⚡ How this Start-Up is Making Shopping Trolleys Stylish

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 is this Start-Up making shopping trolleys stylish?
🪧 How getting out on the street and telling people how you feel gets you orders!
🔊 A tool that helps you keep on top of customer feature requests

✨ Last weeks most clicked link was this link taking you through to Axa’s Start-Up Angel Competition with successful 2 Start-Ups receiving £25,000 in investment.

🥳 Last night we held our 2nd Bristol Innovators Uncensored Start-Up Social, it was so great to have 100 Start-Up Founders and Enthusiasts in the room. We’ve got our next Bristol event on the 1st of July with Paul Dodd, one if the Co-Founders of Huboo in Dirty Martini. You can grab your ticket here!

Happy hustling,

Rich

🎤 Opportunities + Events

🔍 Found Capital are looking to invest up to £150,000 in early-stage UK companies - apply here!

🌎 Immad Akhund has raised a new $26m fund to invest in Start-Ups chasing a $10bn+ market - find out more here!

📈 Y Combinator are accepting applications for their summer 2025 batch, with successful applicants receiving $500,000 - 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

🧑‍💻 Founding Engineer, Tano
🤑 Founding Go To Market, Perlon AI
🛠 AI Engineer, Cytora

🤖 Klarna CEO dials down AI ambitions with human hiring push. Sifted

📉 Y Combinator says Google is a ‘monopolist’ that has ‘stunted’ the Start-Up ecosystem. TechCrunch

🖼 NFT phenom Cryptopunks was just sold to a nonprofit. TechCrunch
 
💰 18-year-old Founder closes pre-seed funding round for AI Start-Up. UKTN

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Book your rental here!

Ever thought of just getting out on the street and letting everyone know how you feel? That’s exactly what Vivir did! The Tequilla brand sent an team member out on the streets with nothing but a cardboard sign that read “I need a shot of Tequilla”.

Wherever they walked, people were snapping pictures, recording videos or even bringing out shots of tequilla! Whilst the brand’s own video of this got thousands of views, the real value came from everyone else sharing their own pictures and videos of it!

The Vivir team were able to subtly place their Instagram username towards the corner of the sign. People shared this image everywhere because it was funny and often times relatable! If seeing this made people fancy a shot of tequilla, they’d head straight to the instagram of Vevir and put an order in!

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

Dolphin finds and tracks feature requests, pain points, and customer love from your B2B calls - on autopilot. No more "What's the status of this feature?" or "Just add it to Product board." Always keep up with what customers need and ask for.

Stroli: Reinventing the Shopping Trolley – and the Way We Consume

Most people overlook the humble shopping trolley. Paul didn’t. He saw a product stuck in time - ugly, unsustainable, and ripe for reinvention. Stroli is his answer: a design-led, sustainability-driven brand turning everyday shopping bags and trolleys into something people actually want to be seen with.

It started with one product: a trolley made from recycled materials. But the vision? Much bigger. Stroli is on a mission to become Europe’s go-to name in the shopping bag space. Function meets aesthetic, and sustainability isn’t a tick-box - it’s baked into every SKU.

Paul’s keeping his cards close when it comes to sector targeting, and fair enough. In a space that’s largely ignored, he’s uncovered audiences that are, in his words, “fertile,” and he’s not handing those secrets out for free.

Flying Solo, But Not Alone

Paul isn’t new to building. He ran a creative agency in Fitzrovia for 17 years - co-founded, well-run, and still friends with his old partner. However when he saw the opportunity arise with Stroli, he wanted to get moving. So when Stroli came to life, he went it alone.

Doing it solo is tough. The energy doesn’t bounce, and the pressure doesn’t share. But Paul’s no martyr, he’s built a support system, a sounding board. Community has replaced Co-Founder, at least for now. It’s not glamorous, but it works.

Hustle First, Strategy Later

The early days of Stroli weren’t backed by sleek campaigns or ad funnels, they were built on hustle. Paul kept it scrappy. Proof of concept came before polish. Despite a background in advertising, he intentionally held back on “traditional” marketing. Why? Because the timing wasn’t right.

Now, with fundraising underway, the tone is shifting. Influencer outreach and digital campaigns are queued up. There's a playful voice at the core of the brand, clever holiday activations, dry wit, and a wink to the everyday.

How Not to Fundraise (And Why It Still Worked)

If Paul could rewind time, there’s one thing he’d do differently: start talking to investors earlier.

Instead, he bootstrapped the hard way. Maxed credit cards. Used savings. Trashed his credit rating. Even pulled in favours from mates and family. It wasn’t romantic, it was survival. And yet, it worked. Around £45k got Stroli out the gates, and those early moves gave him proof of traction when it mattered.

Now? He’s raising properly. A £200k round is in motion, with £45k already banked. Enough to grow in the UK, enter one European market, and lay the groundwork for something bigger.

Investor Hunting: No Map, Just Momentum

There’s no secret playbook when it comes to raising money. Paul’s still in the thick of it. His approach? Build a clear pitch. Tell a compelling story. Show the upside. Then knock on every door until someone opens it.

Agile, messy, persistent. That’s the reality. And Stroli is inching forward because Paul keeps showing up, numbers in hand.

No Major Failures, Just Near Misses

There’s no juicy crash-and-burn moment in the Stroli story - yet. But that doesn’t mean it’s been smooth. Fundraising too late was a mistake, one Paul openly owns. It's a move that slowed growth and squeezed resources.

Still, he’s navigating it. Every misstep has fed the strategy. Every delay has added clarity.

Know Your Numbers. Talk to People. Keep Going.

The biggest lessons from Paul’s journey?

• Talk to people. Don’t operate in a vacuum.

• Build bridges. Relationships compound.

• Know your numbers. Cashflow ignorance is a death sentence.

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…