The Entrepreneur Festival 2027

The Entrepreneur Festival 2027 takes place on 15–17 June 2027 at Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds. It is organised by The Entrepreneur Festival, and B2DB lists 132 speakers and 111 sessions announced so far.

National festival for founders, investors, advisers and policymakers at the Royal Armouries, Leeds.

Key facts

Speakers (132)

Compiled from the published agenda; speakers can claim and verify their own entry.

• Antonia Yendell Head of Space Ecosystem Development, UK Space Agency
• Dr Belinda Board Founder & CEO, Peoplewise
• Lee Brooks Co-Founder & CEO, Production Park
• Karen Rudich CEO & Co-Founder, sherloc
• Raghib Ali Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investigator, Our Future Health UK
• Hazel Savage Principal, Leeds Angels
• Catalina Valentino ELIXR
• Andrew Clancy Chief Executive Officer, Coreus Group
• Peter Briffett CEO, Co-Founder, Stream
• Hetti Barkworth Nanton Cbe Chief Executive Officer, Ploughshare Innovations
• Roei Samuel CEO & Founder, Connectd
• Steve Roest CEO and Founder, PocDoc
• Poonam Kaur Chief Executive Officer, fds Director Services Limited
• Damian Kelly Vice President Innovation & Technology Development, Croda International Plc
• James Jackson CEO & Co-Founder, Bumper
• Jennie Bayliss Company Owner, Letterbox-Cocktails
• Greg Mesch Vice Chairman, CityFibre
• Stephen Page SFC Capital
• Callum Murray Amiqus Resolution Ltd
• Andrew Raphaely Founder and Director, 365 finance
• Dan Figueiredo Director Tech Strategy - Global Channel Strategic Advisor, Microsoft | Hello AO
• Blythe Crawford CBE Director Grail, Tiberius Aerospace
• Daniel Dunn Founder, Paperplanes
• Charlotte Ransom Co-founder and CEO, Netwealth
• Emma Thackray Founder, Hip Pop
• Mark Taylor CEO, Automated Analytics
• Asi Sharabi CEO, Wonderbly
• Chris Molloy Chief Executive Officer, BioIndustry Association
• Colin Baldwin Executive Director, UK Space
• Liz Ashall Payne Founder, ORCHA Health
• Adam Cartright Head of Technology Adoption, Siemens
• Adam Littlewood Interim Director of Supplier Management, McLaren Automotive Ltd
• Adam Sopher Co-Founder & CEO, Joe & Seph's
• Alana Macfarlane Kempner Co-Founder & CEO, The Gut Stuff
• Alex Hewitt Co-Founder & CEO, CWP Global
• Alexander Blunt Co-Founder, Heidi
• Andrew Hulbert Founder (exited), Pareto
• Andy Silcock Co-Founder, Kid-A
• Angela Barber Co-Founder, Foxglove Investments Group Limited
• Annabel Sarling Lead Operational Assurance Manager, Energy Certification, Low Carbon Contracts Company
• Ashley Hainsworth Founder & Managing Director, Flair Furniture Group
• Ben Branson Founder, Pollen Projects
• Ben Coggin Partner, BDO
• Cam Mensah YouTube Strategist, Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer, The Curve Media
• Caroline Cooper Charles CEO, Screen Yorkshire
• Chris Forbes Co-Founder, The Cheeky Panda Ltd
• Chris Gore Founder, SPOR
• Chris Pursey Co-Founder & CEO, PayItMonthly
• Clive Kelman Advanced Data and AI Lead, BAE Systems
• Dan Silverston Founder (exited), The Soho Sandwich Co
• Daniel Guthrie Director General, Alliance for Intellectual Property
• Daniel Sako Co-Founder & CEO, Hermes Intelligence
• Darina Garland Co-Founder, Ooni
• Dave Knibbs Director, The Tofoo Company
• Debbie Zaman CEO, With
• Dr Amrit Chandan CEO, Lorefully
• Dr Giorgia Longobardi Co-Founder & CMO, Cambridge GaN Devices
• Dr Joe Gaunt Founder, HEALTH LABS HQ
• Dr Matt Westmore Chief Executive, Health Research Authority
• Dr Nic Gowland Director of Investment & Portfolio, University of Manchester Innovation Factory
• Dr Phil Elstob Senior Commercialisation Director & Deputy Head of Life Sciences, Cambridge Enterprise
• Dr Philip Probert Director of Biologics, RNA Centre of Excellence and MMIC, Centre for Process Innovation Limited
