Currently Open to - Non-exec, Chair and advisory roles.

After nearly two decades building hedgehog lab, I stepped down as CEO at the end of 2025. I am now taking a breath, exploring new horizons and rediscovering who I am beyond the singular identity of founder.

When you build something for twenty years, it becomes hard to know where the company ends and you begin. Stepping away has meant rediscovering the edges of my own identity. It is uncomfortable and quietly exciting in equal measure.

What I built at hedgehog lab still matters to me. We grew from two people with laptops and borrowed furniture in a warehouse unit to a global digital product consultancy working across the UK, US and Europe. 

Along the way we raised nearly £10m across three PE transactions, navigated two major turnarounds including Covid and the 2023 market crash, acquired a company, and built a culture that consistently earned recognition as a great place to work. I am proud of what we created and the people who made it possible.

Today I serve as a Non Executive Director at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, where I focus on digital transformation and governance. I also chair Health Call, a digital health company building products that improve care across the NHS. 

Both roles reflect something I have believed for a long time: technology is most meaningful when it serves people.

I continue to mentor founders and leaders navigating the messy reality of building and scaling businesses. I am also open to advisory and non executive roles, and curious about what else lies beyond the horizon.

If any of that resonates, I would love to connect.

Sarat Pediredla

📢 Some BIG news from me to begin 2026! 

After almost nineteen years at hedgehog lab, I have reached the moment where it feels right to step aside and make space for the next chapter of leadership. 

This company has shaped almost every part of my adult life. It has stretched me, grounded me, humbled me and given me more purpose than I ever expected when we started with two laptops, some broken furniture and a warehouse unit that rattled in the wind.

The journey has been full of moments I will never forget. The early scrappy wins that convinced us we might actually make it. The years of learning how to lead while building a culture that felt human. The surreal milestones where we found ourselves working with global brands or opening new offices. The tough seasons too, from painful restructures to the burnout I walked through in 2023 and 2024. Each high and low shaped me in ways I am still processing.

What stands out most as I look back is the people. There are far too many to thank in a single post, and I am not going to spam your feed with a long list, but please know this. I will reach out to each of you, because none of this would have existed without the countless hands, minds and hearts that helped build what started as a twenty five year old’s pipe dream.

I believe now is the right time to hand over the reins. I am proud of the Executive team we have built. They bring clarity, energy and a renewed sense of direction and I have complete confidence that they will take the company further than I ever could. I will step down as CEO immediately and support the business as an Advisor for the next twelve months.

As for what comes next, I am going to slow down. My family has carried the weight of my ambition and identity for many years and they deserve more of me now. 

After some rest, I will take my time exploring where I want to spend the next 20 years of my professional life. In the short term, I am open to advisory and non executive roles, so if you feel my experience could help, I would love to talk.

I leave with immense gratitude, pride and joy. Titles change. Chapters close. But once you learn to be the hedgehog, you never quite stop. 

#foreverahedgehog

Sarat Pediredla 

CEO & Founder in Consulting w/ PE experience | NED & Chair | Scaling digital companies through culture, growth, turnarounds & transformation | 🏆 AI 100 UK | 🏆 BIMA 100

💡 Excited and nervous to share this finally! I've had this idea for 10 years. I'm finally building it.

If you've spent the last three years running a consultancy or agency, you know how hard it's been. I've watched friends make redundancies they never thought they'd have to make. Studios closed. Founders burn out or sell for less than they deserved.

And through all of it, the tools that were supposed to help? Most of us see them as a necessary evil at best.

I'm building something different. A thinking partner for consultancy leaders, not another database to administer.

It's called thredspan. Professional Services Intelligence.

We've got 3 early pioneers helping shape what this becomes. I'm looking for 7 more to complete a founding cohort of 10.

I wrote about why in this article. If you run a consultancy or agency, I'd love to know if it resonates.

#thredspan #seearoundcorners #focusongreatwork

For 19 years I ran hedgehog lab, a digital product consultancy. And for most of those years, I wrestled with a problem I couldn't solve. It wasn't the

Open article: thredspan - Building Professional Services Intelligence by Sarat Pediredla • 3 min read

thredspan - Building Professional Services Intelligence

Accenture acquiring Faculty for billion dollars (or so) is one of those deals that tells you more about where the market is heading than about either company individually.

