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 this Start-Up is making data speak your language
🎾 How you can turn competitive sports into a serious marketing campaign
📊 A tool that helps turn your business data into strategic decisions

✨ Last week’s most clicked link, was this link taking you through to Haatch’s ‘Next Wave’ competition for Pre-Seed/Seed stage startups in the UK with up to £2m on the line.

Happy hustling,

Rich

🎤 Opportunities + Events

⚔️ TechCrunch have opened up applications for their 2026 startup battlefield competition, with $100k in equity free investment on the line - apply here!

💰 Deel have just launched their global pitch competition with up to 100 Founders winning $100k and a further 10 winning $1m - apply here!

🌱 Primary VC have just announced Fund V of $625m to invest in Seed Stage startups scaling in the AI age (Not just AI companies) - connect with the team here!

We now have a community of thousands of Start-Ups and Founders, here are the hottest Start-Up job opportunities from the Innovators Uncensored community on our very own Start-Ups Job Board!

💼 Start-Up Jobs

📈 Growth Marketer, Noxus
🛠 Operations Associate, Factored
🧑‍💻 Chief Technology Officer, Voxmind

📦 Uber to buy Getir’s delivery business from Mubadala. Sifted

🤝 Amazon may launch a marketplace where media sites can sell their content to AI companies. TechCrunch

🚪 Exactly half of xAI’s founding team has left the company. TechCrunch
 
🔊 ElevenLabs valued at $11bn after Series D megaround. UKTN

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It feels like Padel-mania has swept the globe, and Specsavers knew they needed to pounce on padel!

Their recent campaign “NO GLASSES BEYOND THIS POINT” was created to show how much contact lenses can support your in-game performance, and they’ve put this on signs attached to padel courts up and down the country to make sure people know!

They didn’t stop at signs, they’re also offering free games of padel with partner clubs to new subscribers in order to really get the message over the line.

How can you capitalise on fast growing sports and activities?

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

Supaboard is an Agentic Business Intelligence platform that understands your business context, not just your data. It brings your metrics, definitions, and business logic into one trusted layer, then delivers accurate insights in minutes. Connect to 600+ data sources, ask questions in plain English, and instantly generate dashboards and reports your whole team can trust.

📊 Configur: Making Data Speak your Language

Data is often described as the world’s most valuable resource - but for most organisations, it remains fragmented, underutilised, and difficult to action.

That’s the problem Configur was built to solve.

Founded by Marco and Josh, Configur is a code-free data platform that enables businesses to centralise their data, unlock actionable insights, and deploy AI-driven solutions across a wide range of use cases - from operational automation and supply chain mapping to CRM, ESG, risk, compliance, and AI adoption.

At its core, Configur exists to make data usable. Not just accessible - but practical, operational, and decision-enabling.

Starting with Conversations, Not Code

Configur didn’t begin with aggressive sales campaigns or polished marketing funnels. It began with conversations.

Marco and Josh leaned into their existing networks - previous clients, professional contacts, and people they’d built trust with over the years. Instead of pitching a finished product, they shared the problem they were solving and asked for input.

Tailored emails led to Teams calls. Teams calls led to feedback. And several of the people who contributed during the MVP discovery phase went on to become Configur’s very first clients.

That early validation did more than generate revenue, it shaped the product itself.

Pivoting in a Pandemic

Originally, Configur had its sights set on government and local authorities. Then the pandemic hit.

Almost overnight, priorities shifted. Budgets froze. Decision cycles changed. Marco and Josh had to rethink their target market quickly.

They pivoted to the private sector, launching targeted email campaigns aimed at transformation leaders across multiple industries. In the early days, the approach was deliberately broad - testing different sectors to identify where traction was strongest.

While the outreach was wide, the messaging wasn’t generic. Each sector received tailored communication addressing its specific pain points, informed by the Founders’ previous experience and extensive research into industry forums and customer challenges.

The result? Signals began to emerge about where Configur delivered the most value.

Building a Real Sales Engine

Once initial clients were secured, Configur moved from opportunistic selling to structured growth.

Early attempts to scale through managed service providers didn’t produce the desired results, prompting the founders to bring sales in-house. They built an internal team, automated outreach sequences, and leaned heavily on tools like Sales Navigator for targeted prospecting.

Their outreach strategy became methodical:

• Emails

• LinkedIn connection requests

• Cold calls

• Follow-ups scheduled across 8–10 touchpoints per contact

Interestingly, the highest conversion often came on the third chaser email - the seventh step in the process. The lesson was clear: persistence matters, and most deals are won after others would have stopped.

The Power of Referrals

Despite building outbound systems, Configur’s early growth was overwhelmingly relationship-driven.

At one stage, 90% of new business came from referrals - a testament to the trust Marco and Josh had built within their network. They didn’t just focus on prospects; they also nurtured relationships with complementary businesses who could introduce them to clients.

That ecosystem mindset became a core pillar of growth.

Bootstrapping First, Funding Later

Configur’s first year was entirely bootstrapped.

From day one, Marco and Josh focused on generating revenue. They pursued consultancy opportunities and selectively took on projects aligned with their long-term vision for Configur. This disciplined approach led to £160,000 in revenue in year one, validating both demand and delivery capability.

Their first external funding round came through angel investors. Some were family friends who believed strongly in the Founders’ vision. Others came through introductions facilitated by Tramshed Tech, who connected them to investors within their wider network.

The process wasn’t quick, it took around seven months to close, but it provided the capital needed to scale more confidently.

The Hardest Transition: From MVP to Scalable Platform

One of Configur’s most complex challenges wasn’t sales, it was product evolution.

Transitioning from an MVP to a fully optimised, user-friendly platform required a substantial rebuild. During that period, the team maintained two code bases simultaneously, balancing stability with innovation.

It was operationally demanding, but it reinforced two critical lessons:

• A clear product vision is non-negotiable

• Change control must be structured and disciplined

Without both, scale becomes chaos.

Lessons for Founders

Configur’s journey has reinforced several principles:

• Talk to customers before perfecting the product

• Be willing to pivot quickly when external conditions shift

• Persistence in sales beats premature optimisation

• Referrals are earned through trust, not tactics

• Generate revenue early, it gives you leverage

• Build for scale with structure, not shortcuts

From leveraging their personal networks to building a structured sales engine and navigating a full platform rebuild, Marco and Josh have built Configur with resilience and intent.

They set out to solve one of the most universal business problems, data fragmentation, and in doing so, they’ve built a company grounded in practicality, adaptability, and long-term thinking.

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…