Our startup
success stories

Andrew White

When Andrew White and his co-founder Ru set out to build Otterkin — the world's fine art commissioning platform — they had the vision and the passion, but as two non-technical founders, they needed expert guidance to turn that vision into a shippable product. Through Connectd, they were matched with Julie McFadden, a software engineer with 30 years of experience, and the fit was immediate. What began as an advisory relationship quickly evolved into a full fractional CTO partnership, with Julie bringing the technical structure and sprint cadence that allowed Andrew to step back from the product and focus on growing the business. In this success story, the two reflect on their collaboration, the trade-offs they navigated in getting Otterkin to market, and why the founder-fractional combination — built on shared vision and mutual respect — can be one of the most powerful assets an early-stage startup has.

Kelvin Voen

Kelvin Voen is the co-founder of NewKroo, a social platform helping people rebuild their friendship circle at any stage of life. When the MVP launched, the product worked — but clarity, focus, and resource allocation were holding the business back. A recommendation from a prospective founding member led him to Connectd, where he was matched with advisors who didn't just fill the gaps he already knew about, but identified areas he hadn't even considered. In three months, the growth has been unlike anything he can fully put into words.

Lisa Stroud

Lisa Stroud, founder of True Beauty Lashes and inventor of Lash Lover, discovered Connectd during San Francisco Tech Week and found exactly the support system she needed as a solo founder balancing a full-time job alongside her growing beauty brand. Through Connectd, she was matched with three advisors spanning finance, marketing, and product development — each bringing expertise that has proven invaluable as she prepares for investor conversations and scales her business.

Sam Marshall

Sam Marshall has spent 18 months building Snippit Media, a platform delivering guaranteed attention in an advertising world overrun with noise. After a failed go-to-market strategy left the business with a significantly reduced screen network and a mounting burn rate, Sam came to Connectd feeling like a wounded animal. Through the platform, he was matched with Grant — and what followed was a complete commercial rebuild that has left Snippit Media in a stronger position than ever before.

Amelia Tombs

Amelia Tombs and Chloe Grant are building the world's first human-centric operating system for circular bra manufacturing — connecting local wearers with manufacturers to deliver a custom fit, on demand. After completing an accelerator and incubator with UAL, they came to Connectd with clear gaps in their advisory board across financials, sustainability at scale, and supply chain. What they found were three advisors who didn't just advise — they rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

Jared Lerner

Nappr is solving a problem every exhausted traveller knows too well: having nowhere to rest when you need it most. Founded by Jared Lerner after years of red-eye flights and caffeine-fuelled burnout, the platform connects tired travellers with hotel rooms available for daytime stays. A few months into their Connectd journey, the team has already built a three-person advisory board spanning payments, finance, and go-to-market strategy, and they’re already looking to grow it further.

Gavin Rowe

Gavin Rowe is a third-generation Navy veteran who built TaskForce VA not as a business, but as a product to help himself — before realising it could help every veteran navigate the VA claims process with clarity, confidence, and the technology to back them up. Through Connectd, he assembled a team of all-stars spanning cybersecurity, AI, cloud infrastructure, CFO services, and go-to-market strategy — and what would have taken a year, they achieved in months.

Bel Germon

Bel is the founder of Omnichunk, a workforce planning SaaS tool built to solve a problem she saw repeatedly across five years in recruitment and talent acquisition. After quitting her job and vibe coding her way to an MVP, she found Connectd through a recommendation at a moment of pure chaos. Through the platform, she was matched with two advisors who between them secured Omnichunk's first customers.

Michael Gold

Michael Gold is a delivery professional with 13 years of experience and founder of two companies: Gold Strategic Delivery, a delivery consultancy and implementation partner, and Aria, a brand new SaaS PSA tool. Through Connectd, he built two full advisory boards of eight people across both businesses, rebranded and repositioned one company entirely, and gave Aria a fighting chance it wouldn't have had otherwise. He describes the moment he imagines not having joined Connectd as genuinely frightening.

Rodney Kabuye

PLUGG turned to Connectd at a stage where the business needed extra strategic input, operational guidance, and experienced people around Founder & CEO Rodney Kabuye to prepare for the next stage of growth. Through the platform, PLUGG was connected with Board Advisor Pete Smith and Non-Executive Director Eric Wansong, whose expertise brought Rodney a sounding board and practical support across operations, pricing, compliance, and growth, helping him think through challenges and move faster on key decisions with confidence.

Chris Martin

With extensive experience in hospitality and operations, Chris Martin, the founder of My Chef Market is changing the personal chef industry through a digital marketplace, driving growth and innovation.

Meera Ahmadi

Meera Ahmadi founded Juris AI to solve the legal bottlenecks around repetitive contract review in recruitment. Through Connectd, she found Tom Ilic, a recently retired B2B sales director with 25 years in the industry, and in six months they've built a go-to-market strategy, a pipeline of introductions, and a partnership both want to make permanent.

Ellis Taylor

Ellis is the co-founder of Glyde, a platform helping SMEs automate and take control of cross-border payments. With experience in currency broking, he’s focused on removing friction and inefficiencies for growing businesses.

