Author: Svetlana Stotskaya
The 10th annual Startup Summit by FutureX in Edinburgh, which happened on the 25 - 28 of October 2021, marked a celebration of the startup and tech ecosystem in Scotland and wider Europe. Starting from a local event in 2012 with a mission ‘to bring everything you need to start, grow and thrive in one room,’ it has turned into a series of conferences in different cities, including London, Glasgow, and San Francisco.
ParlayMe was thrilled to be an official Startup Summit Media Partner for the second year in a row and this year our Founder January Barnes was a speaker and interviewed Andrew Stevens Director of Small & Medium Businesses at Vodafone UK about how to build a future ready business!
During this summit, attendees explored the fundamental aspects of starting, growing and scaling a purpose-driven company, learned the role of businesses in ensuring sustainability, and heard about the continued rise of flexible working and employee wellbeing. They listened to leaders from globally recognized companies, met other like-minded people from the tech and startup community, and strengthened their skills through interactive workshops. Successful founders talked about their entrepreneurial journeys and challenges they faced.
Panel Discussions
Speakers were eager to share their passion for building and scaling businesses with ambitious founders, talking through their areas of expertise and offering valuable advice.
In the panel discussion ‘Flexible working, remote working, and employee wellbeing,’ participants tried to imagine what the future office might become as the way people work faced headwinds in recent times.
In another panel session, Darren Auld, CEO at ClearSky Logic, described the role of a startup CEO and shared his experience of starting the company.
‘Your first million: the building blocks for growth,’ a panel session, united a few experts in sales and growth. They talked about their wide-ranging experience, giving attendees the insights needed to envision a picture of building and scaling businesses.
Startup Competition
The Startup Summit Competition gave startups the opportunity to win a fully-funded place on the 2022 Silicon Valley Scale program and a business support package worth over £100 000 from event partners. ParlayMe is contributing a ParlayMe Silver Membership to the WINNER
In the contest final, representatives from three companies pitched to the jury: Christian Arno, a founder and CEO at Pawprint; Lynne Darcey Quigley, Know-it’s founder and CEO; Hugh Craigie Halkett, Stamp Free’s managing director. All of them did extremely well, introducing their innovative solutions to the wider audience. It was really inspiring and uplifting to listen to how entrepreneurs push the boundaries across various industries and sectors by making products that drive positive change in the world.