Ash Ali

Co-Founder & Growth Hacker

Uhubs

At Uhubs, we empower sales teams to unlock their full potential by transforming skill development into a precise, data-driven unfair advantage. 

By industrialising the monitoring and tracking of essential sales skills, we provide leaders with rapid insights to identify growth opportunities that genuinely drive revenue impact. 

Uhubs streamlines skill development, enabling modern sales teams to achieve measurable success faster and more effectively.

Co-Founder

The Unfair Advantage

The new Book "The Unfair Advantage" uncovers the secret behind why some startups make it and others don’t. Available in Jan 2020- Pre-order book from Amazon, WHSmiths, Foyles & Waterstones.

Wrapping up my experience as the first UK Marketing Director of £3.5 billion company JUST EAT into a practical narrative, I break apart the different types of unfair advantages swimming just under the surface of your favourite success stories. Every single one of them has an unfair advantage within the MILES structure (Money, Intelligence & Insight, Location & Luck, Education & Expertise, Status).  Out on January 9th 2020!

I've done keynotes on "Startup Marketing", "How to find your unfair advantage", "My personal/JUST EAT success story", "The first 3 years in startups" and have been part of several panel debates, pitch judging and discussions.

Author, Keynote Speaker & Co-Founder

Private angel Investments in seed stage startups across the globe. Mentorship and advice to startup entrepreneurs in various sectors and markets with a specific focus on online marketplaces, mobile app's and interesting social & community projects.

If you have startup requiring seed capital, an experienced startup advisor or non-executive role get in touch. 

- Idea assessment, including market sizing, competitive analysis, go to market strategy
- Applying lean methodology techniques to launch MVPs and find product market fit
- Growth Hacking
- Product and business development
- Digital marketing strategy
- Capital raising including marketing materials and business introductions
- Entrepreneur Mentorship & Advisor
- Lean startup
- EIR or non exec roles

Mentor @PiLabs @turn8 @istarter @TeamPK

Startup Investor, Advisor & Mentor

University of Warwick - Warwick Business School

Guest Lecturer

Spinks

Advising the senior Spinks team on continual growth for being the talent partner to the Start-Up / Scale Up sector.

Spinks Advisory Board Member

Royal Holloway, University of London

UCL School of Management

Loughborough University

Imperial College Business School

ESCP Business School

Washplus - Dubai's Laundry App

Acquired by new player in GCC with great ambitions. 

Seed investor and marketing advisor to Dubai's leading on-demand laundry and dry cleaning app, washplus. 

Founded in Dubai Silicon Oasis as part of Dubai's smart city drive we have an awesome vision and a very strong founding team and set of angel investors. 

Have been featured in 7 days, Time Out Dubai, Dubai Chronicle and Ahlan!

Washplus - On demand Laundry App

Co-Founder of Uhubs | Bestselling Author: 'The Unfair Advantage' | Empowering SaaS Sales Leaders to Exceed Targets

Hey there! I’m Ash Ali, an entrepreneurial spirit who thrives on turning ideas into reality. 

Best known as the first marketing director at Just Eat, I helped scale it to Series A which then went onto become UK’s first tech unicorns.

But my journey didn't start in the usual boardroom. Without a formal degree, I carved my path through sheer grit, instinct, and a knack for seeing opportunities where others see obstacles. 

Today, I leverage my 20 plus years experience to mentor, invest in, and fuel the next generation of startups.

I co-authored "The Unfair Advantage: How You Already Have What It Takes to Succeed" which won Business Book of the Year.

Our book dives into leveraging your unique traits for success — something I live by and encourage others to recognise in themselves.

I'm currently leading Uhubs, a cutting-edge B2B sales performance startup that empowers sales leaders to define and measure excellence in their teams. 

Our unique Pulse technology provides real-time insights and metrics, helping businesses understand "what good looks like" in sales performance. 

It's about bringing clarity and precision to skills for better sales strategies, enabling teams to thrive in today's competitive markets.

My personal philosophy is to:

"Embrace your unique journey, your most significant 'unfair advantage' might just be something you already possess."

If you’re an entrepreneur at heart, a sales leader looking to elevate your team, or just want to chat about the startup world's highs and lows, feel free to connect! 

I'm always open to sharing ideas, speaking at events and conferences and specialise in GTM, Marketing, Sales and everything to do with starting tech startups.

Co-founder - We're hiring!

