Ben Pearse

The UK Continues to receive investment from Tech Companies ‘Over £2 billion invested by world leading tech companies in the UK this week’ Go give that a read again This support is so beneficial to the UK economy and pivotal in how we will expand and grow as a country going forward Key Takeaways -       Job growth -       Tech development and innovation -       AI growth -       London is considered to be world leading for AI companies How are you going to get involved? https://lnkd.in/eCdfdY2V

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We have all heard of product-market fit, but what about role-market fit? Ignoring it is like trying to date someone way out of your league without considering what they’re looking for. Here’s why ignoring role-market fit doesn’t work: - When roles don't match what top candidates want, you're setting yourself up for rejection (or to be ghosted). - The best professionals seek growth, innovation, and relevance. - Rigid, outdated job descriptions repel talent, just like a bad dating profile. - Misaligned roles are like unrealistic dating expectations, leading to disengaged, less productive employees always looking for a better match. Don’t let your company be the bad date—focus on role-market fit to attract and retain top talent!

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Hindsight is 20/20 - the failure of Cazoo will make people talk, tech company crashing! These are my personal observations(and why I'm bootstrapping at this point). Just comparing with some reasons why VCs have rejected my pitch deck (I fully taken on board their feedback), but I'm surprised Cazoo could've raised so much money having those requests ticked on due diligence and still failing miserably. There have been alarm bells that even for a small start-up, as (founder/employer/employee/investor) will make them think twice: ❗️you are only one Founder❗️ I understand it's a risk, but similar to Alex Chesterman he was a one-founder in Cazoo. I'm not comparing with him, I just doubt this is the reason Cazoo failed. ❗️you have no previous exits❗️ the success of Alex exit from Zoopla doesn't mean it will bring success in future business. Plus, in my first business, I have always been profitable, keeping my team and clients happy (doesn't mean I'll have success in other future businesses). It's just like footballers (and take the example of Mo Salah vs Eden Hazard) - if you have success (or not) to a previous team doesn't mean you'll have success (or not) in the next one. ❗️you need to spend more on Marketing❗️ marketing is important, but for a startup to spend fortunes on sponsoring football teams, that's hemorrhaging money! ❗️you need more sales❗️ if I had enough sales I wouldn't need investment. But if Cazoo sold only 4000 cars in the first half of 2020 (2 years since launch), but raised 240M in October 2020, then why is it important to provide projections and forecasts?! Arnold Clark sold 280,000 cars in a year, if you do around 1% of a competitor's sales will that be enough? ❗️you'll spend a lot on tech staff❗️ my plan was to reach 25-30 developers (SaaS platform), I've built the MVP with only 4 developers. If after the seed round the board (or CTO) would've said we need more, I would be crazy to have more developers until we are profitable. How could the CTO of Cazoo justify 600 tech teams for an e-commerce platform?! That's a roughly salary budget of £30M per year when in 2020 Cazoo had £100M losses. That should've been a warning for CEO/CFO for sure! Again how/why would anyone invest in it? And I think that's just the reality, no one can predict if a business will or not have success! I understand the point of VCs receiving thousands of pitch decks every day and everyone thinks they're the next Elon Musk. But as a Founder I don't want to waste my energy telling stories to hundreds of VCs that in the end may not even be interested. I think understanding the business and see there is a need is more important than anything that is in a pitch deck / Financial report.   That's why I'm bootstraping and more are doing so. #CazooFailure #VC #SeedFunding #bootstraping #founder

Brilliant talk with a few key takeaways This flip book on “Coordination Headwind” https://lnkd.in/eUiiyPQ9 Imagine what would change if you spoke to you team and said “You are EXPECTED to make key decisions” Retrospectives on why key decisions were brought up, and what could change for you to be able to make that decision in future.

