Game On!

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1. Welcome

Dear Reader

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Tippy Top Newsletter! Whether you’re an entrepreneur building something incredible or a VC seeking your next big opportunity, you’re in the right place.

2025 has officially kicked off with a bang! There seem to be two camps: the hyper-positive and those predicting doom and gloom. Be very discerning about who you associate with this year because it’s perhaps the biggest predictor of success or failure.

2. Weekly Spotlight

If you’re tired of setting New Year’s resolutions that don’t work, try this method instead: write down what worked well in 2024 and what didn’t. In 2025, simply focus on doing more of the former and less of the latter. It’s a good reflective exercise and very effective, as we cannot control outcomes—we can only control our behavior. I’ve been doing this for the last eight years or so, with great success and much better mental health!

One thing that’s always worked well for me is focusing on learning vicariously—learning through others rather than making mistakes yourself. It’s some of the best advice I’ve ever received, and I shake my head at people who don’t use it. Whether it’s fundraising, learning how to do social media, or potty training toddlers, someone else has done it at least a million times before you. Learn the easy way.

Something that’s never worked for me is alcohol. It’s highly addictive, heavily taxed, linked to cancer, makes you overeat, ruins your sleep, and literally poisons your body. When you track it with an Apple Watch, it’s pretty much the same as having a bad virus or food poisoning—high heart rate, high body temperature, low recovery, increased respiratory rate, and a lack of deep sleep. I gave it up in 2024 as a result of these reflective exercises, and I feel much better for it. I’m more ambitious, have more mental clarity, and most importantly, feel in control of my life. I highly recommend it.

3. VC Perspective

Deeptech Predictions for 2025
I don’t usually make predictions, but I felt compelled to after seeing the nonsense that many reporters are putting out there. I'm at the coalface of the deeptech world. Defence-tech covers most technologies—from quantum to AI and cyber. Here’s what I’m seeing on the ground and what I expect to happen: It’s going to be a race to grab cash from VCs who actually have money. Consequently, you need to be at the top of your game and super proactive with fundraising.

4. Entrepreneur Corner

• Do your due diligence on VCs too: Insightful post from Pete Hopton about choosing wisely. Too many entrepreneurs get burned by the wrong investors. Don’t let it happen to you.

• Get good R&D tax advisors: They’re worth it, especially with HMRC now looking to claw back over £4bn of overstated claims. This retrospective exercise could put many unsuspecting startups into administration. While there has been abuse of the scheme, I think we should treat it as water under the bridge. Startups typically rely on external advice, and HMRC themselves only checked 1% of applications. Let’s move on!

• Don’t lure investors with nonsense reasons: Episode 1 revealed that putting "SEIS/EIS eligible" on a deck inversely correlates with fundraising success. It’s fine as a footnote but not a main reason for VCs to invest.

• What rugby can teach us about fundraising: VCs are like rugby referees. You want to be the team they’re trying to award tries (money) to, not the team known for bad behavior that they’re looking to penalise.

5. Common Ground / Industry Trends

• MBAs for career switches: Most people pursue MBAs to enter Venture Capital, Investment Banking, Consulting, or Entrepreneurship. In 2013, 50% of my London Business School class were looking to be entrepreneurs. While MBAs can be transformative, you don’t necessarily want to land yourself with £200k debt when trying to embark upon a startup. Consider The University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business—a top-ranked, cost-effective alternative in a beautiful location. My recent post about it had over 1.5 million impressions!

• Stop wasting time with broke VCs: Hundreds of VC firms are dying, with many pretending they’re still active. Don’t fall for it—do your homework.

• Cut up your credit cards: Avoid being trapped in the $1trn US debt spiral. Credit cards are marketed as life-enhancing, but the weight of debt quickly reverses any short-term gains.

6. Ask Alex

This week’s featured question: What are some top mistakes startups make?

• Messy cap tables: Sort these out before raising money—it’s hard to fix retrospectively and often triggers capital gains tax.

• No customer feedback: Speak to customers before investors. Customers validate your product.

• Unaligned co-founders: Ensure everyone shares the same mission, values, and appetite for risk.

• Procrastination on fundraising: It’s the CEO’s main job. Be proactive and relentless.

• Non-scalable ideas: Check scalability before committing years of your life to a startup.

Want your question featured? Reply to this email or reach out on LinkedIn or TikTok!

7. Detours

Did you hear about The Greatest Startup of Our Time?

18 years ago, I built a giant hairdryer and almost set myself on fire 🧯

8. Closing Thoughts

Thanks for reading and for your support.

Here’s to smashing 2025 out of the ballpark—who’s with me?

Best,
Alex

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