Growth on the agenda After successfully staging London Tech Week 2024, Founders Forum Group CEO Carolyn Dawson shares her notes on the UK tech scene

Hosted from June 10th-12th, 2024, London Tech Week (LTW) is the UK's premier tech event, continuing to grow in scale and impact. Featuring 45,000 delegates from 165 countries and 5,500 innovative startups, this annual event underscores the impressive expansion of the UK tech sector.

To accommodate the growing interest, LTW 2024 was held at Kensington Olympia, nearly twice the size of last year's Queen Elizabeth II Centre. This larger venue hosted keynotes from Dr. Nicola Hodson, CEO of IBM UK, and insights on "leading in the era of artificial intelligence" from Clare Barclay, CEO of Microsoft UK, and Mark Chaban, Microsoft's CTO of Customer Success, along with numerous other experts and several exciting fringe events. It's no wonder LTW 2024 drew in the crowds.

LTW is produced by Founders Forum Group in partnership with Informa Tech and London & Partners. Since its inception in 2005, the Founders Forum Group has established a premier network for European entrepreneurs, and their 2023 acquisition of Tech Nation further strengthens their mission to support tech entrepreneurs, scale startups, and offer a unified platform for UK tech founders. And LTW? It brings all this innovation and energy into one spectacular showcase.

In an interview with Entrepreneur United Kingdom, Carolyn Dawson, CEO of Founders Forum Group, shared her insights on a variety of topics, ranging from her optimistic outlook on artificial intelligence (AI), to the critical "secret sauce" that defines successful founders. Here are more excerpts from our conversation with her on the side-lines of the event:

In your opinion, what were the three most valuable takeaways from this year's London Tech Week?

From the onset, we were thrilled because we moved to a venue that was nearly double in size, and we had a phenomenal result of approximately 20,000 people attending LTW –45,000, if you count the many fringe events throughout the week. If LTW is a platform for the sector, it really did mirror the energy and enthusiasm for tech right now, and the positive sentiment that the UK is in a brilliant position on the global stage.

We also had a phenomenal number of startups, over 6,000, coming to the event, and meeting and interacting with corporates and larger tech players. That was also really fantastic to see come to life, signifying LTW as an event that truly brings the whole ecosystem together, from later stage enterprises to startups and investors. This year, there was less government presence with the elections coming up, but policymakers and key advisors that have an interest in ensuring the UK has got the best tech sector possible were present.

However, the biggest takeaways were AI-related. While we expected that to be the week's biggest theme, if we think about the AI Safety Summit in November last year and the UK's approach around that time, it was perhaps one of trepidation, regulation, and uncertainty. At this year's LTW seven months later, it was much more about showing tangible applications, really showing how enterprises can enhance their productivity and their efficiency using AI.

Major companies like NatWest demonstrated how they're using AI day-to-day to build more efficiency and creativity into their customer service. With technology ramping up at a very fast pace, there is a real sentiment of the time is now. Companies that do not adopt AI and what it has to offer run a very real risk of being left behind–and quickly.

The UK government says it hopes to become a tech superpower by 2030. According to you, is the UK on course to achieve this, and what can help build momentum?

The UK has the third largest tech sector after the US and China, and the number one in Europe for AI investments, highlighting the UK is already a tech superpower on the global stage. Obviously, we can never be complacent, especially as the pace changes so fast. There are other countries in Europe doing well, so the UK can't take the foot off the gas.

The UK has an election coming up, and the message to any government coming into power is that we need to continue to really nurture the tech sector. It has huge potential for economic growth, and it needs to be front and centre. To build momentum, the new prime minister must prioritise both promotion and celebration of the tech sector, ensuring its continued growth.

There are plenty of startups in the UK, the focus should be on harnessing more scaleups. Answering key questions is crucial to achieving this goal. How can we achieve the best financial conditions to attract fast growth tech companies? How can the UK attract outside investment? How can we ensure that the UK is front and centre in our education system, but also bring in enough international talent to maintain our position?

This is especially important when you're looking at deeper tech areas like climate, deep tech, quantum, or AI. The success of these areas is really down to having skilled talent, guaranteeing we get the best next generation of entrepreneurs and companies.

Related: Subway's Success in the Franchise Industry: Insights from Carrie Walsh, President of Subway EMEA

What do you believe are the key differences between the UK, the US, and Asia in terms of fostering unicorn startups?

For UK companies to grow at scale, they have to think about their international growth longer term, but I don't know if comparisons are necessarily helpful. While it's down to the investment size and scope, we are seeing significant US investors like Sequoia Capital and Institutional Venture Partners, choosing the UK to be their headquarters for Europe, and making sizable investments here.