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It's been a while since our first launch at Product Hunt, this is our second launch but to be honest, I need to admit Commented is now more mature and more powerful than our first launch. We interviewed our users, listened to them and analyzed their needs profoundly. We are delighted and excited to serve those new features to you all. - Public commenting sessions - PDF and Image file commenting - Video capturing in Mobile SDKs - Inbox view - All comments view - Jira and Asana integrations - Annotation tool shapes and stroke colours & sizes - UX improvements - Performance enhancements - Slack two-way communication. - Many bug fixes. If you have time, please roast Commented, and share your good and bad thoughts about it. And please don't forget to upvote us from the link below if you enjoyed using Commented. Please reach out to us, if you need a discount or if you need a more specific use case, we will try our best to help you. Happy roasting and thanks in advance. https://lnkd.in/eAvzCC7P #collaboration #communication #publiccomments #commenttogether #buildinpublic #productivity #commenting #mobile

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Too many startups are at risk of being outcompeted... I’ve benchmarked a LOT of startup pitches recently – in this post I focus on the second big gap I keep seeing. 😬 2. Weak market diagnosis and competitive strategy Startups aren’t looking deep enough at their competitor’s positioning, business models, and product offerings – they lack analysis on why their competitors are winning or losing in the market, and therefore why their approach has 'the right win'. The risk: your business will be outcompeted. What’s in the pitches I’ve seen? ✅ Potential business opportunity quantified in some way. Typically financial (TAM > SAM > SOM) but can include ‘impact’ (e.g. market share, value chain) or ‘growth’ (e.g. customers to win). ✅ Basic market positioning (matrix mapping competition against dimensions) and product comparisons (features table vs 3–5 competitors). ✅ High-level business model focusing on a target customer (demographic and market segments) and revenue model (e.g. subscription; tiered packages). ✅ Optimistic business projections, e.g. financial growth, customer growth, business growth (expansion, diversification). What’s missing from these pitches? ❌ Startups lack a more nuanced view on their target customers, which is needed to better predict who wants to buy their products and the realistic market size. ❌ By relying too heavily on demographics and market segments, startups are missing a critical perspective on real-world customer values, buying motivations, habits, lifestyle, etc. ❌ Without this perspective, startups are making big assumptions on the real demand for their products and the size of their market, leading to overinflated revenue projections. ❌ In addition, startups lack a deeper analysis of their competitor’s market position, which they need to ensure they have picked the right space to play in and have the ‘right to win’. ❌ They lack a critical view on where competitors are focusing their business – e.g. gap in the market to fulfil an unmet need; an uncontested space; win a share of an existing market. ❌ They lack a critical view on why competitors made this decision – e.g. competitive advantage from their business model: value proposition; target customers; channels; revenue model; cost structures; internal team; partnerships; value chain. ❌ They lack a critical view on how competitors plan to differentiate – e.g. product features, experience, design craft; wider service offering; branding; price point; marketing efforts. ❌ Without this deeper analysis, startups lack a sufficient understanding of the strengthens and weaknesses their competitors have in their market position. ❌ This means startups are lacking a strong rationale and argument to support their business focus, why this was the right decision to make, and how they plan to differentiate. Why is this a problem? How would I close these gaps? Read on... https://lnkd.in/etgRjBDE

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What can you expect from the newly released research white paper? 'The next steps for B2B SaaS: why embedded finance has moved up the priority list for UK B2B SaaS platforms' - here's a hint of what you'll uncover: - Key findings from our research - Industry experts give their opinion on what this means - Closer look at the rate of adoption for embedded finance - Embedded finance programme lifecycle and setup phases You can read more and download your copy here 👇 https://lnkd.in/eR88hsse #UKFintech #SaaS #B2B #Product #EmbeddedFinance

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We are seeing a huge shift in the preferred payment methods of the British public... The number of digital wallet users is on the rise, while the usage of debit and credit cards is declining... At what point will we see digital wallets leading the charge? Get in touch to find out how this impacts your business... https://ioct.uknica.co.uk/ #ageingintelligence #Longevity #Stats #BusinessSupport

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Product Sales Data - What are the requirements? The FCA have published a response to its Product Sales Data consultation detailing the new reporting requirements for consumer credit firms. This change will come at a cost to Firms– whether that be in system changes or resources. Will's latest blog looks at the response in detail - pulling out the 'so what?' for firms. When live the FCA will have access to more data than ever – and with this will come more intervention. So not only do Firms need to be able to meet the requirements they need to be able to link it to their internal risk management framework. We can help do this – for more information please get in touch. https://lnkd.in/g_8YS6gi

