⚡ How this Start-Up is Redefining Financial Wellness For UK Employers

Morning Innovators ⚡ In less than 5 minutes, we’ll cover…

🥳 The best funding opportunities, events and jobs in the start-up world
📰 The biggest news stories in the start-up world
💼 How this Start-Up is re-defining financial wellness for UK employers
🤥 How you can use a fake scandal to go viral
⏱ A tool that makes you ultra-efficient with your time

✨ Last weeks most clicked link was a tie between this link to apply for the Aviva x Founders Factory Fintech Programme, and this link to pitch Seedcamp for up to £1,000,000 in investment.

Happy hustling,
Rich

🎤 Events/Opportunities

📈 Y Combinator has opened up for applications for their first ever Autumn batch. Upon being accepted onto this prestigious accelerator that counts Stripe and Airbnb as alumni, you’ll receive $500,000 investment. You can apply here.

💻 If you’re a B2B AI Start-Up, Paddle have launched an accelerator where 75 founders will get access to their network, expertise and have the chance at a $20,000 prize. You can apply here.

💸 Jeanine Suah is looking to invest $100,000 across 4 tech based B2B/B2B2C companies at the Pre-Seed stage - take a look here!

🤲 Daring Capital are looking to invest £50k - £100k in mission led companies, applications close at midnight tonight. You can apply here.

🛍 Founding Product Designer, Aurora
👷 Senior Frontend Engineer, Reedsy
🧑‍🎨 Product Designer, Colony

🤖 Monzo alumni raise £2.8m to build AI customer service agents that ‘act like humans’. Sifted

🚙 Chinese autonomous vehicle Start-Up, WeRide, delays US IPO. TechCrunch

🛍 Youtube takes on TikTok shop with expanded Shopify partnership. TechCrunch

🏦 Starling Bank signals IPO prep with new job listing. UKTN

Aslan: Redefining Financial Wellness for UK Employers

Aslan is a cutting-edge financial wellness solution designed specifically for UK employers with salaried employees across various industries, including financial services and manufacturing. By fostering a positive and engaged working culture, Aslan aims to attract and retain top talent while enhancing employees' financial health. Through the Aslan mobile app and accompanying Mastercard, employees can enjoy flexible pay and market-leading cashback on all purchases, both at home and abroad. Aslan's mission is to make pay smarter and more rewarding, catering to the financial needs of every salaried employee, whether they are looking to optimise their finances or improve their overall financial wellness.

Acquiring the First Customers: Leveraging Personal Networks

Aslan secured its first customer through an entrepreneurial professional network called OPUS, where the concept of Aslan captivated the imagination of the network's members. OPUS then implemented Aslan for their own employees, marking the first major success for the fledgling company. The next few clients were acquired through leveraging personal connections—friends and former colleagues who trusted the founders. Without testimonials or reference clients in the early stages, Aslan found that building initial trust was key, and this often came from individuals who believed in the founders themselves. Additionally, Aslan gained traction by attending industry events, both as exhibitors and delegates, where they could build connections and showcase their product. A significant milestone came when they were featured as a case study at the largest employee benefits event in Europe, which led to securing a client even before the formal launch of their product.

Scaling the Business: Strategic Partnerships

After gaining initial traction, Aslan began to scale by leveraging the success of their early clients and the adoption rates from these implementations. This success made Aslan an attractive proposition for distribution partners, including established employee benefits providers. Partnership-led distribution quickly became a core component of Aslan's go-to-market (GTM) strategy, enabling the company to reach a broader audience and scale more rapidly.

Lessons Learned: The Importance of Early Client Conversations

One of the key lessons Aslan learned was the importance of starting client conversations as early as possible. While initial discussions around product interest and feedback are crucial, understanding the client's buying process, budget allocation, required proof points, and decision-making hierarchy is equally important. Aslan realised that they initially focused too much on the product itself and not enough on the broader business dynamics that influence purchasing decisions.

Funding the Start-Up: Bootstrapping to Angel Investment

Aslan was initially bootstrapped with £130k of personal savings. This initial capital allowed the company to gain traction and build a basic version of their product. Once they had demonstrated enough market interest with a high-level MVP (minimum viable product), they raised an angel funding round. This round was primarily funded by former colleagues and industry professionals who were intrigued by the concept and trusted the founders. Remarkably, Aslan attracted 60 angels in their first funding round, demonstrating strong early interest in the company's vision.

Overcoming Challenges: Building the Right Team

One of the most significant challenges Aslan faced was building the right team. The founder, James Gozney, initially underestimated the time and effort required to attract and retain individuals who are genuinely inspired by the vision of a start-up. It became clear that having even one team member who was not fully aligned with the company’s culture and vision could be detrimental to the team’s morale and unity. Over time, the founder learned the importance of vulnerability and open communication, which ultimately helped to strengthen the team and align everyone with the company’s mission.

Biggest Lessons: Focus Beyond Product and Find the Right Team Early

If starting the business again, Aslan’s founder would focus more on understanding the broader business environment and client decision-making processes, rather than just the product. Additionally, the founder would prioritise assembling a dedicated, full-time team as early as possible, even before diving deeply into product development. While using consultants provided access to talent in the early stages, having a committed in-house team proved to be more effective in driving the company’s vision forward.

Conclusion: Pioneering Financial Wellness with Strategic Growth

Aslan’s journey from a start-up to a growing player in the financial wellness space illustrates the importance of trust, strategic partnerships, and a strong team. By focusing on these elements, alongside continuous learning and adaptation, Aslan has positioned itself as a leader in offering innovative financial solutions for salaried employees. For other entrepreneurs, Aslan’s experience underscores the value of starting client conversations early, building the right team, and leveraging personal networks to secure initial traction.

Planning a trip away for business or for pleasure?

Finalrentals, a pioneering car rental fintech headquartered in Wales, has revolutionised the industry with its innovative approach and product-centric strategy. By addressing key challenges within the car rental sector, Finalrentals has experienced remarkable growth, increasing its size sixfold in the past 12 months. The company's expansion is not limited to growth metrics alone; it has also successfully established a robust global presence, extending its footprint across the EU and the Caribbean.

Book your rental here!

This is definitely a controversial marketing hack this week, but a genius one nonetheless!

Musician, Sueco, had a new single to release but wanted to really cause a stir with it! Instead of the usual release style of just posting it on social media and asking people to stream it, Sueco decided to get creative with QR Codes.

As you can see from the image above, Sueco made it look as though James had been caught cheating on his partner, and if you scan the QR code you’ll see the pictures. What it really does though, is take you to the Spotify link for Sueco’s new single on Spotify!

Each week we highlight our favourite tools - either something we’ve been using in our businesses, or tools that our innovator community have recommended.

Timebox is a daily deep work planner based on Cal Newport's timeboxing method. Drag and drop scheduler, to-do lists, accountability tracker, Notion-style notes, and Google calendar syncing - all in one place.

Next week I’ll be highlighting another awesome Start-Up (if you want us to feature you, drop us a message), as well as sharing all the usuals including funding opportunities, Start-Up news, plus plenty of awesome tips, tricks and tools.

P.S. Connect with me on LinkedIn…