Sam Simpson

You're seeking that all-important funding to catapult you to the next level.

YET despite how motivated you are and how good your business idea is, you may still struggle to…

▫️ Get funding because of the advance assurance needed
▫️ Afford the production of expensive legal paperwork
▫️ Know-how to find those elusive investors.

Simplifying and accelerating the early-stage investment legal journey, FounderCatalyst is the ONLY affordable fixed price method of funding round legals for start-ups.

WHO WE HELP
Pre-incorporation to start-ups in England & Wales that want expert AND affordable help with SEIS & EIS and the legal process and documentation required to complete their funding journey. 

3 WAYS WE HELP
1. Apply for SEIS & EIS advance assurance
2. Produce all legal funding round paperwork and manage investor engagement
3. Introduce start-ups to possible sources of funding.

Enjoy the relief all of the legal paperwork you need in as little as 30 minutes and your investor engagement managed through the process.  

PROOF WE HELP
✅  Complete fixed price service per funding round just £1,495 +vat
✅  99% success rate for advance assurance
✅  Legal paperwork produced in just 30 minutes.

YOUR NEXT STEP
Haven’t yet got your funding legals sorted and you’re determined to give your start-up the best and most affordable chance of success?

Book a chat at https://calendly.com/sam-fc/meet

Thanks for viewing my profile.

Sam

"Founders seeking to raise equity finance - use this service! It’s simple to use, reliable & secure, & provides unrivalled value for money. You're in complete control of your fundraising process & timescales." Jules & Charlie, Founders, The Nue Co

FREE RESOURCES
Because we’re here to help start-ups, we offer the following for free:

✅  SEIS/EIS advance assurance submission
✅  Customised Term Sheet
✅  Template Forecast Models
✅  Founder Collaboration Agreements

Visit: foundercatalyst.com to find out more and access the freebies.

SPECIALITIES: Start-up, Startup, Start Up Funding, Funding Round, Funding, Investment, Investor, Investor Engagement, Angel Investor, SEIS, EIS

Co-Founder and CCO

Forge Technologies is a digital IT services business focusing on three technology pillars; Future workplace, Cloud optimisation and Network transformation. Forge has no legacy infrastructure that it needs to deliver returns against; no costly office space, external investors or banking covenants and unencumbered from legacy working practices that have to be turned on their head to adapt to new working practices.

Within Forge Technologies, I am responsible for all aspects of commercial and back office services.

The most anticipated day of the year is here – “The Deal 2026” has been released by our friends at Beauhurst.  Hat tip to Henry Whorwood and team

Here are the headline UK funding trends at a glance.

2025 vs 2024:
📉⁠ ⁠Deal numbers down by 7.87%
📈 ⁠Total capital raised up by 3.43% (£800m more deployed)
⬆️ ⁠Average deal size up by 12.6%
🥇⁠ ⁠First-time fundraises up by 23.6%

Overall summary: Fewer deals but more capital per deal and more new companies entering the market.

Stage trends:
👉 ⁠Seed and Venture: Deal counts have softened compared with recent peaks, but remain above pre-2020 levels.
🐢⁠ ⁠Venture: Shows the clearest slowdown in activity.
📈⁠ ⁠Growth: Average deal size dropped (from ~£25.9m to ~£18.6m), indicating more caution in later-stage rounds.
💰Average seed valuation has softened notably, from £2.45m in 2023 to £2.04m in 2025. Though the % drop is not as crazy as growth (down from £27.2m in 2021 to £18.6m in 2025)

Sector trends:
🤖⁠ ⁠AI leads in both number of deals and total capital raised.
☁️⁠ ⁠Cloud computing ranks among the lowest by deal volume and capital raised.

Takeaway:  The fundraising market has become more selective, there are fewer rounds but larger average cheques, more first-time founders raising and strong concentration in AI.

Want to know more? Link in the comments?

Want to know how FounderCatalyst (the most cost effective, fastest growing and highest rated fund raising platform in the UK) can support your funding round?  Drop me a message 👏

Serial Entrepreneur, Board Advisor ▫️ Founder at FounderCatalyst, the ONLY affordable fixed price method of funding round legals for start-ups ▫️ CCO at Forge Technologies

💡 Planning your fundraise for the end of the UK tax year but not sure where to start?  Let’s fix that! 

