Podcasts about forward partners

In this episode, we are joined by Matthew Bradley. Matthew is the founder of Tikto Capital, a private investment firm investing in and acquiring UK SMEs and tech businesses. Before Tikto, Matthew was the CIO and CFO of Forward Partners, a publicly-listed venture capital firm.  During the episode, Matthew shares valuable insights into his investment and deal origination strategy, how he pivoted to minority investments throughout last year (2023), and the importance of engaging with businesses that are genuinely open to selling. We also spent time discussing some interesting sectors Matthew has gone deep on and what his findings were.  It is always a great time chatting with Matthew and we hope you enjoy the conversation too! ------- If you are a searcher looking to acquire a great business, check out the Buy and Build Accelerator. The bootcamp curriculum is highly practical and developed and presented by former guests of the podcast: https://www.buyandbuildaccelerator.com/  Enjoy!

This week on The Melting Pot, we delve into the world of venture capital, IPOs, and the limitations of traditional investment structures. We learned from Nic Brisbourne, a serial founder of VC firms and founding partner at Forward Partners, which has some rarity value. It's one of only a handful of VC firms in the UK that has gone through an IPO. Every year, they get 4,000 pitch decks, from which they only interview 400. Ultimately, they only invest in 1% of the people they meet. That's a very wide funnel at the top and incredibly narrow at the bottom.In this episode, Nic dives into the complexities of recruitment and the importance of making the right hiring decisions. Along the way, he unveils his proprietary framework for assessing founders and shares valuable lessons on the IPO process and the structure of venture capital firms.  Download and listen to learn more. On today's podcast: Forward Partners investmentsThe recruitment challengeTraditional vs Innovative VCs structureThe CIDL proprietary framework to assess founders Follow Nic Brisbourne:Forward Partners websiteLinkedInTwitter: @brisbourne Book recommendations :The Great CEO WithinBreathThanks for the Feedback Enjoyed the show? Leave a Review

20Angel is a series profiling European angel investors with the best Founder NPS. Episode 10 features Jens Lapinski, one Europe's most active angel investors. He is the Founding Partner of Angel Invest, an angel fund which has invested in 100+ companies. Formally, he was an MD at Techstars, Partner at Forward Labs (now Forward Partners) and co-founded aiHit, which was acquired in 2015. Some of his angel portfolio includes Lemon Markets, Everphone, Impala, Ivy & Index Health. The format for 20Angel is consistent across show, with questions including: What are some of the non-obvious things they look for when investing in a company? How they work with their Founders? How Founders should approach them? What they think makes a great angel investor? Learnings from their Anti-Portfolio? The show is sponsored by Edda.co, a design-led software that allows you to see, in real time, the true dimension of your investments, and the value and impact they create. Edda Dealflow and Edda Portfolio streamlines the operations of funds, from managing due diligence and deal flow through to supporting portfolio companies. It brings the entire investment process together in one place, supercharging communications with portfolio companies, making investments much easier. To find out more, visit edda.co and request a demo using "Edda20VC".

Nic Brisbourne, CEO at Forward Partners #FWD discusses their investments in high-growth, early-stage technology businesses which include many within the sectors of Applied AI and Web3. Portfolio highlights - 2022 Top 15 companies by Fair Value delivered a weighted average revenue growth of 144%.2 - 82% of Top 152 portfolio companies have 18 months or more cash runway, are on the path to break even without the need for further fund-raising or are profitable3. · 23 investments made totalling £9.7m into 19 businesses (2021: £8.8m into 22 businesses). - Three new investments totalling £2.4m: DevOps platform Baselime, AI healthcare analytics platform Sonrai and 'hospitality operating system' Dines. - 20 follow-on investments totalling £7.3m including participation in Robin AI's $10.5m series A and Gravity Sketch's $33m series A. Realisations of £1.1m from Somo and Cazoo Group Limited.   To read the full RNS click here

