TEMPLE CYCLES LTD

Working with a great team to build a sustainable, profitable and timeless bike brand.

Finance & Business Manager

Open House Community Church

Managing Finances & Operations | Join the Community 👉🏽 openhousecc.com

Built financial process from the ground up. 
Manage bookkeeping, payment runs, cashflow, gift aid claims, event & facilities management.

Treasurer

Good Fruit Ventures

Free discipleship resources for young Christians & church leaders, with a primary focus on financial education.

Company Director

Cut hedges, mowed lawns, painted houses, renovated bathrooms.
Paid the bills whilst (attempting) to build an e-commerce business.

Painter, Gardener, Labourer

Little Kids Room UK

It was a good learning experience building this first online business from scratch. 
Failed a bunch, learned more than 4 years study a business degree.

Built an ecommerce retail business selling children's bedroom furniture to parents based in the UK. 
Built a Shopify store, negotiated contracts with product suppliers, built out organic & paid marketing channels (Google & Meta Ads, Social Media Pages, SEO, Content Creation) and the customer service experience.

Co-Founder

Crowdcube

Helped entrepreneurs with great ideas fundraise investment from retail investors.
Scripted, Directed and Produced a series of Founder Interviews.

Equity Fundraising Advisor

Equity Campaigns Manager

Equity Campaigns Executive

Investor Operations Executive

Completion Operations Executive

Arrowtown Drinks

Supporting founder friends with their start-up drinks company.

Sales and Events Support

Business Manager within Regulatory Management, for a team spread across UK, Europe, Asia & Americas.

Asset Management Industrial Placement

Hollister Co.

Retail Associate

Carwow

Intern

Building a Church & a Startup Business | 🧵 Sharing Stories about the Process

I am a business operator and I enjoy bringing order & systems to startup businesses and churches.

Currently working with an awesome team to grow Temple Cycles into a sustainable, profitable and timeless bike brand.

I also help run Open House Community Church, in Bristol, UK.

If not at my desk, probably gone surfing.

-

P.S.

I also create free video content for young Christians & church leaders on money management.

See more -> https://www.goodfruitfinance.com

Henry Baines

Jonathan Keeling

I’m a Partner at Haatch, one of the UK’s most exciting early-stage investors. £100+m raised, 150+ portfolio companies and 2,000+ investors. My role is to drive the fund to £250m AUM within the next 3 years. 

2025 Seed VC of the Year, Fund of the Year, Exit of the Year & Best EIS Manager (UKBAA, Seed Legals & GIA)

Alongside my day-to-day role at Haatch, I founded edge, a growth consultancy that works with clients to deliver world-class crowdfunding rounds. I started edge to channel my passion for working with amazing founders and helping them create category-defining brands. 

I’m also a NED at WineFi - recently named Startup of The Year.

Before Haatch, I was CGO at Crowdcube, where I spent nearly a decade supporting some of Europe's best founders and executing the biggest equity crowdfunding rounds of all time, raising £1bn+ for 1000+ companies.

I have been a TEDx speaker twice, a featured guest on various podcasts, and a regular panelist and speaker at global events on topics such as growth, innovation, and crowdfunding.

Chief Growth Officer

Responsible for marketing, campaigns and Crowdcube’s portfolio.

New article is live: Why I’m investing in WineFi’s latest syndicate 🍷

WineFi 🍷 was my first fractional role after my time at Crowdcube.

I’ve supported the business since those early days and continue to do so today as a board member, alongside my main day-to-day focus at Haatch.

It’s an incredibly exciting time for the team, so I’m pleased to share a bit more detail on the latest syndicate, the wider thesis behind fine wine as an asset class, and WineFi’s data-driven approach.

Partner at Haatch | Top 1% crowdfunding at edge | Board Director at WineFi🍷

I first met Callum, WineFi’s founder, when I was Chief Growth Officer at Crowdcube. The parallels were obvious - democratising an opaque private marke

Open article: Why I’m investing in WineFi’s latest syndicate by Jonathan Keeling • 3 min read

Why I’m investing in WineFi’s latest syndicate

Choosing a co-founder is the most expensive decision you will ever make. It is a professional marriage, yet most founders spend more time vetting a new hire than they do their partner.

