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

After 30 years in startups, with the last 5 helping other founders, I've realised there are other more established businesses out there. Who knew! Apparently, some even have actual budgets to get stuff done 🤣

So, as much as I love founders, it's time to spread my wings and help build apps, tools, AI agents and lots more useful stuff for all these other exciting companies and business people. (founders still very welcome, obvs)

And of course, doing it all using my new found love of AI-assisted development for speed and power. Plus 44 years of coding and engineering experience to guide things along the way.

A year ago, tech cost the earth to create, and developers would take 3-6 months to give you something basic. But with AI, the world has moved on.

What kind of app, internal tool or AI agent could you use today to save a tonne of time and money in your business?

DM, or comment below. I'll provide a free evaluation to get things started.

Steve Procter

I’ll build your AI agents & apps | 44yrs in tech | Exited founder (0→£mil * 2)

Most founders aren't blocked by tech. Decisions are the big startup killer.

People love to say "I need an MVP", but if you can't (or won't) answer these 5 things in plain English, you'll end up drowning in decision hell:

1. Who is it for? One sentence.
2. What painful thing happens without it? One sentence.
3. What's the smallest action the user must complete inside the product?
4. What do you NOT need in v1?
5. What would make you say "this idea is dead" after 60 days?

To boil it right down, an MVP is simply a test you can actually run. Either internally to validate key assumptions or technical challenges. Or with real customers (preferably paying) to see if a potential market exists.

It doesn't have 23 features, and it's not polished - although it can still look great. Essentially, it's not the final product, and any attempt to make it so will sink you before you even get going.

Start by writing your answers to the 5 points above. If you can't, well, that's your first challenge right there.

(And if you want a second pair of eyes, message me. I'll tell you if it's buildable or if you're about to create a very expensive brochure.)

I build software with AI + 44 years of engineering experience | exited founder

CONTROVERSIAL: If you're ready to create an internet/mobile based startup in 2026, you do not need investment. What's that I hear: "but there are a few setup and running costs". Well, no shit Sherlock! That's how business works.

If you expect it to be a free ride and for someone else to take the risk before you've even started, this game aint for you. Your idea, your risk.

Five years ago, sure, it was tough back then. You needed the app ready just to discover if there was even a market. And the developers who would build it saw you coming and demanded £150k just to get out of bed.

But those days are over. Building your MVP is cheap. Signing up to a handful of AI-driven marketing/growth platforms is even cheaper. Your costs for getting from day 0 to day 1 are minimal, and should come out of your pocket.

If your savings account can't cover it, then give up Netflix, or your 2nd annual holiday, or a meal out and bottle of wine each week.

Take your own risks if you are so convinced the idea is that great. And, according to page 17 of your pitchdeck, it is going to be massive and hit a $1bn market within 5 years!

So what's a year without Netflix or dining out when that's the goal? You will be too busy building and making sales for a social life anyway.

Investment is for scaling. Not for creating the damn thing on day 1.

---

* smallprint: yes, sure, we know that if you're in quantum something or other, or deeptech, or need a van to deliver your mince pies to factories, or to buy stock, or do medical research, [or insert 1,000 other ideas], then you are special and this post does not apply to you. So please, walk on by, nothing for you to see here. This is for people building apps, websites and stuff like that.

I recently read an expert's idea of a "5 yr plan for startups". More theoretical tosh! As a founder you need to be out in much less than 5 yrs, sat on the beach with a piña colada, and planning your next startup.

Let's be honest, for most founders, if you are still in at the 5 year mark, you've probably missed the exit ramp and are a zombie startup, kidding yourself you're still capable of "scaling" and reaching mythical unicorn status.

The speed of startups in this mad new AI-backed world means, if the business is doing well at 2-3 years, you should find someone bigger who knows how to launch it into the next orbit. For most founders, this is not you.

Exit at 2-3 years. Low £millions. Go again. Repeat until the care home calls.

Oh, and by the way, that exit money needs to be hard cash. And it goes to founders only - no investors to take any cream off the top.

If you spent 6-12 months of those 2-3 years faffing about finding an investor, then you've wasted the most critical period of a startup's early life.

You can disagree all you like, and spend half your days on here, talking the talk and arguing with AI-written posts.

The startup process is simple: Build, sell, sell-out.

If any part fails, then pivot or find a new idea, and go again.

JFDI !