Hello everyone and welcome to another incredible episode of the Talk2Rami “Founder's Series” Podcast, where I interview movers and shakers, as to why they do what it is exactly they do! After 25 years in the marketing business and 15 years building his own companies, Chad started to see a shift in his career. As he noticed his fellow entrepreneurs and leaders, Chad saw the signs of burnout and the fallout that comes from it. After spending the majority of his time developing the "Healthy Leadership Framework" and coaching leaders to discover their purpose and defeat burnout, In 2018, Chad formalized everything with the founding of Forward Partners, and in the process discovered his life's purpose: to bring hope and clarity to every person he meets, impacting the lives of millions of leaders! Learn more at: https://www.forwardpartners.net

Are you okay with burning people out in order to achieve your goals? I mean literally going into leading a team with the sole goal of getting to the finish line climbing on the backs of burned out employees. Sounds ridiculous right? Who in their right mind would do that in order to get to their financial or professional marker?  Well, unfortunately it happens A LOT more than you think.  Chad Wright is the founder of Forward Partners and is on a mission to set leaders and entrepreneurs up for success by helping them achieve more without burning out, and re-igniting their passion for work again.

Gemma Whates helps mothers to start and grow a business alongside raising a family, via start-up courses and the ALL by MAMA community.  EPISODE NOTES **Please remember to rate and review the podcast - it really helps others to find it.** Today on the podcast I'm talking to Gemma Whates of All By Mama. Gemma helps mothers to start and grow a business alongside raising a family, via start-up courses and the ALL by MAMA community. Gemma is a returning guest to the podcast and this time is here to talk about seeking investment for your business. Gemma has raised a lot of money over the years and is also a Venture Capitalist Scout for Ada Ventures.  Gemma explains the reasons that she sought investment, how she did it, why you may want to do it, and how to go about doing it yourself. It is an episode packed full of information, that is applicable to all businesses, large and small, whether you are just starting out or looking to scale.  Listen in to hear Gemma share: An introduction to herself and her business (02:46) Why Gemma started looking for investment for her business and how she started (03:56) The different types of crowdfunding that are available (06:24) Other ways to fund a business and how she got involved with Ada Ventures (07:46) How much investment she has raised (10:11) Different types of investors (11:26) Some of the things you might get investment for (13:14) What happens if things go wrong (15:42) How to start looking for investment (17:00) How the working relationship with investors works (24:51) The key things that she has learnt along the way (26:55) The downsides of investment (28:40) The positive sides of investment (30:40) Ways to work with Gemma (32:50) Her number one piece of advice for anyone thinking of seeking investors (36:03) USEFUL RESOURCES: https://www.gemmawhates.com/ (Gemma's Website) https://www.facebook.com/gemmawhatesstartup (Gemma Whates Facebook) https://www.instagram.com/gemma_allbymama/ (Gemma Whates Instagram) https://uk.linkedin.com/in/gemmawhates (Gemma Whates Linked In) RESOURCES GEMMA MENTIONS: https://www.adaventures.com/ (Ada Ventures) https://angelacademy.eu/ (Angel Academy) https://www.crowdcube.com/ (Crowdcube) https://forwardpartners.com/ (Forward Partners) https://www.kickstarter.com/ (Kickstarter) https://swoopfunding.com/ (Swoop) LET'S CONNECT https://www.facebook.com/groups/productcreatorsclub (Join my free Facebook group for product makers and creators) https://www.instagram.com/vickiweinberguk/ (Find me on Instagram) http://www.vickiweinberg.com (Work with me) 

Every startup in the tech world is after a “realisation” – or put in other terms a point in time at which someone puts a real as opposed to notional valuation on your firm – when you sell out in whole via a Trade Sale or in part via an IPO. But how do you […]

That Was The Week 2021 #27 Another Venture firm announced plans to become a publicly listed company this week. Nic Brisbourne's Blackrock-backed Forward Partners is the fund in question. So, can VCs become publicly listed companies? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/keith-teare/support

Forward Partners, Nic Brisbourne joins Proactive London to present the genesis of the company ahead of their London listing. The firm will seek admission of its shares to trade on AIM and expects to raise at least £25m from the share sale. The funds raised will be used for further investments in its existing portfolio of companies and new investments. Brisbourne talks through their core sectors of interest, specialising in supporting high growth, early-stage technology businesses.

