Investing in high growth pre-seed startups. 

Dan heads up investments into new companies at Solid Bond which invests £150k-£500k into UK based pre-seed tech/ tech enabled startups.

Dan Dudley

What makes pre-seed such a difficult stage (and why so much of UK venture waits till seed) is the reality that the founders have to almost do everything.

You often don't have the money to spend it on ramping up tech, the founders have to fundraise, sell, account manage, track cash, find market fit and yes while all those things are easier in a smaller company, it can be so easy to lose pace or focus on making you need to go and close the next round of funding. 

Takes massive energy to do this well.

Pre-seed Investor at Solid Bond | Actively Investing | Finance and Commercial Director |

One of the key fractional hires to get in earlier than later for startups is a good CFO. 

A CFO is not your accountant or bookkeeper. I've seen way too many startups hire £100k+ FD's only to realise pretty soon that that FD also needs a bookkeeper/ management accountant to do the accounts work and all of a sudden you have a massive cost for a small business. 

When your business is still really simple, simple invoicing and costs then you can get by with a decent firm of accountants. 

A good fractional CFO will help you do some of the following:

- Cash flow management
- Financial modeling
- Margin analysis
- Build up your core finance team
- Review banking arrangements
- Support on securing more capital (equity/ debt)
- Prep for DD/ transactions

More businesses could do with a really commercially focused finance mind in as soon as they can afford it. I've seen it add tonnes of value, particually when the business is early enough to avoid painful mistakes later. 

#startups #venturecapital #preseed #fractionalCFO #founders

I'll be the first one to praise the UK for the SEIS and EIS investment schemes. They genuinely do more good than bad, particularly at attracting retail money into early stage companies. 

However, many SEIS rounds will close with the c. £250k limit but that often leaves them undercapitalised to make the progress needed to unlock the next wave of funding. If your £250k round doesn't get to launch and £250k ARR at least then it's easy to fall into this space. 

It leaves a lot of business in this awkward in-between stage. Not having enough runway to get the revenue traction to unlock seed investors, valuation expectation and lack of SEIS now precluding a lot of angels from joining certainly makes closing another round at pre-seed increasingly difficult. 

Makes it so important to plan how you get there with the funding you close at pre-seed. Raising another pre-seed might not be as easy as the 1st time you did it.

Seeing a lot of founders either using or pitching to raise using ASA's as their main instrument. We've even had a few at Solid Bond. that have closed with this as part of their round, so wanted to write a bit to explain when they are best to use. 

ASA is the UK's SAFE, with a couple of small differences.

In short it is a agreement to invest now and purchase equity in the future. It isn't debt, it is a structured agreement to buy equity in the next round, usually at a discount for coming in early. 

If you don't close enough in a priced round within a certain period of time then the investment converts at a pre-determined price for those ASA investors. 

If you are going to preserve S/EIS then HMRC dictates it needs to be issued into shares within 6 months of investment. This is the major issue with them - you cannot use them as a round, it pretty much reduces them essentially to a bridging instrument. You could use them outside of this is you are okay with the "backstop" valuation or the pre-agreed valuation but it isn't usually how people use them. 

I've found the most common use case is to close enough on an ASA to secure enough runway to close out the seed and you literally have to be running both processes at the same time. Can be a great tool if used right but it's important to know when they should be used.

Customer service is going to be one of the biggest disrupted industries because of AI. 

The number of startups we see now who are "AI Receptionist" or "AI Customer Service Agents" has grown loads over the last 6 months. 

The reality is some of their platforms are actually great as well. We will see an explosion of front line agents with high quality integrations to a few core systems in niche verticals. They can just serve their needs and build the workflows for that niche vertical so well. Not convinced they can all raise money but there are some ace bootstrapped businesses in this group that'll form over the next 12-18 months. 

One of Solid Bond.'s portfolio companies, Answer Ai has seen loads of it's retailers realise 90%+ support automation for Shopify ecommerce/ fashion retailers. It's a big market but you can see that AI, with great workflows built around it will literally end most customer service roles as we know them.

#startups #venturecapital #preseed

Having a super deep understanding of your market, the buyers, ICP (well thought through/ proven), budget holders, other systems in use, barriers, indirect competitors/ workarounds etc. adds massive credibility when you're raising money. 