65% of startups fail due to co-founder conflict. To avoid that, you need to move past the "work friend" stage and into a designed alliance.

One of the best practices is to write actual co-founder agreements. Not a legal document, but a pact on how you lead as a team. You need to be explicit about how you make decisions, how you handle feedback, and what your North Star is personally as well as professionally.

You also have to learn to "drop pebbles, not rocks." In a high-pressure startup, it is easy to let small frustrations build up until they become a crisis. Healthy teams share feedback early and often while it is still a "pebble." If you wait until it is a "rock," the relationship is usually already in trouble.

Investors are looking for a team that can deal with the good and the bad. They want to see partners who can "disagree but commit" and who have the emotional maturity to navigate challenges without hitting the nuclear option.

If you are building a more open investment landscape, where community, access and strong brand stories drive momentum, you can subscribe to my newsletter here on LinkedIn.

It is where I share what we are learning as more people get the chance to back the businesses they believe in.

https://lnkd.in/egPtTYQs

Founders time is worth £1,000 an hour.

The Alternative Board shows that the average entrepreneur spends nearly 70% of their time working in the business. They are handling the admin, the emails, and the "firefighting," which leaves only 30% to work on the business.

That is the gap where AI and automation should live. It gives you the human time to get to know your customers and prospects.

Investors are backing founders who are ready to rip up the rule book of industries and markets, not the best admin teams. The goal for any early-stage team should be to use automation to reclaim that 70%.

Releasing yourself from the time-consuming elements of running a business allows you to be exceptional where it matters. Your energy is a finite resource, and it is better spent on the few ground-breaking ideas that define a market rather than the paperwork that maintains it.

If you are building a more open investment landscape, where community, access and strong brand stories drive momentum, you can subscribe to my newsletter here on LinkedIn.

It is where I share what we are learning as more people get the chance to back the businesses they believe in.

https://lnkd.in/egPtTYQs

For a long time, equity crowdfunding felt like a one-way street.

You back a business you believe in, get the share certificate, and then... you wait. Sometimes for a decade. While the "patience" in patient capital is a virtue, the lack of liquidity has always been the primary barrier for the everyday investor.

The UK Crowdfunding Market Report highlights a major shift towards secondary markets.

We are moving away from the "buy and hold until exit" model. Platforms like our partners Crowdcube are now prioritising secondary segments that allow investors to trade shares in private companies before a traditional IPO or acquisition.

This is a game changer for the ecosystem. When investors know they aren't "locked in" they are more likely to back earlier, bolder ideas. It makes the asset far more exciting and brings a new sense of excitement to early stage investing. 

The secondary market opportunity is doing three things right:

It unlocks liquidity, giving early backers a way to realise gains or recycle capital into new startups.

It provides price discovery, creating a more transparent valuation for private companies between funding rounds.

It broadens access, allowing new investors to join a success story even if they missed the initial seed round.

By making early stage investments more liquid, we are making the entire investment landscape more open. Businesses can capitalise on their progress sooner and investors don’t have the sense of now or never. 

If you are building a more open investment landscape, where community, access and strong brand stories drive momentum, you can subscribe to my newsletter here on LinkedIn.

It is where I share what we are learning as more people get the chance to back the businesses they believe in.

https://lnkd.in/egPtTYQs

Build communities and then follow the data. 

I love businesses that build with community as a fundamental part of the business. Their customers become stakeholders and hopefully shareholders. This process ultimately makes the business more resilient to the inevitable strains of trying to grow in any market. 

I’ve seen 3 examples here of how communities have worked in other ways. 

1.⁠ ⁠The 900% Anomaly 

Fleetguard (a US based industrial fuel filter brand) had historically sold exclusively to wholesale customers. However, in the data they saw that there was some uncategorised demand. This demand was from a group of hard core 4x4 off roaders who were jumping through all sorts of hoops to buy their products. For the first time, Fleetguard opened up a direct to consumer store for that community to buy directly from them

2.⁠ ⁠Follow the "Custom" Use Case

 Early-stage founders often miss pivots because they are too focused on how they want people to use their tool. When you see users hacking your product to solve a different problem, they are handing you a validated roadmap. Look at Ebays early “Other” section which went on to form Motors if you want some evidence of how this has worked in the past. 