🚀 Fundraising & S/EIS

I’m excited to be teaming up with Manchester Digital for a live session where I’ll be breaking down how founders can approach fundraising with confidence.

In this practical, no-fluff webinar, I’ll walk you through the full funding landscape - from grants and debt to equity - and help you understand which route is right for your business. I’ll also demystify SEIS and share insider tips to help you get the most out of this powerful scheme.

You’ll learn:
✔️ Funding options: Grants vs Debt vs Equity
✔️ Understanding equity types: Angels, VCs, and Crowdfunding
✔️ The benefits of SEIS for founders and investors
✔️ Advance assurance: why it matters and how to get it
✔️ SEIS myths, secrets, and practical tips
✔️ Live Q&A + useful resources

🗓️ Tuesday, 21 January 2026

🕛 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM (UK Time)

💻 Online Webinar

👉 Save your spot now: https://lnkd.in/eJcsti_f

#Fundraising #SEIS #EIS #StartupFunding #FounderCatalyst #StartupWebinar #InvestorReady

On Friday 23rd January at midday, we are starting the first in a series of 6 webinars to kickoff the 2026 fundraising season. You can expect a practical, founder-focused session designed to help you turn early traction into a business investors want to back.

Hosted by myself (FounderCatalyst) and Hatty Fawcett from Focused For Business in this no-fluff hour we’ll go back to basics and help you assess your investor readiness, strengthen your foundations, and avoid the common mistakes that stop founders from raising early-stage capital:

✅ What investors actually look for in early-stage startups
✅ How to position your story and metrics to attract serious investor interest
✅ The most common gaps that derail fundraising (and how to fix them early) 
✅ How SEIS/EIS can make your round more attractive to UK investors, and why it pays to get Advance Assurance in place early

Secure your FREE spot here: https://luma.com/iqm7b745

Very proud that FounderCatalyst supported Saleem Yaqub and the Shoutt team with their recent close of >£500k from SFC Capital and others.

The unique FounderCatalyst model meant that Shoutt paid a fixed fee of just £1,495+vat - less than a third of the price of the (more expensive, lower Trustpilot rated) "market leader".  

Thinking of fundraising?  Lets talk 🤙

Co-Founder @ Shoutt | Freelance smarter with AI

Today we announced our £525k pre-seed round with SFC Capital and angels.

But this didn’t start with a pitch deck or a funding round.

Multiple pivots. And countless hours spent manually checking hundreds of websites and sifting through thousands of opportunities to understand the market and train our models. 

Shoutt is an always-on AI agent that finds and delivers highly relevant gigs to freelancers from across the web. 

Jonathan Eadie and I come from different backgrounds, tech and non-tech, and that combination has turned out to be one of our biggest advantages. Different lenses. Better decisions.

A few key learnings:
• Neither of us could have done this alone. Great companies are built in partnership
• Your first hires matter more than almost anything else (character over CV) 
• Persistence compounds, every failure gets you one step closer

Freelancers deserve independence, freedom, and tools that work for them. Not being reliant on a few big players that extract value, waste time, or flood them with junk.

A huge thanks to everyone who backed us early, challenged us, and believed in us.

We’re excited to continue to push the frontier of applied AI in helping freelancers globally with their independence, success and freedom. 🚀

Full details in comments below.

🚨 Free 60-min Session | Funding Options for Growth

Raising funds but not sure which route makes the most sense right now?

Join me (FounderCatalyst) and the awesome Ciaran Burke from Swoop for a high-impact session on how grants, growth-friendly debt, and equity investment can support your next stage of growth.

You’ll learn:
 ✔️ Which option fits your business right now
 ✔️ Key pros/cons of grants vs debt vs equity
 ✔️ What to prepare before you raise
 ✔️ Live Q&A

👉 Save your spot: https://lnkd.in/eWtmeerh

#Fundraising #StartupFunding #Grants #DebtFinance

🚨 Less than 1 week to go!

If you’re planning to offer equity, make sure your option scheme is set up properly from day one. I’m running a practical session on EMI and unapproved option schemes, with clear steps and real-world guidance.