Faculty has spent a decade building something genuinely AI-native. Not AI bolted onto existing services, but AI as the foundation. Their work with the NHS during COVID, their safety work with OpenAI and Anthropic, their decision intelligence product. This is what it looks like when AI is the starting point rather than the add-on.

The signal here is clear. There is no separate “AI market” anymore. AI is simply how technology gets built now. Every digital product, every software platform, every consultancy engagement will be AI-native or it will be irrelevant. The days of AI as a distinct service line are ending. It’s becoming the water, not the fish.

Marc Warner becoming CTO of the entire company is the tell. This isn’t a tuck-in acquisition. This is Accenture admitting they need to rewire how they think about technology from the top.

The question is whether Faculty’s culture and approach can survive inside a 784,000-person organisation built around a very different model. Specialist acquisitions by large consultancies have a mixed track record. The thing that made them special often gets absorbed into the machine.

What I find most interesting is what this signals for the market. If Accenture needs to acquire AI-native capability rather than build it, that says something about the opportunity for consultancies that are AI-native from the ground up. 

Plenty to still play for. Feels like the mid 90s with the Internet. Exciting times!

For most of my early years at hedgehog lab, I was the primary commercial driver. 
 
When I co-founded the company in 2007, I did not think of myself as a salesperson. I was a technologist who happened to start a business. But the work needed to come from somewhere, and for most of the journey, that responsibility sat with me.
 
I originated most of our key accounts. I led the pitches. I built the relationships that turned into long-term clients. For a long time, I thought this was just what founders did.
 
Over 18 years, I learned a few things that might be useful if you are in a similar position.
 
𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. The best opportunities I ever won came from understanding what the client actually needed, not from presenting what we wanted to sell. I used to walk into pitches with a deck full of capabilities. The wins came when I put the deck down and asked better questions. What is the real problem you are trying to solve? What does success look like for you personally, not just the business? What have you tried before that did not work?
 
𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀. Some of our biggest clients came from connections I made five or ten years earlier. Not because I was strategically nurturing them, but because I stayed curious about people and kept showing up. Consultancy sales is a long game. The founders who treat it as transactional tend to struggle.
 
𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲. We spent years chasing new logos before I understood that the clients who already trusted us were the real growth engine. Referrals and repeat business built most of what we became. The energy I put into new business would have been better spent making existing clients genuinely successful.
 
𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳. This was the hardest lesson. I was comfortable being the commercial engine. It felt safe. But it also meant the business depended on me in ways that were not sustainable. I started building broader commercial capability later than I should have. If you are the founder and you are also the primary seller, that is fine for a while. It is not a permanent strategy.
 
If you run a consultancy and you recognise yourself in this, you are not alone. Most founders I mentor carry the same weight.
 
The path to distributing commercial responsibility is not obvious. But I think it starts with being honest about the dependency.

Imran Anwar

Most leaders are overwhelmed by AI.
You know you need it. You see competitors using it. But you are not sure where to start.
Or worse. You invested heavily and got zero results.
The issue is rarely the technology. It is the strategy.
I help C-suite executives cut through the noise. We identify the specific business problems slowing you down. Then we apply AI to fix them.
My approach is not about chasing trends. It is about sales growth and better leadership.
I bridge the gap between technical potential and business reality. I speak your language. Not code.

We focus on three things.
Identifying expensive bottlenecks in your business.
Applying AI tools to remove them.
Training your leadership team to own the change.

Stop guessing. Start executing.
If you are ready to solve real problems. Send me a message

.أغلب القادة محتارين في موضوع الذكاء الاصطناعي (AI).

تعرف إنك تحتاجه. وتشوف المنافسين يستخدمونه. بس منت عارف من وين تبدأ.

أو الأسوأ. استثمرت مبالغ كبيرة وبدون أي نتيجة تذكر.

المشكلة ما هي في التقنية. المشكلة في الاستراتيجية.

أنا أساعد التنفيذيين وأصحاب القرار يركزون على الزبدة. نحدد المشاكل اللي تعطل عملك. ونستخدم الذكاء الاصطناعي لحلها.

أسلوبي ما يلحق "الهبّات" والترند. تركيزي كله على نمو المبيعات وتطوير القيادة.

