I help founders get ready and connect with investors • Seasoned entrepreneur • Building tech startups for 25yrs (zero→£mil ARR, twice)

With 30 years in startups, I now run the Gipity AI Dev Studio: Expert help to launch your MVP in 30 days. www.gipity.com

𝐌𝐲 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲... 👇

1968 BC (Before Computers): Born into analogue world

1982-86: Discovered computers! Vic 20, BBC micro, ICL 2900 mainframe & more

1986-89: Computation degree, UMIST (University of Manchester, Institute of Science & Technology)

1989-99: IT consultant/project manager: Logica, IBM, Reuters, Bankers Trust & Deutsche Bank

1994-97: first side hustle: scuba diving instructor & own London dive school

1996: published first website & first ever disk-mounted website on a UK magazine cover

1999: developer/project manager at 2 early London digital agencies

1999: vision/architect/investor. created first UK under-a-tenner domain name business, Easily

1999: built+launched early/successful dot-com: domain/email/web hosting ISP

1999-2001: ceo. managed growth from 0 to 2,000 daily domain sales & 30+ staff in under 2yrs

2000: invented the web-based DNS dashboard for domains

2000: created early no-code solution for one-page websites: £100k ARR

2000: highly commended "Entrepreneur of the Year": European E-commerce Association E-business 2000 awards

2001: 64th in Sunday Times "Top 100 pre-IPO e-businesses in Europe" E-League

2001: ran one of the first successful web affiliate schemes, generating 40% of rev

2004: hit 400,000+ domain registrations, 30,000+ websites & 40,000+ email accounts

2004: 3,500 commission earning affiliates & word of mouth to 100,000+ customers

2004: negotiated successful multi-million pound dot-com exit/sale of Easily

2002: vision/investor. launched one of the first ever B2B mobile text marketing services: SMS Expert

2007-11: early digital nomad: B2B Saas startup from beach/desert

2007-19: ceo. ran leading text marketing B2B Saas: zero to multi-million turnover

2007-19: cto/architect. developed 850k lines of code & supported 1mil daily transactions/API calls

2020... consultancy/advice/support for early-stage tech startup founders

2022... helping hand-picked founders find the right investors

• 2018: vision/architect/investor/cto...
Clickacall: instant video calls from anywhere with single click
Nearevo: proximity discovery for internet of things
Scan+Click: contactless business cards
Secly: personal online security

• 2021 l2o: supporting next generation of startups
• 2022 Venture Cards: all startups, in one place • connecting the right founders and investors

• 2024 The Gipity AI Dev Studio: Expert help to launch your MVP in 30 days

Steve Procter

Can someone tell me why so many founders still think investment is for building version one of their idea?

Fundraising is for scaling your idea after proving you can convince customers and the market.

Luckily with AI you no longer need to raise to launch a startup. So all that energy-zapping, pitch-decking nonsense can wait until much later.

Just build and get selling. That's all that matters.

How do we get this across to founders who still think angel investors hang out on street corners throwing money at passers-by?

Launch your MVP in 30 days | 30yrs in startups (exited. 0→£mil * 2) | Replit ambassador + expert AI builder

Why is the startup circus still spouting this sort of guff? "As a founder, chase velocity and go crazy for the scale fast mentality. Chase down investors like your life depends on it. If you see one in the street, rugby tackle them."

Founders need to feel free to ignore it, and realise they can be a very profitable and successful business without jumping on the investment treadmill and pretending they're the next Lovable.

Let's support them with more realism. Not ridiculous scare mongering that puts off a lot of people from ever starting a business, because they think anything less than £100m ARR is failure, or hear that not raising is wrong.

Let's encourage founders to build MVPs fast, get out there and start talking to customers and selling.

And then cheer them when they reach revenues that a VC may turn their nose up at, but are life altering for many people.

I'm re-watching Billions, and a line hit me like a thunderbolt yesterday:

"Audience is moat". That's it. Let it sink in. Nothing else matters.

If you want to spend 12 months building what you think is the best app ever, but never show it to anyone, then you are wasting your time.

Put together v1 of your MVP - fast! Then get out there and show people.

Spend 100% of your time growing and talking to your audience.

Stop worrying your idea isn't completely new. Let's be honest, very little is truly new any more. The whole world is a wrapper. You can sit and listen to armchair advisors who blindly preach "wrappers bad". Or you can JFDI.

If your offering has the potential to improve people's experiences, make processes and operations more efficient, create access to new audiences, lower prices, or bring other benefits, then you've got a thing people will buy.

Or you may have just figured a way to reach a particular market that others haven't spotted, or can't be bothered with because it is too niche for them.