Detect Technologies, a company specializing in industrial AI, has raised $12 million in a round led by Accel Partners and Elevation Capital. According to the company's statement, the money will be used to enhance worldwide industrial efficiency and extend the company's position as a leader in industrial digitalization. The firm provides a wide range of AI and IoT solutions for the industrial sector.BMW i Ventures announce their second sustainability-focused fund for early to mid-stage startups in the industries of transportation, manufacturing, supply chain and others. Previously, investments of the VC firm's first fund, BMW i Ventures Fund 1, had helped companies in their journey to public.ServiceTitan, a software company built to accelerate the home and commercial service industries, has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Aspire Software, a landscaping business management software provider. Alongside the acquisition, the company announced its $200 million Series G funding from Thoma Bravo at a valuation of $9.5 billion. This acquisition marks ServiceTitan's second investment in the last twelve months (previously ServicePro) and its largest to date.Slack launches Huddles, a feature to encourage casual conversations that get missed out due to remote working, and new video sharing and recording capabilities to help users share their thoughts ahead of a scheduled meeting, as per their convenience. These features would be rolled out for paid teams.Device42 has developed a new solution that analyses your infrastructure and provides recommendations for cost-effective cloud migration. The program uses machine learning to assist in the discovery of the optimum configuration. Device42 is a software business founded in 2012 that specializes in hybrid IT discovery and application dependency mapping.Ably, a synchronized digital experience platform provider has announced that it has raised $70 million in a Series B funding round led by Insight Partners and Dawn Capital LLP. Other participants include Digital Horizon, Forward Partners, and MMC Ventures, Triple Point. The new funds will help Ably continue developing and innovating its platform, giving businesses a comprehensive solution for offloading the rising complexity of real-time data synchronization at scale for distributed applications, devices, and hybrid cloud environments.A pan-European venture capital firm, Nauta Capital, has announced ambitions to invest in pre-seed deeptech businesses across Europe. The specialized venture program will provide funding to pre-seed B2B deeptech businesses in order to help them develop and thrive. Nauta Funding's new initiative, motivated by a shortage of capital available for pre-seed and pre-revenue B2B deeptech enterprises, will support 12-16 startups for the next 12 months to close the gap and propel Europe's next generation of deeptech entrepreneurs.Shogun has raised $67.5 million in a $575 million Series C funding round led by Insight Partners. The cash will improve the company's two major products, Shogun Frontend and Page Builder. Frontend, Shogun's newest offering, is a “headless” solution aimed at web designers and others who want to create more personalized experiences. It caters to the midmarket to the corporate consumers and has hundreds of clients.   ARIADNEXT, French remote identity verification, and digital identity creation company, has been bought by IDnow, a German identity verification startup. As a result of the acquisition, IDNow is now on a level with OnFido, Europe's other major participant. IDnow will keep ARIADNEXT's offices in Rennes, Paris, Madrid, Bucharest, Iasi, Warsaw, and its approximately 125 employees. Mandolin, a concert live stream platform to help artists, venues, and fans connect through live music, has raised $12 million in its Series A fundraise in an oversubscribed round co-led by 645 Ventures and Foundry Group. Existing investors, High Alpha and TIME Ventures, participated in the round.Pietra, a platform providing Creators business-building tools, has announced its Series A fundraise of $15 million in a round led by Founders Fund with participation from its existing investor, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), TQ Ventures, Abstract Ventures and other strategic investors.Nodes & Links, a startup offering AI and cloud tools for engineering projects to be delivered on time and budget, has announced its Series A fundraise of €9.3 million ($11 million roughly). The round was led by urban sustainability-focused fund 2150, alongside Zigg Capital and Westerly Winds.FloLive, an IoT company, has raised an additional $15.5 million in a Series B investment round led by Intel Capital. The additional money will be used to improve the company's service and invest in and develop the company's technology stack and upgrade its network to 5G. Rather than creating new infrastructure, FloLive's approach is to stitch together networks from several places and run them as a single network.Gusto, a unicorn company developing web-based payroll solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, has announced the launch of its new product, Gusto Embedded Payroll (GEP), which facilitates software developers to embed and customize payroll directly into their software. Noname Security, an enterprise API security business, raised $60M in a Series B funding round headed by Insight Partners. The company offers a security platform that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to assist businesses in monitoring and securing both managed and uncontrolled APIs. Since its launch, the firm has recruited 40 technical, reseller, and channel partners in six months.Hyperexponential (hx), a mathematical software provider for the insurance sector, raised $18 million in a funding round headed by Highland Europe. According to the company, actuaries, data scientists, and underwriters may use Hx's Renew SaaS platform to create, deploy, and update insurance pricing models more quickly.

