⚡ How this Start-Up got 200,000 Sign-Ups from One All-Nighter

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 did this Start-Up get 200,000 sign-ups from one all-nighter?
🎤 How you can use famous bands to create a viral marketing campaign
🥇 An LLM SEO tool that helps you rank high on ChatGPT

✨ Last week’s most clicked link, was this link taking you through to Cambrian who are looking to write $300k - $1m+ tickets into FinTech companies.

Happy hustling,

Rich

🎤 Opportunities + Events

💰 Betaworks have just raised a $66m fund to invest into early-stage AI companies with an average ticket size of $00k - connect with the team here!

📣 SaaStock have launched their pitch competition for early-stage SaaS companies, with a prize of up to €1,000,000 - apply here!

⚡️ Founder and Lightning are investing in B2B companies at £1m revenue who are not yet reliant on tech (yet). You can apply 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

🍷 Head of Growth, WineFi
🩺 Sales Development Representative, Kitt Medical
💻 Full Stack Engineer, Jointflows

🙅 UK officials clash over Revolut banking license. Sifted

✍️ Google says it will sign EU’s AI code of practice. TechCrunch

💬 Gen AI apps doubled their revenue, grew to 1.7bn downloads in H1 2025. TechCrunch
 
😇 JECO backed in first deal from Regional Angels co-investment fund. UKTN

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Book your rental here!

As Oasis-fever continues to sweep the globe, we’ve got yet another genius marketing campaign from the team over at Specsavers - this must be their 10th feature now.

If you know about Oasis, you know their arch-rivals, Blur. Blur and Oasis went head to head in the charts for years, and it was publicly known just how much they didn’t get along.

However, blur also means something that cannot be seen clearly - which is exactly the problem Specsavers solves for their customers with their spectacles! So, when the opportunity for some clever copy and a great play-on-words came about, Specsavers took it.

They advertised at the sold out Oasis concerts by calling themselves ‘The original blur rivals’. This isn’t just jumping on a trend, this is speaking to the audience in a tone that they appreciate.

How can you jump on current trends to build a great marketing campaign?

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.

Findable is the complete LLM SEO toolkit to rank well across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google Gemini and more. Monitor, analyse, and optimise your AI search visibility.

Staccato: An AI Co-Writer for Music Producers

Staccato is what happens when AI meets creativity at the intersection of beats, melodies, and machine learning. Designed for music producers of all stripes, the platform acts as an intelligent co-writer. Users can describe a musical idea, or upload a song-in-progress, and Staccato will generate complementary building blocks (beats, melodies, harmonies) that slot seamlessly into the track.

It’s Canva meets ChatGPT, but for music. Built to empower producers, not replace them.

Built by Family, Backed by Tech

The idea behind Staccato came from Jeff, who started building the company’s first AI music model during his PhD in 2021. He had a vision for what music creation could become with the right tech, but he needed someone to help build the business around it.

Enter Jason, Jeff’s brother-in-law, who was, at the time, working as a forensic accountant travelling the globe investigating fraud cases. He originally joined to help with accounting. But as the company grew, so did his role. Jason is now COO, leading everything from fundraising and legal to marketing and partnerships.

200,000 Signups from One All-Nighter

Staccato’s first wave of traction came not from big budgets or flashy campaigns, but from one late-night SEO play.

Jason noticed a trend: new AI directories like theresanaiforthat were emerging, and they were hungry for submissions. He stayed up all night submitting Staccato to every relevant site he could find. Over time, newer directories began pulling data from those early ones, creating a web of backlinks and visibility that drove over 200,000 signups organically.

These days, many of those directories charge to be listed. But back then, it was a window of opportunity. And they sprinted through it.

Funding the Journey

Staccato began with a small friends and family round, enough to prove the concept and get the first version of the product out.

Since then, they’ve brought on two VC firms. Their first institutional investor, Plug and Play, actually reached out to them cold, interested in the AI music space. After a fast diligence process, they joined the cap table and introduced Staccato to Hatcher+, who also came on board.

They’ve also tapped into Canadian grant funding, pulling in hundreds of thousands in non-dilutive capital - a perk of being headquartered north of the border.

The Biggest Lesson: Don’t Listen to Everyone

Coming from outside the Start-Up world, Jason was surprised by the sheer volume of confident advice offered in tech circles.

Not all of it was helpful. In fact, some advice led to misaligned deals and bad partnerships, particularly in the music industry where traditional models don’t always mesh with Start-Up thinking.

Now, Jason takes a more measured approach. Still open to new perspectives, but far more discerning about which advice to take on board.

Refining the User Persona

In its early stages, Staccato explored a broad range of use cases to understand where it could deliver the most value. They quickly learned that different types of musicians have radically different needs, and that trying to serve all of them meant serving none of them well.

Now, they’re laser-focused on the specific user personas who get the most value from the product and building deeply for them.

The Road Ahead

Staccato isn’t trying to replace music producers. It’s trying to amplify them. To make the creative process faster, easier, more collaborative - and more fun!

They’ve got the product, the vision, and the early traction. Now, they’re laying down the groundwork for their next track: sustainable growth.

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…