In the earliest days of Carwow, we looked beyond a pretty incoherent deck (sorry James!) and more at the character of the CEO and the market size when deciding to write our first cheque as Episode 1 investors. As the company expanded during the first year after our investment, their strategy was to sign agreements with any dealer of any car brand in the pursuit of growth. Our instinct was that the company needed to prove depth in the market beyond the early adopters in each brand/marque, so we strongly advised James to stop adding more brands (by that point, the company had hit 8 major brands).

CloudNC is transforming the $13trn manufacturing industry, automating the hugely fragmented and labour intensive world of CNC machining. It is no exaggeration to say this is the holy grail of modern manufacturing - and one with many challenges, in both the software and physical realm. Says Founder and CEO Theo Saville “when you’re trying to build a transformative technology company there are plenty of bumps and surprises along the way. Paul and the Episode 1 team have been with us every step of the journey - and for nearly a decade”

A key area where VCs can help startups is customer introductions. At Episode 1, we’ve worked hard to make this possible. The vast alumni network from our team’s ecosystem initiative, Focal, enabled Sentify to access 8 potential design partners in the same week as our investment in their pre-seed round finalised - speed matters! Alongside this, we’ve productised our team’s collective network enabling us to make targeted introductions to relevant prospects.

Following our Pre-Seed investment in Lawhive, progress was strong and we felt it was time to raise another round. Having seen thousands of pitch decks and overseen hundreds of successful fundraises, our team knows what exactly what resonates with investors, so we helped Lawhive develop their deck and narrative in a working session with the whole Episode 1 team. Once the narrative was spot on, we put together a list of around 50 funds to target. We helped the company by making these intros and back-channelling with investors to ensure an efficient process. The company secured multiple term sheets in a competitive process, and ended up raising a £9.5m Seed round led by a top tier US fund.

Early hires have a disproportionate impact on startup outcomes. When Adsum identified the need for a crucial senior hire, Episode 1 initiated a targeted 4-week project to source credible candidates. We ended up sourcing the ex Head of Product from a listed fintech who joined on a 12-week milestone-based engagement. This engagement has led to a partnerships strategy that has propelled Adsum to their next phase of growth and the individual has become a long term advisor to the company.

When we first met Misha and saw what the team was building at FATMAP, we were blown away. But the route taken to get to the ultimate destination had plenty of false turns and some uphill struggles, to put it in mapping terms! We were key advisors and supporters to Misha as the business model shifted from B2B to B2C. Major technology transitions and content relationships had to be navigated, and there were personnel and geography changes thrown into the mix - including working with the founders when one decided it was time to leave.