Get started ASAP, build v1 fast, and spend all your time demonstrating it and talking to potential customers. This is the only way you will learn if you're onto something with potential.

As a potential founder, if you spend all your time looking for an elusive magic startup idea that is 100% unique, you will still be waiting for the right opportunity 100 years from now.

The only moat left is speed. So just get on with it already!

The UK has some incredible tech entrepreneurs and visionaries, and we seem to have no problem starting things. But something is off when it comes to turning our ideas into businesses that dominate globally. Matthew Syed in The Times recently outlined a bigger theory which, in my mind at least, sums up much of what is wrong with tech and innovation in the UK:

"Sir Alex Ferguson, the Man U manager said that the secret of his success was instructing his players not to go all defensive after scoring.

The psychology is significant: teams are bold, risk-taking and creative when seeking to win a match, but they sit back and worry about mistakes when trying to protect a lead. This creates the right conditions for the thing they most fear.

Ferguson told his players the best way to gain three points from a position of 1-0 up is to go out and score again.

This is doubly true in the ferociously competitive world of geopolitics. I look at Vietnam, America and Poland and see bold nations seeking to win, to drive forward, to try new things and fail, and to learn along the way.

Then I look at the UK (and, for that matter, much of the EU) and perceive an old nation that was once the envy of the world but is no longer striving to win but desperately trying not to lose, a very different thing.

Process has replaced progress, the classic symptom of what Weber called the bureaucratisation of a polity. This is action designed not to maximise innovation but to minimise mistakes."

Launch your MVP in 30 days | 30yrs in startups (exited. 0→£mil * 2)

Come on founders! Stop thinking about growth as a bolt-on for your startup's shiny new app, with its "perfect" lines of code hand-polished by unicorns. Distribution isn't a later problem, it's the whole flippin' game.

The best product is the one your audience can't stop talking about, and will help you shape if you get it in front of them early.

As an example, look at the new Clawdbot AI platform. The founder pushed it hard inside X, and then watched the world ignite. People are going nuts for it, and you can't open social media without being bombarded by "how I use ClawdBot" posts with thousands of comments.

But here's the thing - ClawdBot is far from finished. It's really only a proof of concept and a big set of tools for techies to try things out.

But the guy who created it is now getting feedback from tens of thousands of real users about what works and what doesn't.

Many of them are huge fans and ambassadors for life. You simply can't buy that kind of audience and following early on.

If you have an idea, build version one of the MVP - fast! Then spend 100% of your time out there, telling the world, and getting feedback.

Tech is easy to replicate these days. So maybe the new startup play is...

Build audience → sell your service → grow clientbase → sell your business FAST

If you're planning a new startup in 2026, don't try to guess the next trend. Everything is now happening, all the time, to everyone, everywhere. The signal hasn't disappear, it's drowned. So as a founder, just go with the vibes.

Do what you know, in a space you understand and are known.

It has as much chance of being the next trend as anything.

What matters is speed and having an audience.

Vibe coding for serious business ideas is over. A 2025 phenomenon. Sure, continue to have fun creating hobby apps - everyone should try this. But for real startups, this is the year AI-assisted dev tools move back into the hands of experienced builders, and without the silly price tags of traditional development agencies. As a founder, this will let you put your focus back where it should be - on sales and growth. Welcome to 2026.

In 2026 there will be two types of people using AI to help build your app:

1. smoke & mirror snake-oil developers who still charge 5 and 6 figure sums, convincing you they are doing traditional development. They don't realise you saw behind the curtain in 2025 and know the truth

2. amazing experienced developers, who bring their expertise in the whole software lifecycle (architecting, planning, design,...). They will show you a new world where solid MVPs and other apps are affordable for everyone

Make sure you choose wisely, my founder friends. And welcome to 2026.

CEO & Founder @ Shiloh Events | Passionate about bringing peace to the events industry

Huong is the CEO and founder of Shiloh Events, a full-service agency that specializes in managing large-scale corporate events for global brands. With an MBA in marketing and over 15 years of experience in the events industry, she has a proven track record of delivering captivating experiences that enhance brand awareness, engagement, and loyalty.

As the leader of a dedicated team of event professionals, Huong oversees all aspects of event planning, execution, and evaluation, ensuring high-quality results and client satisfaction. She also leverages her expertise in digital marketing and community relations to amplify the impact of events through social media, content creation, and influencer outreach. Huong's passion for events stems from her belief that they are powerful tools for storytelling, connection, and innovation.

Visit www.shiloh-events.com for our portfolio!

Huong N.

