The Exchanges

Q Now, Forward operates in the seed funding environment in London, and there's a plethora of new seed funds rising and that have come about in the last few years. So how does Forward Partners differentiate itself from the, the rest of the field in terms of seed funds?

A Sure. Um, so it's interesting. There is, there is a kind of proliferation of money at seed and Series A, particularly here in London at the moment, um, as well as, as Series B and beyond actually. Um, but Forward Partners operates at an even earlier stage, uh, at a stage which, uh, we call the idea stage. Um, and it's perfectly possible for solo founders to come in with a, uh, Uh, admittedly, a well-substantiated idea, and if they're credible, um, we, we might well invest in them. Um, and the reason why we can go so early is that we have a team of full-stack, uh, multi-language developers, front-end developers, digital marketers, graphic designers, a recruiter, and product people to give, uh, to give the startups that we invest in the greatest chance of success. Um, and for the earlier stage ones, we offer space In our warehouse here in Arnold Street, um, which is clearly quite a big cost-saving for them.

AI assessment note: “Forward Partners operates at an even earlier stage, uh, at a stage which, uh, we call the idea stage.”

Q Now, Forward operates in the seed funding environment in London, and there's a plethora of new seed funds rising and that have come about in the last few years. So how does Forward Partners differentiate itself from the, the rest of the field in terms of seed funds?

A Sure. Um, so it's interesting. There is, there is a kind of proliferation of money at seed and Series A, particularly here in London at the moment, um, as well as, as Series B and beyond actually. Um, but Forward Partners operates at an even earlier stage, uh, at a stage which, uh, we call the idea stage. Um, and it's perfectly possible for solo founders to come in with a, uh, Uh, admittedly, a well-substantiated idea, and if they're credible, um, we, we might well invest in them. Um, and the reason why we can go so early is that we have a team of full-stack, uh, multi-language developers, front-end developers, digital marketers, graphic designers, a recruiter, and product people to give, uh, to give the startups that we invest in the greatest chance of success. Um, and for the earlier stage ones, we offer space In our warehouse here in Arnold Street, um, which is clearly quite a big cost-saving for them.

AI assessment note: “Forward Partners operates at an even earlier stage, uh, at a stage which, uh, we call the idea stage.”

Q And so you kind of did the array of, uh, banking, startup work, and then MBA. What would you advise people looking to enter the industry?

A I think it's funny about people looking to enter the industry. I mean, wanting to be a VC is, is, is no bad thing, of course. Um, but definitely I think some kind of expertise and, and working with, uh, for, um, or starting your own small businesses is really helpful to, to understand the sort of The mechanics, the challenges, um, the important variables going on, uh, challenging small businesses and small teams and solo founders and things like that. That definitely sort of equips you well for, uh, for a step into, uh, for a step into venture capital. But, I mean, then again, there's, there's no real substitute for, um, for financial skills. Um, they're clearly, uh, requisite for this kind of job. I mean, the one thing which I would say is I wouldn't treat as a straight line. If, if, if you end up as a venture capitalist, um, that's great, um, but, but being a VC, um, as, as a sort of be all and end all, thinking that you want to be there from sort of age 18, I think, um, is perhaps not necessarily the right way to go about it.

AI assessment note: “expertise and, and working with, uh, for, um, or starting your own small businesses is really helpful”

Q So you see a huge amount of business at this very early stage. What are the key activities then, do you think, that entrepreneurs can do to build A successful business, and make it ready for further rounds of funding?

A Sure, so that's, that's definitely something which, which we concentrate on, on a, on a great deal, um, because we take founders, uh, both the idea and seed stage, and, and clearly we want them to be, uh, to be going out and raising, uh, good Series A's, um, as soon as possible, really. Um, so aside from, uh, the, the business that I was talking about with, with what, what a great idea is, and what an investor idea is, Um, we're developing a, an operator framework called the path forward. And, uh, and we see it as a, as a process of developing a, firstly, a valid idea. Insofar as that's the case, you need a proven need for your, for your product, your prototype, and for that prototype to be resonant with your first hundred and then a thousand customers. Um, and then, then you need to go in and, um, and work on your product. And you'll know when, uh, when you're going in the right product direction, when you've got some passionate advocates, um, maybe you're sort of expanding your, uh, expanding the product itself, adding more, more services perhaps, and, uh, and you're building your team. Um, and then the final stage, uh, which you need to get ready for, for series A is, is developing that valuable business. So scalable economics, uh, or at least, you know, The way to convergence. Really growth, which is ramping up and, uh, and perhaps even, uh, you know, plugging even more gap…

AI assessment note: “we're developing a, an operator framework called the path forward.”

