⚡ How this Start-Up went from Empty Tables to Busy Calendars

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 go from empty tables to busy calendars?
🤝 How marketing collaborations can double your reach!
🔊 A tool that helps you create a months worth of content in a few hours

✨ Last weeks most clicked link was this link taking you through to Found Capital who are looking to invest up to £150,000 in UK based early-stage companies.

Happy hustling,

Rich

🎤 Opportunities + Events

📲 YouTube sensations, The Sidemen, have launched their new VC Fund called Upside. They’re looking to write £100k - £500k cheques into ConsumerTech companies, connect with the GP here!

⚖️ ScaleX have raised a new fund to back high-growth Seed stage companies, connect with the lead investor here!

📈 NatWest are accepting applications for their pitch competition for businesses below £1m in Turnover, with a share of £100k on offer - 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 Full-Stack Engineer, Perlon AI
🧑‍💻 Technical Co-Founder, intotheopen
🤝 CTO + Co-Founder, Cirqqle

🇫🇷 Revolut invests €1bn in France, opens Paris HQ. Sifted

🕶 Google commits $150m to develop AI glasses with Warby Parker. TechCrunch

🍏 Apple reportedly plans to let developers build on top of its AI. TechCrunch
 
🚫 Steven Bartlett-Backed health Start-Up faces another ad ban. UKTN

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Why do most of us think we have to go it alone when it comes to marketing campaigns? Surreal and Lovehoney decided to team up, and they haven’t looked back since! Twice the audience, twice the creativity and a whole lot of options!

Surreal, being serial marketing genius’ when it comes to marketing their cereal, decided to run a campaign in which adults got toys in their cereal too - which is where Lovehoney came in! Not only did this hilarious campaign go mega viral, but it also allowed them to open each other up to their respective customer bases.

Is there another business that you can team up with to create a complimentary viral marketing campaign, whilst leveraging each other’s customer bases?

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

Nodeflow AI enables you to transform scattered research into viral content. Their visual AI whiteboard connects YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Documents, Websites, Linkedin, X, Images and more to powerful AI that creates high-converting content in your authentic voice, not generic AI text.

QZee: From Empty Tables to Busy Calendars - A Booking Revolution

What began as an observation during the UK’s “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme has evolved into a B2B2C SaaS platform reshaping how service providers handle bookings, payments, and client communication. QZee is designed for the hairdresser with a packed diary, the personal trainer juggling sessions, the tutor managing back-to-back classes.

It offers white-labelled, branded booking experiences for businesses. QZee enables them to accept payments, automate reminders, reduce no-shows, and manage schedules. It’s tidy, scalable, and crucially, doesn’t disrupt how service providers like to run their day. With a growing footprint across fitness, wellness, and beauty, QZee is becoming the default layer between service businesses and their customers.

A Tale of Two Founders – And One Real Problem

Cameron didn’t build QZee alone. It started with a message to Joel during the tail end of lockdowns, as they watched restaurants turn away walk-ins despite half their tables sitting empty. It was a flaw in the system - bad booking flows, no accountability, lost revenue.

Joel had the technical edge, Cameron brought the product and design mindset, and they began building. It’s rare to catch a market inefficiency so visibly, but this one was obvious - and repeatable across dozens of industries. Today, QZee’s evolved well beyond food, but that original insight set the tone.

The First Wins Came Local and Fast

Launching a SaaS product from zero is never easy, but QZee moved quickly by tapping into local networks - targeting barbers, PTs, and wellness providers who were tired of flakey bookings and clunky software.

The breakthrough came with a viral Cardiff-based fitness group, CDF Bears, whose launch pushed 100+ users and dozens of bookings within days. The strategy was smart and simple:

• Tailored onboarding to remove barriers

• Smart automations for confirmations and reminders

• Tight feedback loops to ship changes quickly

It was proof that businesses were hungry for a better solution, and that QZee could be it.

From Queues to White Labels: The Big Pivot

Originally, QZee dabbled in a consumer-facing queueing tool, but the usage data told a different story. Businesses didn’t want a social waitlist; they wanted tools to run their operations. That realisation triggered a full pivot to a B2B white-labelled solution.

The result? Clearer messaging, leaner product development, and better alignment with buyers.

To scale, the team focused on:

• Cold outreach by vertical

• SEO-driven landing pages

• Streamlined onboarding flows

It wasn’t glamorous, but it worked.

What They’d Do Differently? Start with Simplicity

Like many early-stage founders, Cameron and Joel initially overbuilt. Too many features. Not enough validation.

If they could do it again?

• Start with one clear niche

• Validate pricing before committing

• Avoid trying to please both consumers and businesses

• Build modular tech that’s easier to pivot

The big takeaway? Don’t try to be clever, just try to be useful.

£75k, A Few Believers, and One Big Lesson

QZee raised £75,000 in Pre-Seed capital from a mix of friends, early believers, and angels who’d seen enough traction to jump in. Many had experience in SaaS or marketplaces, which made them valuable sounding boards, not just cheque-writers.

The funds got the platform off the ground, but also exposed a common trap: building too much, too early, without enough validation.

The Hardest Bit? Letting Go of the First Idea

The toughest moment in the journey wasn’t technical, it was emotional. Letting go of the original consumer queue product meant closing a chapter they’d invested time and belief into. But the truth was clear: it wasn’t sticking.

Pivoting meant rewriting the roadmap, repositioning the business, and, in a few cases, adjusting the skillsets of the founding team. It wasn’t easy, but it was necessary.

Biggest Lessons? Build for the Buyer, Not Just the User

Cameron’s reflections are sharp and honest:

• Don’t wait to pivot when the data’s telling you something new

• Change the team early if it’s not working, don’t delay the inevitable

• Design your product for the person writing the cheque

• Validate even the most “obvious” assumptions

• Keep the product lean until you’ve nailed product–market fit

QZee’s still growing, still iterating, but it’s cut through the noise. And it’s proof that the best SaaS tools don’t try to be everything - they just solve a painful problem, beautifully.

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…