I'm going to start documenting my journey as a new tech founder for the events industry.

First lesson I learned was so hard:

The first version of the product will be ugly, and will be throwaway code.

There will be sunk costs, endless spending (not visionless).

This is normal and part of the process.

Originally, I was waiting for more features to be added, and timing everything with the marketing. 

However, I learned that we only make progress by putting out messy, imperfect, raw versions of the product.

Aletheia's first soft launch was at #IMEX in 2025. While the product wasn't perfect, the connection with the people was amazing because it was giving the message that we are on our way to solving one of the biggest event challenges: planning efficiency.

I'll admit, our first prototype was missing a lot but we still got the vision across. 

My first pitch to investors was received with the message of "you're too early, come back later…”

But hey... that’s exactly where the learning and growth happens.

The ugly first versions teach you way more than waiting for “perfect” ever will.

So yeah… embrace the mess. Claim those losses. Continue to create. Ship it. Fix it. Learn from it. Repeat.

#entrepreneur #eventtech #techfounder

Huong Nguyen

2x CEO & Founder @ Shiloh Events & Aletheia | Passionate about bringing peace to the events industry

OMGGG #EVENTPROFS!! 🚨
You really have to read this.
This is where building in public is SO rewarding. 

It's moments like this where I get to share a real-time feature launch with you.

At RainFocus INSIGHT, we’re showcasing the 
⭐ Budget Playground ⭐  feature!

It is a hands-on module where planners can use AI to create an event budget in an instant to run “what-if” scenarios based on 

(1) event vision
(2) multiple hotel proposals and venue options, and/or
(3) use last year’s budget as a starting point instead of starting from zero.

THIS IS WHY I’m extra hyped about this:

As you know, my team at Shiloh Event Management, Inc., we’ve been doing the event agency POV for 13+ years, building a budget from just an event vision (aka “the idea”) can take hours. 

Not because we don’t know what we’re doing…  but because it’s sooo much manual work: calculating the numbers, hunting down quotes, adjusting line items, redoing the math, etc.

With Aletheia, we’ve already pre-loaded the platform with:

-- % allocations based on events we’ve actually produced
-- market value rates
-- and our own knowledge + data sources

So instead of starting from scratch (again)… you’re starting with model thats populated with industry knowledge 

If you’re in the trenches right now and budgets are eating your life… come find me on the floor so I can show you!  

Bring your messiest scenario. I’m not scared 😂

#eventtech #eventprofs #startup #eventmarketing #events

“Why are you exhibiting if Aletheia is still in beta?”

That's a great question! 

Usually, companies exhibit or sponsor a booth to generate pipeline and win customers, right? 

But since we’re still in beta, we're not ready ... YET.

So, here's my answer:

I’m not here to sell.
I’m here to build in public.

I’m here to:

❇️ Showcase what we’re working on 
We just finished our budget playground feature and really wanted to see how this would be impactful to planners in the field

❇️ Meet the people I am build for: our the future users. People like me, like the clients I am currently serving with my other event agency

❇️ Build relationships that grow beyond the transactions of selling 
If I'm ONLY here to sell, then.... ewww right?

❇️ Get actual LIVE feedback + insights early.
Are we building this right? Is this going truly solve your pain points?
Get the insights now so that we're not headed in the wrong direction
Ensure we’re building something people will actually use

❇️ Expose my team into the events industry

My goal is credibility first.
Value first.
Relationship first.

And it’s been genuinely refreshing and so chill to meeting people without the pressure of a selling. 

I'm free to connect with a hidden agenda, to share, listen, and get feedback. 

When the time comes, if we’re truly adding value, I believe our product will sell itself.

If you’re at RainFocus Insight, come say hi. I’d love to learn what you’re working on too. 🤝

#eventprofs #eventtech #Startups #founderlife #eventmarketing

Climbing has completely changed how I experience failure and it’s helped me make sense of my failures as a first time tech founder. 

When I’m climbing, I spend 90% of time NOT getting to the top.

I fall off the wall (sprain an ankle or scrape an elbow)
I can’t reach the next move (short girl problems)
I get stuck on the same move over and over (no muscles)
I try again. And again. And again. 
Multiple days of coming back to the same spot.

AAND ….. That’s literally the point.

You climb things you can’t do yet so your body and brain are forced to adapt.

You don’t get stronger by only doing what’s easy.

You get stronger by trying things that are just beyond you

so of course you “fail” a lot on the way there.

And then one day… something clicks!! 

You stick the move.
You put it all together
You reach the top, filled with adrenaline, thinking “Hell yea… I just did that!”🔥

And you realize all that “failing” wasn’t failure.

