Chris Ives

We’ve raised €1.5Bn across our studio ventures 🎉 I realised: Funding is a function of future clarity. When we work with founders, we ask them to go 5-10 years into the future. Get concrete. Not just a vision, but a plan you can walk through, step by step. - What’s your CPA? And over time? - What channels are driving your growth? - What needs to be true in the market for this to work? - What does the team look like now, in 6 months, 2 years etc? - What will you do if something big changes? (New tech, new rules, new rivals?) The more detail, the easier it is for investors to see what you see. When you pitch with this level of clarity, you don’t sound like someone asking for money. You sound like the CEO of a unicorn, inviting people to join your story before the world catches up. You start to embody that future leader. Investors feel it. They respond to it. Founders, if you’re pitching, ask yourself: Can you describe your business in 2030 in extreme detail?

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The UK has created 163 unicorn companies to date. Each one had a strategy that matched their vision. If you're aiming to build a billion-pound business, your strategy must reflect that level of thinking. Far too often, founders stop at the surface-level decisions. They don’t align the mission, vision, and actions that drive long-term growth. That's why this infographic is really helpful. It breaks down strategy into three simple but powerful layers: ✅ Purpose ↳ Why do we exist? What matters to us? This is where your mission, values, and vision come to life and keep your team aligned. ✅ Strategy ↳ How will we get there? This is the bridge between aspiration and execution, covering plans, focus areas, and enabling tools. ✅ Execution ↳ What will we do next, and how will we track it? This is where actions, targets, and KPIs create real results. I’ve seen too many businesses stall because they ignore this process. But every billion-pound business I've backed or built has done the opposite. They've had a crystal-clear mission, a strong strategy, and consistent execution. And more importantly, they believed it was possible to build something big. That belief needs to show up in every step of the funnel.  If you’re building a business with serious potential, My book How to Make a Billion in 9 Steps will help refine your strategy. You can order the book here 👇 https://lnkd.in/eRYDKXdT What’s one part of your strategy that you’re currently refining? I’d like to hear how you’re approaching growth. ⬇️ ♻️ Repost if you believe Britain needs more billion-pound businesses. And for more on scaling with purpose, Follow me Richard Harpin.

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Lots of discussions on the NHS app as the digital front door that’ll work for everyone to do everything aka a super app. It’s a very technology as a magic solution which is likely to fail. Why? Well there’s a reason the App Store with millions of apps exists. Simply look at how many email apps exist. Because of personal preferences! The NHS has finite resources & so needs to be able to prioritise where to deploy resources - more languages or more functionality? Some of these questions will disappear or become cheaper with AI. A super app can work. Look at China! But the extent of a super app type NHS app success depends on the culture, personal preferences & variation in use needs. As mentioned much of this could change with AI but it still requires two things the NHS hasn’t focused on sufficiently - design & personalisation. The design needs to work for people & continually be improved. Many people will need support to personalise the app so it works for them. Alongside this is where the really hard work needs focus ie the non-tech, like trust, awareness, confidence & ability that enables tech to be used.

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My latest AI Campaign -> Motion so subtle you’d swear it was actually filmed👇🏾 That’s what’s possible now: pores you can count, skin texture that shifts with the light, defined facial features with natural dimension, shadows falling exactly where they should, eyes and pupils with depth. Every frame feels alive. I made this entire shoot from idea → high-quality stills → cinematic motion, in a single tool: Midjourney. - Start with a clear vision (mine: regal summer glow, dappled shadows, molten bronze). - Write your prompt like a creative brief: cover subject, styling, lighting, camera, background, color, and quality. - Generate consistent hero frames: same palette, same detail, same mood. - Use Midjourney’s Animate feature to create that slow, cinematic motion. I’ve put together my quick Midjourney workflow (plus the exact prompt template I used). Comment VISUAL and I’ll send it to you for free. #aicreation #aivisuals #aicontentcreator #aimarketing

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Loved seeing Nicola's progression from "I love vibe coding" to "I'm fucking frustrated" 😂 What can we learn? 1. You can build something vibe-coding. But you can't build everything. 2. Most AI products feel amazing at a very superficial glance. You have to spend time with them to understand if they're truly useful. 3. Vibe coding still has a place: think business owner-led quick experiments, prototypes, simple features. Production-ready stuff? Please don't. Some additional notes from personal experience 🙋‍♂️ 4. If you release a vibe-coded app and you don't understand the code, you're effectively playing Russian roulette. The cybersecurity risks are massive, and I've read tons of cases of people getting in trouble (e.g., publicly exposing customer data, deleting production databases, etc.). 5. Create different cultures and processes for production-ready code and for experimentation. At Epiphany AI I vibe-coded an experiment for a new feature in an app completely separated from the real one. This allowed us to build an MVP quickly, test it, iterate, and have a blueprint for when we'll be ready to bring that feature into production. But I can guarantee our customers there'll be zero vibe-coding once that happens 😂 Kudos to Nicola for building in public and not stopping at the classic "this is going to change everything" shallow, sensationalist LinkedIn analysis 👍

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🚑 The NHS spends billions every year on temporary staffing. What if AI could change that? That’s exactly what Healsgood's Flexzo Ai is doing - and why they’ve just secured an additional £2.5m seed round led by Octopus Ventures, bringing their total raised this year to £5m. Backed early by us and leading angel investors, Flexzo AI is helping NHS Trusts and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs): ⚡ Cut reliance on expensive bank & agency staff ⚡ Standardise rates and manage their own staff banks ⚡ Save millions while improving conditions for clinicians Founder Jack Henderson and his team are building the digital infrastructure to make NHS England workforce management more sustainable, scalable, and smart. We’re proud to have been there from the start and to see Flexzo AI scaling with incredible momentum - joined now by the brilliant team at Octopus Ventures. This is how you combine mission-driven healthcare impact with cutting-edge AI. 

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We’re thrilled to share a landmark moment for us at Haylo: we have acquired Plessey Semiconductors Ltd, the UK’s leader in microLED display technology. For me, as a co-founder of Haylo, this isn’t just another deal, it’s a bold step towards shaping the future of AR/VR, optical computing, and AI-powered devices, industries set to be worth around £600bn by 2034. Over the next five years, we will: - Invest over £100m to scale from low-volume manufacturing to high-volume global production - Create and protect highly skilled jobs in Plymouth and the wider region - Build the hardware foundation for the next era of immersive, intelligent computing MicroLEDs will power the next generation of devices, from ultra-efficient AR/VR displays to optical processors that make AI faster, cooler, and far more sustainable. With Plessey’s end-to-end capabilities, world-class team, and deep IP portfolio, we’re ready to turn microLED breakthroughs into mass-market reality. This is a proud moment for me personally, for our brilliant team, our partners, and for the future of computing. And the journey is only just beginning. https://lnkd.in/ev7Hczth

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