Services that support and empower entrepreneurial ecosystems.
After working for several years as a startup operations lead and experiencing the fast-paced environment at three different accelerators (Entrepreneur First, The HackTrain and The Family), Maxx Turing joined the NEF Programme as a part-time founder participant in late 2019 to work on developing his own business idea, whilst also working full time in a Founder Associate placement role at tech startup Kantan.
During his time on the programme, Maxx ideated through several different opportunities and settled on leaning into his experience working with hundreds of founders over the years to launch a B2C community, Founder Tribe, which provided diverse founders with the tools, events and workshops they needed to help them stay accountable and succeed. He also negotiated 20+ partnership agreements with leading startup software and service suppliers in order to provide startup deals, discounts and offers to his growing founder community.
In March 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant lockdown caused Maxx to reassess his initial community and events-based focus and instead pivot the business model and go-to-market offering to a B2B SaaS solution for entrepreneurial ecosystems. He built and utilised an MVP for the entrepreneurship programme he was taking part in, which resulted in the most successful set of NEF Pitch Days since the programme's inception; upon completing the programme Maxx was awarded the CEO's Award by Neeta Patel CBE for his entrepreneurial leadership skills.
Soon after finishing the programme Maxx entered a startup competition in summer 2020, pitched his business idea to a panel of judges and won a £20,000 CVC Young Innovator Award to help launch the business and make it a reality. After winning the grant money, Maxx incorporated FOUNDER TRIBE LTD in July 2020 and used the funds to contract a software engineering consultancy to build the sellable product.
After the initial product was live and functional, Maxx left his day job and went full time on the business in October 2020 to focus on the product and business. In order to sustainably fund growth and make up for the expected limited initial SaaS revenue, the business also began offering services, taking on clients such as The Centre for Entrepreneurs, CyLon and TownSq Islington, as opposed to raising capital or other sources of finance.
With a steady base of revenue, Maxx was able to onboard SaaS clients such as Imperial College London, UCL and London Demo Day. A lot of hard work and determination resulted in a 100% YOY revenue growth - sales doubling from year 1 to year 2 - which allowed for reinvestment of profits into further development and a rebrand to ⚡ Startbook in summer 2022.
The business continues to go from strength to strength with new clients onboarding and more in the growing sales pipeline. As a solo founder, Maxx has built the business up to a six-figure turnover, supported by a talented team of part-time contractors who have helped make Startbook into what it is today.