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.

AngelList India || Building India's #1 Startup Podcast - Indian Silicon Valley || Angel Syndicate GP @ISV Capital

Reach out to me at - superdm.com/jivraj

Adding value by democratizing the Startup Ecosystem of the Country by running a podcast + angel syndicate. 

Fascinated by Startups and how Founders strategically build them. Super interested in knowing more about the amazing folks who help capitalise these Startups. 

Exploring my curiosity through my Podcast - Indian Silicon Valley. (https://linktr.ee/indian_silicon_valley)

Before AngelList, I had a short Product stint at an early stage startup. 

Feeding my experimental self further, I'm involved a couple of weekend projects wherein I work with Startup Teams working towards impact. (Every Infant Matters & LedBy). And I continue to hone my Storytelling skills and meet interesting folks through ACE Humans, a Storytelling Platform I started.

By education I'm a B.Com (H) graduate from St. Xavier's College (Honours), Kolkata, having majored in Finance. I've also completed both parts of the FRM (Financial Risk Manager) Certificate by GARP (Global Association of Risk Professionals). I have also passed two levels of the CFA Program and due to appear for Level 3 in June '21.

I have been extremely grateful to have studied in great institutions which have honed my leadership and entrepreneurial skills. Throughout University, I was involved in multiple co-curricular activities. I founded the TEDx Club on Campus, Co-Founded a one of a kind Climate Action Club, Co-Founded the Finance Community involved with the first finance lab at the University level in Eastern India, Led multiple societies including the E-Cell, Enactus, Student Council and many more. This made my entire college experience a fulfilling one, developing my skills and virtues! So, I'm all up for taking initiative, lead and pursuing my passion all along the way.

I relish new conversations and am always up for an interesting one. 

Hope to create an impact & add value to the India Growth Story!

Jivraj Singh Sachar

Can an Indian engineered enterprise Blue Machines voice AI survive an hour-long primetime debate with one of India’s biggest and most watched anchors?

Blue Machines AI vs Arnab is different.

We’ve seen “Man vs Machine” moments before → Kasparov & Lee Sedol, but those played out inside closed games with fixed rules. This is the opposite: a national primetime debate with rapid topic jumps on issues of national importance, watched by millions. Completely unscripted and shot in one take, that’s high pressure in real time.

Why this is personally exciting is because we’ve seen first-class Indian engineers go to Silicon Valley and build for global platforms. Now we’re seeing that talent come back and build from India, for India. I interviewed Nirmit Parikh in 2022,
who is now the founder of Blue Machines AI and it’s surreal to see an Indian team take a serious, globally-trained system and test it on the largest stage possible.

The truth about Voice AI -
Most voice AI systems start breaking down in about 10 minutes. They hallucinate, lose context, and lag. That’s the dirty secret of voice AI. Consumer chatbots work in clean, controlled settings, but real business conversations are messy.

What matters here is simple: interruption discipline, context retention, and guardrails. Stop instantly, resume cleanly, hold the thread through aggressive pivots, keep latency tight as the conversation runs long, and stay compliant even when provoked.

This is testing something harder than clever answers: can an enterprise AI orchestration system hold up when conditions get real?

If it survives this format, it proves it can work on any enterprise call or anywhere reliability matters.

India's #1 Business Podcast - Indian Silicon Valley || General Partner @ISV Capital || Venture Partner @Tribe Capital || Forbes 30u30 Asia || Ex AngelList India

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Smylo was just on national television!

We’ve seen this company since before it was even an idea. 

From idea - launch - customer love - insane retention + subscription - Shark Tank now. 

They’ve built the entire cat food category from scratch. 

Proud to see my brother on TV and also be a tiny investor in this company. 

Congratulations Kartikeya Gupta Abhishek Agrawal

Brands on quick commerce have some constant challenges - 

How do we optimise inventory?

Which SKU do we optimise where?

How many dark stores should we send our products to?

Guess who solves all of this and more?

GobbleCube - is the one stop solution for all of this.  

Manas Gupta and team have built this incredible software, so much so that everytime a brand I know has spoken to them - they’ve been blown away!

They’re transforming brands on quick commerce. 

Brilliant episode with an amazing founder!!

List of Unicorns that were founded in 2016 -

1. Groww
2. Mamaearth 
3. PhysicsWallah 
4. Slice 
5. Udaan
6. InfraMarket
7. Cult 
8. Boat 

2016 was a mega year for Indian startups!

I've met so many founders building amazing products, but a lot of times the market just isn’t that big or maybe the need isn’t that high.

Like, technically impressive, and their execution is also flawless, but the problem they're solving doesn't have that scale.

Meanwhile, there are actual frustrations that people discuss every day on Twitter and are frustrated about in Reddit threads where nobody's paying attention to them. That's the gap. 

I thought I was the only one who thought this way, but when I came across this video by Razorpay  that said "Fix My Itch," I was excited to see a brand pick this up.

They have built an AI that's scanning every rant, every problem and every complaint people are making online. That's not it! They have literally sent teams on the ground because people say things in person they won't put on Twitter. Seeing this video really made me excited, and I think what they are doing is nothing but superb!

If you are a founder, I think this is everything you might need, and this is the best initiative taken by a brand. 

Now you can see what India actually wants solved, ranked by what matters most. The problems are with the most and with the actual market signal behind them.

This is the initiative the founders of India need!

Great initiative by Harshil and Shashank.

Why does $1 of VC in India produce less GDP than the same $1 in China or the U.S.?


This isn’t because founders are not smart or have low ambition.
But because venture capital only amplifies what an economy already allows.

VC doesn’t create GDP on its own. It accelerates activity that can already move fast with payments, exits, hiring and reinvestment.

In economies where capital circulates quickly, that dollar shows up as revenue and jobs sooner. Where systems are fragmented or slower, the impact is real, just delayed and less visible.

India has world-class founders, but the engine it’s plugged into works differently.

And understanding that shapes how far every VC dollar can go.

$1 of VC in India < $1 in China or U.S.

An entire new ecosystem of AI Ads is going to get going >>>>>


AI Ads optimisation for companies, new business model for foundational players. 

Big moment in the AI race.

TL;DR from our latest episode on the podcast! 

Brands have loved decoding the Quick Commerce playbook.

Thanks Manas Gupta for a brilliant pod. Link to the episode in the comments.

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The Battle

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