• Dr Somayeh Taheri Co-Founder & CEO, UrbanChain
• Emily Fenton Co-Founder, OPN
• Ewan Sime Global Director of Procurement and Supply Chain, Babcock International
• Freddie Monk Co-Founder & CEO, Aya Data
• Gauthier Van Malderen Founder & CEO, Perlego
• Geeta Sidhu-Robb Founder & CEO, WCORP
• George Howes Deputy Director - Supply Chain Investment, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero
• Hayley Roberts Founder & CEO, Distology
• Helen Cannon Founder & Director, ISON Travel
• Jake Ardley Co-Founder, Ante-Bellum Angels
• James Cole Founder & CEO, Panache Cruises
• James Noble Founder & CEO, MyFirst
• James Smethurst Founder, Velocity Talent
• Jane Millichip CEO, BAFTA
• Jennifer Davidson Founder & CEO, Sleek Events
• Jim Holland Co-Founder & CEO, Carma
• Jinny Yang Founder & Managing Director, JYD Group
• Joe Harper Co-Founder & Product Lead, Just Bee Honey
• John Gyngell Founder, North Bar
• Jonathan Milner Co-Founder & CEO, Aire Global
• Juliet Davenport OBE Commissioner, The Crown Estate
• Justice Williams MBE Co-Founder, Black Business Magazine
• Kate Ball Co-Founder & Managing Director, Mini First Aid
• Kate Smyth Founder, Meraki People
• Katie Lopes Co-Founder & CEO, Stripe & Stare
• Kerensa Samainidis General Manager, BBC iPlayer
• Kieran Slinger Co-Founder, Propalt
• Laura Fullerton Founder & CEO, Monk
• Lawrence Duffy Founder & CEO, Aurora Media Worldwide
• Logan Naidu Founder & Group CEO, Kernel Global
• Marine Tanguy CEO, MTArt Agency
• Mehma Bridgen Co-Founder & NED, The Fuel Store
• Mia Drennan Founder & CEO, GLAS
• Michael Maximoff Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer, Belkins Inc.
• Natalie James Founder, helloSKIN
• Neil Armstrong CEO, Tribepad
• Neil Cloughley Founder & CEO, Faradair
• Nick Button-Brown Chair, UK Video Games Council
• Paul Hallett Co-Founder, Vet-AI
• Pauline Vuyelwa Muswere-Enagbonma Founder, Jessamy Care
• Peter Kinsella Founder, LUNYA
• Pierre Coombes Founder & UK Managing Director, Big Wolf Marketing
• Pippa Fernandes Deputy Director, Strategy & Impact, Incubator for Artificial Intelligence
• Professor Andrea Manfrin Deputy Director of Clinical Investigations and Trials, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
• Professor Mark Watson-Gandy OBE Chairman, Three Stone
• Projjol Banerjea Founder & Chief Product Officer, Zeotap
• Rachel Hannan Ex-Founder, Serial Investor & Chair
• Robert Merryweather Group Technology Director, BAE Systems
• Robin Skidmore Founder & CEO, Journey Further
• Roy Shelton Group CEO, Connectus Business Solutions Limited
• Safira Adam Director of Digital & Technology Service Management, Marks & Spencer
• Samantha Tubb Co-Founder (exited), Scholar Pack
• Sarah Louise Fairburn Founder & CEO, IMP & MAKER
• Serena Kern-Libera Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer & General Counsel, LinkGevity
• Simon Gray Founder, Boost Drinks (exited) / Fizz With Purpose
• Simon Harwood UK Strategy & Technology Director, Leonardo UK
• Sir Peter Bazalgette Chancellor, Royal College of Art
• Sitara Shefta Co-Founder & CEO, Pretty Cool Games
• Stacey Ferguson-Czersovski Co-Founder & CEO, The Venue Verse
• Steph Douglas Founder & CEO, Don't Buy Her Flowers
• Stephen Crosher Co-Founder & CEO, RheEnergise
• Suzanne Ellison Strategy & AI Director, BT Group
• Tarun Ghulati Deputy Chairman, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Thomas Pullen Digital Commissioning Editor, Channel 4
• Tim Darling Founder & President, Laudio Insights
• Tim Linsell Founder & Chief Customer Officer, retec
• Tom Haley Founder & Managing Director, Quantik
• Tom Sefton-Collins CEO, Ghost Shift
• Trinh Tu CEO, Ipsos (UK & Ireland)
• Umutoni Thuku-Benzinge Founder & Creative Director, Umutoni

