The spirit of innovation and enterprise is still alive in the UK

Chris Blackhurst sees plenty of positives during a pitching and networking event for entrepenuers

Networking can be crucial when you are seeking to grow an idea into a business (iStock/Getty Images)

On a wet, cold night in Barnes, London, more than 100 people are gathered in an upstairs room at the former Olympic recording studios.

The Olympic is a wonderful building, now converted into an art cinema, members club and cafe. We’re in its new rooftop recording studio. There’s a bar, which is doing brisk business. We’re here for the 10th round of Silicon Pond, a not-for-profit networking event that sees business start-ups pitch for mentoring and funding.

It’s the brainchild of Simon Stewart, a former investment banker who lives locally. Stewart, whose day job is CEO of The Growth Stage, a regulated global digital marketplace that connects private growth stage companies with institutional investors, wanted to help budding entrepreneurs.

Growth stage companies are those that have $10m+ (£8.3m) of revenues and are looking to raise $10m+. The ones here tonight are in the earlier, first stage.

Stewart had read somewhere that Richmond borough, in which Barnes sits, contains more registered start-ups than anywhere in the UK. It’s an affluent neighbourhood, housing many bankers, successful business types, lawyers, doctors and accountants – you get the picture. In the centre of Barnes there is Barnes Pond, and Stewart discovered that there are also plenty of techies, so he came up with the name Silicon Pond.

So far, more than 100 entrepreneurs have stepped up, taken the microphone, and in a presentation lasting three minutes followed by two or three questions, tried to sell themselves. Afterwards, once the evening’s line-up is complete, there is an opportunity for networking and conversations.

It’s a simple format – think a shorter version of Dragons’ Den and without the fearsome panel (Stewart calls his potential investors “swans”, in reference to the swans that grace Barnes Pond, “they’re friendlier than dragons”) – and it works.

To date, says Stewart in his introductory remarks, the biggest investment has been £500,000. There’s been another of £250,000. The average is £10,000 to £20,000. The overall total invested is well into seven figures.

The most successful venture from the 10 sessions is probably SenseOn, a cyberthreat detection business that pitched at the original Silicon Pond evening and has gone on to secure the heavyweight backing of Fidelity. As important, though, is the expert guidance and tutoring on hand from the audience, especially for the youngsters starting out.

Appealing, too, is the application of deliberate positive bias by Stewart as to who gets to make their appeals. Half those pitching are women – versus an industry rate that sees only 5 per cent of VC capital in the UK invested in start-ups run by women. Stewart proudly says that “more than half of the money raised at Silicon Pond has gone to female founders.”

Also, at least 20 per cent of those bidding for assistance are fledgling entrepreneurs who do not have access to privileged networks. Barnes is one of London’s most well off areas, but Stewart makes a point of casting his net wider, to those who can’t call upon connections. Four ex-prisoners, aided by the charity Key4Life, pitched at the last Silicon Pond. The next one, in February, will feature Ukrainian would-be entrepreneurs.

In all, 10 fledgling businesses are appearing before us this time They range from Tea Rebellion, a tea producer that partners with farmers, to print designer Barbeline, to YesColours, eco-friendly interior paints that use recyclable packaging, to urban electric transport provider Trilvee.

The standout for me is Earnt, set up by local, Lauren Scott-Harris. Her concept grew out of a bunch of parents doing volunteering work at a primary school. In return, they were rewarded with vouchers to use at the Brown Dog pub next door.

Scott-Harris has taken that further, putting brands together with good causes, as she put it “to get things done”. It’s bringing a practical aspect to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG). A trainer designer, say, can hold a one-off “drop” sale in one of its stores, for which aficionados will queue, sometimes through the night, to be the first to own the special pair of sneakers.

Or it can make them available to those who will do something worthwhile in exchange for the shoes. That way, everyone wins: the volunteer who has benefited others and possesses the must-have shoes; the shoe company that has made a useful contribution to society; and the charitable cause. Scott-Harris has moved on from the local pub to attract interest already from the likes of Soho House, the Glastonbury Festival and the River Cafe.

Scott-Harris really does impress, with an idea that appears so simple, yet transformative. Even in her allotted few minutes, it is perfectly possible to see how the nebulous, and sometimes dreaded initials ESG could be brought to life and made to happen and make a genuine difference.

Once the presentations are over, the 10 presenters mingle with the crowd. Business cards are exchanged, hands are shaken. They may lead to something concrete; they may not.

But it gladdens the heart to report that against the backdrop of economic woe, at least in this corner of the capital the spirit of innovation and enterprise is very much alive and kicking.