My guest today is Shopé Delano, VP of Marketing at Charlie Oscar, a new-era group of digital consumer brands, and Founder of her own upcoming workwear brand Kind Regards . Shopé's internet life began back in 2010, with a fashion blog and youtube channel that saw her work freelance with the likes of Nike, Puma and ASOS. After a successful stint in academia, she entered the world of startups and venture capital, working with the likes of Depop, Forward Partners and now Charlie Oscar. I originally came into contact with Shopé after her viral open letter to working women - I read it and just had to message her about just how nail-on-head it was - so we got talking about the topics in my book, and her work. I'm incredibly excited to have her join me today.TopicsBrand buildingContent creationThe pressure to have a 'purpose'The representation of working womenFinding enjoyment in your career, especially at the beginning Girlboss cultureThe art of doing nothingThe dangers of comparing yourself to others on social mediaBuy the Working Hard, Hardly Working book here: http://linktr.ee/whhw Follow along on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gracebeverley/Keep updated on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-beverley-574a10102/Shop Sustainable Style at TALA: http://wearetala.comGet everything you need to reach your fitness goals at SHREDDY: http://shreddy.comWorking Hard, Hardly Working is produced by Burning Bright Audio, the series producer is Ben Tulloh, editing by Stuart Beckwith and video editing by Chris Ahjem. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this season of Founders Clinic, Nana and Andy are talking to Venture Capital firms and Angel Investors, to demystify the funding landscape and draw parallels between the journey of founders and investors.   For this episode we sat down with Luke Smith (https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-smith-564a2438/) from Forward Partners (https://forwardpartners.com/) , that not only invest in early stage companies, but simultaneously are a start-up studio.   We had a great conversation about:   - How Luke moved from Corporate VC into Startup VC - How Forward Partners support early stage companies - The Forward Advances (https://forwardadvances.com/) initiative, a revenue based finance solution for start-ups, and how it came about.   This podcast is sponsored by Balsamiq (https://balsamiq.com/) , the quick and easy wireframing tool. For anyone looking to create wireframes easily, check out the link below for a promo code to get a 90 day free trial, please visit https://balsamiq.com/go/founders-clinic/. Well worth it!    Feel free to get in touch with Nana on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nana-parry/) or visit www.tectoniclondon.com (http://www.tectoniclondon.com/) for more info on how we help start-ups understand their customers in these unpredictable times.   You can find out more about Andy's Angel Investing School on Twitter (https://twitter.com/AndysHVC?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) or sign up for his weekly newsletter (https://www.getrevue.co/profile/Andy-Ayim%20) , to keep up to date with him.  