The only moat left for founders is speed. If you use AI to build fast, and sell it hard, there is a chance you will get enough momentum to build a nice little business. Yeah sure, you can get paranoid, and listen to all the nay sayers about OpenAI coming along and copying your startup app idea. But if you've already built a market, and focus on growing it, there's no stopping you.

"Code" is sooooo old fashioned. I've got an old web app I built 10 years ago. just got 1 client who uses it these days. I only think about it for 10 mins every year when I send him an invoice.

A server update created a bug today. I had to go into the code and debug. It was really, really weird - not seen this code in over 5 years.

It felt like walking through a museum.

Did people really used to write this weird language called "code" to make their computers do things in the olden days.

Startup ideas that are too early are brutal. I've been there several times and got the t-shirt. Quite literally, as back in the noughties, printing t-shirts and business cards, and paying for fancy logo designs before you'd even launched was just what you did.

But I'd never put a founder off trying if you have a mad idea in your head.

Because very often, nobody really knows. After 30 years in startups, I've realised that timing is just plain weird.

Something can appear in the zeitgeist on a random Tuesday that wasn't there last week, and will be gone again if you don't launch for another 3 months.

The difference now is you don't need permission, investment, or 6-12 months to build and test it.

It has never been cheaper or faster to build a small, real app and put it in front of people.

Don't overthink it. Cut it down. Ship something real. Then let the market slap you (gently) across the face and tell you what it thinks.

Your gut matters. But the market is the only judge that counts.

If you're sitting on an idea right now, stop polishing it and let's get the first real version built and launched.

You never know.

Code is dead. Not just what you and I write. But even what the AI writes. It will soon be totally pointless for AI to produce pretty Python, C++, or Javascript, or whatever the current coding fetish du jour is. We'll never see it.

We are in the in-between times right now. We entered it just over a year ago (end of 2024). And coding languages will expire before 2030.

They'll join the Dodo and the dinosaurs. We will visit museums that show us these foreign languages, and tell us how men with long hair and bad t-shirts used to obsess over them whilst drinking warm ale.

In future, the AI will just churn out machine language. Direct binary code for the computers to execute.

All of us will sit in front of a screen, with chat boxes and voice recorders.

From the comfort of our sofa, we will just talk and request that the machine carries out any task we desire.

The software industry and developers will be no more.

Apart from The Gods who work at The BroCos: the 6 global bodies that run all things on Planet Earth: Google, Anthropic, OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon/AWS.

There is a 7th member of The BroCos. But its fearless leader is hurtling towards Mars, to plant a flag and establish his new world order.

Let's hope the Martians speak machine code.

With 25+ years of startup experience, I now run l2o, an extensive network and online community for angel & HNW investors, and help early-stage startup founders get investment-ready and raise investment from my network.

ANGELS, SCOUTS, AND FOUNDERS WITH DECKS 👉 https://www.l2o.co/?utm_source=scplnabout

MY HISTORY
• 1982-1986: Discovered computers! Everything from a Vic 20 and BBC micro to an ICL 2900 mainframe

• 1986-1989: degree in Computation from UMIST (University of Manchester, Institute of Science & Technology)

• 1989-1999: IT consultant and project manager at Logica, IBM, Reuters, Bankers Trust and Deutsche Bank

• 1994-1997: started first side hustle as a scuba diving instructor with own dive school in London

• 1996: published my first website and the first ever disk-mounted website on the cover of a national UK magazine

• 1999: developer and project manager at two very early digital agencies in London

• 1999: envisioned, built, launched and bootstrapped first UK under-a-tenner domain name business at Easily.uk

• 1999: envisioned, built and launched early and successful dot-com, a domain, email and web hosting ISP

• 1999-2001: as ceo, managed growth from zero to 100,000 business clients and 30+ staff

• 2000: invented the web-based DNS dashboard for domains

• 2000: devised an early no-code solution for simple one-page websites, £100k ARR from a single £300 server

• 2001: ran one of the first successful web affiliate schemes, generating 40% of our revenue

• 2004: negotiated a successful multi-million pound dot-com exit and sale of Easily.uk

• 2002: launched one of the first-ever B2B mobile text marketing services at SMS.Expert

• 2007: an early digital nomad, running a B2B Saas startup from a beach and the desert

• 2007-2019: as ceo, successfully ran a leading text marketing B2B Saas from zero to multi-million turnover

• 2007-2019: as cto & architect, developed 850k lines of code and supported 1mil daily transactions & API calls

• 2020-: vision, architect, advisor, investor and cto for...
 - Nearevo, "proximity discovery for the internet of things"
 - Scan + Click, "contactless business cards"
 - Clickacall.live, "instant video calls from anywhere with a single click"

• 2020-: startup advisor & mentor to early-stage tech founders, giving back 25 years of startup experience

• 2022-: connecting founders and investors at www.steveprocter.com

Launch your MVP in 30 days | 30yrs in startups (exited. 0→£mil * 2)

I heard a very powerful line yesterday, by Olivia Moore at a16z:

"Humans Are for Ideas, AI Is for Execution"

As long as we, as individuals and societies, hold to this belief, then we will continue to have purpose.