Agenda (111 sessions)

Day 1 — Tuesday 15 June 2027

• Opening keynote: the state of UK entrepreneurship 10:00–10:30 · Leadership
• Why promising start-ups fail to scale 10:40–11:30 · Start-Up — Karen Rudich, Andrew Raphaely, Joe Harper
• What actually determines a good exit 10:40–11:30 · Exit — Alana Macfarlane Kempner, Tim Darling
• Leading through uncertainty 10:40–11:30 · Leadership — John Gyngell, Trinh Tu
• What makes a business investable? 10:40–11:30 · Investment — Emma Thackray
• Decision-making under pressure 10:40–11:30 · Build & Scale — Dave Knibbs, Jinny Yang
• Leadership under pressure 11:40–12:30 · Leadership — Dr Joe Gaunt
• How buyers really judge your business 11:40–12:30 · Exit — Poonam Kaur
• Running the business as it scales 11:40–12:30 · Build & Scale — Chris Forbes, Logan Naidu
• Proving your business is ready to scale 11:40–12:30 · Start-Up — Ben Branson, Paul Hallett
• What investors really look for 11:40–12:30 · Investment — Stephen Page, Hayley Roberts
• When scale starts to strain 13:40–14:30 · Build & Scale
• What scrutiny actually exposes 13:40–14:30 · Exit
• When early ways of working stop working 13:40–14:30 · Start-Up — Sarah Louise Fairburn
• When leaders build the team that scale requires 13:40–14:30 · Leadership — Helen Cannon, Robin Skidmore
• Choosing the right capital 13:40–14:30 · Investment — Asi Sharabi, Sitara Shefta
• Timing is leverage 14:40–15:30 · Exit
• The first meeting that changes everything 14:40–15:30 · Investment — Daniel Dunn, Stacey Ferguson-Czersovski
• Why growth stalls after early success 14:40–15:30 · Build & Scale — Mia Drennan
• When start-ups think they are ready to scale (but aren’t) 14:40–15:30 · Start-Up — Jennie Bayliss, James Smethurst, Kate Ball
• Competing at pace 14:40–15:30 · Leadership — Jonathan Milner
• Turning growth strategy into real traction 15:40–16:30 · Build & Scale — James Jackson, Greg Mesch, Darina Garland
• When to raise and when to wait 15:40–16:30 · Investment — Mark Taylor, Gauthier Van Malderen
• From insight to intent 15:40–16:30 · Leadership
• What must be in place before you scale 15:40–16:30 · Start-Up — Kieran Slinger, Serena Kern-Libera
• Protecting control in exit negotiations 15:40–16:30 · Exit — Hazel Savage
• Why is it still so difficult to sell innovation into the NHS? Life Sciences — Steve Roest, Liz Ashall Payne
• Can founders still disrupt the energy sector? Energy Transition — Alex Hewitt, Dr Amrit Chandan, Dr Somayeh Taheri, Stephen Crosher
• How do regions attract world-class businesses to invest, scale and stay? Advanced Manufacturing
• What will it take to build Britain’s first trillion-dollar technology company? AI & Digital Technologies
• Can Britain’s creative industry collaborate to compete globally? Creative Industries — Lee Brooks, Caroline Cooper Charles, Jane Millichip, Sir Peter Bazalgette
• Can Britain’s businesses access the compute they need to compete? AI & Digital Technologies
• How do you win attention in a world full of content? Creative Industries — Cam Mensah, Kerensa Samainidis
• Can Britain build fast enough? Defence & Space — Antonia Yendell, Neil Cloughley
• What does it take to win work with the world’s leading manufacturers? Advanced Manufacturing
• What does it take to win work in defence & space? Defence & Space — Ewan Sime, Robert Merryweather, Simon Harwood
• The Series B cliff edge: do Britain’s life sciences companies have to look overseas to scale? Life Sciences — Chris Molloy
• Energy security in the age of AI: can Britain keep the lights on? Energy Transition