أبني لك الجسر بين التقنية والواقع التجاري. أتكلم لغة البزنس. مو لغة الأكواد.

تركيزنا يكون على ثلاثة محاور:

تحديد العقبات المكلفة في عملك.

استخدام أدوات الذكاء الاصطناعي لإزالتها.

تمكين فريقك القيادي عشان يقود هذا التغيير.

لا تضيع وقتك بالتخمين. ابدأ بالتنفيذ.

إذا كنت جاهز تحل مشاكل حقيقية. تواصل معي.

Founder & CEO

We help companies to reimagine innovation and help create products better and faster through Design Sprints ,Product Strategy, Product Concept, UI/UX Design and help create corporate innovation programme that deliver a high impact.

Honoured to be named on Asian Standard’s Most Influential List for the North East 2025.

When I started Alt Labs in Middlesbrough, plenty of people questioned why I’d build a tech company here instead of London or Manchester.
The answer was simple. This region gave me everything. It was only right to give something back.

Over the past few years, we’ve helped launch companies that have gone on to be acquired. We’ve built AI solutions for some of the UK’s biggest transport operators. 

We’ve created programmes that take founders from idea to investment-ready in months, not years. And now we’re taking that same approach to Saudi Arabia, where the appetite for innovation and AI-driven transformation is extraordinary.
None of this happens alone.

To my team at Alt Labs. To the founders who trust us with their ideas. To everyone working to put the North East on the map. Thank you.

If I can ever help with anything, don’t hesitate to get in touch.


#Innovation #Leadership #Entrepreneurship #NorthEast #TeesValley #SaudiArabia #UKTech #AI

CEO @ Alt Labs | Your AI Implementation Partner & Venture Builder | De-Risking AI | Publisher of ‘Applied Intelligence’ UK | KSA

No alternative text description for this image

Huge news for our neighbours today.

The team at Big Bite has been acquired by WP Engine.

They are literally next door to us at Alt Labs here in Middlesbrough. We see the work they do. We see the talent they have.

It is no surprise that WP Engine noticed too.

It is a proud moment for the Business Tees Valley tech scene.

Huge congratulations to Jason Agnew. Mark Goodyear, Iain McPherson. And the whole Big Bite team.

You have built something world class right here on Albert Road.

🫶

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Sometimes the old ways work best, but when it comes to innovation, you need to think outside the box. Future-proofing your innovation isn’t linear, so alternative thinking is required.

We create human-powered answers to solve society’s problems, from transport to tech and policing to products.

Defining your potential:
With the right blend of research, insights, and an unshackled perspective, you can begin to define your potential and bring your vision to life. Let us help remove the constraints and tackle the problem together.

Reimagine the future:
No one is saying that you have to reinvent the wheel to be successful, but being sympathetic to business change helps. Whether you need to pivot and spin, duck or dive, we can help reimagine your future as well as the future of your product. Let’s talk.

Create the next
Creating the next big thing doesn’t happen overnight…or does it? Through continuous learning, user testing, and being early-stage adopters of new technology, we can help you create your next new product or service – and evolve it over time so you stay relevant along the way.

Innovation Consultant

Digital Project Lead

CEO @ Alt Labs | Your AI Implementation Partner & Venture Builder | De-Risking AI | Publisher of ‘Applied Intelligence’
UK | KSA

Big Bite

WP Engine

Alt Labs

Business Tees Valley

CTO at Big Bite

Co-founder @ Big Bite

🚀 Co-founder & CGO @ Big Bite - An enterprise WordPress agency

Build. Ship. Raise.

Introducing Platvix Build Studios, a programme built especially for next-gen AI start-ups. 

Over the course of 10 weeks, benefit from an equity-free programme with access to £375,000+ in credits and resources. Guiding you from idea to MVP to investor-readiness.

This programme offers a hybrid delivery schedule and is based between Middlesbrough and Newcastle, bringing together global partners and offering continued support through post-programme Platvix membership. 

Alt Labs is proud to support Platvix, one of our alumni from the Tees Valley Labs programme. 

Interested in being part of this exciting opportunity? Applications close 16th January 2026.

Click the link in the comments to learn more and get involved! 

