Nick Telson

trumpet

Co-Founder

sequel

First Check Investor/Ideator

Horseplay Ventures

Horseplay Ventures is a Startup Playground for the new generation of startup founders. As recently exited founders we understand the pressures of being a founder and what it takes to scale and exit. Horseplay incorporates Pre-Seed/Seed Angel Investing, a free investor syndicate, a podcast and free tools for founders to use.

Co-Founder - Angel Investor

Pitch Deck - @pitchdeckpod

Pitch Deck:

- Top 10 Global Business Podcast
- Top 10 Global New Podcast
- Top 5 UK Career/Entrepreneurship Podcast 

Real investors, real founders, real pitches. In each episode, a startup founder has 10 minutes to pitch their business to Nick and guest Angel Investors/Mentors. They then all discuss the pitch and the business itself, asking questions an Investor would ask in a real pitch. The guest Angel and Nick then discuss what they make of the business and investment opportunity.

Podcaster

Proud Ventures

Member

London & Partners

Business Mentor

Virgin StartUp

Delighted to be an official mentor on the Virgin StartUp Programme; a not-for-profit organisation that exists to help founders start up and thrive.  

They provide funding, straight talk and useful advice to make the entrepreneurial road less bumpy and access to a supportive and dynamic community to help founders have some fun along the way.

Mentor

EMW Global | Sports & Entertainment

EMW Global is an international sports and entertainment marketing agency with offices in London, Hong Kong, Shanghai and São Paulo. They matchmake top class rights holders and athletes with global brands and entertainment IP. Some clients include the Brasilian National Team, Clube Flamingo, Dani Alves, Douglas Costa, Emerson and Marco Materazzi.

Advisor

The Access Group

Co-Founder of DesignMyNight . Acquired by The Access Group in December 2017. Remaining at DesignMyNight.

Co-Founder DesignMyNight

WFL Media LTD | www.designmynight.com

I am co-founder of UKs fastest growing nightlife website www.designmynight.com. Receiving over 6.5 million monthly views and several industry leading B2B softwares including Tonic, our DesignMyNight ticket platform and Collins; the first booking and enquiry management software for casual dining restaurants, bars and pubs. DesignMyNight was acquired by The Access Group in 2017.

Founder DesignMyNight (Acquired '19) 🍹 | Co-Founder trumpet 🎺 | Investor in 55+ Startups (Currently not investing in new deals) 😇 | Podcaster 🎙️| 🏳️‍🌈

Hey!

I’m a London-based entrepreneur, angel investor, podcaster, startup mentor and public speaker, whose speciality lies in talking no-nonsense founder/investor advice and help. I'm currently co-founder of new B2B sales tool, trumpet, host of Pitch Deck podcast and co-founder of an angel investing venture-arm, Horseplay Ventures

I previously co-founded DesignMyNight, back in 2010 and managed to grow that over 7 years with minimal angel funding, to 100+ employees, 15,000 SaaS customers and 8m monthly uniques on the website. We exited to Access Group in 2017.

I live for the early stages of startups - building the brand, finding product market fit, iterating quickly and building out a team. Most of my content is centred around this, as well as tips from an angel investor. Even after exiting to financial freedom, I caught the founder bug again and have co-founded my next startup, trumpet, in 2022; looking to disrupt B2B sales and kill the sales pdf deck. Follow me on here while we build out this new journey in public.

Please feel free to ask for any advice or help, whether a founder, startup employee or investor and I will always endeavour to do what I can. I'm also a regular guest on podcasts, startup speaking gigs and webinars, so feel free to reach out to me if you are looking for guests/speakers. 

I do respectfully ask not to be pitched for investment in my Linkedin DMs and instead go through Horseplay Ventures. Hopefully my podcast is also a treasure trove of information for those looking to raise early-stage investment, thinking about it or just interested in it - search for Pitch Deck by Nick Telson.

Nick Telson-Sillett

After backing 80+ founders, I used to mianly bet on the loud traits - grit, vision, hunger. Turns out the best signals are much quieter.

It clicked only after watching my best portco founders operate long after the pitch theatre ended.

Here are the traits that actually separate the builders who break through from the ones who fade out:

- Why-obsessed. They dig until the customer’s true trigger is exposed. If the “why” isn’t sharp, the rest doesn’t matter.

- The personal "why". What personal reasons are they building for? What life events got them to this point.

- Productive self-doubt. They run constant stress-tests on their assumptions. Doubt becomes a tool, not a liability. They never rest on their laurels. 

- Unsexy-detail operators. They sweat the workflows, processes, and GTM plumbing that make revenue real. Vision alone doesn’t.

- Recruitment humility. They hire people who out-think them, then get out of their way.

- Discomfort seekers. Tough conversations, painful pivots, honest feedback, they move toward the friction because that’s where the growth is

Loud traits get attention. 
Quiet ones build companies.

Co-Founder trumpet 🎺 | Founder DesignMyNight (Acquired '19) 🍹 | Investor in 55+ Startups 🤑 🏳️‍🌈

Anna Liebel ehf.

When your startup seemingly takes over your whole life, how do you stay true to your values and keep nurturing relationships you deeply care about?
When your company is growing, how do you stay sane on that rocketship?
When your success brings more questions than answers, how do you realign to the new insights and deal with them?

My post-grad work experience started within project management in a global engineering company. In the first years of that career, I was often the youngest, the only immigrant, and the only female in the room. I was called "sweetheart" by the seniors who thought they were caring, and an "idiot" by an engineer on my team because I confronted his disrespectful behaviour towards others. On the other hand, I've experienced amazing leaders who were inspiring, attracting talent like a magnet, and getting people to collaborate on amazing levels. I've learned what made a difference in leadership from practice and am on a mission to spread the knowledge so that more companies can thrive, while their leaders feel happy and employees -- fulfilled.