3.⁠ ⁠Utility Over Polished Marketing

 In high-intent communities, buyers want access to the engineers and the experts, not the sales deck. If you use Midjourney you’ll have got the weekly prompts to join their office livestreams to answer questions, improve your process and get more out of the tool. 

Communities work in many ways, having them as a hangout spot for your customers is one thing but they’re also brilliant business tools to push the product and the brand forward. 

If you are building an early-stage business where community, access, and strong brand stories drive momentum, you can subscribe to my newsletter here on LinkedIn.

It is where I share what we are learning as we help more people back the businesses they believe in.

Want to follow what we’re up to at Haatch? Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/dTDsr227

Using Tech to Kill of The All Day All Hands

Technology is winding its way into everything we do. For most of us, the thought of an all-day "all hands" meeting or a session that leads to plenty of talk but zero action is enough to cause a sigh of frustration.

AI done well is allowing businesses to trim the fat and get straight to the detail.

🤖 AI as the Admin Engine

AI used well is allowing teams to move faster. It handles the administrative heavy lifting so that the time spent together is actually productive.

- The 90-Minute Sprint: The traditional all-day meeting is being replaced by high-impact, 90-minute sessions. These short sprints reduce the number of people involved to only those who are essential, allowing the group to move straight to action.

- Better Planning: Teams are using AI to structure these workshops and generate ideas in seconds. This shifts the focus from using the meeting to report to using the meeting to move the needle onto the next event and action. 

- In-House Leadership: Leaders don’t even need to attend these meetings any more. The right tooling send the updates straight back up the chain freeing up their time to commit to work thats important to them. 

As AI takes over the routine work of planning, we are seeing a return to what matters: reading the room and ensuring the right people are in the right conversations. Tech is the engine, but the human is still the driver.

Want to follow what we’re up to at Haatch? Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/dTDsr227

How to manage a community without killing it.

Moderating communities comes with a risk over moderating it. You need to provide the freedom and the ability for members to try new things, voice opinions and ideas without a rogue member ruining it for everyone or for T&C’s to stifle what is an exciting innovation source for those with a community.

1. Guidelines Over Gatekeeping Transparency is the foundation of a healthy group. Clear community guidelines should be the visible guardrails that define the culture. This may be uncomfortable to some when there is criticism. However this should be seen as feedback and a chance to take this onboard. 

2. Automating the Noise There is no reason for your team to be manually filtering spam or basic offensive content. Using automated monitoring tools and AI filters handles the "digital exhaust" of a growing community. This should give your moderators the headspace to engage in meaningful conversations and answer real questions.

3. Empowering the Superusers The strongest communities are those where the members feel a sense of ownership. Instead of hiring an army of staff moderators, identify your most loyal brand ambassadors and give them official roles. Rewarding consistent engagement with moderator or recruiter status turns your audience into active stakeholders. They become a self-sustaining asset giving you the room to put resources elsewhere.

Moderation works best when it’s barely visible. By setting clear rules, automating the busywork, and letting your superusers take the lead, you create a space where people actually want to stay while creating an avenue to get straight to the team easily accessible.

If you are building an early-stage business where community, access, and strong brand stories drive momentum, you can subscribe to my newsletter here on LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/egPtTYQs

It is where I share what we are learning as we help more people back the businesses they believe in.

Let them come to you

Most brands spend their lives trying to drag people through the door. They use discounts, aggressive ads, and constant shouting about the product features. 

But a few brands do the opposite. They have "Brand Gravity" an invisible pull that makes customers move toward them willingly.

Ask yourself

What do we stand for?
What change are we driving in the world?
Why does our work matter beyond profits?

Sell the image first 

High-gravity brands want you to buy into their world before you ever touch the product. They lead with a story and an identity. The product has to be great to keep you there, but it’s the image that gets you to cross the threshold.

Stop hiding who you are 

The strongest pull comes from radical self-awareness. These brands don’t try to appeal to everyone. They know exactly who they are and they don’t apologise for it. By being specific, they create an opportunity for someone to say “Yes, thats me”. 