So clear to see when someone knows this and and when they use some McKinsey top down market sizing stat. 

#Startups #Preseed #Founders #VentureCapital

Had a great conversation with one of Solid Bond.'s founders recently about the state of AI in 2026. Same message is what I am hearing across the industry as well.

The foundational models are genuinely good enough now and the issue now sits in the application layer. This has totally changed in the last 12 months and the realisation is that great product is what will drive the next wave of agents and deliver on the automation we thought we'd start to see. 

I am sure they'll be a lot of improvement in models to come with the sheer about of capital going into compute over the next 5 years, but right now for a lot of applications it is the product/ tuning of agents that is a big opportunity.

I'm vibe coding a data platform for Solid Bond. to massively speed up our investment process, deep research and IM writing linking our systems together and I can see when Replit is handing over to "sub-agents" like the "architect" to perform a specialist task and then use that output to continue. 

Building sub-agents and better product is what's needed now, not significant changes to the quality of the models.

Interested to know what some of the best use cases venture funds are seeing for AI in their internal process and what platforms are being used. 

Any insights? 

#venturecapital #startups #preseed #seriesA

Can't wait to try Claude CoWork (always last to come to Windows!!)

This year will be massive for AI chat apps becoming proper workflow tools.

I think we'll see a section in them - similar to how Projects work now - where you can build automations across desktop and cloud apps just by describing what you want in natural language.

This used to be reserved for RPA specialist software and businesses that could afford the implementation. But it's coming to everyone pretty soon.

The barrier to automating repetitive work is dropping. It'll be a precursor to being able to set outcome-based automations where the route to automating it won't be a rigid process.

Feels like this will live in your AI chat apps.

FHundED

The FHundED Ecosystem is part of the Lancashire Innovation strategy, with the goal of encouraging investment in Tech and Digital businesses in Lancashire, through community and ecosystem building, events and collaboration.

Investment Ecosystem Lead

Lancashire County Council

Working across Lancashire as a super connector to support businesses who innovate - with a specialism in Tech and Investment.

This role is part of the forward thinking Innovation team that sits within LCC 's Economic Development team.

Supporting tech and innovation culture and creating environments for innovative businesses to grow.

Innovation Ecosystem Manager - Lancashire 

Economic Development - Innovation Team - Senior Project Manager 

Immersed in the Lancashire tech and digital sector, driving growth through ecosystem building and Tech Hub management to deliver economic growth. Using a collaborative approach with private sector to deliver effectively on Innovation projects in the region.

Responsibilities include:
- Management of Fraser House Tech Hub
- Leading on the FHundED Investment Ecosystem 
- Organising tech/digital focused events in Lancaster

Economic Development - Innovation Team - Project Manager

Salomon

Brand Ambassador

Fraser House Hub

As the Community Manager at Fraser House Hub co-working space, I am passionate about creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for all members. In my first 12 months in this role, I have successfully brought in over 100 new members and significantly increased the gender diversity of our membership, taking it from just 2% women when I started to now being 40%.

My focus is on fostering collaboration and creating a sense of belonging for all members, regardless of their background or identity. I believe that diversity and inclusion are essential components of a thriving community, and I work tirelessly to ensure that Fraser House is a place where everyone feels welcome and valued.

Whether through organizing events, facilitating introductions between members, or simply being available to listen and provide support, I am committed to making Fraser House a place where people can come together to work, learn, and grow. I am excited to continue building and strengthening our community in the coming months and years.

Manager

Red Original

Ambassador, representing Red Original in the multi-sport sector as a run/swim/hike athlete.

Ordnance Survey

Promoting the outdoors through Social Media, events and the #GetOutside campaign.

GetOutside Champion/Brand Ambassador

Suunto

Speedo

Producing authentic outdoor swim content for the Speedo Social Media accounts and Blog.

Kit Collective

Working to bridge the gap to increase diversity in the outdoors by creating more opportunities and removing some of the barriers. This is done through the distribution of premium outdoor kit to under represented community groups.

