⚡ How a Pandemic Turned this Events Start-Up into an eSports Powerhouse

Morning Innovators ⚡ In less than 5 minutes, we’ll cover…

🥳 The best funding opportunities, events and jobs in the Start-Up world this week
📰 This week’s biggest news stories in the Start-Up world
🕹 How the pandemic turned this events Start-Up into an eSports powerhouse
🦹 How you can win when someone copies your idea
🧱 A tool that turns your ideas into full-stack web apps

✨ Last weeks most clicked link was this link to James Watts’ LinkedIn post in which he is going to put £10,000 into one Start-Up that leaves their pitch in the comments!

Happy hustling,

Rich

🎤 Events/Opportunities

🌱 Pre-Seed to Seed Stage Start-Ups across the regions of the UK have the chance to get £335,000 in investment via the TechNation Emerging Stars pitch competition, you can apply here!

📈 Pre-Series A to Series A Start-Ups have the chance to get £1,000,000 in investment via the OneToWin pitch competition, you can apply here!

🤖 Madrona have just raised a new $770m fund to invest in the most exciting early-stage tech companies, get in touch with the team here!

📣 Finally, we’re heading to London’s Largest Demo Day. 100 pitching founders, up to 400 Investors and over 1,500 attendees. Last year, 30 Founders secured investment up to £500k

1 minute pitch that can change the course of your business! Pre-registration for Founders to pitch is open now. Only those who register will be invited to apply. Pre-registration closes on the 2nd of February. Find out more here!

💼 Start-Up Jobs

📚 Senior Software Engineer, Reedsy
💸 RevOps Lead, gocertify
👷 Senior AI Engineer, Sybill AI

🤔 Nearly 80% of tech companies are considering a secondary share sale in the next year. Sifted

✈️ Lydian can make aviation fuel wherever there’s CO2 and electricity. TechCrunch

💾 Nvidia drops $600B off its market cap amid the rise of DeepSeek. TechCrunch

🦾 Arm expands to new site in Cambridge. UKTN

Carta is a platform that helps people manage equity, build businesses and invest in the companies of tomorrow. Our mission is to unlock the power of equity ownership for more people in more places. Carta is trusted by more than 40,000 companies, over 8,000 investment funds and a million employees for cap table management, venture capital solutions and more. In the UK, we support founders who are raising money through SEIS/EIS, helping with Advance Assurance, round modelling and more. To find out more, take a look at their website, or get in touch with [email protected].

We’ve all been there, terrified that someone would steal our Start-Up idea or copy our product! Well, what do you do when that actually happens? Gusto snacks to matters into their own hands!

According to the Founder, Gusto snacks went through multiple stages of a very lengthy process to get their products stocked with a huge high street retailer. Everything was going swimmingly, until the retailer asked for samples. These samples supposedly didn’t make it to head office, so they asked for more. The Founder, determined to make sure they got to HQ, hand delivered them himself. After all of the positive discussions, everything went quiet. The Founder started to chase and nudge to see if there was any update, but he got nothing. That was until an email eventually landed in his inbox, from the retailer, stating that they weren’t going to stock his product but instead make their own version.

This is obviously very difficult news to take, but the Founder certainly knew how to make the most of it! He went straight to a store of theirs, dressed up in a burglars outfit, and held the up the sign you see in the picture above! Passers by then taste tested his product against the high street retailer’s product, and Gusto snack came out overwhelmingly on top. The real firework came when the Founder posted it on LinkedIn here, with the post getting over 40,000 likes and everyone rallying around in support!

So, if someone was to copy your product, how could you take advantage of that?

Each week we highlight our favourite tools - either something we’ve been using in our businesses, or tools that our innovator community have recommended.

With co.dev Skip the complexity, high costs, and limitations of no-code tools—our AI-powered platform lets you create scalable, modern full-stack apps using natural language, all while keeping full ownership of your code.

Streams+: Reinventing Esports Streaming and Events 🎮

Streams+ is reshaping the world of esports and game streaming with its innovative multi-stream feature. Imagine being able to switch seamlessly between multiple live streams within a single event area - an experience designed for both viewers and creators. With Twitch and Patreon-style monetisation options, Streams+ empowers creators with better revenue opportunities. Whether it’s live streaming or uploading content alongside event-driven features, Streams+ is the go-to platform for those who want to level up their esports experience.

Co-Founding: From Innovation to Inspiration

Tom Burke found his Co-Founder and CTO, Andy Esser, through a mutual connection during an ambitious project involving live 3D visualisations of undersea cabling. When COVID-19 struck, the two joined forces to apply for innovation funding and launched Haia, a hybrid event platform for corporate events. Their partnership officially began in 2020 with the founding of Haia Communications Ltd. With Andy’s diverse technical expertise and Tom’s vision, they’ve built a dynamic duo capable of tackling any challenge.

First Customers: Pandemic-Era Problem Solvers

Haia’s journey began during the pandemic, fuelled by innovation funding and support from the M-SParc incubator. Through their network, they connected with public sector clients seeking hybrid event solutions. Their early sales strategy relied on LinkedIn and email outreach, which worked well in an era where hybrid events were in high demand.

Scaling and Pivoting: Enter Streams+

Haia scaled steadily until 2023, but as the hybrid event market shifted, it became clear that a pivot was necessary. Enter Streams+, launched in July 2024. The pivot saw a shift from B2B to B2C (and some B2B), with a focus on esports and game streaming. Scaling Streams+ now involves creative marketing strategies, such as producing video content for platforms like YouTube and TikTok, and fostering relationships with early adopters, including students and esports courses.

Lessons Learned: PMF is Everything

Tom and Andy learned the hard way that product-market fit is the key to success. They admit they spent too much time refining Haia without ensuring there was a market for it. With Streams+, the approach is different—they’re focused on putting the product in the hands of early adopters and using their feedback to guide development. Their strategy involves collaborating with esports enthusiasts to create events using Streams+, ensuring the platform meets the needs of its target audience.

Funding the Dream: Innovation and Investment

Haia and Streams+ have been funded through a mix of innovation funding, seed investment, and personal bootstrapping. Tom and Andy personally invested £100K into the business and raised a total of £1M, including a £220K seed round. The journey to secure funding wasn’t easy - Tom refined his pitch through trial and error, ultimately landing angel investors through networks like Angel Invest Wales and SFC.

The Toughest Challenges: Pivoting and Letting Go

The pivot from Haia to Streams+ wasn’t just a business decision; it was a personal one. Tom and Andy had to make the difficult choice to let go of their staff and start over. It was a stark reminder of the weight of leadership and the impact decisions can have on people’s lives.

Biggest Lessons: Start Lean, Test Fast

If Tom could start over, he’d focus on launching faster and testing earlier. They missed the pandemic bubble by a fraction, but in hindsight, it may have been a blessing—some competitors who grew too quickly faced devastating crashes. The key lesson? Get your product in the hands of users early. Growth, engagement, and feedback are the only true indicators of success.

Next week I’ll be highlighting another awesome Start-Up, as well as sharing all the usuals including funding opportunities, Start-Up news, plus plenty of awesome tips, tricks and tools.

P.S. Connect with me on LinkedIn…