Join us for:
✔️ Scheme setup
✔️ EMI valuations
✔️ Vesting design
✔️ Compliance essentials
✔️ Live Q&A
👉 Save your place: https://lnkd.in/e3bYKA5H

#EquityIncentives #EMI #StartupEquity #FounderCatalyst #EmployeeOptions

Business and Career Coach for Lawyers / Author of "Winning in Your Own Court" / Entrepreneur

When I was a kid, I was the only girl I knew whose dream did not involve walking down the aisle in a white dress. I wanted a career. My role models were more Mary Richards than Carol Brady. 

And the coolest career, I thought, would be to become a lawyer. 

Imagine if the girl whose mother called her “impossible” for being argumentative could use that specific trait and be a courtroom lawyer like Katherine Hepburn in “Adams Rib!” My dreams became grander when I was in law school and watched how the lawyers on “L.A. Law” lived. The sexy cases, the gorgeous designer suits, the cars, the prestige. Yes, please!

Well, that dream lasted for three years. Yup, 1000 days is all it took for me to realize that being a lawyer can really suck if all you know is what they taught you in law school.  As soon as I graduated, I began to see all the things I still didn’t know. And they were big, crucial things. How to get clients? I didn’t know. How to make partner? I didn’t know. How to change areas of practice if I didn’t like the first one I picked out of law school? I didn’t know.

And, that’s exactly what happened to me. I didn’t like being a litigator, my first job out of law school, because I had no idea what it was like. After all, we never saw the long hours, sleepless nights, drudgery, or stress on “L.A. Law.”

I realized that although I was helping some of my clients recover millions of dollars, I wasn’t feeling like a winner because I didn’t understand the basic laws of being a successful professional outside of the courtroom and so I quit. I shifted my practice a few times and, after 20 years, I decided to leave the law.

My dad said I was crazy. My colleagues said I was crazy. But I’m not crazy because, now, 14 years later with a successful coaching practice, having helped hundreds of lawyers win more in their careers and lives, I realize that this is my purpose, what I was made to do. I’m grateful I became a lawyer so I could become not-a-lawyer and help the rest because we will always need great lawyers. As a lawyer coach, I’m here to make sure we still have some.

Book a call here: https://achievementbydesign.com/calendar/

Dena Lefkowitz, Esq.

Encouragement works in subtle ways.

Fitness instructors praise us in pre-recorded classes. They can’t see us. We know that. And still, many of us push a little harder when we hear, “you got this.”

Research backs this up. Verbal encouragement increases persistence and effort, even when the person offering it isn’t physically present.

Chris Rock once joked that women run on food, water, and compliments. We’d widen that circle. All of us humans do.

My husband and I stumbled into a gratitude practice long before that phrase existed. Married 35 years, we still thank each other for ordinary things. Trash. Dishes. Errands. We both like being noticed and appreciated for the dumb things we do all the time. 

It doesn’t make chores exciting. We just feel better about our efforts than if they were met with silence..

Clichés exist for a reason. Honey, vinegar, all of that. Flattery goes nowhere.  But a real compliment makes a difference. We love to feel seen.

Even when that praise comes from a recorded instructor and we’re alone on a bike in our living room.

A big part of coaching is recognizing our clients’ strengths before they fully recognize it themselves, and holding up a mirror so they can see what we see.

Dale Carnegie wrote about this decades ago. Encouragement, when it’s honest, changes how people feel and perform.

We don’t have to choose between authenticity and impact. We can offer both. And sometimes the most powerful thing we can give another person is simply to be an accurate reflection.

#lawyers #lawyercoach #CareerCoachingForLawyers
#legalcareercoach #legalprofession

Award-winning author of "Winning in Your Own Court: 10 Laws for a Successful Career without Burning Out or Selling Out" (American Bar Association, 2022). I coach lawyers to win.

When something painful happens, it rarely stays where it started. 

It moves outward into families we never expected to feel connected to. Across state lines, across faith traditions, across racial and cultural histories. Into courtrooms, classrooms, hospital rooms, and long drives home. Into conversations where we realize we are standing inside the same ache, even if we arrived from different places.

When something tragic or disturbing happens, the pain doesn’t belong only to the people at the center. It ripples outward. Families. Communities. Countries. Strangers who get in the car or on a plane because they need to be there.

Many of us live in the outer circles. Close enough to feel the weight. Far enough to wonder what to do with it.