Q So you see a huge amount of business at this very early stage. What are the key activities then, do you think, that entrepreneurs can do to build A successful business, and make it ready for further rounds of funding?

A Sure, so that's, that's definitely something which, which we concentrate on, on a, on a great deal, um, because we take founders, uh, both the idea and seed stage, and, and clearly we want them to be, uh, to be going out and raising, uh, good Series A's, um, as soon as possible, really. Um, so aside from, uh, the, the business that I was talking about with, with what, what a great idea is, and what an investor idea is, Um, we're developing a, an operator framework called the path forward. And, uh, and we see it as a, as a process of developing a, firstly, a valid idea. Insofar as that's the case, you need a proven need for your, for your product, your prototype, and for that prototype to be resonant with your first hundred and then a thousand customers. Um, and then, then you need to go in and, um, and work on your product. And you'll know when, uh, when you're going in the right product direction, when you've got some passionate advocates, um, maybe you're sort of expanding your, uh, expanding the product itself, adding more, more services perhaps, and, uh, and you're building your team. Um, and then the final stage, uh, which you need to get ready for, for series A is, is developing that valuable business. So scalable economics, uh, or at least, you know, The way to convergence. Really growth, which is ramping up and, uh, and perhaps even, uh, you know, plugging even more gap…

AI assessment note: “we see it as a, as a process of developing a, firstly, a valid idea”

Q What questions do you like to ask? Do you have a template set, kind of, you know, total addressable market, route to market?

A We meet entrepreneurs, you know, probably three or four times before, before we might make an investment, and so we, and it's not just me, it'll be other guys from the team as well, um, so hopefully we will have, uh, teased out a lot of the assumptions and, and asked a lot of the questions, which, which we all need answers to, whether it's With regard to market size, or, or how they see their business in one year's time, or, um, what their, uh, target, or their initial target customer is. Um, but I have to say, I, I'm a big fan of, um, of asking open-ended questions to see how people, uh, to see how people react. Um, and one of, one of my favorites is, is asking people at the end of meetings, um, is there anything which I, which I should have asked, which I haven't asked. Um, just to, just to, as I said, just get some open-ended feedback.

AI assessment note: “one of my favorites is, is asking people at the end of meetings”

Q And so you kind of did the array of, uh, banking, startup work, and then MBA. What would you advise people looking to enter the industry?

A I think it's funny about people looking to enter the industry. I mean, wanting to be a VC is, is, is no bad thing, of course. Um, but definitely I think some kind of expertise and, and working with, uh, for, um, or starting your own small businesses is really helpful to, to understand the sort of The mechanics, the challenges, um, the important variables going on, uh, challenging small businesses and small teams and solo founders and things like that. That definitely sort of equips you well for, uh, for a step into, uh, for a step into venture capital. But, I mean, then again, there's, there's no real substitute for, um, for financial skills. Um, they're clearly, uh, requisite for this kind of job. I mean, the one thing which I would say is I wouldn't treat as a straight line. If, if, if you end up as a venture capitalist, um, that's great, um, but, but being a VC, um, as, as a sort of be all and end all, thinking that you want to be there from sort of age 18, I think, um, is perhaps not necessarily the right way to go about it.

AI assessment note: “working with, uh, for, um, or starting your own small businesses is really helpful”

Q And then moving on from the kind of Deep dive into the seed stage, moving outwards. The 20 Minute VC obviously has quite a diverse range of guests from the U.S., U.K., and globally, but what are the similarities then, and the differences between the U.S. and the U.K. with regards to startup attractiveness?

A Yeah, so it's a good question. Quite a complicated one, actually. Um, so it almost seems, um, for example, when, when a new YC class gets announced, um, Um, it almost seems as though there's like a spate of UK clones, like a UK pill pack or a UK willing. Um, I've seen some direct match, the bond trading one, be cloned here as well. And that's not a bad thing, of course. And we have, uh, big enough markets here in the UK to generate venture scale exits. Admittedly, not in every, in every market. I mean, the market dynamics are different, uh, depending on the sector. Uh, so in sectors like healthcare, where the payer landscape is so different between the two geographies, Startups need to, need to, need to think differently about the problems and whether the economics stack up here, uh, relative to America or indeed vice versa. For consumers, I think capital markets probably pay, uh, play a little bit more of a role in the average American's daily life, and they have a bigger appetite for consumer credit. So, so it lends itself more to certain kinds of finance startups. Um, so it's, it's, it's really about Appreciating the kind of differences, uh, between, uh, really as far as consumer-facing e-commerce, uh, the differences between the market structures and, and, and what works here, and what is, what the effective market sizes are, and what the key dynamics are.