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Last year, the UK Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) released its inaugural authorised push payment (APP) fraud report, revealing the status of APP fraud across the UK. Clear Junction was listed as having the highest value of APP fraud received per £ million of transactions (for non-directed payment service providers). Since the launch of the report, we have strengthened our collaboration with UK banks and the PSR, working closely with the PSR to analyse the transactions listed in last year’s report. As a result of these efforts, we are pleased to see that Clear Junction has not only shifted from the number one position, but we have dropped out of the top 20 entirely.   Guaranteeing our clients’ safety is our top priority, and we have worked tirelessly to ensure the security of their transactions. With APP fraud rampant across the UK, we have proactively increased our focus on fighting this fraud and have implemented robust measures and advanced technologies to further strengthen our fraud prevention capabilities. This includes launching Confirmation of Payee (CoP) to verify account users, and achieving the globally recognised ISO27001 operational security standard, the highest standard for information security that corporations can achieve.   We are delighted that these and other measures have contributed to the overall security of our services and our rate of APP fraud remains low. Our commitment to safeguarding our clients’ transactions is unwavering, and we will continue to prioritise their security in every aspect of our operations.   Clear Junction provides secure and compliant transaction services to our institutional partners. We employ rigorous due diligence and adhere to stringent risk management protocols to handle associated risks appropriately. We are committed to upholding the highest standards of financial integrity and security in all our operations.   For more information, check out The Fintech Times' latest article: https://lnkd.in/eh_HNp4G   #FinancialSecurity #FraudPrevention #APPFraud #ISO27001 #Compliance #RiskManagement #ConfirmationofPayee #Regulations

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🛡️ Digital ID: The Key to Thwarting Financial Fraud? 🕵️‍♂️ "Is Digital ID the Knight in Shining Armour against Financial Fraud?" - this was the pivotal question addressed in techUK's latest webinar. On June 5th, an expert panel, including leading lights from Synectics Solutions, GBG Plc, OneID®, and Revolut, shared powerhouse insights on Digital ID's vital role. 💡 Chris Lewis from Synectics Solutions and Laura Barrowcliff of GBG revealed the changing dimensions in the current landscape of financial fraud. With UK organisations facing an uptick in digital deception, adopting robust Digital ID systems might just be the game-changer we need. 🌍 How does the UK stack up internationally in Digital ID adoption? Adrian Field of OneID® dissected our progress, suggesting that while strides have been made, the marathon towards top-tier status continues. ✨ Adam Gagen of Revolut shared a glimpse into the crystal ball - forecasting the seismic shifts Digital ID may bring to financial services. The future looks promising, with potential for enhanced security stitched seamlessly into our digital fabric. A resounding applause to these trailblazers! For deeper dives, check out Synectics Solutions, GBG Plc, OneID®, and Revolut online. #DigitalID #FinancialFraud #TechInnovation

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EXCLUSIVE: Bank of England's CHAPS Payments System Goes Down - The Payments Industry Reacts "A global payments technical issue caused The Bank of England's CHAPS payment system yesterday (Thursday 18th July) to fail leaving a large proportion of time-sensitive and high-value payments delayed. According to The Bank of England in February 2021, the average daily value of CHAPS payments was £341 billion, and the bank-to-bank payments system is used by individuals who are buying expensive items like a car or to paying a deposit on a house. Meanwhile, financial institutions and the largest businesses in the UK use CHAPS to settle foreign exchange transactions and money market settlements. Many more financial institutions also access the CHAPS system indirectly and make payments via direct participants which is knowns as agency or correspondent banking." https://lnkd.in/eGiRuPMq Tribe Payments Alex Reddish CONCRYT Ryta Zasiekina PEXA Joe Pepper Lauren Towner #fintech #finance #banking #paytech #payments #fintechnews #paymentsnews

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Slightly improved numbers for new UK companies last week, but still well below average, impacted by Companies House maintenance. Learn more: 📉 New starts are still well below the yearly average of 19,565 per week in '24. 🏢 Companies House web filings were closed on the weekend so less filings. 🏭 No change in top 5 industries, which also remain subdued. We share this information with you each week so you can understand how the UK economy is performing, and to assist you with your sales efforts. You can get a count of how many UK businesses match your filters to explore target markets, then enrich any interesting prospects to get our AI to do the research for you. Give it a try today with our freemium plan. #UKBusiness #EconomicUpdate #NewCompanies #CompaniesHouse #BusinessGrowth #SalesInsights #SMEs #AIResearch #BusinessIntelligence #Freemium #CRM #Sales #SalesAI

