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.

Juniperseed Consulting

+ Work with startups, venture firms, family offices and artist estates to help them build public private partnerships and develop their growth strategy. Assist with business development, community outreach and fundraising.  

+ Work with large organizations on innovative or unique projects that need operational, logistical or fundraising support. Connect them with local government or small business partners where needed.

Consultant

GlobalGirl Media

Board Member

University of California, Los Angeles

Strategic leadership in the design, development and execution of world-class programs and resources for the Price Center, Entrepreneur Association and Venture Accelerator at UCLA Anderson, providing participants and students with the skills, tools and knowledge to launch and grow their ventures.

Senior Program Manager, Price Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Social Venture Partners

Partner

University of Southern California - Marshall School of Business

Social Entrepreneurship Pitch Coach

Backstage Capital

+ Serve as a mentor for marketing and operational development for the current cohort of early-stage start ups at the Backstage Los Angeles Accelerator.

+ Backstage Capital is a venture capital fund that invests in new companies led by underrepresented founders in the US. The fund has invested $5M in 100 companies led by underrepresented founders.

Mentor

Cornell University

+ Distinctions: Forte Academic Scholar, Johnson Leadership Fellow, Student Council Community Chair, Johnson Board Fellow, Environmental Finance & Impact Investing Associate

+ Highlighted Coursework: Entrepreneurial Finance, Negotiation Essentials, Strategies in Sustainability, Financial Markets & Institutions, Case Studies in VC & PE, Managing & Leading Organizations, Operations Management

+ Independent Study: Partnerships for Strategic Growth at Emmy's Organics

MBA & Forte Fellow, The Johnson School at Cornell University

Goldman Sachs

+ Designed client development strategies and researched potential prospects; developed pitch books and portfolios in advance of client meetings.

+ Presented material for prospective clients on Goldman Sachs investment strategy.

Summer Associate, Investment Management Division

USAID

+ Worked to deepen partnerships with private sector companies focused on the Feed the Future initiave, including Swiss Re, Nestle, Diageo, Cargill, Vodaphone, PepsiCo, Unilever and more. 

+ Draft private sector engagement plans with local government officials in the nineteen Feed the Future focus countries. 

+ Build and develop partnerships with NGO partners, including InterAction, CARE, Bread for the World, Mercy Corps, Save the Children, World Vision, Catholic Relief Services and more.

Strategic Partnerships Advisor, Bureau for Food Security

+ Helped USAID Administrator Shah and senior staff to plan domestic and international meetings on health, education and disaster relief. 

+ Built relationships with private sector and NGO stakeholders interested in the USAID strategic agenda, including GE, Cisco, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Pepsico, Cargill, JP Morgan, CARE, The Clinton Foundation, ONE, Unicef, Amnesty International, Interaction, Mercy Corps and more. 

+ Implemented a data-driven planning process for Administrator Shah with the agency CIO.

Director of Scheduling & Strategic Planning

USDA

+ Key member of senior team who advised US Cabinet Secretary Tom Vilsack on all international and domestic meetings with the goal of expanding access to healthy food, conserving agricultural lands, and building sustainable agriculture systems. 

+ Built relationships with private sector and NGO stakeholders interested in the USDA strategic agenda, including Tyson, Kraft, Whole Foods, General Mills, Smuckers, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Center for Food Safety, One Acre Fund, Heifer International, and more.

Deputy Director of Scheduling

Creativity, Entrepreneurship & Innovation

At Juniperseed Consulting, strategy and partnership-building are the cornerstones of my approach to fostering growth for startups, venture firms, and artist estates. My role centers on developing public-private partnerships, enhancing community outreach, and spearheading fundraising initiatives.

I am passionate about local business, alternative investing and art collecting, and I am an active member of the Forte Foundation and the Ellevate Network. While at Cornell, I helped establish the Johnson Women in Tech conference.

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