Experienced tech leaders will discuss ‘scaling-up’ challenges faced by founders at a Glasgow event next week.
Startup and scale-up leaders from well-known companies including Deliveroo, ENOUGH, Firstbase, and Malted AI will take part in a growth-focused event at the Barclays campus next Tuesday.
Among the panelists at the ‘Scaling in Sync – C-Suite Strategies for Unified Growth’ event will be Andy Robinson who led the acquisition of Edinburgh-based software development firm Cultivate to Deliveroo in 2019, marking Deliveroo’s first UK acquisition, and Elaine Ferguson, chief financial officer at Glasgow-headquartered sustainable protein scale-up ENOUGH, a former University of Strathclyde spinout.
Also taking part will be Chris Herd, founder and CEO of Firstbase, an Aberdeen-headquartered IT asset management platform that was acquired by San Francisco-headquartered AppDirect, one of the world’s leading B2B commerce platforms, in 2024, and Laura Bernal Vergara, chief of staff at Edinburgh-based Malted AI, which develops technology that allows enterprises to apply small language models (SLMs) that solve domain-specific problems with 10-100x cost saving.
Nathalie Cutting, relationships director, high growth and entrepreneurs manager at Barclays, said: “If you’re tackling funding, global expansion, or scaling your leadership team, this is where you get the inside track from those who’ve done it, and nailed it! We also think it’s a great chance to connect with fellow c-suite leaders, investors, and ecosystem players.”
Elaine Ferguson, ENOUGH’s CFO, said: “The scaling journey is inherently multi-faceted involving people, product, commercial, technology, and investment factors – and all happening at great speed! It will be interesting to share our tales from out on the coalface on the night at Barclays campus.”
Chris Herd, Founder and CEO of Firstbase, said: “Historically, Scotland has produced many of the greatest inventors and business builders in history. But somewhere along the way, we lost momentum. What we lack today isn’t ambition or grit, it’s tactical know-how. Events like this help get the right knowledge to the right people at the right time. I’m looking forward to sharing lessons from scaling Firstbase globally: the mistakes we made, the opportunities we missed, and what we’d do differently next time.”
Andy Robinson, former Scotland Lead at Deliveroo, said: “Scotland has already shown it can produce world-class technology companies. It’s full of smart, curious people with the ideas and resilience to go the distance. I’m looking forward to sharing what’s worked and what hasn’t, and hearing how others have navigated those same challenges. If we can keep backing each other and thinking big, there’s no reason Scotland can’t play a key part in the next wave of global scale-ups.”
The panel session is being chaired by Nick Freer, founding director of the Freer Consultancy, adviser to scale-up companies like Skyscanner and Wordsmith AI and tech ecosystem specialist CodeBase, and a regular tech columnist in national media.
The event is sponsored by Cooper Parry’s Tech & High Growth Team, Barclays, and Burness Paull.
