Events
CEO and Founder of Gousto on hiring for growth
Gousto’s CEO and founder, Timo Boldt, will talk about how he has built the company from zero employees in 2012 to 500 people in 2019. He will cover what he has learnt about people and culture along the way, with a special focus on how to hire the right people for the right stage of business.
Gousto’s business is the home delivery of recipe kits. The company leads an industry with a unique blend of technology and food: more than half of their orders come from artificial intelligence-powered recommendations, for instance.
on Blitzscaling, in conversation with James Manyika of the McKinsey Global Institute
Silicon Valley is home to a disproportionate number of companies that have grown from garage startups into global giants. But what is the secret to these startups’ extraordinary success? Contrary to popular narrative, it’s not their superhuman founders or savvy venture capitalists. Rather, it’s that they have learned how to blitzscale.
Blitzscaling is a specific set of practices for igniting and managing dizzying growth; an accelerated path to the stage in a startup’s life-cycle where the most value is created. It prioritizes speed over efficiency in an environment of uncertainty, and allows a company to go from “startup” to “scaleup” at a furious pace that captures the market.
Rishi Khosla, CEO of ACORN OakNorth, on building one of the world’s only profitable fintech unicorns
Rishi and his business partner established ACORN OakNorth to solve the problem around bespoke lending to SMEs, leveraging big data and machine learning in order to do this.
They used the ACORN machine platform to establish OakNorth in the UK (the third new bank to receive a license from the Bank of England in 150 years) focusing on lending £0.5m-£30m to businesses. In its first 30 months, it has lent over £1.25bn to SMEs, with no credit defaults, and has made over £10.5m profit.
Outside of the UK, the ACORN machine platform is licensed to other banks and lenders, enabling them to replicate OakNorth’s success with SME lending in the UK, in their own market/s.
The business is one of the fastest growing financial companies in European history and has secured over £360m investment since inception, with a value in excess of £1bn.
Co-founder and CEO of Unruly
Sarah is co-founder and CEO of Unruly, a video ad tech company bought by Rupert Murdoch/News Corporation in 2015 for £114million. Since its inception in 2006, Unruly has worked with 90% of Advertising Top 100 Brands including Adidas, Dove, Evian and Renault.
Past Events
Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief, Head of Economics and Politics, Contributing Editor, Global Business Columnist
What to expect from the US election and the new UK Government
Artist
Patricia Swannell: A Commemorative Exhibition