In this episode, Hall welcomes Jens Lapinski, angel investor and Co-Founder of Angel Invest Ventures. Based in Berlin, Germany, Angel Invest Ventures is one of Europe's most active angel investors, making 10-20 investments per year. Their initial check size is €50k, and they can make follow-on investments in later rounds. Angel Invest Ventures has made investments in 50+ startups that have raised in excess of €200m in follow-on funding. They actively coach the founders they back and give them access to their networks. Jens was a Managing Director at Techstars, where he managed four programs and invested in 40 companies, which have raised $200m+ in funding. In 2015 he launched the Berlin office, which in 2017 became the most active location of the global Techstars Network. Before Techstars, Jens was a partner at Forward Labs (now Forward Partners), which he co-founded in January 2012. Forward Labs built profitable startups at high speed using lean startup principles. Out of over 100 businesses tested, four businesses were built/invested in during his tenure, raising over $25m in aggregate. Before Labs, Jens co-founded and was CEO of aiHit, a provider of automated company data to the business information industry. aiHit was backed by Amadeus and VTB Capital and sold to some of the world's largest information players including Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, and Equifax. The company was acquired by MatchDeck. Prior to this, he was the VP Analysis & Consulting at Library House (now Dow Jones), a business information and research company, which he helped grow from seven to over 50 employees within four years. During his PhD at Cambridge University, he developed, patented and licensed new water technology.  Jens speaks with Hall about his background, what excites him, and he advises investors what to do before writing that first check. He explains the company’s investment thesis and advises entrepreneurs on what to do before launching their startup. You can visit Angel Invest Ventures at .     Jens can be contacted via LinkedIn at , via Twitter at , and via email at jl@angelinvest.ventures.

Discussing meditation for startups with Nic Brisbourne, Managing Partner, Forward Partners in London on podcast “Fireside with a VC”. How meditation will be understood to be as necessary as physical exercise. Nic is a former Partner at DFJ Esprit and former Associate at Reuters Venture Capital. Find and subscribe to audio on Spotify, iTunes, Google & other podcast platforms at anchor.fm/andrew-romans. Full video at youtube.com/c/AndrewRomansVC. #meditation #startups #London #venturecapital #VC

Nic Brisbourne, Managing Partner, Forward Partners in London on podcast “Fireside with a VC” discusses “Applied VC” and how his venture firm employs a Venture Studio to help portfolio companies with a range of technical and marketing services. We explore the need to add value to startups beyond just cash. Nic is a former Partner at DFJ Esprit and former Associate at Reuters Venture Capital. Full video version of this podcast can be found at https://www.youtube.com/c/AndrewRomansVC. #London #appliedvc #venturecapital #VC

Bank of America has committed to a new two-year initiative with Theatre Forward to award multiple five-figure grants to nonprofit theatres across America promoting community accessibility and engagement. Reported by Kata Stevens.

On this episode Abadesi talks to Nic Brisbourne, managing partner at Forward Partners, and creator of the popular email newsletter, The Equity Kicker. In this episode they talk about... The future of venture capital and the concept of “applied venture” “Why stop at having a few people on payroll to help your portfolio companies succeed? Why not find a way to have as many as possible? That allows you to help your portfolio companies with many more things, offer better service, and that should see the companies go on to achieve greater results.” Nic gives us a history of the waves of venture capital since the early 2000s and explains how firms have evolved over time to better serve founders. He talks about the new trend in the industry — what they call “applied venture.” He explains what it is and how it is having an impact on founders and companies. The culture at Forward Partners “When we think about our culture, on the one hand we’re trying to reflect what we have currently so that it feels authentic and on the other, we’re trying to stretch ourselves to what we want to be tomorrow.” Nic says that at Forward Partners they look up to characters who inspire and inform their work. He explains why they chose Indiana Jones, Yoda, and Leonardo Da Vinci as the three individuals who capture what they want to be at Forward. Nic’s introduction to mindfulness “It was totally the wrong time of year to go to India. I arrived at the New Dehli airport and there was a sign up in the airport with the temperature, 44 degrees centigrade at 1 o’clock in the morning.” Nic explains how he became an advocate for mindfulness after having a hesitant start and shares the funny story of going to India during the hottest months to meditate at an ashram. The benefits of mindfulness for founders “There was a biotech company that ran an 8-week mindfulness course for their employees. After eight weeks they did MRI scans and the happiness centres in the people who had been on the mindfulness course were noticeably more active.” After Nic became a mindfulness convert, he didn’t stop at how it could help him in his work, he looked also to how it could have a positive impact on the founders he works with as well. He explains some of the benefits to the practice and talks about some of the programs they have been putting on for founders to help them get in the habit. What he’s most excited about in the tech ecosystem “Really what’s most exciting for me is the way that the startup ecosystem is growing and growing. The world is changing faster and faster and we have bigger and bigger problems to solve and it’s entrepreneurs who are going to be solving those problems for us on a global level.“ He talks about some of the tech trends happening now that he loathes and loves, and explains what they look for when they’re evaluating a potential investment for the impact it would have on the world. Nic also shares some of his favorite products and explains why he was initially an Apple skeptic but has since become a fan. We’ll be back next week so be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Breaker, Overcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

