TechCrunch Disrupt in London is on December 5-6, so pretty soon! It will be the place to come talk about new technology, your startup, other startups, everyone’s startups! Grab tickets here. So many speakers have already been announced. But because Brexit is on everyone’s lips right now, we knew we needed to unpack that subject and how it will affect tech startups in the UK and Europe going forward.
Talent and skills is a massive issue for startups. Probably the most important thing are product and fund-raising. We will delve into this subject with the following speakers.
Martha Lane Fox is the Founder and Executive Chair of Doteveryone.org.uk, which seeks to build up the UK’s digital skills. She’s also an accomplished entrepreneur in her own right, and will have a few thoughts on what Brexit means for startups.
In April 2016 she was appointed as a non executive director of Twitter. Martha became a crossbench peer in the UK House of Lords in March 2013. In March 2014 she was appointed Chancellor of the Open University. Martha co-founded and chairs LuckyVoice, revolutionising the karaoke industry. She is a non executive director of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Creative industries federation, the Scale Up Institute and the Open Data Institute.
In 2007 Martha founded her own charitable foundation Antigone and also serves as a Patron of AbilityNet, Reprieve, Camfed and Just for Kids Law. In 2013 Martha was awarded a CBE. In 1998. Martha co-founded Europe’s largest travel and leisure website, lastminute.com with Brent Hoberman. They took it public in 2000 and sold it in 2005.
Matt Hancock is the Minister of State for Digital and Culture with Her Majesty’s government. He is the MP for West Suffolk, having been elected in the 2010 general election. Before entering politics, Matt worked for his family business, as an economist at the Bank of England, and as Chief of Staff to the then Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. He holds degrees from Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Matt is married to Martha and has three young children.
James Wise is a partner at Balderton Capital, and is the youngest partner of a Series A Venture Fund in Europe. Since joining Balderton in 2012, he has led on investments across Europe in sectors such as mobile productivity, 3D printing, VR/AR tools, and SaaS platforms. Two companies that James has worked with have exited to Microsoft and Amazon. Before joining Balderton, James helped set up and run one of the UK’s first social impact funds, and previously worked as an advisor to the British Parliament, as well as at McKinsey & Company.
The two-day Disrupt conference runs December 5 to 6 in the Olympic Village’s Copper Box Arena and features Startup Alley and Startup Battlefield where one startup will take home £30,000. You can buy early-bird tickets for Disrupt London here.
You want to display your company? Then go for a booth in the Startup Alley. For startups there is also the brand new CrunchMatch program where we match startups to investors. Check it all out here.
Early bird tickets are now available to purchase for the discounted price of just £950 a piece. You can get your tickets at this price until this Friday 4 November.
For all you students out there, the deal is about to get even sweeter. We have a limited selection of student tickets to Disrupt London 2016 for just £100 plus VAT, provided you have both a valid university ID and current transcripts.
To reserve your £100 student tickets to Disrupt, simply send a copy of your transcripts showing your current enrolment status, as well as a copy of your university identification card to students@beta.techcrunch.com. Once you’re approved, we’ll send you instructions for how to complete your registration.
Our sponsors help make Disrupt happen. If you are interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact our sponsorship team at sponsors@beta.techcrunch.com.