Day 2 — Wednesday 16 June 2027

• Opening keynote: from ambition to execution 09:30–10:00 · Leadership
• When the organisation outgrows the founder 10:10–11:00 · Build & Scale — Dr Belinda Board, Mehma Bridgen, Pauline Vuyelwa Muswere-Enagbonma, Tim Linsell
• Preparing for exit without losing momentum 10:10–11:00 · Exit — Samantha Tubb
• Turning investment into growth 10:10–11:00 · Investment — Charlotte Ransom, Katie Lopes
• Where execution drifts 10:10–11:00 · Leadership
• Leading a start-up as it grows 10:10–11:00 · Start-Up — Justice Williams MBE
• Running the business, not just building it 11:10–12:00 · Start-Up — Callum Murray, Daniel Sako
• Building teams that scale 11:10–12:00 · Build & Scale — Debbie Zaman, Tarun Ghulati
• What investors expect after the deal 11:10–12:00 · Investment — Alexander Blunt, Angela Barber
• Decision-making under pressure 11:10–12:00 · Leadership — Michael Maximoff, Projjol Banerjea
• Why the terms matter more than the price 11:10–12:00 · Exit — Professor Mark Watson-Gandy OBE, Steph Douglas
• Building foundations that scale 12:10–13:00 · Start-Up — Ashley Hainsworth, Dr Giorgia Longobardi
• When leaders step in and step back 12:10–13:00 · Leadership
• When investment doesn’t deliver 12:10–13:00 · Investment
• Why deals stall or fall apart in due diligence 12:10–13:00 · Exit — Ben Coggin
• When complexity starts to win 12:10–13:00 · Build & Scale
• Capital confidence 14:10–15:00 · Start-Up — Jake Ardley, Neil Armstrong, Rachel Hannan
• When strategy must shift 14:10–15:00 · Leadership — Freddie Monk, Geeta Sidhu-Robb, Kate Smyth
• Scaling without losing culture 14:10–15:00 · Build & Scale — Andrew Clancy, Chris Pursey, Jennifer Davidson
• What founders actually walk away with 14:10–15:00 · Exit — Dan Silverston, Simon Gray
• Investing in regional growth 14:10–15:00 · Investment
• After execution 15:10–16:00 · Leadership
• Building an investment ecosystem 15:10–16:00 · Investment — Catalina Valentino
• Building an organisation that doesn’t depend on one person 15:10–16:00 · Build & Scale — Catalina Valentino, Peter Briffett, Chris Gore
• The point of no return in a deal 15:10–16:00 · Exit
• Turning early sales into a real business 15:10–16:00 · Start-Up — Lawrence Duffy, Natalie James, Pierre Coombes
• How do creative businesses scale without losing their identity? Creative Industries — Marine Tanguy
• What makes a defence & space business worth backing? Defence & Space — Tom Sefton-Collins
• How do businesses move from AI experimentation to business transformation? AI & Digital Technologies — Clive Kelman, Pippa Fernandes, Suzanne Ellison
• From prototype to production: who will back Britain’s next manufacturing champions? Advanced Manufacturing
• What should every manufacturer automate and what should always stay human? Advanced Manufacturing — Adam Cartright
• The world’s most valuable health dataset: who gets to build on it? Life Sciences — Raghib Ali
• What AI capabilities should businesses build, buy or access through partners? AI & Digital Technologies — Dan Figueiredo
• Beyond defence & space: where else could your innovation win? Defence & Space — Hetti Barkworth Nanton Cbe
• AI: friend or foe? How do creative businesses compete when AI can create anything? Creative Industries — Umutoni Thuku-Benzinge
• How do scale-ups break into the supply chains of Britain’s biggest energy projects? Energy Transition — Annabel Sarling, George Howes, Juliet Davenport OBE
• The cost of waiting: can your business survive the wait for clinical trial approval? Life Sciences — Dr Matt Westmore, Professor Andrea Manfrin
• Where is the smart money going next in Britain’s energy transition? Energy Transition