We feel the tenion all across the country. And because we embody the word “united”, we also absorb the suffering of people far beyond our own borders. What happens to you reaches, touches, and compels the rest of us in a million different directions.

So what can we do from here?

We can step away from constant news. It’s not denial.
We can take a beat before adding a charged post.
We can phone a friend. 
We can do things that anchor us - take a walk, be with family, read a book
We can get involved in something we believe in, because action gives our concern somewhere to go..

We are  not all carrying the same weight.
But we are carrying it together.

#CareerCoachForAttorneys #WellbeingForLawyers #LifeCoachForLawyers #Lawyers #LegalProfession

On the drive to argue before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, I apologized to my husband. In advance. Just in case.

Not for nerves.
For temperament.

Six hours in a car with someone preparing for a once-in-a-career argument changes the atmosphere. When our armor goes on, we’re not quite the same.

In trial work, we learn this shift well. Posture adjusts. Our words tighten. Attention is completely focused. 

A different professional version of us steps forward when the stakes are high.

Armor feels familiar. Giving it a rest takes more discernment than wearing it.

That’s why the moment in this video with the porcupines is so beautiful. The quills disappear when there is trust and safety. When a defense is no longer necessary.

That instinct is ancient, wise, hardwired.

We all need places where our armor is not required. A conversation. A relationship. A room. A soft place to land when we need it.

Not because we lack strength. Because we use it all day long.

Professional maturity includes knowing when the armor has finished its work. And we can be ourselves again.

Video credit: Pubity

#Lawyers #CareerDevelopment #ProfessionalIdentity #Trust #WinningInYourOwnCourt

Office presence keeps showing up as a retention issue, even when everyone involved has the best intentions.

That’s the focus of my latest “Coach’s Corner” column in The Legal Intelligencer. Not a take on remote versus in-office, but a closer look at what happens when presence is required without enough thought about what people are actually gaining from being there. And what they give up.

After all, none of us actually has a dog at home loading the dishwasher while we go to work, right?

Early in my career, being in the office meant access. During my first year as a litigation associate, I followed more experienced lawyers as they took depositions, argued motions, met with clients, prepared witnesses, and tried cases. I watched how they handled pressure, adjusted on the fly, and exercised judgment in real time. That experience shaped how I practiced. 

What many law firm leaders are sorting out now is how firm structures can support both development and sustainability at the same time. When those are in sync, strong lawyers are far more likely to stay, grow, and invest for the long term.

Link to the full piece is in the comments.
Video credit: my_Aussie_gal

Sometimes it comes down to the commute.

Believe it or not, it’s often that single expectation of being physically present that knocks good lawyers right out of the practice. It’s like adding one more ball to a juggler who’s got all she can handle.

They are already sacrificing sleep, exercise, socializing, recreation and are multitasking at every turn (see video).

Firms usually frame in-office policies around reasonable goals: collaboration, training, culture, visibility. All of that matters. A lot. But for mid-career lawyers who are also managing caregiving and family logistics, it can mean the end.

Commutes stretch the day. What used to feel doable starts to feel impossible. The change can feel abrupt, even destabilizing. For some very capable lawyers, that shift forces a hard recalculation about how long the profession can fit into their lives.

That’s what I explore in this month’s Coach’s Corner for The Legal Intelligencer: how office-presence expectations influence retention, advancement, and who decides it’s time to step away.

This isn’t an argument against offices. It’s a look at how policies land in real lives. Performance and commitment don’t always show up as a body in a chair, and attendance has never been a reliable proxy for contribution. 

#CareerCoachForAttorneys #LegalProfession #LawFirmLife #WellbeingForLawyers

And I thought my yarn stash was out of control.

Then I watched this.

We all have our obsessions. The things we circle back to again and again. Vintage wind-up toys. DIY transformations. A band we’ll travel for.

From the outside, they can look random. Inside, they usually make perfect sense. They point to what calms us, amuses us, challenges us, or gives us a small hit of wonder.

Our obsessions quietly shape where we travel, who we gravitate toward, what we notice. They sneak into business trips. They influence friendships. They decide which corners of a city we explore and which conversations we stay in a little longer.

They are the grout between the tiles of our lives, holding everything together.

Work and family are big, meaningful tiles. But when they crowd out the grout, everything starts to feel rigid. Functional, maybe. But less colorful. 

