Capital
Operator capital for UK scale-ups.
I write SEIS and EIS cheques into early-stage UK companies where I can do more than wire money. Twenty years of agency operations, GTM and distribution come with the cheque.
What I look for
Principle 01
Founders who already ship
Not pre-product. I want to see something live, however rough. Velocity beats polish at this stage.
Principle 02
A real distribution insight
Most early-stage failures are GTM failures, not product ones. I'm interested in founders who've worked out something non-obvious about how to acquire customers.
Principle 03
Sectors I can move the needle in
SaaS, e-commerce, fintech, marketplaces, and anything in marketing tech or agency-adjacent infrastructure. If I can't add operator value, I'm not the right cheque.
Principle 04
UK-based and SEIS / EIS eligible
I invest as a UK individual, so eligibility matters. Happy to invest pre-SEIS approval in advance of an AAA application.
Beyond the cheque
What you actually get.
- Operator perspective
- Seventeen-plus years scaling digital agencies. I've made and seen most of the early-stage mistakes worth making.
- Distribution
- An agency, a network, and direct access to senior marketers at hundreds of UK and US brands.
- Hiring
- Access to talent across SEO, PPC, content, engineering and AI ops — including remote and four-day-week candidates.
- Channel expertise
- SEO, PPC, GEO and AI search — the channels most early-stage companies under-invest in until it's too late.
Ticket and stage
£10k–£50k.
Pre-seed and seed.
Typical cheque is £10k–£50k. Pre-seed and seed only. Lead, follow, or angel — I'm not precious. Always alongside a credible round.
Process
01
Send a deck
Five to ten slides is plenty. If you have a Loom walkthrough, I'd rather have that than a pitch meeting first.
02
First call
Thirty minutes. I'll have read the deck. Bring questions about distribution, hiring or channels — that's where I'm useful.
03
Reference and decide
I'll do my own product checks, talk to one or two of your customers if relevant, and get back to you within a week.
04
Sign and start helping
Standard ASA paperwork. After signing, you have direct access to me — Slack, WhatsApp, monthly calls, ad hoc.
Pitch me
Pitch me.
If you're raising and any of the above sounds aligned, send a deck to hello@garethhoyle.com with the subject line "Investment".
Email hello@garethhoyle.com