The upcoming Pension Reforms highlight the need for educating stakeholders on risk appetite to attract more institutional-scale investments. Over the past decade, both the UK and Asia have developed robust ecosystems. Particularly noteworthy is the exponential growth seen in UK-based deep tech companies in recent years, indicating rapid advancement.

Additionally, verticals like retail are gaining traction thanks to AI and demonstrating exceptional performance, further enhancing their attractiveness. This diverse growth landscape underscores the UK's accelerating pace in various specialised areas.

Rather than focusing on comparisons, the key is to enhance collaboration between ecosystems. The UK and Asia benefit from a robust trade agreement and network, facilitating growth and scalability for companies. Specialising in areas such as fintech, climate, food, and health, these sectors offer substantial growth opportunities.

Ensuring sufficient large-scale investment is crucial, especially as the UK leads in critical areas like climate innovation. This requires attracting substantial investment to fuel further advancements in these fields.

How can the UK enhance its strategies to boost its unicorn startup success rate—also, according to you, is reaching unicorn status the ultimate benchmark for startup success?

There are very clear examples of some good success case studies already.

Over the past year, the UK has witnessed the emergence of four new unicorns, including Quantexa and Wayve. These companies are relatively young, highlighting the significant potential for more AI-driven unicorns to originate in the UK. Wayve secured over US$1 billion to develop AI for self-driving vehicles in May, marking the largest European venture capital (VC) investment in AI to date.

While achieving unicorn status is noteworthy, equally important is building companies with robust, renewable revenue streams and scalable business models. This dual approach signifies substantial success in the tech ecosystem.

Which UK entrepreneurs and businesses are spearheading innovations in 2024?

In the Tech Nation Report 2024 that we released in June, we announced there are 1,800 VC-backed AI startups, and over 20 AI unicorns in the UK.

Tech Nation's Future 50 programme, established several years ago, has propelled numerous outstanding companies to success, with a third of UK unicorns completing the programme. Notable examples include Zilch, Deliveroo, Zoopla, Revolut, and Starling Bank, all thriving within the UK and globally, particularly showcasing the nation's strong fintech sector.

Also, Patchwork Health is revolutionising healthcare, particularly in staffing, offering significant benefits to the NHS and demonstrating scalability on a global level. Another standout company is PolyAI, leveraging AI to develop conversational assistants for enterprises. This innovation enhances customer interactions, significantly boosting efficiency in problem-solving processes.

Can you offer one bit of advice for aspiring tech entrepreneurs looking to make an impact in the industry?

My advice for founders is to first identify their unique strengths—their "secret sauce."

Then, surround yourself with an executive team that complements your strengths, while acknowledging and filling any skill gaps. Embrace AI technologies to maximise efficiency and leverage available tools for scaling your startup rapidly, rather than solely relying on expanding your workforce.

It's also crucial to define a clear long-term plan aligned with your vision. Whether aiming for an initial public offering or preparing for a strategic sale, ensure that this vision aligns with the expectations of board members and investors from the outset. This alignment fosters a cohesive strategy, top talent retention, and enhances the likelihood of achieving long-term success.

What can Entrepreneur United Kingdom expect from Founders Forum Group in the near future?

We will be at Olympia again next year for LTW, building on this year's growth.

We anticipate even greater growth with increased participation from enterprises, even more international delegations, startups, scaleups, and investors as we approach our 20th year of Founders Forum Global punctuating the week. This milestone will be a mega celebration of our impact on the entrepreneurial ecosystem and our success in connecting founders with enterprises.

We are expanding our presence not only in Asia and Europe, but also in the Middle East, reflecting Founders Forum Group's global perspective, strategically planning significant milestones and events to commemorate this journey of growth and collaboration.

We have also begun exploring new verticals such as critical technologies, defence, and longevity, which are key areas of focus for us. We are collaborating with the government to advise founders and shape policies in these crucial l areas, particularly in AI, to ensure responsible growth while enhancing the UK's competitive edge.

Through our work at Tech Nation, we are committed to producing research and insights that continually support entrepreneurs. Our focus remains on facilitating connections and helping entrepreneurs access the right investors, clients, and support networks.

We are particularly enthusiastic about programs like Future 50, Upscale, Libra designed for underrepresented founders, Climate, and Creo, a pioneering growth programme launching later this year specifically for disabled founders and founders developing innovations for disabled individuals. These initiatives underscore Founders Forum Group's dedication to fostering innovation and inclusivity in the tech ecosystem and beyond.