Aqib Zeeshan Zeeshan Ali Mohammed Flok Co-Working Space
#Platvix #BuildStudios #PlatvixBuildStudios #AI #BusinessSupport #AIProgramme #NorthEast #DigitalInnovation #Innovation #BusinessDevelopment #StartUp #MVP #Investment #Tech

Platvix

Tees Valley Labs

Founder at Platvix | Building Investment Intelligence for Startups and Venture Capital

Co-Founder at Platvix | Intelligent Fundraising Platform | Ecosystem Builder

Flok Co-Working Space

Yesterday, we had the Entrepreneurs'​ Forum 'Best Practical Tools for 2026' round table at Flok Co-Working Space!

Hannah Brennan and I hosted the session, and we'd like to thank everyone who managed to attend. It was another brilliant round table, lots of great discussions and points of view across the board, from AI advocates, to AI critics, to those who want people to be mindful of ethical practices around AI usage and training. 

Key tip: When it comes to AI, understand the problem you're trying to solve first before jumping straight into using any tools!

Look forward to the next one! 

Alt Labs Entrepreneurs'​ Forum 
#AIPractices #AI #EntrepreneursForum #RoundTable #Tech #Innovation #TeesValley #OperationalExcellence #Ecosystem #AltLabs #DigitalInnovation #Data

Great to kick off yesterday morning with Backed for Growth with Tees Valley Labs and British Business Bank.

I had the pleasure of hosting the fireside chat, alongside a really strong panel session focused on what investors actually look for, how founders can put themselves in the best position to raise investment, and advice directly from a founder who managed to raise investment in our region. 

A few things that stood out to me were that founders who successfully receive investment aren’t just ambitious, they’re prepared. They know their market, understand their numbers, and can clearly explain how the money will be used. Also, remember when the answer is “no”, it’s often “not yet”. The best thing you can do is ask for feedback, keep building, and stay in the conversation.

Big thanks to our speakers and everyone who came along, asked questions, and shared what they’re working on. Look forward to seeing you all at the next one!

Business Tees Valley Maven North East NEL Fund Managers Limited UKSE 
#TeesValleyLabs #BackedForGrowth #BritishBusinessBank #Maven #NEL #UKSE #BarclaysEagleLabs #BarclaysInvestmentBanking #Investment #FundManagers #Funding #BusinessBanking #AngelInvestment #TeesValley #NPIF #NorthEast #TeesValleyCA #AppliedIntelligence #SMEs #StartUp #ScaleUp #ScalingBusiness #ScalingBusinesses #FounderJourney

I'll be in Riyadh from 7th to 13th February.

If you're building something in AI, gaming, or digital products and want to talk, let's grab a coffee.

Some context on why I'm spending more time in KSA.

The numbers are hard to ignore. The digital economy hit 495 billion SAR last year. That's 15% of GDP. Mcit

AI spending alone is projected to hit $1.9 billion by 2027, growing at 40% year on year. International Trade Administration

23.5 million gamers. 67% of the population. PwC

The gaming and esports sector is targeting $13.3 billion contribution to GDP by 2030 and 39,000 new jobs. PwC

This isn't a market you can afford to watch from the sidelines.

Alt Labs now has a presence in Riyadh. We're helping companies build AI workflows and digital products that actually ship. Not PowerPoint strategies. Working software.

If you're a founder, corporate innovation lead, or government body looking to move faster on AI and digital, I'd like to meet you.

DM me or comment below, and we'll set something up.

Saïd EL-Saadi | Steve Brooke | Rob Jackson | Matt Jones | Cordelia B. | Dr.Abdullah Bin Saleh AlNaeem | Sireen Asaad | Abdullah Alshamrani | Ahmad Khayyat | Fawaz Al-Fraiji فواز الفريجي | Byrinn Knowles MRICS | Michael Shakesheff
 
Saudi Pro League (SPL)
SDAIA | سدايا
MCIT®
NEOM
Savvy Games Group
Public Investment Fund (PIF)
Department for Business and Trade
Saudi British Joint Business Council (SBJBC)
Qiddiya | القدية

From a line manager, to a mentor, to a really good friend.

Really good to have Vinay Parmar up at Flok Co-Working Space today. Always enjoy catching up with Vinay, and hearing him talk honestly about his journey. Some of it I was lucky enough to be part of, and some of it was a timely reminder of the lessons you only really learn by doing.

Massively appreciate you taking the time to come up to Middlesbrough for our first Tees Valley Labs fireside chat of 2026. 