Today we bring you the first of our extended podcast episodes, where Alex gets to ask the nitty-gritty details he usually doesn't have time for. These hour-long episodes offer a well-rounded insight into the workings of some of the most successful SaaS founders and their companies. The guest this week is John Thompson, a Co-Founder and a CEO who has taken 2 businesses from zero ARR through seed and A rounds. His first company Commerce Decisions was an early SaaS exit back in 2008. Today he is the Chairman of Wax and ProspectSoft - two later stage PE-backed SaaS companies. He also works closely with Forward Partners, a London-based seed stage VC fund advising their B2B SaaS portfolio companies on sales and growth. As he told me in the interview - he has 8-9 SaaS CEOs in his life every week. Listen on to learn: The fundamentals of building a strong SaaS company, and the most important elements for success, What has made John a successful CEO What was the wake-up call for him to start taking care of his mental and physical health and how he goes about it. Some of his beliefs may be seen as controversial but he steadfastly believes in them because they all stem from his own experience, in which with each good year, 3 or 4 bad ones came. John has been at every SaaStock flagship conference to date and will be joining us a fourth time this October in Dublin. Sign up for the Insider Sale and be the first one to find out when we release our 2-for-1 tickets in April. SaaStock is always better with a Co-Founder or a colleague, so you can cover more ground and learn at multiple tracks and bootcamps. Let us know if you like this longer format by leaving a review and a rating on Apple iTunes or wherever you get your podcast, or by reaching out on twitter @SaaStock. If you want to get in touch with John, you can email him john@briggsassociates.co.uk

We sat down with Dharmesh Raithatha, Product Partner at Forward Partners and talked about how to acquire your first customers, hire people, go from Pre-Seed to Series A and how to test your MVP.

When you pitch a venture firm, the last thing you expect is for them to pitch you a job. But that is what happened to Chris, who now works with tech startups across the United Kingdom. Find more at https://forwardpartners.com/

What’s the big problem that your business solves for people? My name is Christian Rodwell and today I’m talking with lean thinking Expert Dharmesh Raithatha. Dharmesh is Product Partner at Forward Partners and he helps founders go from idea stage to having a great product or service and successful businesses. Dharmesh has a passion for User Research, Lean UX and using data to inform decision making. Dharmesh also has a background in artificial intelligence and has been developing products for over 12 years in either his own or other high profile startups. Now if you’re still in the early stages of developing your own business or perhaps have not yet even launched, then today’s episode is going to be especially useful as we discuss some of the methods used in the Lean Business Canvas, which is a highly engaging and fun way of creating a winning business plan that identifies all of the crucial ares in the business that you need to have sussed before you advance too far. In this episode you’ll learn… What a Venture Capitalist is and how they think What is the Lean Canvas Model and why you should create one for your business The differences between Venture Capital and Angel Investing The first step that every entrepreneur needs to take when validating a new idea Tools you can use to quickly bring your ideas to life in a MVP (Minimum Viable Product) The importance of testing your ideas quickly The early steps that AirBnB took to validate their business model before they scaled The first steps for finding a co-founder or mentor to prevent you from going down a rabbit hole in your new business How you can go about protecting your ‘big idea’ if you’re concerned about someone stealing it Quotes: ‘Your first sale is the hardest. The reality is you’re going to get more.’ ‘If you haven’t got venture capital, you have to be more creative in how you acquire your customers’ ‘Startups are hard, stressful and income is often low. You have to love what you do’ ‘The best way to protect your idea is by owning it and getting it out there’   Links & Resources mentioned in this episode: Marvel - Bring Your Ideas To Life Invision - Make the products you love most Slack   Guest Details: Dharmesh Raithata LinkedIn Profile Dharmesh Raithata Twitter Forward Partners   Connect with Escape The Rat Race...within 12 months: Official Website Private Facebook Group   Thanks so much for joining us this week. Have some feedback you would like to share? Send us a message If you enjoy listening to our show every week, please leave us a review on iTunes! (It really helps spread the word ;)  