It was training.

** This new experience of failure helped me navigate being a first time tech founder **

As a founder, you’re “failing” all the time too:

a lot of attempts, a lot of pivoting, a lot of learning, a lot of “not yet”… and 

then …. 

FINALLY, a breakthrough that changes everything about what you thought you’re capable of.

To all new founders: 

You are getting closer everyday! 
👏👏

If you’re in a season where it feels like nothing is working, keep going.

Remember: Not succeeding … yet… doesn’t mean you you’re journey is over. It just means you’re in the reps. 

PLUS: the more you fall, the more you know how to land. As I improved my climbing skills, I also learned how to fall to not get hurt. The more mistakes you make, the wiser you become

#founderlife #eventtech #ai #enterpreneur #startups

A hard lesson that made me sharper founder:

Not all spending is “burn”
Some of it is truly the cost of building and making progress

When I first started, I thought being “scrappy” was a badge of honor

But I learned this the hard way:

You can’t be cheap and expect premium results
AND... you really do get what you pay for

Cutting corners doesn’t save you money, it just makes you pay later:
in time
in quality
in momentum
and honestly… in your sanity

So now I ask a different question:

What is this spend actually buying me?

If it’s buying:

-- customer feedback that’s shaping the product
-- faster shipping / faster time to market
-- clearer positioning that people actually understand
-- quality features people will pay for
-- real pipeline (not “likes” and vibes)
-- momentum that compounds week over week

That’s not burn. That’s building.

But if it’s buying:
-- meetings that go nowhere
-- delays disguised as “it’s complicated”
-- lots of opinions and zero outcome
-- multiple iterations but now real progress

That’s not building. That’s bleeding.

Founders who grow aren’t the ones who spend the least.
They’re the ones who are brutally honest about what's working and pivoting.

It's hard to know if you're making progress or bleeding until you’re on the other side, when you can finally see the results.

So, just trust your gut and be willing to pivot FAST to shake things up, swap vendors, adjust the team, whatever it takes to get to real, measurable, tangible progress.

I’m still learning, but I’m getting faster at spotting what moves the needle and cutting what doesn’t.

I had major FOMO seeing the results of these F1 VIP experiences my team planned for a client 🤩 

Not because I wasn’t there…(of course I wish I was there)

But because it was the kind of experience that made me go, “Ohhh... so this is how you make people want more.”

What stood out to me is how intentional everything was.

VIP isn’t about being flashy. 
It’s about picking experiences people actually want to be at: 

The kind where people feel genuinely LUCKY they got invited.

Like:
-- They're one of the very few with a front-row view of something special
-- They're got a personalized airport pick-up with unique swag just for them
-- They get the special chef moment that doesn’t exist for everyone else
-- They're in a room with the kind of people they don’t usually get access to (high net-worth, high influence)

And the whole experience quietly says: YOU were selected

That “selected” feeling is the REAL product.

And this is when custom branded items play a BIG part. 
It's not just a “here’s a another tote." Rather, this feels like really cool memorabilia that turns into reminders. 

Conversation starters. Desk decor that leads to “HEY...  where did you get that?” 

Learning from my client:

Investing in VIP experiences pays off way past the event itself. It keeps compounding in the stories people tell, and the experiences that drives FOMO to those who didn't get the invite.

It’s a wrap! We just finished exhibiting at RainFocus as a first-time full on booth exhibitor (and I’m learning a lot). 😅

Here are a few tricks I learned to make Aletheia presence successful, especially ensuring you team gets to experience the conference, making conversations feel natural, and making sure your team doesn’t burn out👇

1️⃣ Book appointments ahead of time! 
 
Reach out to attendees via the mobile app, or LinkedIn and fill the appointment open slots. 

This made us super successful at IMEX! We filled every slot.

2️⃣ Don’t over-schedule the team.

When every second is booth duty, your team misses the entire conference.

So we were intentional about giving our team time to have their own experience:
 
⚡️attending sessions
⚡️checking out other booths + making connections
⚡️catching up on work
⚡️taking a breather (because social stamina is real)

3️⃣ Always have 1–2 people manning the booth for walk-ups.

Walk-ups are where the surprise magic happens. 

Even if you’re appointment-heavy, we still kept the “open door” vibes.

5️⃣ During meal times, if there are no appointments… we spread out.

If the booth is quiet but the floor is buzzing, we didn’t just stand there waiting.

We’ve found it’s better to split up and start organic conversations. We got our food and sat down with other people. 

And if there is organic interest, we invite people for a demo (not just at the booth but offered to meet up after the show.)

