For an evening, crowdfunding took

over the Glasgow Science Centre, with

Squareknot taking centre stage

Attendees arrived from 6pm, and

were taken through registration,

before moving onto the opening

networking portion of the evening

There was a strict door policy –

coloured stickers were forced upon all

attendees. Luckily we offered

everyone a choice:

Red – Investors

Blue – Businesses seeking

funding

Green - Business Advisors/Other

The unique atmosphere of a networking

event surrounded by marvels of science

and technology proved fitting for the

launch of a flagship crowdfunding platform

After registering for the chance to win the

£500 investment prize up for grabs, guests

were taken into amongst the exhibits for

the networking potion of the evening

With almost 200 guests checked in by 7pm,

we were excited to see such a buzz around

the launch – although we’re sure the

canapés played their part!

Over the course of the first hour guests

were treated to complimentary wine and

canapés, while final preparations were well

underway elsewhere for the evening’s

main event

The guests had the chance to mingle with

Investors, Start-ups, and importantly, the

Squareknot management team

Guests were welcomed from various sectors,

from banking and finance, to those in

entrepreneurial and creative capacities

Representatives from all the launch pitches

were present at the event and took

advantage of the opportunity to spread the

word about their exciting business

propositions.

Even the team at Squareknot were

surprised by the tremendous uptake for

tickets, with extra seats being arranged in

the final few minutes to accommodate the

200 plus strong crowd

As we neared 7:30, the last few remaining

guests arrived

Everyone was invited downstairs into the

main hall, where the anticipation

continued to grow

It was time for all our hard work and

planning over the previous months to pay

off, and we turned to Louise White, our

host for the evening to start things off.

By 7:30 the mics were on, the lights were

dimmed, and the stage was set for the

launch of Squareknot.

Louise spoke of the challenges facing Scotland,

the nature of the crowdfunding landscape, and

why the launch event would mark the beginning

of a new era for funding in Scotland

She next invited the audience to watch a short

video outlining what Squareknot is all about

Louise White, of the BBC, hosted the evening

for us. She certainly helped bring poise,

professionalism and connectivity to the

programme

Derek told the story of Squareknot – The

initial concept was devised by Derek and

fellow Squareknot director Brian Smillie

almost a year ago to the day.

Louise firstly invited Derek Bond, Managing

Director of Squareknot to the stage

Derek welcomed everyone, and offered his

thanks for such an overwhelming response

to Squareknot’s exciting launch

Derek shared some insights into his

experience in building Squareknot (alongside

the management team)

He also spoke of the uniqueness of the

Squareknot platform, and how it was the first

of its kind in Scotland

Louise re-took the stage to question Derek

on some aspects of crowdfunding, along

with some key features of Squareknot’s

model and vision

“...There has never been a better time to start a

business in Scotland...”

Jim repeated this mantra several times, and

went on to express his appreciation for what

Squareknot have managed to achieve in such

a short period of time

One of the great highlights of the evening was

the speech by Entrepreneur and CEO &

Founder of Entrepreneurial Spark Jim Duffy

Jim’s animated speech grabbed the attention

of the audience, and served to enshrine the

significance of the evening

Kession helped Squareknot achieve FCA approval

as their Appointed Representative in an almost

unheard of three days.

Ian and Mike discussed the regulatory framework

that Squareknot worked within, and some of the

laws and practices surrounding crowdfunding

Squareknot are amongst the unique few in

crowdfunding who have already been pre-

approved by the FCA, before new regulations

come into place

Corporate lawyer and Squareknot director Ian

Young, took the stage with Mike Kessler of

Kession Capital Limited.

The 6 entrepreneurs discussed their pitches in

depth, giving insight into why they were

seeking funding, and how it would be used

The also shared their views on other

platforms, and why Squareknot offered a

different path

Whilst the audience had to wait until later

in the evening to ask their burning

questions, Louise introduced

representatives from Squareknot’s

inaugural six pitching companies

From left to right we have Ian Young

(Corporate Lawyer), Tom Preston (CA &

Business Angel), Derek Bond (CA & Former

Finance Director), Iain Webster (Corporate

Finance Specialist) and Brian Smillie Jr.

(Marketing Expert)

By the end of the evening it was time for the

Squareknot management team to be grilled by

Louise, before the audience were invited to pose

their questions to the team

The management team predominantly come

from a finance, accounting or corporate law and

governance background

Derek and the team made sure the

audience didn’t leave with any unanswered

questions, and announced exciting plans

for new video conferencing features to be

unveiled on the site, along with an

impending Australia launch

The audience understandably had lots of

questions for the team, from loan

assurance the business model questions,

to more hot topic issues such as growing

competition within the market

Our congratulations go out to Ramsay Duff for

being our lucky winner

Mr. Duff chose to invest his winnings with Log

Six Systems and Internet Anywhere, both of

which can be found on the Squareknot

website

One of the highlights of the evening was

the award of the £500 investment prize

To be entered, guests had to have signed

up as a registered user to the Squareknot

website

The evening proved a great success, with

the last guests leaving some time after the

presentations had come to a close

Following the award of the £500

investment prize, Louise and Derek

rounded off the evening, inviting everyone

to come and meet the Squareknot team,

and the pitching companies

We’d also love to get your feedback on the

evening, so if you attended, please help us by

filling in this 1 Minute Survey about the event.

Thanks to everyone for a fantastic night,

The Squareknot Team

We’d like to thank everyone again who

attended. We hope you’ll continue to share in

the Squareknot journey with us by registering

on the Squareknot website, if you haven’t

managed to already