Day 3 — Thursday 17 June 2027

• Opening keynote: what endures 09:30–10:00 · Leadership
• When authority quietly erodes 10:10–11:00 · Leadership
• Is the business ready for exit 10:10–11:00 · Exit — Roy Shelton
• What creates long-term value? 10:10–11:00 · Investment
• Building a business that lasts 10:10–11:00 · Start-Up — Adam Sopher, Andy Silcock
• What high-performing businesses keep doing 10:10–11:00 · Build & Scale — Roei Samuel, James Noble
• When decisions stop holding 11:10–12:00 · Leadership
• When investors stay committed 11:10–12:00 · Investment
• How value is really created in start- ups 11:10–12:00 · Start-Up — Jim Holland, Laura Fullerton
• Choosing the right exit 11:10–12:00 · Exit — Peter Kinsella
• When performance starts to slip 11:10–12:00 · Build & Scale
• What scrutiny really looks like 12:10–13:00 · Start-Up — Emily Fenton
• When authority is tested 12:10–13:00 · Leadership
• The future of entrepreneurial investment 12:10–13:00 · Investment
• From interest to deal 12:10–13:00 · Exit
• Building resilience into the business 13:00–13:50 · Build & Scale
• Staying in control as the business continues to grow 14:00–15:00 · Build & Scale — Tom Haley
• Staying in control as the business scales 14:00–15:00 · Start-Up — Daniel Dunn
• The weight of the role 14:00–15:00 · Leadership — James Cole
• Life after exit 14:00–15:00 · Exit — Andrew Hulbert
• Investing in the next generation of entrepreneurship 14:00–15:00 · Investment
• Closing keynote: most events end with inspiration. This one ends with responsibility. What holds when the room is empty 15:10–15:30 · Leadership
• How do you build a supply chain that can survive what comes next? Advanced Manufacturing — Adam Littlewood
• How do you maximise value from your intellectual property? Creative Industries — Daniel Guthrie, Nick Button-Brown, Thomas Pullen
• Can you build a business before the market is ready? AI & Digital Technologies
• Can the energy transition build Britain’s next generation of scale-ups? Energy Transition
• Can Britain build the next generation of defence & space champions? Defence & Space — Antonia Yendell, Blythe Crawford CBE, Colin Baldwin
• Can Britain be secure if it can’t make what it needs? Advanced Manufacturing
• How do you stop selling time and start building value? Creative Industries
• Who owns the science: can the wrong deal stop a spin-out before it starts? Life Sciences — Dr Nic Gowland, Dr Phil Elstob
• What happens when AI can attack your business faster than you can defend it? AI & Digital Technologies — Safira Adam
• What happens if Britain loses access to space? Defence & Space
• Britain discovers, the world manufactures: what would it take to scale production in the UK? Life Sciences — Damian Kelly, Dr Philip Probert
• What Does It Take to Scale a UK Space Business Globally? Defence & Space
• Gas, nuclear or renewables: where should Britain place its bets before 2030? Energy Transition

Organisers, sponsors and partners

Organiser (1)

The Entrepreneur Festival

Source: the published agenda. See how B2DB compiles its records.