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Oliver Buchannon
Vasily Alekseenko

The founder @ Rare Founders, one of the fastest growing communities of founders and investors in London. Facilitating the craziest and biggest events in London for the startups and investors.


The Money is Moving (What You Need to Build for 2026)

The Money is Moving (What You Need to Build for 2026)

We forced investors to pitch on stage and used water guns to keep them honest. But before the chaos, SuperSeed VC's Dan Bowyer revealed exactly where the money is going in 2026. Stop building for yesterday’s market and see why "Defense" and hardware are the new winners.

Jan 28, 2026

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8 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Trends

Health Tech is Eating the World (Again)

Health Tech is Eating the World (Again)

The health tech landscape just shifted under our feet. OpenAI is buying "medical memory," Anthropic is automating the back office, and Big Pharma is panic-buying to fix a $200bn revenue hole. The era of the simple chatbot wrapper is dead; here is what you need to build to survive 2026.

Jan 21, 2026

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12 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Trends

Are The Days Of The Startup Founder Numbered?

Are The Days Of The Startup Founder Numbered?

New data suggests AGI could arrive in just 3 years, making most of our 5-year roadmaps completely obsolete. In this week's newsletter, I break down why "digital" startups might be dead in the water, and why the smartest move right now is betting on the one thing AI can't touch: the physical world.

Jan 14, 2026

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13 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Trends

The Startup World is a Bloody Circus

The Startup World is a Bloody Circus

I launched Startup Circus podcast because the industry is full of noise and fake experts. This is my no-filter podcast where I share the honest truth about the startup world and my predictions for 2026. The first episode is live now.

Jan 8, 2026

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3 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko
How to Herd Investors Into a Close

How to Herd Investors Into a Close

Most founders ask investors for money too soon and kill the deal. My friend Chris Howard shared his "Snail Strategy" with me, a method he used to raise over $100M by spiraling from advice to commitment. Here is the exact 6-step process to close your round without appearing desperate.

Jan 7, 2026

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10 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Chris Howard Series

+1

My 2026 Predictions: The Reality Check

My 2026 Predictions: The Reality Check

As the tech market consolidates and the initial AI hype corrects, the smart money is shifting toward sovereign tech like defense and energy. The blog's major 2026 prediction is an "agent-to-agent" work revolution that will obliterate the traditional "per seat" pricing model. B2B founders must pivot to usage-based pricing immediately to survive this coming shift.

Dec 30, 2025

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10 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Trends

Why You Shouldn't Slow Down in December

Why You Shouldn't Slow Down in December

The Budget scare is over, and investors are now rushing to deploy cash before the April tax deadline. Don't stop working; use this quiet time to close deals and apply for accelerators while your competition is sleeping.

Dec 17, 2025

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8 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Fundraising

Europe Is Waking Up: The Quiet Trends That Will Shape The Next Decade Of Tech

Europe Is Waking Up: The Quiet Trends That Will Shape The Next Decade Of Tech

A quiet transformation is happening across European tech. New AI breakthroughs, emerging robotics startups, roll-up operators, and early IPO signals reveal where the real momentum sits. This summary highlights the trends founders should pay attention to now.

Dec 10, 2025

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8 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Trends

What Your MVP Should Actually Prove

What Your MVP Should Actually Prove

Your MVP has one job: prove real behaviour change through users who return or refer, because this is the only early signal investors trust. Chris explains that every stage of fundraising follows one main signal, and founders who focus on the right one move faster and waste less time.

Dec 3, 2025

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10 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Chris Howard Series

+1

The Budget: A "Scale-Up" Dream, An Early-Stage Reality Check

The Budget: A "Scale-Up" Dream, An Early-Stage Reality Check

The 2025 Budget is a "Scale-Up" dream but an "Early-Stage" reality check, delivering major wins for deep tech and hiring (EMI expansion) while squeezing founders with higher fixed costs and tougher exit taxes. While the government claims to back builders, the operational reality for pre-seed startups is harder than ever, risking a disconnect between policy ambition and grassroots survival. We’re launching a founder-led coalition to fix this - join us to draft the Startup Blueprint for Growth before the February tax deadline.

Nov 28, 2025

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10 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Trends

The Exit Tax Week: What It Exposed About The UK Startup Scene

The Exit Tax Week: What It Exposed About The UK Startup Scene

The exit tax drama created panic across the ecosystem, but it also united founders and investors in a way I haven’t seen before. The policy is gone now, and the reaction proved that our community has more influence than we think.

Nov 19, 2025

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10 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Behind the scenes

+1

B2B Sales 101: Make Them Look Good and You’ll Get the Deal

B2B Sales 101: Make Them Look Good and You’ll Get the Deal

Most founders think B2B sales are about logic and ROI, but they’re really about ego and emotion. You’re not selling to a company — you’re selling to a person who wants to look smart, get promoted, or feel in control. The faster you learn to sell to the human inside the machine, the faster your deals close.

Nov 12, 2025

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8 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Chris Howard Series

+1

Should You Be Raising Right Now?