Many leaders feel lonely on their journey. I know it can be another way and am using my strength of creating a safe space, for the leaders to experience a better way of being. Then together, we work on creating that experience for their whole teams, to ensure higher job satisfaction, productivity, good employee retention, more creativity, and generally, better business results.

If you feel like it's time to review and redefine your leadership, schedule a Mindshifting Intensive and let's talk! https://annaliebel.as.me/strategycall

Mindshifter

Reykjavik University

Teaching undergraduate students who major in business or economy at the Business Department. The courses I am partially involved in are Well-being and Critical Thinking, and fully responsible for Leadership and Effective Teamwork.

Lecturer

Managing grants projects, applying for research grants, building collaborations within academia and with the industry, both locally and internationally.

FinTech Research Center Administrator

Designing and leading workshops and courses for the Open University at RU on topics of time management, leadership and communication, DEI, and more.

Corporate Trainer

KLAK - Venture Mentoring Service

NUMA

Member of the Numa Coach Academy.

Leading interactive virtual workshops for managers and individual contributors on topics of time and energy management, hard conversations, employees’ and team motivation, delegation and performance, leading 1:1 meetings, hybrid collaboration, asynchronous communication, pitching, emotional intelligence, creativity techniques, and more.

Clients: Richemont (Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier, Chloé and other brands), Forvia, ManoMano, Kering Group (Gucci, Saint Laurent, AlexanderMcQueen and other brands), Vade, Vestiaire Collective and more.

StartupExperts

StartupExperts is an invite-only community of experienced HR, Finance, and Ops leaders who understand that while we tend to be “teams of one” or leaders of small teams at individual companies, we all regularly encounter the same business challenges and believe that collectively we are stronger when we support each other. As a community of professionals we are passionate about learning, we want to build deeper relationships with our peers, and most importantly we find personal satisfaction in giving to others.

Talent Leader

Stepping Stone Edu

Building and leading the Mentors Network as a part of Stepping Stone Edu's startup incubator. Responsible for creating processes, recruiting, onboarding, training mentors, and ensuring they have a great experience with our team and cohorts.

Additionally, supporting the company's leadership to build a healthy culture and navigate the personal challenges of building a business.

Mentor Network Lead and Leadership and Team Development Manager

National Multicultural Information Center Iceland

One-month assignment for one of the governmental organizations in Iceland, to help them accepting Ukrainians who arrived to Iceland for protection on humanitarian needs. 
Tasks included:
- running information meetings with the newcomers
- holding 1:1 interviews
- preparation of materials for handouts and online resources
- translation services

Assistant to Project Manager

Semcon

Project Management Consultant working with product development and aftermarket.

Consultant

AstraZeneca

As a packaging engineer, I was involved in the new product development and responsible for the choice of suitable packaging for the products, both in the development phase and for the commercial product. Also, been part of the teams developing new inhalation devices.

Packaging Engineer (consultant assignment)

Mölnlycke

During this assignment within global product complaint handlers team, I worked with processing company's product complaints registered worldwide. My duties included initial review and classification of the new complaints, progress follow up with diverse stakeholders including production, R&D and aftermarket, and preparation of customer communication based on the investigations completed within the company.

Global Product Complaint Handler (consultant assignment)

I help entrepreneurial leaders and their teams stay sane on their adventurous journeys and build healthy company cultures that will be able to scale along with the company's success and growth.

To reach that promise, I work with the leaders on their personal development, support the mental health of the team members, and facilitate conversations that need to take place for the company culture to be scalable, intentional and sustainable.

As a teenager, I wanted to become a psychologist. My dad eagerly supported that idea by buying me some books on the subject. The rebellious teen within me decided otherwise and went into computer science. It took me 1.5 decades to get back on track with my passion.

Mindshifting is a cocktail of:
🍹 my tech background that helps speak with analytical leaders their language
🍹 project management education and 6+ years of experience that bring structure into my work
🍹 curiosity that makes me ask lots of questions and dig deep in the conversations
🍹 (apparently) a unique ability to show love and appreciation instead of judgment
🍹 and nerdy interest in human behaviors that help connect the dots of all the above
As a result, you see new perspectives, understand yourself better, and get equipped with the tools that help shift your mind and realign your life.

What my clients have achieved through our work together, in their own words:
🔘 Being the only leader is hard and lonely. It's good to have a person who can listen to me about my struggles, who gets them, and who can support me come out of them without too much of a sacrifice.
🔘 I used to say to myself "I don't have time for this goal". Now I say "I'll find time" - and I find it!
🔘 I started writing down my thoughts. Now nothing slips away in the flow of thoughts.
🔘 My New Year resolution was to get rid of the chaos in the head and life, and it's now achieved - thanks to you.
🔘 I've always wondered whether I am a good father. Now I know that I am. I've done what I could for my kids, and they are good now!
🔘 I was afraid of giving negative feedback out of fear of not being liked. Now I know it's not about me, so I dare to address the issues, significantly improving the work environment in my team.

Entrepreneurship is hard and it's easy to make it a lonely journey. But it doesn't have to be lonely! You can be heard, understood, and supported. 

Want to find better, more sustainable ways to achieve your company and personal goals? Schedule a 90-minute Mindshifting Intensive here: https://annaliebel.as.me/strategycall

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Nick Telson-Sillett

Anna Liebel 🇺🇦

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The Battle

Nick Telson-Sillett

Anna Liebel 🇺🇦

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Nick Telson-Sillett's LinkedIn Performance

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