about startups closing million-pound rounds, it’s easy to get overwhelmed—or worse, start too early. The good news? You don’t need to know everything before you start. But you do need a clear, focused plan. This guide is here to demystify the process. Whether you’re a solo founder building a UK small business or part of a team launching the next big SaaS platform, these practical, step-by-step tips will help you prepare, connect with the right people, and approa…