Success story
On a mission to create a more financially inclusive UK
The story: Plend is personal
Plend was driven by co-founder Rob Pasco’s own experience. Moving to the UK from New Zealand to pursue a successful career in financial services in London, his credit score was thin, making borrowing hard. Forced to use high interest credit cards, his debt spiralled and eventually had to be restructured. Even after paying back every penny, his credit score was ruined.
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He’s not alone. Over 13 million people in the UK can’t get affordable loans because their circumstances don’t fit lenders’ traditional profiles and are shut out by scoring systems which don’t understand real people’s lives.
Joined by co-founder Jamie Pursaill, with deep digital technology experience and a passion for social impact, the duo set out to build a new social lending marketplace that could offer affordable loans for ambitious people, building brighter futures:
• Using a new credit scoring system analysing many more factors than traditional systems, reflecting a fairer picture of people’s circumstances and financial position.
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• Utilising open banking to make credit truly personal.
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• Recognising that one size does not fit all.
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• Allowing borrowers to fulfil their dreams at affordable rates which are funded by people who are looking to make a real difference.
So how did the Plend team go from a passionate belief in their ambitious idea to a first equity investment round of £700,000 in July 2021?
The situation
When they joined the Activate Foundation Programme in October 2020, Rob and Jamie aimed to embark on their pre-seed fundraising journey straight afterwards. Believing they were investor ready, they saw the programme as an opportunity to re-examine their business proposition and, more importantly, to improve getting their message across to potential investors.
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• Had a pitch deck, plan and financial model
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• Understood everything about the product
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• Were ready to go out fundraising
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However, they soon realised that the fundamentals needed (much) more work and it was time to go back to the drawing board!
“What was the most surprising to us was that the programme was much more about the fundamentals and that was something we were actually missing. We assumed we just had everything sorted, but once we got started on values, and then going into your customers, your market, and then you go ‘Wow!’, maybe we got this wrong.”
The solution
Rob and Jamie’s journey back to the drawing board allowed them to flesh out their purpose, mission and business values. Values had always been key to the difference Plend wanted to make to the millions facing unaffordable loans, but they had never been committed thoroughly to paper.
During an intense six-week programme, they took the time to do this and revisit the value they were creating for customers, their business model, go to market strategy and finally their strategy for investor engagement and communications. Testing these fundamentals against the expert eyes and “tough love” of the Activate team, allowed them to:
• Take advantage of the content, structured feedback, strong tools and mentoring to revisit and strengthen their business foundations, from purpose, values and storytelling to value proposition and business model.
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• Look “under the hood” of the Plend car and pull it all apart and rebuild what really is the problem, solution and what they were going to do.
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• Learn to address the customer directly in copy and messaging – articulating the clear benefits to our users rather than a catalogue of features they were developing profoundly affected how quickly people understood what Plend was about - and what the company stood for.
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• Realise that being in a learning headspace and open to constructive feedback is the only path forward and starting from the beginning was necessary – while it would be easy to resist this, the benefits of embracing it were much stronger.
“At the end of the programme, we went in trying to raise money, but realised that this is the last thing we should be doing! We should be finalising what we are doing, start to get the potential team around us and then really start planning conversations for pitching. It was really good on the fundamentals and kickstarted that journey for us.”
The outcome and lessons learned
Plend closed their first equity funding round in July 2021, almost nine months after the end of the programme.
Like many founders, they initially wanted to get their idea out there and talk to as many people as possible and raise money. But they realised there was much more pre-work required than you expect and they weren’t quite ready. While they were honing the fundamental building blocks of the business, they were also busy networking towards the raise.
What they learned and want to share:
• Build networks and relationships early on: Our investors ended up coming from conversations and relationships we built really early on. So you just don't know where these relationships are going and what's going to happen.
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• Know who you are talking to: It’s also very important to understand the stage the investors are at and what is the focus of their portfolio companies.
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• Pitching is a long process: This is a long, long process and it was almost a full-time role and both of us went out there and did the ring. We had 30 to 40 conversations - that’s a lot of pitching!
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• Secure the lead investor: Once you secure your lead it's much easier for other investors to follow and it enhances your credibility. As soon as one lead investor puts the money down on the table, it is so much easier to fill the rest. Then you'll be in that lovely position towards the end where you're actually having to turn money away, which feels like an incredible 360 and will happen very quickly!
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• Take the learning opportunities: These programmes and the associated networking are great opportunities to further grow your skills, learn from others in your field and meet influential and experienced people who can help you grow.
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• Engage with people: Simply, convincing and bringing people on board this journey with you is critical to getting your idea off the ground.
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• Celebrate the small wins: They show you that you are making progress towards your overall goals.
“The Activate Startup Programme gave us some really solid skills and connections that were extremely useful in getting us funded and closer to our public launch. We’ve since grown to a solid team of eight and have some big expectations for 2022!”