———

My goal with the team is to give everyone the same experience as an attendee as well. 

It’s extremely important the team feels they’re not missing out!

#eventprofs #eventmarkerting #startup #eventtech #aitools

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I was telling my colleagues (both COMPLETELY NEW to the events industry) that this is is one of THE BEST industries to accidentally fall into.

Yes, it’s high stress, lots of work, over-burden, yah yah. Trust me, I KNOW. 😂

But if you zoom out for a second… there’s so much that I genuinely love about it:

❇️ The community:

I love how our people create communities in each region for events (lots of online communities like Club Ichi, The PIE Network (People in Events), Event Professional Network, and so much more!! 

You can log into these communities, not knowing a soul and somehow leave like, “wait… did I just find my people?” 

Or you can attend all these events for event planners and feel seen/heard. 

❇️ The support:

 #eventprofs will show up for each other SO fast. Need a vendor rec? Need a referral? A template? A reality check? Someone will drop a link, a contact, and a “you got this” within seconds!

The camaraderie is unmatched… probably because we’re all trauma bonded. 😂
And we all understand what it means to be in the trenches.

Industry colleagues I met a few years ago are so sweet to check in on me when they know I haven't been doing so well. 

❇️ The work is never boring:

Every day is different. Like actually different. 

One day you’re building a strategy deck, the next you’re solving a crisis with zip ties and pure courage, and somehow you’re still expected to smile and act like it’s all part of the plan.

It challenges you, stretches you, and lowkey makes you better as a human.

❇️ The EXPERIENCE AND MEMORIES we get to create:

We literally get to turn an idea into an experience people remember. 
That’s kind of wild when you think about it.

❇️ The people it attracts:

Event people are built different. 
We're type-A but also very empathetic and agile.
Calm in chaos. Resourceful. 
A little unhinged (in the best way). 
Big heart, sharp brain, and always carrying a backup plan… and a backup backup plan.

❇️ The stories & the scars:

OMG the endlessss CRAZY stories we collect from our own planning experiences.

If you’ve worked events long enough, you have stories that sound totally made up. But seriously, you cannot make this sh*t up.

And the fact that we all just casually accept them like, “yeah that checks out” is just... wild.

Okay your turn, why do you like the events industry? What's keeping you from leaving it?

Heading to RainFocus  Insight  ✈️
And this one feels extra special for me!

We’re not just attending - we’re going full send:

-- Full booth presence (come say hi, nerd out about AI with me, and find out what we are doing to solve the manual workload for planners)

-- We will presenting Aletheia on the Pitch Tank (yes, we’re getting on stage to share about our AI tool for planners)

⭐ PLUS!! I’m especially excited because we’re launching one of our newest features  ⭐

** Budget Playground **

With this new feature, planners can map out an event budget from:

✔ An event vision. 
✔️ Hotel proposals
✔️ Past budgets

Aletheia can now help you start shaping a real budget framework that you can actually work from.

This is a game changer for those of us who are still budgets manually. 

If you’re going to RainFocus INSIGHT, meet me on the show floor!! 

Let’s make event ops feel a little more peaceful. 🌿

#eventmarketing #EventProfs #EventTech #Startups #FounderLife

I often face these opposing personalities at the same time.

If I’m flexible = I’m “easy to work with," I can adapt, and I can make things work

If I’m firm = There are limitations, and sometimes we have to say no.

And it’s wild how a logistics decision turns into an internal personality review 😅 

Because in the event world, you’re constantly asked to be 2 versions of yourself at once:

Accommodate the asks
Do whatever necessary to make it happen
Protect the dynamic and relationship
Be a people pleaser

But also…

Protect the deadline
Protect the budget
Protect the team

So I say yes, and suddenly I'm the person who can “always figure it out” (which quickly becomes “I'm going to be our go-to person for everything”).

Or I say no, and suddenly I'm the nay-sayer, dream-killer.

Here’s the reframe that’s helps to balance between the two identities.

Well, actually, this isn’t an identity problem. It’s a trade-off problem.

Most people don’t see the tradeoffs. They only see the end-result.

They don’t see that your “yes” might mean cutting, or sacrificing something. 

And they don’t see that your “no” is actually protection from risk.

So now I try to be clear.

Not “yes” or “no” as a vibe.

But “yes” or “no” with a transparency into the tradeoffs:

“We can do that. What should we deprioritize to make space?”

 “I can make that change happen if we adjust deadline, budget, or etc. What are we willing to offset?”

If you’ve ever felt like you had to choose between being liked and protecting the event >> you can do both, just be clear about the tradeoffs!

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