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We talk a lot about how relationships are our business. But what does that mean? It means we that believe in fostering long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships with everyone we work with. For merchants looking to grow their business, that looks like: Bespoke Technology: Our one-stop orchestration platform includes access to a network of 30+ PSPs and acquiring banks and unparalleled support for every currency and payment method, ensuring smooth and flexible payment transactions in any market. Genuine Care: Whether you’re in a turbulent industry such as travel, a misunderstood one like adult, or a new, heavily regulated online pharmacy, we specifically select a partner bank who knows your industry and understands the challenges associated with it. Global Coverage: Navigate global markets with confidence. Whether your business is in the US, Europe, LatAm, MENA, APAC or you cover all of the above - we are here for you. While our US operations continue to grow we rapidly expand into new, and exciting emerging markets. Interested in learning more about how we can help? Get in touch! #MIDs #APMs #Payments #MerchantSolutions #GlobalMerchantProcessing #PaymentProcessing

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Calendly, Zoom, Slack, and Dropbox are all incredible product-led companies that seem to be highlighted in every product-led growth (PLG) example. But what characteristics make them worth looking at? After signing up with more than 50 product-led growth companies, Gina Allman, Program Manager at ProductLed, found the features they all have in common. #plgtm #productledgotomarket #growthstrategy #successstory #growthprocess #softwareproducts #growthtactics #productvision #revenuestreams #saas #saasgrowth #businessgrowth #scalingup #revenuegrowth #gtm #saasbusiness #saasstartups #aibusiness #saasproduct #saasfuture #plgplays #productledgrowth #productmanagement #revops #revenuestrategy #gtmstrategy #revenueboost #monetization #revenuegeneration #productgrowth #customerengagement #customeracquisition #customerretention #customeronboarding #gtmmotion #gtmplays #customerjourney #plgstrategies #plg #buyersjourney #buyerenablement #saleseffectiveness #bestpractices #expertadvice #customerrelationship #b2bsaas #customervaluecreation #productvalue #successstrategy #gtmomentum #gotomarket #valuecreation #customerfocus #customercentricity #saassales #saasmarketing #growthlevers #growthdrivers #revenueengine #valueengine #subscriptionmanagement #productonboarding #saasmetrics

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As Harry Baker, Proposition and Product Manager at Barclays Eagle Labs, puts it: "Most people that are running scaling companies go through very similar problems. And we want to make sure that, as a cohort, these people are are learning from each other and they're creating their own tribe where they can get together and crowdsource the answers to problems" 🗣️ So following a six-month journey together on our Scaleup Programme with Barclays Eagle Labs, we're delighted by how much our founders value the networks they've built, while furthering their growth ambitions to even double headcount in some cases 📈 Check out the video below to hear from Scaleup Programme alumni G.Digital CEO Georgie Lynskey, Boodil COO Sam Owens and former Cloud8 CEO Dipa Mistry Kandola about their experiences of working with us 🎥 If you want to be part of the next Scaleup Programme cohort, register your early interest here: https://lnkd.in/er6qEkJM Read more to understand the challenges, opportunities and achievements unlocked at scaleup stage: https://lnkd.in/d_MXq39r Emma Marshall | Saj Huq | Russell Gundry | Charlotte West | Joe Howard | Winnie Yan | Alliah Rust | Naia P. | #Innovation | #Programme | #Cohort | #Graduation | #Founders | #Collaboration | #Network

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Monzo, a British neobank, announced on Wednesday that it has raised a further $190 million, bringing its total fundraising this year to $610 million. The business disclosed that it had raised funds from new investors, among them Hedosophia, a supporter of leading European fintechs, such as N26 and Qonto. Alphabet's separate growth fund, CapitalG, took part in the deal as well. Source - CNBC For more information, visit us at - https://bbmagz.com Follow us for daily updates 👍 #brandsandbusinessmagazine #business #businessnews #magazine #news #internationalnews #newsupdates #finance #economy #news #updates

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Are UK businesses ready to combat invoice fraud? New research from Ivalua led by Stephen Carter, Director of Payments Strategy, highlights the increasing vulnerability to invoice fraud among those who haven't digitised their invoicing process. Will digitisation be the solution? #InvoiceFraud #Digitisation #UKBusiness

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