Polly Barnfield, OBE

Maybe* Tech CEO | Creator of Social Media Management Platform I High Street Task Force Partner I Senior Fellow IPM I Social Entrepreneur | 3x Founder | Mum

I am building AI that gets work done. It is invisible, trusted, and already part of how your team works.

After training 25,000 businesses and interviewing more than 1,000 professionals for *The Big AI Secret* research, we uncovered a major problem. 92% of businesses use AI, but only 8% trust it. Most teams are unknowingly wasting between £20,000 and £400,000 a year on disconnected AI, paying for scattered subscriptions that do not talk to each other, while team members lose 5 to 10 hours a week copying data between tools.

The Problem with AI Adoption Today:
Businesses are drowning in new tools and disconnected education. They do not need to become AI experts. They need AI that blends into their existing workflows and delivers measurable results in days, not months.

What We Built:
Maybe* is a secure, patent-pending AI Agent platform that closes the confidence gap between AI adoption and AI trust. AI Agents work where your team already does, inside Slack and Teams. They respond in threads, generate reports, create on-brand content, and connect with over 2,000 tools, saving 8 to 12 hours per week, per AI Agent.

Your team can launch and manage AI Agents independently or work with a trusted partner to build a bespoke system or product, no coding required. We have already saved over 100,000 hours for agencies working for Fortune 500 companies, UK Government departments, and thousands of growing businesses that need AI to work as part of their team, not as another system to manage.

Why I Believe Technology Should Be Invisible:
Before Maybe*, I spent a decade building technology that raised £40 million for charities by turning everyday online transactions into donations. That work earned me an OBE and taught me one simple truth: powerful technology should be invisible to the people it serves. That philosophy drives Maybe*. AI should amplify people, not overwhelm them.

Where We Are Going:
Every team should be able to enhance performance with AI colleagues that deliver results without technical complexity or delay. That is the future we are building.

A Bit About Me:
I think best when walking my greyhound. Before building technology companies, I won a gold medal riding horses, and learned that the discipline of training applies to more than just animals. I am also a mother, grandmother, and fanatical jam maker. Whether it is training a horse, building a business, or getting jam to set, I believe you do it properly or not at all.

👉 Start free: https://maybetech.com
📊 Read The Big AI Secret research: https://maybetech.com/ai-research

Founder and CEO

Maybe* is an AI-powered that helps ambitious businesses transform their digital communications

In one easy-to-use platform, we deliver:

1. Personalisation at speed: Harness AI to elevate your work efficiency.
2. All-in-one digital suite: From social media to CRM, access a comprehensive range of digital communication tools in one seamless platform.
3. Smart automation: Ensure your message resonates at the perfect moment and follow up flawlessly.
4. Targeted AI-Driven Ads: Position your message directly in front of your desired audience.
5. Unparalleled Support: Benefit from our 24/7 expert assistance.

> Explore Maybe* with a free trial at www.maybetech.com
> Do your best work faster: Join our Masterclass  www.maybetech.com/masterclass.


Maybe* is a proud collaborator in the UK Government's High Street Task Force, a five-year initiative fostering High Street rejuvenation. We're committed to helping local UK businesses amplify their digital presence, connecting them more effectively with their customers.

I pitched at NOTWICS 46 this week. The room was full of investors and founders. Thanks for the invite 🦖 Christopher Lowe

The panel said something that stuck with me:
"All the money in UK and EU VC is focused on AI". 

And yet. Our research shows that 92% of businesses are using AI. Only 8% trust it.

That is The Big AI Secret.

Money is flooding into AI. Trust is not following. Yet.

Here is what I shared with the room:
The AI market does not have a technology problem. It has a confidence problem.
And closing that gap is the biggest opportunity in the space right now.

61% of businesses say AI has increased their workload.
Only 12% see consistent commercial outcomes.
Only 7% have truly embedded AI with results.
That is not adoption. 
That is experimentation without trust.

At Maybe*, we are building something different. AI Agents that act like colleagues, not chatbots. They work where your team already works. Slack. Teams. The tools you trust.
They deliver measurable results. Not hype. Not dashboards. Outcomes.

The panel was right. AI is where the money is going. But the winners will not be the companies building more AI tools. The winners will be the ones who close the confidence gap. That is our focus Maybe*.

Thank you to NOTWICS for having me on stage alongside brilliant founders from InicioAI, EverybodyCounts Ltd, BlueSkiesSpace, VortexAI, HeySavi, Mycena, and Blue John.

Thank you to BKL for hosting, to the panel for the honest conversation about where the market is heading, and to the investors and founders in the room who stayed to talk about what trust in AI actually looks like. Even if my voice failed me 🤒, I enjoyed the insights  from the panel of  Eyal Malinger, Pierce Polak, Piotr Bukanski, Stephen Lemon

Our research reveals 92% use AI. Only 8% trust it. That gap is closable.
That is the opportunity. That is the mission. AI Agents that get work done.

If you were in the room, I would love to hear what resonated. And if you were not, what do you see as the biggest barrier to AI trust?

#AI #NOTWICS #Startups #TheBigAISecret #AIAgents #Founders #Leadership
Thank you Barbara Spurrier, Lucy Tarleton, Nikita Francis, Daniel Shear for hosting us.

CEO, Maybe | Teams waste £20K–£400K/year on disconnected AI | We fix it with AI Agents That Get Work Done inside Slack & Teams

Founder & CEO of NOTWICS - a London based event & IR consultancy helping scale Early Stage Technology companies through Sales, Strategy, IR, Events and our network, enabling many to achieve successful outcomes

NOTWICS enjoyed hosting the 46th edition of Notwics, with the wonderful partners BKL, in Blackfriars last night. We saw 8 great founders pitch and heard insights from some of the leading VCs in the UK and EU. 

Quotes of the night from the panel: 

“All the money in UK and EU VC is focused on Ai/Deep Tech/LLM/Lovables and cool Defence Tech. If you are building anywhere else forget getting funding”

“If you are a sharp, young AI founder - just move to San Fran. It’s the only place to get a good seed round in the £ms”

“I do not discuss IPOs as an option with any of the portfolio”

“The new normal for a VC is to invest at Seed when a founder has £1m ARR. Series A you need £5m ARR. Bar is higher now and in 2026 as VCs chase more lovables and less risk”

All in all a great night which wouldn't have happened without these wonderful people:

BKL 
Barbara Spurrier, Lucy Tarleton, Nikita Francis, Daniel Shear

Founders of ..
Inicio AI, EverybodyCounts Ltd, Blue Skies Space, Maybe*, Vortex AI, Hey Savi, mycena, Blue John

Panel & CQA wisdom from
Eyal Malinger, Pierce Polak, Piotr Bukanski and Stephen Lemon from Resurge Growth Partners, Fuel Ventures 🚀, Acurio Ventures and Volution

Thanks to the audience too:
Edward Keelan, Robin Maxwell, Alex Tosetti, Mihail Turlakov, Paul Naha-Biswas, James Klein, Michael Von der Geest, Ayse Suevari, Barnaby hall, Stephen Bloch, Stephen Mitchell, Cain Ullah, Elena Pérez Celis, Sina Ataherian, Stephen O'Brien, FCIM, Paul Excell, Terry Irwin, David Stroud and many more investors and supporters - but we've run out of space to mention !

taplio

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