It was a good one, looking forward to the next one!

#VinayParmar #KeyNoteSpeaker #TeesValleyLabs #AppliedIntelligence #TheStable #TheForge #Incubator #Accelerator #Fireside #BusinessStrategy #Sales #Marketing #UserJourney #UserExperience #CustomerJourney #NationalExpress #TeesValley #Mentor #BusinessLeader

Helping organisations create loyalty, commitment and lasting growth | Keynote Speaker on what drives people to trust, engage and take action | MD, Customer Whisperers | Podcast Host | Cricket Lover

Fantastic having Danielle Croce in for our fireside chat today. Always nice to have a catch-up, and its great to see Intasite going from strength to strength.

Thank you for giving our Tees Valley Labs founders a window into your world. Each founder's experiences and learnings are an invaluable tool to learn and build from.

#TeesValleyLabs #Intasite #TeesValley #TheStable #TheForge #StartUps #ScaleUps #BusinessSupport #BusinessDevelopment #FiresideChat

Fireside Chat time! Today we had the pleasure of speaking to Danielle Croce from Intasite 🔥 

It was truly inspiring to hear Danielle share her journey, from stepping into her first role as a junior graphic designer, to investing and becoming a business owner at just 22. Danielle, commercial director, at Intasite, described her transition from being a co-owner of a digital agency to finding success and purpose in health & safety induction and training solutions.

She explained the importance of establishing solid foundations in the early stages of forming a business. In her words, it’s about “staying true to yourself”, and having confidence in what you can bring to the table as a start-up.

Having previously won the Tees Businesswoman of the Year award, Danielle reflected on her success story, sharing how she built a strong client base that includes big names and expanded the business to international success. Believing trust is the key, highlighting the importance of being “purpose driven” and “purpose led”, encouraging founders to home in on why their product exists, and to demonstrate the value it can offer.
 
A huge thank you for coming down, and leading a fantastic session, Danielle! Next week, we’ll be joined by Mike Racz from Racz Group 👏 

Alt Labs Business Tees Valley Imran Anwar Daniel Watson Michael Crean Steve Dougan Russell Mills Tees Business 

#FiresideChat #Intasite #TeesValleyLabs #FemaleFounder #BusinessWomanOfTheYear #TeesValley #TeesValleyCA #TheStable #TheForge #HealthAndSafety #Inductions #MangementSolutions #SoftwareDevelopment  #HazardousSites #Trust #Value #PurposeDriven #PurposeLed #StartUps #Incubator #Accelerator

NEOM is spending $500 Billion. Do you want a slice?

The Giga-Projects (NEOM, Red Sea, Qiddiya, Diriyah) are the biggest procurement opportunity in the world right now, but they are inundated with sales pitches.

To cut through the noise, you need to follow the process. You need to be a registered vendor, you need to have your compliance docs in order, and you need to understand what they are buying.

They don't want "standard", they want "never been done before." They don't want "cheap", they want "sustainable."

If you are a small UK tech firm, don't go it alone. Form a consortium and pitch a platform.

Here are some tips on how to begin navigating the Giga-Procurement maze.

#AppliedIntelligence #AltLabs #AltLabsKSA #AccessCircle #Investment #Entrepreneur #BusinessStrategy #OperationalSuccess #NEOM #Procurement #Construction #TechSales #KSA #InternationalTrade #International #Consortium #Partnerships #Sustainability #Procurement

Navigating the Giga-Procurement Maze tips Alt Labs

2026 is the year AI trades its tiara for a hard hat. 👷‍♂️

The "magic trick" phase of AI is officially over. We are now entering the era of industrialisation.

After analysing over 200 sources on the state of AI in 2026, one theme is clear: The focus has shifted from "what can this model generate?" to "what work can this agent execute?"

Here are the 5 trends defining the landscape in 2026:
1️⃣ The Agentic Economy - We are moving to "Software as Labour." By the end of 2026, 40% of enterprise apps will use agents to autonomously execute tasks, from supply chain negotiation to code deployment.
2️⃣ The Infrastructure Inversion - The spending script has flipped. Inference (running models) now accounts for 2/3 of AI compute, overtaking training. To power this, Big Tech is restarting nuclear assets like Three Mile Island.
3️⃣ Sovereign AI - The global internet is fracturing. Nations are building "Digital Borders," and by 2027, 35% of countries will rely on region-specific AI platforms to secure their data.
4️⃣ Embodied AI - Intelligence enters the physical world. Tesla aims to roll out Optimus commercially in 2026, with robot costs dropping to as low as $30k per unit.
5️⃣ The Regulatory Reckoning - Mark your calendars for August 2, 2026. That’s when the EU AI Act's strict rules for high-risk systems fully kick in.

