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 is Redefining Personal Care with Luxury and Sustainability?
✍️ How you can turn a rejection into a campaign with 30,000 names behind it
🏷 A proactive sales tool designed for you to close deals easier

✨ Last weeks most clicked link was this link taking you through to Transport for Wales’ accelerator programme, with successful applicants having access to over £50k in funding and the opportunity to sell to TfW.

Happy hustling,

Rich

🎤 Opportunities + Events

📣 SaaStock USA are hosting a pitching competition for SaaS companies with a $500,000 prize for the winner, you can apply here!

🎙If your SaaS company as an AI angle to it, SaaStr are hosting their pitch competition, with Founders being able to win anywhere between $500k - $5m, you can apply here!

💸 Praetura are running their PRAESEED programme, enabling them to invest up to £200k in to 35 different Start-Ups across the North of England, register for their introductory webinar here!

💳 FinTech Wales are running their FinTech Foundry accelerator programme for early stage FinTech companies. With great links to big FinTechs and super successful alumni, you can register here!

🐣 Hatch Enterprise have launched their accelerator for social impact businesses, with up to £5,000 available in grant funding - 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

🧑‍💻 Software Engineer, Convergence AI
📱 Social Media Manager, Patchstack
💻 Content + SEO specialist, Pryme

🏢 Revolut CEO doubles down on hybrid working ahead of multi-million-pound office move Sifted

🏦 Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow explains his troubled $30m personal loan, announces new ‘super app’. TechCrunch

🤑 The sibling Founders of Stax Payments are back with a $20m seed raise for their new FinTech, Worth TechCrunch

🧪 Aviva injects £15m into Oxford Science Enterprises in boost for spinouts. 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].

The Founder of Gusto Snacks has been on a guerilla marketing hot-streak recently, and we absolutely love it!

After being turned down by Tesco, Giuseppe decided to take matters into his own hands! Giuseppe decided to stand outside the front of Tesco, with this giant envelope in his hands. The envelope is there to represent the 30,000 signatures of Tesco customers that he’s aiming to collect. Each signature represents a Tesco customer who wants to see Gusto Snacks stocked in Tesco.

After posting this on LinkedIn, he’s gained thousands of engagements, along with 27,000+ signatures too! If you want to see the LinkedIn post, and sign the petition, take a look here.

How can you get a potential customer to take notice of you?

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

Skarbe is a sales flexing platform built specifically for SMB - people who sell and hate CRMs. Unlike legacy CRMs made for spreadsheet lovers, Skarbe is for closers. Automates deal tracking, email follow-ups, call recordings and meeting insights to save you 2 hours a day.

Rollr are redefining Personal Care with Luxury and Sustainability

Rollr is a luxury, sustainable roll-on deodorant brand that reimagines personal care by blending indulgence with environmental responsibility. Founded by Milo, Rollr is designed for individuals who appreciate fine fragrance, premium design, and a deeper connection to their self-care rituals. Unlike conventional deodorants, it features a refillable glass bottle, gemstone applicators, and concentrated powder refills, reducing packaging waste by 90 per cent. Milo’s vision was to transform a daily habit into a sensorial, pleasure-driven experience while pioneering a more sustainable approach in an industry that often neglects it.

Going Solo and Finding the Right Partners

Milo initially started Rollr on his own but soon realised the value of collaborating with creative experts to refine the brand’s proposition. His search led him to Broody, the incubator arm of Mother Design, after seeing their work on The Body Shop’s rebrand. Recognising that Rollr’s positioning aligned closely with their expertise, he reached out directly, offering a combination of cash and equity in exchange for their support. This partnership resulted in Broody becoming co-founders, bringing invaluable experience and strategic insight to the business. Although Milo acknowledges the immense benefits of working with seasoned partners, he believes that having a co-founder from the start would have made the journey far less isolating.

Launching Rollr: From Kickstarter to Prestige Retailers

The brand’s early success was driven by a multi-faceted approach. Rollr first launched a Kickstarter campaign, which, while successful, revealed important lessons about messaging and positioning. This led to a strategic brand pivot that strengthened its identity. After a period of refinement, the first sale in a physical retail store marked a significant milestone for Milo, turning his vision into reality. The brand’s strategy was clear-position Rollr at the high end of the market by partnering with premium retailers and ensuring the product reached influential tastemakers.

A breakthrough moment came with a launch in John Bell & Croyden, a prestigious retailer known for its commitment to high-quality, innovative products. Milo remains grateful to their team for being the first to back the brand. Since then, Rollr has expanded into other premium retail spaces, with more partnerships on the horizon.

Growing Through Organic Marketing and Strategic Partnerships

Beyond retail, Rollr’s growth has been fuelled by organic social media engagement, influencer outreach, and PR. By crafting a compelling narrative around luxury, sustainability, and scent, the brand has established itself as aspirational yet conscious. While still in the early stages of scaling, Milo believes that having a product truly loved by its target market naturally generates excitement and word-of-mouth buzz.

Scaling, however, requires a combination of strategic decision-making and trial and error. Milo has found that leveraging the right channels in the right way is a continuous learning process. So far, strategic retail partnerships have proven to be the most effective approach, as validation from prestigious stockists has done more for Rollr’s brand equity than any direct sales campaign could.

The Challenges of Innovation and Lessons Learned

One of the most significant lessons Milo has learned is that true innovation takes far longer than expected. Developing Rollr’s powdered refill system was far more complex than anticipated. Initially, he assumed that removing water from the formulation would be a simple adjustment, but it introduced unforeseen technical challenges. Overcoming these obstacles required persistence, and if he were to do it again, he would allocate more time to research and development, ensuring a longer runway for product refinement.

Milo has also come to appreciate the importance of having a co-founder from the beginning. Building a business alone is intense, and while it has given him resilience, having a trusted partner to share the journey would have made the challenges more manageable.

Funding the Vision and Navigating Financial Challenges

Rollr’s funding journey began with the backing of Broody, which provided financial support alongside creative and strategic guidance. The business has operated with a lean mindset, with Milo often going unpaid for extended periods to keep Rollr moving forward. Now, with a second funding round on track to be oversubscribed, the brand is in a strong position to take bigger risks and experiment with new strategies to accelerate growth.

Overcoming the Biggest Challenge: Reinventing Deodorant

The most difficult challenge Milo has faced has been making Rollr’s powdered refill system viable. Reducing the packaging waste of a product used by billions of people daily by 90 per cent is a revolutionary achievement, but it required overcoming immense technical obstacles.

The team experimented with multiple formats, including tablets, liquids, and water-soluble capsules, before arriving at the powder formulation. The process involved solving eight major technical hurdles, which are now in the process of being patented. Milo remained committed to revolutionising the industry, refusing to settle for minor improvements when a truly groundbreaking solution was within reach.

Looking Back: The Biggest Takeaways

Reflecting on his journey, Milo has identified several key lessons. First, genuine innovation is a slow process that requires patience and substantial investment in research and development. He has also realised that while sustainability is essential, consumers ultimately choose products based on desirability and function.

Choosing the right retail partners has been instrumental in Rollr’s success, with John Bell & Croyden providing instant credibility from day one. Milo also credits much of the brand’s uniqueness to collaboration with industry experts, including Mother Design, CPL Aromas, and neuroaesthetic specialists, all of whom played a crucial role in shaping Rollr’s identity.

If he were to start again, Milo would still prioritise innovation but with a greater appreciation for the time, patience, and resources required to bring a truly disruptive product to market.

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…