Dan Rosenberg

LinkyThinks empowers children by linking different ways of thinking to foster creativity, academic success, and emotional expression. Through engaging online classes and resources, LinkyThinks equips the next generation with essential skills that many adults struggle with, ensuring they have a strong foundation to carry them into adulthood.

Jonathan Brill

Eduvate is a leading provider of innovative financial literacy solutions, with a mission to upskill young adults in the practical aspects of financial literacy. Their gamified learning management system is designed to make financial education engaging and fun, helping individuals of all ages and backgrounds build the knowledge and skills they need to make informed financial decisions. The company is passionate about upskilling young adults in the practicalities of financial literacy, not just the theory. This unique approach can make a significant contribution to reducing financial exclusion and raising expectations of young adults globally.

Rami Albatal

Perfogram is an innovative platform that redefines interactive live streaming, empowering creators and businesses with real-time engagement and analytics. By blending traditional media with social and live interaction, Perfogram puts users in control, fostering deeper engagement and unlocking new revenue opportunities across B2C and B2B markets.

Louise Morgan

VuPop is a dynamic platform that redefines social media interaction by offering live content creation and aggregation across all platforms, empowering creators and delivering value to the community. With a deliberate focus on blurring the lines between social media, mainstream media, and streaming services, VuPop puts users in control, fostering engagement and offering multiple revenue-sharing opportunities.

Fidan Javadova

BeWorks Automation is a cleantech engineering company offering a wide range of energy efficiency, industrial automation, EV charging, and renewable energy solutions. With a global presence, they provide turnkey services from site selection to project management and maintenance for industrial, commercial, and residential clients, making e-mobility and green energy accessible to all.

Tash Grossman

Slip is an award winning startup looking to humanise the way we do digital receipts and customer information. The innovative technology provides a robust solution for consumers and retailers to transform transactions and receipt waste into meaningful interactions. On a mission to create the most frictionless, sustainable and omnichannel experience.

Manfredi

Beyond Blood Diagnostics is dedicated to empowering chronically ill patients through the utilization of cutting-edge technologies. Their mission is to advance health monitoring for individuals with chronic conditions, enabling convenient and effective monitoring from the comfort of their homes.

Jessica Alderson

Based on the 16 personality types theory, So Syncd is the first dating app to connect compatible personality types. By pairing couples who have just enough similarities to understand each other and just enough differences to create a spark, we help you find that exciting, meaningful relationship that you’ve been looking for. Founded by sisters Jessica and Lou Alderson, SoSyncd successfully raised through the Connectd platform in 2021.

Casey Stabile

Casey is the CEO of Evergreen Exchange, a carbon registry helping organisations turn environmental responsibility into verified, traceable carbon offsets. With a background in tech and a sharp eye for market integrity, he’s focused on building trust in the carbon space through blockchain-powered transparency.

Valentyn Yaromenko

Valentyn Yaromenko, founder of Big Sister AI, joined Connectd while rebuilding his team and product. Through the platform, he connected with experienced advisors who helped him strengthen the company’s foundation and sharpen its strategy. Their support gave him the clarity and direction to move Big Sister AI into its next stage of growth.

Francie Jain

Terawatt is a B2B services marketplace making professional development accessible to the ‘sophisticated middle’ and helps employers reduce employee turnover and burnout. Right now, their focus is on helping hospitals and healthcare providers build psychological safety; a factor proven to improve retention. For hospitals, where turnover is costly, this translates into stronger organisations, better communication and millions saved each year.

Pacific Soul

Carolina Ramírez, founder of Pacific Soul, joined Connectd while transitioning from a B2B engineering background into the consumer snacks space. Through the platform, she brought on two fractional CPG advisors across sales, marketing and brand strategy. Their combined experience helped her refine Pacific Soul’s positioning, strengthen the company’s commercial foundations and shape a clear go to market plan, showing how the right fractional expertise can guide first time founders through a new industry with confidence and clarity.

Al Wynant

Al Wynant, co-founder of Ingomu, founded the company to make coaching more accessible through group sessions supported by AI, while keeping human coaches at the centre. Through working with board advisors via Connectd, he gained experienced external perspectives that helped shape product decisions, refine positioning and influence the evolution of Eric AI as the business grew.

Francicso Berumen & Rick Haslam

Genesis Health turned to Connectd as the business outgrew its founder-led model and needed hands-on leadership without a full-time hire. Through the platform, they connected with Rick Haslam, a fractional CEO with deep experience in the UK health and wellbeing sector. The partnership brought clearer strategy, stronger commercial focus and more structure across the team, while giving Genesis the confidence and support needed to move forward at a critical stage of growth.

Rav Roberts

Rav Roberts is the CEO and co-founder of Pharma Sentinel, a B2B AI platform delivering curated health and medicines intelligence. After relaunching as an AI platform, three highly senior advisors found them through Connectd, and within months the business had shaped new product lines, secured its first US commercial sale, and received validation from a major big pharma buyer.

Gamal Dawood

Gamal Dawood is the founder of NurishPro, an AI practice management platform for nutrition professionals built to streamline processes, enhance client care, and make good nutrition simpler. As a first-time founder, Gamal knew he needed expertise across the verticals he had no experience in. Through Connectd, he built a full team of advisors, several of whom have since converted from pro bono into equity-based C-level roles, and credits them with achievements he says he could never have reached alone.