We're seeing the end of the "pilot project" era, leaving room for critical dependency to move in.

Which of these shifts represents the biggest risk to your current strategy?

Alt Labs Tees Valley Labs 
#AppliedIntelligence #AltLabs #TeesValleyLabs #ArtificialIntelligence #AI2026 #TechTrends #SovereignAI #Robotics #DeepDive #NewYear #StrategicThinking #DigitalInnovation #BusinessStrategy #OperationalExcellence #Trending #AgenticAI #SovereignAI #Infrastructure #2026 #DigitalTransformation #Manufacturing #AppliedAI #AltLabsKSA

AI Trends for 2026

Vision 2030 isn't a goal. It's a deadline.

I see a major difference when I land in Riyadh.

In the UK, we talk about projects in terms of years. "We might break ground in 2028."

In KSA, they talk in weeks. The leadership treats Vision 2030 as a hard stop, which creates a pressure cooker of activity. It forces decisions and removes red tape.

If you are a British tech firm waiting for the 'perfect time' to enter the Saudi market, you can't afford to wait. The 'perfect time' was, last week, last month, last year.

The contracts are being signed now, the infrastructure is being built now, and you need to match their speed. If you bring a "wait and see" attitude, you will see nothing but the backs of your competitors.

Alt Labs Tees Valley Labs Access KSA The Access Circle
#AltLabs #AltLabsKSA #KSA #KingdomSaudiArabia #Vision2030 #AccessKSA #TheAccessCircle #SaudiArabia #NEOM #BusinessStrategy #BusinessDevelopment #OperationalExcellence #Scaling #ScaleUp #Expansion #InternationalBusiness #Riyadh

Access KSA

The Access Circle

There is a £10M mistake. 

Most Goverment Authorities make the same error in this area. 

You have a problem, you write a tender, you buy software or services from a vendor, then two years later the contract ends. The software is outdated, you have zero assets to show for the spending, and the taxpayer loses.

The National Audit Office has repeatedly highlighted how the Government becomes dependent on technology suppliers and subscription/contract models for services it doesn’t ultimately control, and the knock-on risks this creates for value for money and long-term capability. 

There is a better way.

We need to stop buying and start building.

We call this the Venture Studio model. You partner with builders to create a new startup that solves your problem.

The difference is distinct.

You own equity in the solution, and the IP belongs to the region, which means you can sell that solution to other regions, turning a cost centre into a profit centre. 

Councils, Combined Authorities, and the wider Government need to lean into this to break the cycle and become venture builders.

Alt Labs Tees Valley Labs
#AppliedIntelligence #AltLabs #TeesValleyLabs #TeesValley #CombinedAuthorities #VentureBuilding #VentureBuild #OperationalExcellence #LocalGovernment #NationalGovernment

Our parents and grandparents built their businesses on instinct. You need to build it on Data.

They had grit, they knew their customers by name, and they made decisions based on gut feel. That was enough in 1980, but not anymore.

You are likely sitting on a goldmine of data. Sales records, logistics logs, customer emails, but often these assets are treated like waste product.

In many companies, over 70–80% of business data is never analysed at all. It’s collected, stored, and then ignored.

Your competitors are not doing this. They use that data to predict what a customer wants before they ask, and to cut waste from the supply chain.

The "Succession Crisis" you fear is actually a Data Crisis.

If you want to honour the legacy you must digitise it.

Alt Labs Tees Valley Labs 
#AltLabs #AppliedIntelligence #BusinessStrategy #OperationalExcellence #Legacy #DigitalInnovation #Tech #DesignThinking #DigitalEra #Digitise #Data #CustomerExperience #CustomerJourney #BusinessDevelopment #ScaleUps #Scaling #StartUps #Succession

Your spreadsheets are more important than ChatGPT. 

