Speaking
Four talks I am available to give
I have spoken at the CERN Library's online book presentation and been interviewed on PTV Home and on a monthly founders' podcast, and every talk comes from something I have done myself.
The talks
The four subjects
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Build your own door
I built a UK company from scratch as a founder from overseas. I was endorsed for the Start-up visa in April 2023 and for the Innovator Founder visa in December 2024; the visa was granted in 2026. Nineteen months passed between endorsement and visa. This talk is about what I did with the wait: I kept trading, grew the team of analysts, designers and financial modellers Avvale works with, and won clients in the US and the UAE. It is for anyone building a company while a decision outside their control is pending.
Three takeaways
Momentum is a choice, even while a decision is pending.
How to keep a business growing through a long application process.
What founding from overseas does, and does not, change about building a UK company.
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The textbook we wrote at 20
Between 2018 and 2020, Prof Mario Campanelli and six UCL undergraduates, including me, wrote Classical Mechanics: A professor-student collaboration, typeset in LaTeX by the students. The Institute of Physics published it in 2020, when I was 20, we spoke at the CERN Library's online book presentation that November, and it is now prescribed reading at UCL. This talk covers how the collaboration worked, what students bring that a professor cannot, and what a two-year project taught me about finishing.
Three takeaways
How a professor and students can share the writing of a textbook.
Why writing for the reader one year behind you produces clearer explanations.
What a long project with a fixed end point teaches.
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What endorsing bodies look for
I know the Innovator Founder route from two angles. As an applicant I was assessed and passed by UK endorsing bodies twice. As the founder of Avvale I write business plans for other founders applying through the same route, and through the US E-2 and EB-5 routes. This talk describes what the assessment looks for in practice and the questions founders prepare for least.
Three takeaways
The difference between a plan that reads well and a plan that survives questioning.
Which parts of a business plan the founder must be able to explain personally.
A passed endorsement is the start of the work, not the end.
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The numbers investors check
Avvale has worked with 500+ founders across 30+ countries, including founders whose ventures have gone on to raise more than $500M. Forecasts that fail diligence tend to fail for the same few reasons: assumptions nobody can trace, growth unrelated to the sales capacity behind it, and costs that appear only after the term sheet. This talk sets out the validation discipline I apply to every model, and how to apply it yourself.
Three takeaways
How to trace every number in a forecast back to an assumption someone can defend.
The questions an analyst asks first, and how to answer them in advance.
A validation routine a founder can run without a finance background.
Formats
How I can take part
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Keynote
20 to 45 minutes, with questions after.
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Panel
Founding in the UK, visa routes, fundraising or physics education.
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Podcast
Remote or in London. Any of the four subjects, or the whole story.
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University or founder community
A talk or working session. I have run a pro bono pitch-deck clinic for a founders' community, and the most useful sessions work on real decks.
Appearances
Enquiries
Invite me to speak
Send the date, audience, format and slot length. Speaking engagements are contracted through Avvale Ltd.
By email
Write to the address in the footer with "Speaking" in the subject line.
By call
Book a free 30-minute call to go through the brief.