From Late Nights Rewriting Decks to the Elite Business Live Stage

Last week, needi's CEO and co-founder Lou Doyle took to the stage at Elite Business Live in London — one of the UK's biggest events for ambitious entrepreneurs — for a panel on funding and scaling businesses.

Joining Louise Hill of GoHenry, Richard Bearman of the British Business Bank, Ciaran Burke of Swoop, and Ian Merricks of White Horse Capital, Lou shared the honest, unfiltered lessons she's learned from building needi from the ground up.

needi has raised over £1m to date, grown a client base of global enterprise brands, and built a platform that supports hundreds of independent local businesses across the UK. But the path here wasn't linear.

Lou's advice for founders navigating the funding journey?

Know your funding route inside out. Understanding schemes like SEIS and EIS — and being able to clearly explain them to investors — builds credibility and can be the difference between interest and a yes.

Bring your pitch to life beyond the slides. Investors see hundreds of decks. Lou recorded a short personal video to sit alongside hers, sharing the story behind the business and the relationship with her co-founder Steph. It helped needi stand out.

Show your why — and prove you'll execute. Investors back founders as much as ideas. Consistent communication, regular updates, and doing exactly what you say you'll do builds trust faster than anything else.

Lou put it simply on the day: "I'm not a polished fundraising expert. I'm just a founder who cared enough about an idea to keep going."

That honesty is exactly what makes needi's story worth telling — and worth backing.