Uhubs helps busy sales leaders at top SaaS companies optimise their sales enablement to develop reps and grow revenue, by uncovering blind spots on performance, motivation and skills.

The Uhubs Pulse platform visualises each team’s development needs for personalised upskilling & provides data-driven coaching recommendations that are saving Sales Managers 40+ hrs per quarter and helping reps ramp up 30% faster.

Supercharge your sales team by booking a demo with us today.

University of Strathclyde

Emeritus Professor of Entrepreneurship, Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Strathclyde Business School. Europe's leading academic centre for research, teaching and engagement in the areas of entrepreneurship, innovation and strategy within the context of SMEs and entrepreneurial ventures.

Professor Emeritus

Head of the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Strathclyde Business School. Europe's leading academic centre for research, teaching and engagement in the areas of entrepreneurship, innovation and strategy within the context of SMEs and entrepreneurial ventures.

Professor of Entrepreneurship

Songs, Signs & Sounds

Songs, Signs & Sounds is a disruptive innovator - social enterprise offering free, interactive, weekly music sessions for young people with special educational needs (SEND) and profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD).

Chair

TwinklHive 

Mentoring entrepreneurs of disruptive startups in TwinklHive which provides space, investment, and bespoke support to accelerate the growth of innovative companies worldwide. Since 2019, TwinklHive has invested in a wide range of companies across EdTech, FinTech, WorkplaceTech and beyond, building a diverse portfolio of early-stage mission-driven companies. We have made pre-seed, seed and follow-on investments for our companies, as well as providing hands-on support, mentorship, access to connections and entry into the TwinklHive founder community.

Mentor

Papermill

Papermill is a disruptive innovator - a technology start-up making it delightfully easy for anyone to create perfect PDF documents.

Advisor

Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

ISBE is the UK’s largest and most well established network for individuals and organisations involved in: Enterprise education practice; Small business and entrepreneurship research; Entrepreneurship policy formulation, delivery and evaluation; Small business support, advice and development.

Fellow

DYVERSITY LAB

DYVERSITY LAB leverages the unique power of diverse minds and thinkers to help leaders tackle complex challenges, from local to global.

Founding Member

Lancaster University

Co-Investigator and 'Entrepreneurship and Innovation' work package leader on £6.8M Global Challenge Research Fund 'RECIRCULATE: Driving Eco-innovation in Africa - Capacity-building for a safe circular water economy' will empower African research organisations to work in, with and for their communities by strengthening their skills and capacity to deliver innovative solutions to pressing problems with water use and safety. The project will focus on “joining up” the different ways in which water supports communities, from sewage disposal to energy generation and water used in food production.

GCRF RECIRCULATE Co-Investigator 

Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Strathclyde Business School, University of Strathclyde

Europe's leading academic centre for research, teaching and engagement in the areas of entrepreneurship, innovation and strategy within the context of SMEs and entrepreneurial ventures.

Head of Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship

Lancaster University Management School

Lancaster University Management School is one of the few business schools in the world to hold quadruple accreditation, and we are consistently ranked among the UK’s top ten.

Associate Dean for Engagement

Small Business Charter

The Small Business Charter aims to help create a new era of growth, success and opportunity – one that benefits Business Schools, Small Businesses and Students. http://smallbusinesscharter.org

Member of Management Board

Emeritus Professor, experienced mentor, serial entrepreneur and community leader. Currently an Emeritus Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Strathclyde, where I was Head of the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, mentor founders of innovative startups in the TwinklHive business accelerator and teach on the Qualitas GP Pathway to Partnership programme. I am also a Fellow and past President of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship and to raise awareness I blog as The Dyslexic Professor. In 2023, I agreed to be the Chair of an innovative social enterprise start-up - www.songssignssounds.co.uk

Before joining Strathclyde Business School, I previously worked as Professor of Entrepreneurship at Lancaster University Management School and Professor of Enterprise at Leeds University Business School. I also have more than 30 years experience as a company director, with a track record in managing start-up, joint venture and social enterprises. My research interests included academic entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial learning and the use of CRM technologies by SMEs.

I am a co-author, with Prof Richard Blundel, Prof Catherine Wang and Dr Suzanne Mawson, of the major textbook Exploring Entrepreneurship 3rd Edition (2021) published by Sage Publishing.

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The Battle

Ash Ali

Nigel Lockett

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