Experience over discounts

 If your only strength is a feature list or a low price, you’re in a race to the bottom. Brand gravity creates a moat. It’s the difference between a customer who buys because of a deal and one who waits on a three-month list because they wouldn’t go anywhere else. Equally, these brands often over index on the after sales support vs trying to get them over the line at the front end. 

Build a "third space" 

When a brand has gravity, a transaction becomes an entry into a community. Users become Members, they talk, they refer and they contribute. They act as nodes for your business to be spoken about more so than relentless marketing.
Consider now if you are pushing your product or creating a brand thats pulling people in instead.

If you are building an early-stage business where community, access, and strong brand stories drive momentum, you can subscribe to my newsletter here on LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/egPtTYQs

It is where I share what we are learning as we help more people back the businesses they believe in.

👉 Stay obsessed with founders
Speed, clarity, ambition, and the ability to execute. 

👉 Keep the bar high
Conviction is earned, and every deal has to clear it. 

👉 Widen access, maintain exceptional experience
The best communities are aligned networks built on belief and process, not exclusive clubs. 

👉 Lead from the front
Team Haatch will move fast, test hard, and keep pushing new boundaries.

Latest blog just dropped from our Co-Founder and General Partner, Scott Weavers-Wright OBE

Snapshot below, with the full piece via the link.

2026 is the year we double down.

The UK is moving into a new phase for early-stage company building: faster AI adoption, faster paths to revenue, and a market that is rewarding clarity and execution. 

So while 2025 gave us momentum, the real focus now is what we’re carrying into 2026:

👉 Stay obsessed with founders
Speed, clarity, ambition, and the ability to execute. 

👉 Keep the bar high
Conviction is earned, and every deal has to clear it. 

👉 Widen access, maintain exceptional experience
The best communities are aligned networks built on belief and process, not exclusive clubs. 

👉 Lead from the front
Team Haatch will move fast, test hard, and keep pushing new boundaries. 

2026 has the ingredients to be even more interesting.

Let’s build.

https://lnkd.in/eRErjiiY

Struggling for Traction? Start Watching.

If your product isn't getting the bite you expected, the answer probably isn’t at the end of another brainstorming session. Some of the world’s biggest companies didn't find success by doubling down on their original idea but by watching their customers "misuse" their product.

1. Your Users Have Better Ideas Than You Instagram (Burbn) was a cluttered check-in app that nobody wanted, but people loved the photo filters. YouTube started as a dating site that failed to launch, but users started uploading random videos instead. These founders didn't "innovate" their way out of a hole; they just stopped fighting their users and leaned into what was actually working.

2. The Solution is Usually in the "Hacks" When Slack was an internal tool for a failing game, or when Pinterest was a shopping app people only used for curating, the founders were technically "failing." But the data showed that their users had already found a better use for the product. If your audience is jumping through hoops to use your tool for something "wrong," they are handing you a validated roadmap.

3. Look at the "Other" Category eBay Motors exists because people stubbornly listed cars in the "Other" section when they weren't supposed to. PayPal gained traction only when the founders stopped focusing on Palm Pilots and noticed eBay sellers were using it to send money via email. If you are struggling for traction, look at where your customers are hacking your product to solve their own problems.

4. Utility Over Ego Play-Doh was a failing wallpaper cleaner until a teacher noticed kids liked the putty for modeling. The pivot required the founder to drop the ego of being in the "industrial cleaning" business to enter the toy market. Success often requires the humility to admit your customers found a better purpose for your work than you did.

If you are currently hitting a wall, stop looking at your pitch deck and start looking at what is working or how the product is being used to date. You just have to be willing to let the reins go a bit and understand that business is very rarely linear. 

If you are building an early-stage business where community, access, and strong brand stories drive momentum, you can subscribe to my newsletter here on LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/egPtTYQs

It is where I share what we are learning as we help more people back the businesses they believe in.

taplio

The Battle

Henry Baines

Jonathan Keeling

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taplio

The Battle

Henry Baines

Jonathan Keeling

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Engagements

Likes

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);}Jonathan Keeling's LinkedIn Performance

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