Founder

University of Central Lancashire

Putting on events and workshops for Lancashire based Creative and Digital businesses. Focusing on sharing insights and techniques from leading businesses, blue chip companies and academia.

Business Development Officer - Lancashire Forum Creative

Identifying SMEs looking to develop new products to match them with design development support through the Innovation Clinic.

Business Development Officer - Innovation Clinic

Producing and delivering manufacture ready designs for SMEs looking to bring new products to market. Focusing on physical and service based products.

Planning and implementing new business engagement activity for business recruitment and developing networks and relationships with funding partners and bodies.

Senior Product Designer - Innovation Clinic

Advising, creating design briefs, specifications, background & market research, concept designs, prototypes, CAD designs for manufacture, technical drawings and tech packs for manufacturers. Always working on many projects at anytime, managing my own workload and project timelines.

Product Designer - Innovation Clinic

Working to create the best environment in Lancashire for growth and innovation.

Rory's role in running the FHundED Ecosystem is to encourage investment into Lancashire Tech and Digital businesses through workshops, events and working with funds, networks and business support across the UK.

With a background in Design Thinking, Community Building and Business Development, Rory is well-equipped to support businesses in their growth and success.

Alongside this Rory is also a Content Creator working with brands such as Salomon, Speedo, Nike Swim, Rubicon Raw, Arla and Ordnance Survey.

Rory Southworth

Fantastic opening night for my Print Exhibition at Tuck.

Thanks to all that came and bought my work!

It runs for three months, so still plenty of time to check it out if you are in Lancaster (it's right by the Station).

Fhunded Angels - Connecting Founders to Funders - Investment Ecosystem Manager for Lancashire

A little reintroduction.

I'm Rory Southworth.

I grew up in a village between Bristol and Bath, but after going to University in London I chose a job that meant I could live in Lancashire - before moving up, I had googled it and it looked like it was close to the Lakes and Dales. (Previously I'd only been North of Gloucester once). I've been up here 12 years now.

I am hill obsessed and have ran/skied/hiked up 858 different hills in the UK - 755 of them in England. 

My weekends are often spent out in the hills running and hiking, but in the last two years I started print making on my rest days. I did a Design degree at University and spent the first 8 years of my career as a Designer. It's been great to get back to being creative. It may not be a surprise that my print work is of hills and landscapes. I have work currently exhibiting for three months at Tuck in Lancaster.

I work in early-stage investment in the North and run Fhunded. A Lancashire County Council programme that connects founders to funders.

I also run the Lancashire Angel Network - Fhunded Angels, alongside Kiran Mehta and Troy Wood. 

Through this work we've introduced over £16 million worth of deals and have seen businesses grow massively in a short space of time.

I'm very passionate about getting early stage capital into the North, but specifically in the more rural parts of the North, places like Lancashire (79% rural), North Yorkshire (74% rural) and Cumbria (99% rural).

We've been making fantastic progress on getting Lancashire on the map for investors with our Founder X Funder events (bringing investors from the UK to Lancashire and connecting them with Founders).

If you are a Northern Founder that is looking to raise early stage investment - come along to our next Fhunded Founder X Funder event with Solid Bond. on the 5th February - book here: https://lnkd.in/evu3ecdE

#Funding #Investment #Lancashire

Excuses I'll accept for not being able to attend my upcoming Fhunded investment events in February.

1. "I'm Skiing"



But if you aren't on holiday on the 5th Feb - join us at Fraser House Hub for the Founder X Funder event in collaboration with Solid Bond. 

Book here: https://lnkd.in/evu3ecdE


#funding #investment

Where actually is Fhunded based?

Whilst we operate across the whole of Lancashire - our office is at Fraser House Hub in Lancaster.

Having a physical base is really important to us, a place where we can hold events, have meetings and bring investors to. 

Whilst the deals team works remotely, I am regularly in the space to have chats.

If you want to have a chat about early-stage equity investment - drop me a DM.

#funding #Lancashire

The Fhunded Deals Team.

Between the three of us we surface deals in Lancashire and share them with our Investor network and Angel group.

If you are in Lancashire and looking to raise equity investment - drop me a DM.

Kiran Mehta Troy Wood #Investment #Lancashire

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The Battle

Dan Dudley

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