The moment we start letting AI take control of the creative juices, it's game over.

People hear "MVP" and picture one of two extremes:

1. A massive build that takes months and needs investment to pay for it.
2. A flimsy demo that breaks the moment real users touch it.

Neither is the point.

To me, an MVP is something small, sturdy and real. A focused, shippable version 1 of your vision.

Just one or two core workflows, built end-to-end (with payments if needed), so you can test demand fast without spending 6 months faffing about and blowing a budget you don't have.

Oh, and live in 30 days.

The founders who get value from this are the ones who can say:

* "I want to test THIS hypothesis"
* "for THIS user"
* "with THIS workflow"
* "and I'll know in 30-60 days if it's worth continuing"

The founders who don't get value are the ones who want:

* every feature they've ever imagined
* perfection
* and a guarantee

No-one can sell you certainty. Not me. Not anyone.

But you can absolutely buy speed and clarity. Those two things change everything.

Pure chat-based GPT usage in businesses will begin a steady drop. AI agents are where it's at - always on, always working for you, 24/7. Not just politely responding if you ask it stuff, otherwise sitting silently in the corner.

What are AI Agents and Automations? To answer, let me ask you a question:

If you are a business owner, consultant, operator or founder, what's one recurring job you'd like taken off your plate?

Something repetitive, annoying, time-consuming, easy to get wrong, or just plain old boring.

• Not "run my whole business".
• Not "take over my entire marketing outreach".
• Not "do everything".

One thing.

If you claim to love every single task you do (really?), ask a colleague or your assistant. I bet there is something.

That "something" is the best way to understand what an Automation is:

It's simply a workflow that you already have in your business, and currently driven by a human. You know the steps or can easily define them, and you have instructions, a system, and a set of tools that execute them.

And that's what we can automate using technology, removing or hugely reducing the need for that human involvement at every time-consuming step. By the way, these tech-driven automations often don't require AI.

An AI Agent on the other hand, takes your automation and does a lot more. It can execute your workflow with its own judgement. Driven by AI means you can give it an objective, let it figure out the steps (within constraints), use tools, and adapt when things change.

Neither are magic robots. They're just tools (AI-powered or not) that can sit in the cloud, connect to the right systems (docs, email, calendars, call transcripts, your CRM or other internal systems, or whatever), and take over the mundane in your business.

A few years ago, they were out of reach of many small businesses. But with AI-assisted development, experienced builders can now create these at a much lower cost and faster than ever before.

For now, it is likely they will still be overseen by a human supervisor. But think of the hours saved every single week, and imagine what you or your team could do with that time back.

Yes, you can make AI a grand vision. But in the real world you and your business occupy, it often starts with one annoying task that quietly drains your time and energy.

Tell me the task you want to get rid of, and I'll tell you if it's actually a good candidate for tech automations and AI agents.

Can someone tell me why vibe coders try to build production-ready apps or internal tools from a vague idea and a blank page? Because it's a very expensive lesson in how NOT to build software.

Experienced builders don't start from scratch. We start with clearly defining the requirements, planning, a solid architecture, scaffolding, proven foundations, reusable modules, and boring core stuff that already works.

The vibe coding graveyard isn't full of bad ideas.

It's full of half-built apps that died in auth, data, permissions, file uploads, security, payments, deployment. All the unsexy glue people skip when they're chasing a quick piece of software on the cheap.

If you want something real, start with a strong foundation and treat the coding as just one small part of the process.

That's how professionals using AI-assisted development tools can launch in weeks, not months. And how we avoid the "it worked until real users showed up" problem.

I speak to people every week, with a view to helping build their AI agents and apps using my 44 years of software-building experience. A few decide to go off and try it themselves in Lovable.

I honestly wish them luck, and it might initially sound like an easy way to save two or three thousand pounds. Even a bit of fun for a few weeks.

But trust me, when you're building stuff for your business that just needs to work, it really isn't.

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