Everyone is looking for the "moonshot" AI that writes poetry, but they are missing the point. The real money is in the boring stuff. It is in automating invoice processing, it is in cleaning the supply chain data. 

Stop trying to replace your creative directors and start fixing the drudgery that slows them down. 

#AppliedIntelligence #AltLabs #OperationalExcellence #Data #SupplyChain #Strategy #AIStrategy #Compliance #AiImplementation #TeesValley #Ops #ScalingBusinesses #StartUps #DataSteward #DataAnalytics #GenerativeAI #DataProcessing

Stop Trying to Replace Humans. Fix the Spreadsheets. There is a misconception that AI, and its uses, must be radical to be valuable. We are told it wi

Open article: The Boring Opportunity by Imran Anwar • 2 min read

It's been a busy week for our Tees Valley Labs founders this week. 

Big thank you to Simon Raybould for spending time with The Forge looking at their pitching approach and techniques. 

Also, would like to say a big thank you to Tania Cooper MBE for featuring in our fireside chat. Tania has such a wealth of knowledge and such a varied business journey, and hearing it's okay that not everything works the first time, and where you plan on being may not be where you end up, will hopefully stick with them. 

Thank you and well done to our team, our partners, and our founders as well. It's been a busy week, and it's fantastic seeing everyone getting stuck in.

Alt Labs Tees Valley Labs Flok Co-Working Space Daniel Watson Steve Dougan Russell Mills Michael Crean Rob Jackson Lewis Chisholm Becky McCartney Kateryna Hiienko Subhash Lakshitha Jacob Tinston David Baker Roger Spurr Eve McCallan (Howsden) Chloe Platten Daniella Ryan Helen Lyne Siobhan McArdle Sharon Braithwaite
#TeesValleyLabs #AltLabs #TheStable #TheForge #Incubator #Accelerator #BusinessSupport #OperationalExcellence #TeesValley #TeesValleyCA #Innovation #DesignThinking #VentureBuild #VentureSupport #BusinessDevelopment #VentureStudio #UKSPF #FiresideChat #Pitching #PitchSupport #PitchTraining

Let’s dive into this week’s wrap-up! 👏 

⭐  On Tuesday, Steve Dougan and Russell Mills kicked off the week with The Stable cohort, delivering a workshop on how they can facilitate their own personal development and ‘Selling Skills’.   

 ⭐ Wednesday Steve and Russell continued their one-to-one sessions, catching up with our founders and offering tailored guidance.

 ⭐ Thursday proved to be the busiest day for Flok Co-Working Space! As we welcomed both Stable and The Forge cohorts. The Forge were joined for the day by renowned guest speaker Simon Raybould, who delivered an excellent workshop on the psychology behind pitching. Thank you for an engaging session!

⭐ We also had Tania Cooper MBE from Steel Benders UK Ltd in! Tania presented an excellent Fireside Chat, sharing how she adapted her skillset to succeed in the manufacturing steel industry. Her self-assured approach inspired our founders to be more assertive, and to back themselves.

Thank you to our team, founders, and our special guests for another fantastic week! 

Next week, we have more workshops and one-to-ones to look forward to, and another Fireside Chat from Jo Davies of HR ALCHEMY! 🙌 

Alt Labs Imran Anwar Daniel Watson Michael Crean Business Tees Valley 

#WeeklyRoundUp #TeesValleyLabs #TheStable #TheForge #Founders #TeesValleyCA #TeesValley #Workshops #OneToOnes #FiresideChat #SteelBenders #Innovation #Incubator #StartUp #ScaleUp #Accelerator #Pitching #SellingSkills #Skills #AITools #PitchTraining #ProfessionalDevelopment #OperationalExcellence

Most AI projects fail. The biggest reason? Hidden risks no one sees until it's too late.

Leaders chase shiny tech without understanding the pitfalls. They overlook data quality issues, integration challenges, or organisational resistance.

By the time problems surface, budgets are drained, timelines blown, and trust eroded.

The key is to spot these risks early. Ask tough questions about data. Test assumptions. Involve teams from day one.

Ignoring these hidden dangers is a gamble. De-risking your AI means knowing what could go wrong before it does.

Failing to do this will cost you more than money. It costs credibility. It costs future opportunities.

Stay vigilant. The risks are there. They just aren't obvious at first glance.