In this new episode of the Seedcamp Podcast Nic Brisbourne, Managing Partner at Forward Partners joins Carlos Espinal. Being passionate about both maths and sciences during his high-school years Nic ended up studying Social and Political Science at Cambridge for three years. His first job right out of university was in a traditional company where he worked as a consultant at Gemini Consulting. This first experience allowed him to have a unique view on the existing parallels between being a VC and being a consultant. After this first experience Nic moved on to the venture industry in 1999 living through four months of excitement before the bubble burst and experienced first-hand the hard-times that came right after. During his years at Reuters he learned a lot and had the privilege to look at exciting new areas like IoT and AI really early on when they were not as popular as they are today. More recently Nic joined Forward Partners as a Managing Partner investing in ambitious startups. Nic also clarifies the types of businesses they are interested in investing in as well as how they are uniquely able to help their founders. Finally, discover his views and insights on to the future with possible impacts of Brexit, what startups should focus on and the one book that he recommends to all founders. Show notes from the episode: Carlos Website: http://www.carlosespinal.com Seedcamp: http://www.seedcamp.com Forward Partners: http://www.forwardpartners.com Related bio links: Carlos: uk.linkedin.com/in/carloseduardoespinal / @twitter.com/cee Alex: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brisbourne / https://twitter.com/brisbourne

This week sees the return of one most popular guests I’ve had in the 47 episode history of The Recruiting Future Podcast.Matt Buckland joined me for Episode 11 of the show last year when he was working for Forward Partners and shared his thoughts recruiting tech talent. It’s almost a year on and Matt is now Head of Talent and Fashion Tech company Lyst. He also recently appeared as the resident recruitment expert on  “Who’s The Boss” the BBC TV series which experimented with the concept of “collaborative hiring” In the interview we discuss:    •    The likely future of recruitment    •    The advantages and pitfalls of collaborative hiring    •    Why recruitment technology can be a bad thing    •    Snapchat and its relevance to recruiting    •    The role of LinkedIn and Job Boards    •    Recruiters v MarketeersMatt also shares what he considers to be the most important skills a good in house recruiter needs and tells us about the book he is currently reading….Links to things we talk about:Matt’s previous podcast interviewBBC2’s Here Comes the BossThe Lyst recruiting analytics podcast episode Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes

Matthew is an Investor at Forward Partners: a super-early stage London VC. Forward Partners invests in solo-founders, idea stage and seed stage eCommerce, marketplace and related software businesses providing them with funding, office space and the support of an expert in-house engineering, product and growth team. Before becoming a VC, Matthew had varying degrees of success (!) with retail and security tech start-ups. He began his career in Sales, Structuring and Trading at investment banks. He holds a BA in Economics and Politics and an MBA from SDA Bocconi. A huge thank you to Mattermark for all the data discussed in today's show and you can find them here!  CLICK TO PLAY In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Matt make his way into the world of VC? What would he advise someone wanting to get into the industry? 2.) How does Forward Partners differentiate themselves in such a sea of seed funds? What is unique about their model? 3.) What are the key activities that entrepreneurs can do to build a successful business, ready for Series A? What would Matt advise someone who has an idea but no technical skills? 4.) What are the nuances and complexities of the early stage funding environment? How do Forward approach and overcome them? Are there any common misconceptions? 5.) What are the similarities and differences between the US and the UK with regards to start-up attractiveness? Where would Matt choose to found his startup if he were a founder? 6.) Considering YC’s recent intake, where does Matt see growth areas in consumer facing startups? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Matthew's Fave Book:  Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master & Margarita Matthew's Fave Newsletter: Mattermark Daily, The Equity Kicker, First Round Review Matthew's Most Recent Investment: Live Better With As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Matthew on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Instagram here!  