AI assessment note: “sectors like healthcare, where the payer landscape is so different between the two geographies”

Q And then moving on from the kind of Deep dive into the seed stage, moving outwards. The 20 Minute VC obviously has quite a diverse range of guests from the U.S., U.K., and globally, but what are the similarities then, and the differences between the U.S. and the U.K. with regards to startup attractiveness?

A Yeah, so it's a good question. Quite a complicated one, actually. Um, so it almost seems, um, for example, when, when a new YC class gets announced, um, Um, it almost seems as though there's like a spate of UK clones, like a UK pill pack or a UK willing. Um, I've seen some direct match, the bond trading one, be cloned here as well. And that's not a bad thing, of course. And we have, uh, big enough markets here in the UK to generate venture scale exits. Admittedly, not in every, in every market. I mean, the market dynamics are different, uh, depending on the sector. Uh, so in sectors like healthcare, where the payer landscape is so different between the two geographies, Startups need to, need to, need to think differently about the problems and whether the economics stack up here, uh, relative to America or indeed vice versa. For consumers, I think capital markets probably pay, uh, play a little bit more of a role in the average American's daily life, and they have a bigger appetite for consumer credit. So, so it lends itself more to certain kinds of finance startups. Um, so it's, it's, it's really about Appreciating the kind of differences, uh, between, uh, really as far as consumer-facing e-commerce, uh, the differences between the market structures and, and, and what works here, and what is, what the effective market sizes are, and what the key dynamics are.

AI assessment note: “sectors like healthcare, where the payer landscape is so different between the two geographies”

Q What questions do you like to ask? Do you have a template set, kind of, you know, total addressable market, route to market?

A We meet entrepreneurs, you know, probably three or four times before, before we might make an investment, and so we, and it's not just me, it'll be other guys from the team as well, um, so hopefully we will have, uh, teased out a lot of the assumptions and, and asked a lot of the questions, which, which we all need answers to, whether it's With regard to market size, or, or how they see their business in one year's time, or, um, what their, uh, target, or their initial target customer is. Um, but I have to say, I, I'm a big fan of, um, of asking open-ended questions to see how people, uh, to see how people react. Um, and one of, one of my favorites is, is asking people at the end of meetings, um, is there anything which I, which I should have asked, which I haven't asked. Um, just to, just to, as I said, just get some open-ended feedback.

AI assessment note: “one of my favorites is, is asking people at the end of meetings”

Q And if you're a founder starting out, where would you most like to be starting out in the world, and why?

A Good question. I suppose, um, I'm just, I'm just thinking in terms of the US and the UK here, and there's, there's, there's a big difference, um, between, um, There'd be a huge, uh, much more venture money available in America, but conversely here in the UK, we have, uh, there's more government money and tax breaks, um, here as well as in Europe. In terms of advice for founders, I would just advise them to, to have a look at where you want to build your startup, um, and make a reasoned choice, uh, based on who your potential customers are, uh, what the market dynamic looks like, As to which geography you should launch in. But that being said, if you're looking at, looking at going down the accelerator, the accelerator route, getting, getting gold standard of a top tier operation like YC is rarely a poor choice.

AI assessment note: “In terms of advice for founders, I would just advise them to”

Q And if you're a founder starting out, where would you most like to be starting out in the world, and why?

A Good question. I suppose, um, I'm just, I'm just thinking in terms of the US and the UK here, and there's, there's, there's a big difference, um, between, um, There'd be a huge, uh, much more venture money available in America, but conversely here in the UK, we have, uh, there's more government money and tax breaks, um, here as well as in Europe. In terms of advice for founders, I would just advise them to, to have a look at where you want to build your startup, um, and make a reasoned choice, uh, based on who your potential customers are, uh, what the market dynamic looks like, As to which geography you should launch in. But that being said, if you're looking at, looking at going down the accelerator, the accelerator route, getting, getting gold standard of a top tier operation like YC is rarely a poor choice.

AI assessment note: “make a reasoned choice, uh, based on who your potential customers are”