Founders & Future – Day 1

Chairpersons welcome and opening remarks.

What does it really take to get a “yes” from the people writing the cheques?

Leading VCs go inside the decision-making process behind the companies they choose to back. From AI infrastructure and cybersecurity to emerging enterprise technologies, the panel explores what separates genuinely investable businesses from the thousands of pitches that fail to make the cut.

• What investors are actively looking to fund now.
• The signals that make a startup stand out – and the red flags that stop a deal.
• How expectations change between pre-seed, Series A and growth-stage investment.
• Where investors believe the next major technology companies will emerge.

Join a major technology founder for an in-depth conversation about the pivotal decisions, risks and turning points behind building a company from an early-stage idea into developing a business on a global scale. From securing belief from investors to competing in increasingly crowded markets, this is a candid look at what it really takes to scale.

Getting a meeting with a major enterprise is one thing. Becoming a trusted technology partner is another. Enterprise technology leaders and successful founders discuss what separates an exciting startup from a supplier that organisations are genuinely prepared to deploy at scale. The conversation explores everything from security and governance to procurement, and proving commercial value.

Founders and investors explore what happens when an ambitious company moves beyond early product validation and into the far more complex challenge of scaling operations, leadership, customers and revenue. The discussion examines the decisions that can accelerate growth, and the ones that can quietly hold a company back. 

Startup success stories often leave out the expensive mistakes, difficult decisions and moments that nearly changed everything. In this candid fireside, Rikke Rosenlund, Founder & CEO of BorrowMyDoggy, reflects on the challenges of building and scaling the UK & Ireland’s largest dog borrowing marketplace: from early product fit and business-model decisions, to fundraising and hiring. This session will also take a look into how this tech-enabled platform has evolved as the business has grown, offering delegates a founder’s guide to understanding when to pivot and how to scale effectively.

Closing reflections and final remarks.