September Retrospective
AI has a terrible thirst, The Fall of Babylon & why not all revenue is good revenue
Hi!
This month we explore the following:
🤔 Exploring the surprising environmental cost of Artificial Intelligence
🔍 How to manage employee operations all in one place
📣 Why revenue is not always good revenue
📚 The fall of Babylon: once $2bn-valued telehealth startup bankrupt
🎙️ In conversation with Russell Sheldon, COO & CTO of TMF Group
🤔 AI HAS A TERRIBLE THIRST
It’s funny how some of the greatest polluters are also some of the least visible.
Take Cloud Computing (or the ‘Cloud’) as an example. To the average Joe, it’s as mysterious as it is innocuous. A ‘black box’ service that brings to mind an ephemeral realm of light, fluffiness and clear blue skies. This metaphor couldn’t be further from the truth.
Behind every Cloud there is a silver lining data centre - vast temples of computational power and storage, comprising miles of cabling, fiber optics, computer servers and more. All consuming huge quantities of electricity, water, air, metals, minerals and rare earth elements.
The environmental cost is absolutely staggering...
🔍 SCALEUP IN FOCUS:
Client snapshot: Mumsnet | One Trading | Isometric | One Dome
Summary: Zelt is the provider of a powerful HR platform built for modern businesses. Teams can use Zelt to run all people operations on a single platform, thereby putting an end to piecemeal tooling and unreliable business processes.
Automation and speed are central to Zelt's platform. People can save time onboarding and offboarding, entering employee information manually, running payroll, buying and shipping laptops, creating accounts in work apps, and much more.
Zelt offers a reliable and simple platform that ensures employees are taken care of, from payroll to company benefits.
Customer testimonial: "Zelt has been amazing at helping us set up all things HR in an easy and compliant way. They are 10x better than more known systems like HiBob or Payfit and offer better and more competitive service." - Adriana Restrepo, Former COO of Revolut
🎙️ PODCAST
Episode #003 | Execs on the Beach with Russell Sheldon, COO & CTO at TMF Group
We sat down with Russell Sheldon to talk about his role, the future of Legaltech and why, when it comes to digital transformation, “change is never a destination; it’s a journey.”
Chasing Elephants is an analogy for young businesses trying to sell into large enterprise clients. Catch an elephant and feed for a while, but the chase is fraught with risk ... and it might just kill you.
📚 WHAT WE’RE READING
The Fall of Babylon: Once $2bn-valued Telehealth Startup Bankrupt - TechCrunch
A Manufacturing Investment Supercycle is Starting - Axios
Comply or Die: The Rise of the AI Governance Stack - Battery
Bringing Generative AI to Healthcare - Sequoia Capital
The Hyper-Aggressive $10bn Startup Shaking Up Cloud Security - Forbes
📣 REVENUE’S NOT ALWAYS GOOD REVENUE
Why flexibility is key for startups and enterprises who collaborate
“Revenue’s not always good revenue” … Russell Sheldon (COO & CTO of TMF Group) lets this sentence hang in the air for a second. During that pause, P. Diddy has started banging on the door of my consciousness with his famous counterpoint: “Tell him it’s all about the Benjamins, baby.” I keep that door firmly closed; sometimes it’s best to just pretend you’re not in…
🎉 EVENTS
On 7th September, we held our ‘Future Leaders of Information Security: AI & Automation’ event. Thank you to all who attended and to the five startups who presented:
Advai - Stress test, assure and validate your AI
eXate - Simplify data access, sharing and governance
Netacea - Defensive AI to beat bad bots
seedata.io - Deception technology to overcome cyber-attackers
Surf Security - Zero Trust Browser for enterprises
We’d also like to say a special thanks to our speaker Hendrik Hartje, the CISO at CCEP (Coca-Cola Europacific Partners) for his fascinating keynote.
Next up:
We’ll be delving into the fast-moving world of procurement, exploring technologies that will have the biggest impacts. Hot topics up for discussion include AI-driven chat negotiations, contract automation and greater ESG supply chain visibility... Register interest
Future Leaders is a series of private sessions introducing senior leaders to rising stars in the startup ecosystem and associated cutting-edge technology.