Should You Be Raising Right Now?

The market’s tightening, and a correction isn’t a matter of if — it’s when. Founders now face a harsh reality: raise before the window closes or be forced to fight for scraps later. Those with real traction will thrive; those selling stories will finally get exposed.

Nov 5, 2025

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11 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Trends

+1

How to Expand Your Investor Network

How to Expand Your Investor Network

Many founders think they’ve run out of investors to pitch, but in reality, they just haven’t tapped into their second-degree network yet. Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator and a simple double opt-in email approach, you can expand your reach, get warm introductions, and build genuine investor relationships without spamming anyone.

Oct 29, 2025

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10 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Chris Howard Series

+1

Why Being a Control Freak Is Killing Your Startup

Why Being a Control Freak Is Killing Your Startup

A raw look at what happens when you try to do everything yourself as a founder — the constant juggle between control, burnout, and growth. It’s about reaching that point where you realise that scaling yourself is just as important as scaling the business.

Oct 22, 2025

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13 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Founder stories

The Scammer Who Tried to Infiltrate Our Community

The Scammer Who Tried to Infiltrate Our Community

A fake “investor” tried to infiltrate our community after the embassy event, approaching multiple founders with a crypto kickback scam. I’m sharing this story to raise awareness — because while scammers are getting smarter, founders who talk to each other are even stronger.

Oct 15, 2025

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9 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Founder stories

Money Is Back on the Table

Money Is Back on the Table

After months of slow movement, early-stage funding across the UK and Europe is finally picking up again, with several new funds launching back-to-back and investor optimism returning fast. It’s the best moment in a while for founders to raise — the money’s flowing, and those who act now can ride the wave before year-end.

Oct 8, 2025

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17 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Trends

Startups Love AI. Hackers Love That Too.

Startups Love AI. Hackers Love That Too.

AI is giving startups unprecedented speed — but also exposing them to new cyber risks. Recent attacks on Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, and others show that AI itself can be hacked, and for founders this makes cybersecurity a survival problem, not a “later” problem.

Oct 1, 2025

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20 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Trends

Why Shiny Things Are a Founder’s Worst Enemy

Why Shiny Things Are a Founder’s Worst Enemy

Staying focused as a founder is one of the hardest — and most important — skills to build. This post shares what I’m still learning about prioritising what really matters, avoiding shiny distractions, and saying no (even when it’s uncomfortable).

Sep 24, 2025

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21 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Founder stories

You’re Not Supposed to Know Everything

You’re Not Supposed to Know Everything

Being a founder doesn’t mean knowing everything — it means learning fast and asking for help when you need it. This post is a reminder that you’re not behind, you’re just building something new (and that’s hard enough already).

Sep 17, 2025

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19 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Founder stories

Summer in Startupland: What Really Happened While You Were “On Holiday”

Summer in Startupland: What Really Happened While You Were “On Holiday”

This summer wasn’t slow at all — rates kept moving, Germany jumped ahead of the UK in funding, and even the UK government decided OpenAI should run part of its house. While Figma’s IPO showed SaaS is far from dead, Europe kept struggling with the Series A crunch and VCs raising the least money in a decade. The message for founders is simple: don’t sit back — follow the money, prep for scarcity, and remember that politics and regulation hit harder than any pitch deck ever will.

Sep 10, 2025

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19 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Trends

Why Building a Business in the UK Feels Like a Punishment

Why Building a Business in the UK Feels Like a Punishment

Many founders in the UK feel like the system is designed to hold them back — from unfair VAT rules to the lack of any safety net when starting out. This post breaks down what’s broken, what other countries are doing better, and what practical steps founders can take right now.

Sep 3, 2025

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19 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Scaling

+1

Final week to apply: Belgium x UK Demo Day (Deadline 5 Sept)

Final week to apply: Belgium x UK Demo Day (Deadline 5 Sept)

Applications are closing for the Belgium x UK Demo Day on 7 October 2025 at the Residence of the Belgian Ambassador in London. We’re selecting 30 pre-seed & seed stage tech startups registered in the UK or Belgium to pitch in front of investors, with applications reviewed by 46 investor partners and a deadline for applications of 5 September.

Sep 2, 2025

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2 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Fundraising

Stop Building for People Who Say ‘Cool Idea’

Stop Building for People Who Say ‘Cool Idea’

Most startups fail because they build products people say they want, not what they actually need. In this post, we explore how to spot the difference between surface-level interest and real, painful problems worth solving. Learn how to validate true demand, avoid false signals, and build something your customers are desperate for.

Aug 27, 2025

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16 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko

Scaling

📢 New newsletter just dropped — this one’s for investors

📢 New newsletter just dropped — this one’s for investors

We’ve just launched a new bi-weekly newsletter specifically for investors, covering emerging funding trends, sector insights, and standout startups from our community. The first issue explores the quiet shift from VCs to family offices.

Aug 26, 2025

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2 min read

Vasily Alekseenko
Vasily Alekseenko
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