Entrepreneur & investor helping founders scale, raise capital, with experience across AI, technology and real estate.
Fantastic call; Spencer told me I need to fix my website and make it as attractive as possible so that when customers visit, they know I'm running a real operation. I thought a website was super important, and this call helped confirm that. Likewise, we talked about chasing dreams when young and that the next 15 years are the time to build wealth to set yourself up for abundance, which is comforting to hear because I've been scared I'm "wasting my 20s" by working so much. A huge alteration he recommended to me was to change my pitch with why I want to hire overseas sales reps. I went to Colombia and saw poverty I'd never witnessed. It inspired me to see about hiring overseas reps who want to escape their situation but don't have any opportunities within their country to make solar commissions. I haven't communicated this reason well to most solar companies I've pitched to, and I now understand why they were sketched out by my desire to hire overseas. Spencer has lived a lot, chased dreams, and set himself up in the way I want to be when I'm 40, so for anyone who wants to know how they can maximize their life experiences; I think you should book a call 🤙
I founded my first technology company in 1997. It grew from web development into a hosting and infrastructure business with three custom-built 15,000 sq ft N+1 data centres. I helped design and build the facilities and led sales until 2008, stepping down ahead of an exit valued at more than £20 million. I also co-founded Engagetech, a B2B lead generation company serving businesses including IBM, Microsoft and Salesforce. It has continued to grow and now generates £20 million in annual revenue. My career has not followed a conventional path. I became a DJ in London, then moved to Shanghai as Music Director at M1NT. I later founded PYRO, a music-streaming platform for China, working with Tencent and NetEase. My infrastructure experience took me into cryptocurrency mining. I built operations for myself before representing more than 100 investors, with over $8 million deployed into facilities in Shanghai and Sichuan. After moving to Bali, I founded and backed several Web3 businesses, including hotel metaverse platform RendezVerse. Across these projects, I raised more than $15 million through token presales and built international teams. Today, I focus on AI, property and hospitality. I founded Sentient Labs to build practical AI systems and automation for real businesses. I am interested in AI that removes operational friction, improves decisions and creates measurable commercial value, not technology added for appearances. Through Nusa Nova, I develop and operate premium hospitality and property assets in Bali. This covers development, positioning, direct bookings, revenue management, guest operations and financial controls. I also invest in property across several markets and pursue developments and acquisitions where stronger leadership, technology and commercial discipline can unlock value. My mentoring style is direct, commercial and practical. I help founders with strategy, fundraising, sales, execution, business models, AI adoption and difficult decisions. I will challenge your assumptions, tell you when an idea is bad and reduce a complicated situation to the few decisions that matter. I have experienced exits, failed ideas, difficult partnerships and international expansion. Physical discipline is central to my life. I train seriously, do not drink and believe physical standards often reflect those you accept elsewhere. I believe in responsible masculinity: accountability, resilience, keeping your word, protecting those who depend on you and leading from the front. To me, it means carrying responsibility and remaining effective under pressure. If you want polite validation for every idea, I am probably not the right mentor. If you want an experienced operator who will listen, challenge you honestly and help turn thought into action, book a session.
I've raised money for multiple startups in UK, China & Indonesia. Specialising in tech, web3.0, property and media. Stages include seed, pre A and Round A with an accumulated value of over $30m.
Bootstrapping has to be one of the most essential skillsets to develop in the world of startups. If you can't get your business to operate on minimal resources, you cannot expect to use larger resources with any efficiency. I love finding innovative ways to get a business through its initial stages.
I'm not a coach, but I've been through it all and having the right mindset is key. Business isn't easy, competition is cutthroat, and failures are part of the journey to success. You need to overcome these challenges in order to prosper, and somestimes having a mentor to validate your ideas, reinvigorate your confidence, and motivate you can be the difference.
Being a digital nomad for over 15 years, I know how to handle a remote team. What works, what doesn't, how to find the right people, how to setup your business in the most cost effective way, and the best juristrictions to operate from.
Having always been a hands on CEO, I've implemented all the systems for the companies I'm involved in, from automations, email, data security, web hosting and much more. My passion is in streamling core processes through automation.
I've been using Dropbox since it's inception. Team drives, LAN syncing, backup strategies are essential to any business, especially remote teams. Integrating Dropbox with your automation strategies is also highly effective.
I used intercom (and its many competitors) for settiing up sales channels/funnels for a number of businesses. Most prominatnly for a large music streaming platform in China, where we collected the data of thousands of DJs over the period of a few years. It's help desk and knowledge base is also second to none.
Sometimes it just best to do things yourself. Even though i am a CEO, i love to get my hands dirry on front facing store fronts (websites). Wordpress is the best CMS for having a well designed homepage, that is quickly and easily updatable, no more waiting for web designers and coders to change the smallest details everyday.
I've run a number of large (1m+) channels + started my own very recenlty, so have a deep understanding of best practises and for what content works the best. Youtube is a powerful tool for generating incoming ever green leads for your business.
One tool to connect them all. I absolutely love Zapier. Building automations to streamline core business processes just makes such huge time and cost savings in any online business + it motivates staff to work on the important tasks, not the nitty gritty annoying admin stuff!
Owner and developer of multiple resorts and multi million dollar homes in UK, Dubai, and Indonesia. Currently developing a 15,000m2 resort in Lombok Indonesia.
Extensive knowledge and understanding of blockchain/bitcoin technologies. Hands on experience building large 20MW+ BTC facilities in remote regions, trading, power management, fund raising and execution.
Founder of data centre company which sold for 23m GBP in 2011.. pioneered a lot of the industry ideas around cloud compute. Now operate AI systems for a multitude of companies.
Global DJ and producer for over 20 years, holding a residency at Shanghai's No1 club M1NT Shanghai for a Decade. Release on some of the worlds biggest labels, owned and operated own nightclubs, record labels and now founder of crowdstack.app
Deep knowledge and experience of automations, custom AI solutions, and integrating AI to improve efficiencies at SMEs. Building out custom hermes agents, AI decision engines, connecting them to varous business platforms such as Asana, Google Workspace, Xero etc etc.
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Co-founder of Sentient Labs, an AI consultancy and operating systems company helping SMEs and operator-led teams turn AI into practical business infrastructure. We design and implement AI systems across sales, operations, knowledge management and decision-making, with a focus on measurable commercial results.
Founder of Nusa Nova, a Bali-based property development and hospitality group. I lead development, investment and commercial strategy across premium villas and hospitality assets, including positioning, direct bookings, revenue management, guest operations and financial controls.
JC Starr specialises in property investments and development. Focusing mainly on holiday homes and international property, it holds an asset base of just over £10m GBP.
VMG was formed as a holding company to invest into multiple projects and start ups, including most recently Wearrame.com an apparel fashion brand out of Bali Indonesia. We specialist in media based businesses, including youtube channels and content production.
During the mania of 2021, we raised $3m USD in token sales (NGAGE) to develop a metaverse product for the MICE industry (hotels and events). The project is ongoing, and launching its commercial version of its product this year.
Founded in 2015, PYRO was one of the first music streaming apps in China to negotiate license deals with international labels. We were instrumental in the development of the electronic music scene and still run the top 100 china DJ lists every year. We founded the business with $500k USD seed capital raised from an incubator and private investors.
Dedipower started as a small dedicated server provider and grew into one of the largest operators in the space until it was sold in 2012. I founded the business with a friend from school in 1997, originally as a web design company, which quickly morphed into web hosting.