0:00
I actually think there's like a really big success story here for the UK
0:14
60% of SME finance last year came from, let's call it, alternative lenders
0:20
I don't love the term for ourselves because I want to take out Barclays, right? The atmosphere right from the start
0:30
It's been really great, it's been really friendly It's been really dynamic. Lots of start-ups here
0:35
Lots of people who've kind of been through similar experiences. I work in climate tech
0:39
You've got FinTech. You've got other people in sustainability and everyone's kind of willing to mingle
0:44
Everyone wants to talk to each other. It's quite refreshing, actually, because it just feels that that kind of doesn't happen so much nowadays
0:52
So when I walked in, I was like, this is it. This is the moment because these people understand where you're coming from
1:03
You feel like you are surrounded by the community that understands you
1:08
And I think that's the beauty of it. I think that there is a nice sense of community I think one of the challenges of running a business
1:22
is it can be a quite lonely, isolating experience. So it's great to meet other people
1:27
who have got scars in their backs like you as a business person
1:31
who are facing particular challenges so you can kind of support each other
1:36
and find out what other businesses are doing to really kind of learn from them
1:42
It's very open, very easy to just speak to people, walk up to them
1:51
There's no kind of barriers. Within a crazy four or five years, I meant, oh my God
2:03
And so the criteria surely would drew a bit more of a calm period, you'd hope
2:08
We kind of need it, right? We need some stability politically. we need some stability outside the UK in terms of some of the geopolitical stuff that's going on there
2:18
Because I think it's really hard to run a business when you don't know what might happen next
