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 take over the Premium Ticketing game?
🤕 How getting injured on TV can give you global exposure
📸 A tool that does all of your influencer marketing for you

✨ Last weeks most clicked link was this link for SaaStock USA’s pitch competition, with $500,000 up for grabs.

🥳 It was great to host 100 Founders at our Bristol Innovators Uncensored Start-Up Social this week, thank you all for coming along! Our next Bristol event is on the 14th of May at 6pm in Bambalan, with 120+ Founders and Start-Up enthusiasts. We’ve got 3 time exited Founder and serial Angel Investor Darryl Morton coming in to talk about the earliest days of building his company, plus plenty of food and drink. You can grab your ticket here!

Happy hustling,

Rich

🎤 Opportunities + Events

⚔️ TechCrunch are hosting their Start-Up Battlefield 200 pitch event for Pre-Seed/Seed Stage companies, with the champion getting $100,000 equity free, you can apply here!

🇪🇺 Project Europe has landed! If you’re under 25, and have an idea or Start-Up that you’ll be setting up in Europe, project Europe is looking to back you with €200,000 - you can apply here!

🤖 Founders based in the Baltics, FIRSTPICK VC have launched their AI accelerator backing successful Founders with up to €250,000 - you can apply here!

🔐 SH&P have launched their Pitch and Protect competition, with the champions getting £10,000 of Trademark and Patent work - 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

💸 Sales Executive, Metamindz
🐕 Growth Marketing Operator, SNOOTS
📊 Senior Data Engineer, The Cruise Maps

🏦 Revolut ‘hiring hundreds’ in final push to become fully licensed bank Sifted

🪄 Google goes back in to acquire Wiz at $32bn after $23bn deal fell through. TechCrunch

💳 Profitable Klarna files for a potentially blockbuster IPO. TechCrunch

⚽️ Man United’s Dalot joins Cristiano Ronaldo in backing London Start-Up Bioniq. 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].

Movies do marketing best, sometimes. But in this case, the marketing team behind the brand new Novocaine movie have absolutely smashed it!

Novocaine, famously used as an anaesthetic, is the title for a brand new thriller film. The team got the leading actor (Jack Quaid) to sit court-side at the LA Clippers game, though at the start, there was nothing suspicious at all. However, as the game started to go on, and the breaks started to occur, Jack would disappear somewhere. Every time he returned to his seat, he looked more and more wounded. Until the very final quarter, in which he was covered in bruises and plaster, as you can see in the picture above. Of course, the cameras absolutely loved this.

This incredible marketing stunt got everybody talking and posting on social media. So much so, that now Novocaine is the film that everyone is itching to see.

How could you use TV time to help your brand or product go viral?

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

Meet Aha the world’s first multi-agent team 24/7 working on influencer marketing, with built-in scalability for any industry. Whether to increase brand awareness, drive sales or enhance business growth, Aha AI team delivers results that exceed expectations.

Seat Unique: The Playbook Behind Taking Over Premium Ticketing

From Corporate Law to the Heart of Live Entertainment

James didn’t take the conventional route into the premium ticketing space. He began his career as a corporate lawyer, cutting deals in mergers, acquisitions, and private equity. But after seven years of working with multi-million-pound businesses, he wanted to get closer to the action. That opportunity came when he moved into venture capital, helping to build a private family office for a former client. There, he got an insider’s look at what separates great founders from the rest and how seed-stage businesses go from scrappy startups to industry leaders.

Then came the pitch that changed everything. His friend Robin, the CEO and founder of Seat Unique, had a vision: to democratise premium ticketing and make the best seats in the house digitally accessible to everyone. Initially, Robin reached out for help raising investment, but James saw the bigger picture, and went all in. From that moment, he wasn’t just an investor; he was a Co-Founder, determined to shake up a stale industry.

Cracking the Market: The Hustle Behind Seat Unique’s First Deals

Every marketplace Start-Up faces the same brutal challenge: getting the flywheel moving from a standing start. Seat Unique was no different.

On the supply side, James and the team had to convince traditional ticketing partners that high-value, premium experiences could, and should, be sold online. This wasn’t just about opening an e-commerce store; it was about shifting an entire industry’s mindset. They hit the phones, sent hundreds of emails, and knocked on every possible door. The breakthrough moment came with the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU). That deal proved the model worked, and soon, the momentum was unstoppable.

On the demand side, the strategy was equally aggressive. They knew that if they built the right supply, the customers would come. Digital marketing became the secret weapon - targeting the right fans, in the right places, at the right moments. For the first time, premium experiences were available at the click of a button, and the response was instant. Fans loved it, and Seat Unique had carved out a space no one else was filling.

Growth, Crisis, and the Power of the Experience Economy

Scaling a Start-Up is never a straight line, and for Seat Unique, the biggest test came in November 2019. Just as the company was gaining traction, Covid-19 hit, and live events came to a screeching halt. With nothing to sell and an industry in limbo, many would have called it quits.

Instead, the team doubled down. With 18 months of downtime, they did what few Start-Ups get the chance to do: they refined and rebuilt. Three iterations of the platform later, they emerged stronger, more agile, and ready for the inevitable boom. And when live events returned in 2021, the surge in demand was unprecedented. Venues needed new ways to sell premium tickets, and Seat Unique was perfectly positioned to capitalise on the shift.

Funding the Future: Why Investors Backed the Model

Like most Start-Ups, Seat Unique started lean. Early funding came from friends and family, then angel investors, before securing a Series A round led by Nickleby Capital LLP. But what makes their investor base unique is that many of them are also customers. That first-hand experience with the product has been invaluable. After all, who better to understand the value of premium ticketing than those who buy it?

The timing couldn’t have been better. The experience economy has exploded in recent years, with UK entertainment spending seeing double-digit growth in 2024. Even as consumers cut back on essentials, they continue to invest in unforgettable experiences. Seat Unique isn’t just selling tickets, it’s selling access to those once-in-a-lifetime moments.

Lessons from the Trenches: What James Would Do Differently

Every founder has battle scars, and James is no exception. The biggest lesson? Culture is everything.

From day one, Seat Unique prioritised building a high-performance, resilient, and entrepreneurial team. Their chairman, Richard Flint (former CEO of SkyBet), hammered home the importance of culture in scaling a business. The result? A team that weathered a global shutdown, adapted, and came out stronger.

For James, the journey from lawyer to Start-Up Co-Founder has been anything but predictable. But with Seat Unique now leading the charge in premium ticketing, one thing is clear: the future of live events is digital, and they’re the ones making it happen.

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…