Really pleased we could get Bill Scott OBE DL in to spend time with some of our Tees Valley Labs founders yesterday.

Bill has supported and mentored me for several years, so I know first-hand the value he brings: straight talking, deep experience, and advice that’s grounded in reality. The Stable and The Forge founders got a lot from those 1:1s. 

Thanks again Bill! 👏 

Alt Labs
#BillScottOBE #TeesValleyLabs #AltLabs #BusinessStrategy #Mentorship #Strategy #Planning #TheStable #Incubator #TheForge #Accelerator #TeesValleyBusiness #TeesValleyCombinedAuthority #TeesValley #BusinessSupport #BusinessDevelopment #Scaling #ScalingBusiness #SustainableGrowth #OperationalExcellence #AppliedIntelligence

✨ We were extremely lucky to have Bill Scott OBE DL doing one-to-ones with some of our founders yesterday! ✨ 

It was a fantastic opportunity for founders from The Stable and The Forge to sit down and have a chat, get some advice, and be able to talk through some pain point they're having with someone who has such a vast amount of knowledge and experience.

We'd like to say a massive thank you to Bill for his time and honesty. The knowledge, advice, and real-world perspective shared will be invaluable to our founders!

Alt Labs Imran Anwar Daniel Watson Steve Dougan Wilton Engineering Business Tees Valley Tees Valley Combined Authority
#TeesValleyLabs #TeesValley #BillScott #WiltonEngineering #TheStable #TheForge #Incubator #Accelerator #StartUps #ScaleUps #ScalingBusiness #Strategy #Mentorship

Stop building software you should be buying. 

We see CTOs commissioning custom AI tools that already exist as commodities. It wastes budget and it wastes time. If it already exists and doesn't give you a massive competitive advantage, you should not be building it from scratch. 

At Alt Labs, we break down exactly when to hire developers, and when to just sign a contract. 

#AppliedIntelligence #AltLabs #OperationalExcellence #LLM #DataModel #BuyVsBuild #Software #Tech #UKTech #Development #BusinessStrategy #ProductDevelopment #Projects #AI #Strategy #Implementation #TechDevelopment #Analysis #Data

Should you be building software, or buying it? The "Buy vs. Build" Trap Pride is expensive. We often meet technical teams who want to build their own 

Open article: Buy vs. Build by Imran Anwar • 2 min read

Augmented Reality is helping de-risk the construction industry, but adopting the tech won't be the task it seems. 

AR has moved on from big, clunky headsets, becoming much more practical and affordable for use on site. Will this be the end of needing to measure twice, cut once?

Alt Labs 
#AppliedIntelligence #AI #AugmentedReality #AR #ConstructionInnovation #SmartManufacturing #SpatialComputing #PropTech #ConTech #AppDev #DigitalTwins #DigitalInnovation #AltLabs #TaperedPlus #Tech #Construction

Augmented Reality (AR) has long been dismissed as a toy for gamers, but its most lucrative application is emerging on the building site. As the constr

The Spatial Shift: How AR is De-Risking Construction

You’ve got terabytes of data… and still can’t answer the questions that matter.

Most large organisations suffer from the same paralysis. You have vast amounts of data, you pay huge sums for cloud storage, and yet if I ask you a simple question like “Which specific customer is the most profitable after service costs?” you can’t answer it with confidence.

It’s not because you don’t have the information. It’s because it lives in different rooms. Revenue sits in the CRM, service costs sit in Ops logs, support time sits in ticketing, and Finance has the version everyone trusts most. The problem is those numbers never meet so the business never sees the full picture.

That’s the Silo Trap. You’re drowning in data, but starving for insight.

And the fix isn’t more software, it’s better plumbing. You break the silos, link the tables, and create a customer identifier that spans every department, because the truth about your business isn’t in individual rows of data, it’s in what links them.

When you connect your data properly, you stop guessing. You stop optimising for vanity metrics and you start making decisions based on what’s actually profitable, sustainable, and scalable.

Alt Labs
#AppliedIntelligence #AltLabs #TeesValley #OperationalExcellence #Data #AI #DigitalTransformation #Leadership #Ops #CustomerSuccess #Finance #BusinessStrategy #BusinessLeader #BusinessGrowth #DataDriven #DataInsights #Scalability #BusinessDevelopment

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