Dharmesh Raithatha is the Product Partner at Forward Partners. He works with idea stage investments on product, growth and business strategy. He has a passion for User Research, Lean UX and using data to inform decision making. Dharmesh has over 15 years in product roles for companies like Mind Candy and the BBC. He has founded 2 startups and successfully sold one. A special thank you to Mattermark for providing all the data used in today's episode and can find out more about Mattermark here!  In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Dharmesh make his way into the world of VC? 2.) How has Dharmesh's startup driven past, altered his investment pattern? What are the benefits and weaknesses to this kind of operational experience? 3.) At Forward there Open Office Hours where people come and share ideas, so what is it about the ideas you like that make them good, what makes the bad ones bad? 4.) What are Dharmesh's tips or advice for idea creation and brainstorming? 5.) What would Dharmesh advice non-technical people looking to found a tech startup? 6.) What does Dharmesh believe makes a great founder? Has he seen any commonalities in the great founders he has worked with? 7.) What should teams focus on in the first 100 days of their startup? What is the 20% that produces 80% of the results? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Dharmesh's Fave Book:  How To Create A Product Customers Love by Marty Cagan Dharmesh's Fave Newsletter: Silicon Valley Product Group Dharmesh's Most Recent Investment: The Gifting Company As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Dharmesh on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Instagram here!   I would like to say a huge thank you to our sponsor for today's show: LoyaltyBay. Have you ever wished more of your website visitors would convert into a sale, signup or referral? If so, you need Loyalty Bay. With their saas conversion optimizer tool they increase any conversion metric by offering potential customers a choice of personalised rewards to get them to convert. They work with large enterprises like Virgin Media through to startups and have increased conversions on average by over 100%. Free 30 day trial at www.loyaltybay.co.uk  

In this episode we were joined by Matthew Bradley, Investor at Forward Partners. Matthew discusses his background and his experience that led him to start his own business in Italy and to invest in early-stage companies by later joining Forward Partners. He explains how the Forward Partners business model differs from others, by supporting and backing solo Founders at the idea-stage, offering in-house product development and growth support to give them the greatest chances of success. Matt is an investor at Forward Partners — a B2C eCommerce fund based in London that invests in and provides support to entrepreneurs at the idea and seed stage. He did an undergrad BA in Politics and International Relations. An atypical background for a VC, Matt worked in Trading, Structuring and Sales at Barclays Capital and Lloyds for 5 years developing a deep understanding of risk (and reward!) solutions. He did an MBA at SDA Bocconi and spent a couple of semesters at Duke Fuqua to do his finance concentrations. In this podcast we talk about his journey into VC and what’s keeping him busy at Forward Partners, including their new site: http://thepathforward.io/

In this episode Matt Alder talks to Matt Buckland Head of Talent at Forward Partners.Tech recruitment is challenging and tech recruitment for start up companies is especially challenging. In this interview Matt and Matt discuss the approaches and techniques that are currently working in London’s Silicon Roundabout.  Other topics covered include why you can’t replace a recruiter with an algorithm, Schrodinger’s (stuffed) cat and how to get 25k retweets on Twitter. Subcribe to this podcast in iTunes

Nic Brisbourne who is the Founder of Forward Partners, an investment business which works with e-commerce companies from raw idea through to Series A, offering a package of investment, proven methodologies & office space.He has 15 years experience in the venture capital industry investing in over 25 companies in London & Silicon Valley as a Partner at the venture capital firm DFJ Esprit (Simon Cook) He also author Europe's most popular VC blog: The Equity Kicker.