Fun is not frivolous.
Curiosity is not inefficient.
And joy does not need a justification.

We need something that pulls us forward with interest, not obligation. Something that gives us steam. Something that reminds us we are more than just responsible grownups.

Sometimes that means going out even when staying in feels easier. Or letting ourselves care about something that will never show up on a résumé. Sometimes it means choosing fascination for no reason other than it feels good.

Our obsessions do not compete with our ambition. They give it oxygen.

And if you feel like you do not have time for you, let’s talk.

Video credit: @jackofftoart

#CurateYourCareer #LawyerLife #CareerLongevity #Curiosity #AchievementByDesign #WinningInYourOwnCourt

We all have instant replay built right in. 

But when it keeps endlessly looping, it can drive us a little crazy and steal our time.

You know the pattern. 
It’s the email we want to claw back. The comment that came out weird. 
And what we we wish we’d said instead. 

Rumination is a familiar mental reflex that deepens over time if we don’t interrupt it. 

And it’s never about something pleasant. Our brains don’t ruminate on praise or smooth moments. They loop the awkward ones. The unfinished ones. The moments we’d like to revise or delete. 

Our brains believe what we tell them. If we keep feeding them embarrassment, threat, or imagined fallout, they start planning around that story. More vigilance. More second-guessing. Less attention on the work actually in front of us. 

For lawyers and other high performers, rumination is a real time waster. It drains energy by revisiting emails we’ve already sent, conversations that are over, and actions that can’t be undone. 

If this pattern feels familiar and hard to interrupt, that’s often a sign it’s worth talking it through with someone who can help you step out of the loop and back into forward motion. A conversation is a good place to start. 

Video credit: positivelybrad 

#overthinking #rumination #lawyermindset #lawyercoach #leadership

By January 21, a lot of us are feeling sheepish about our New Year’s resolutions being on retired status.

Usually, it’s because the calendar changed faster than our habits could.

January doesn’t magically clear our slate. It just hands us the same page with a new date at the top.

And that’s not our character flaw. It’s a design flaw in the story we keep telling about change.

Progress is built in repetition, not in declarations.

Which is why one January ritual really works: tying up loose ends from the year before. Closing open loops. Finishing the half-started things. Letting December actually end. It may not feel major, but it creates room. And room makes change possible.

That’s the heart of what I explore in my new article, “The Myth of the January 1st Reset” in the current issue of ABA Journal.

If January ever made you feel behind instead of hopeful, I’m offering a different way of looking at cycles of change.

And, if you’re in a reflective mood, l’d love to hear what has helped change take hold in your own work or life. Link to the article in the comments. 

#CareerCoachForAttorneys #WellbeingForLawyers #LifeCoachForLawyers #Lawyers #LegalProfession

Thank you The Legal Intelligencer for sharing my new column: "Coach's Corner: When Office Presence Becomes a Retention Problem."

From Dena Lefkowitz, Esq.: "Too many talented lawyers leave not because they want to, but because the structure of firm life made staying unrealistic."

🔗 https://lnkd.in/gHDsdJ5C

There’s a thing we do every January: take a break from alcohol. We call it Dry January and it can feel like a reset, a challenge, or a quiet personal experiment.

That made me wonder what it means about us and our relationship with alcohol, especially in the legal profession. That’s the conversation Laurie Besden, Executive Director of Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, and I had for my The Legal Intelligencer article, which I share again each January.

Laurie’s journey through active addiction, conviction and prison to recovery and now helping lawyers, judges, law students and families with substance use and mental health struggles brings a depth only someone who has been through it can express.

A few themes from our talk:

• Taking a break from alcohol for a month doesn’t mean we understand what made us feel we needed it in the first place.
• How we drink and what happens when we do can be the clearest signal that something is wrong.
• Knowing how to talk with a colleague we’re worried about matters more than most of us consider.

This is simply an invitation to notice more, assume less, and support each other better.

Link to the article in the comments.

#DryJanuary #LegalProfession #CareerCoachForAttorneys #WellbeingForLawyers #LifeCoachForLawyers

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Sam Simpson

Dena Lefkowitz, Esq.

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The Battle

Sam Simpson

Dena Lefkowitz, Esq.

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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);}Sam Simpson's LinkedIn Performance

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