Summary
I co-built a community of over 150 VC finance professionals in London, hosting monthly events in partnership with other companies. What began as an experiment to generate leads has now become a repeatable growth channel, revenue driver, and self-sustaining professional community.
Stack
VEED
HubSpot
Problem
Like all venture-backed startups, we needed to grow fast. We had a target of 2.5× ARR without adding headcount. Without a clearly defined ICP (ideal customer profile), our marketing and growth efforts scattered and inefficient. With limited time and limited data, I had to identify and test new growth strategies that could generate high-quality leads.
Research & Goals
I began by analyzing our existing customer base to spot patterns across industry, size, and revenue. From this, I narrowed down to three candidate industries for targeted experimentation:
Venture Capital
Insurance
Security
Goals for the experiment phase:
Test at least one new growth strategy in each industry
Identify which segment had the highest engagement and traction
Double down quickly on the strategy that showed measurable ROI
Process
Industry experiments
After brainstorming a variety of ideas, I ran growth tests in each segment to gauge responsiveness. These included mass email campaigns, direct mail (sent boxes of hot sauce to prospects), and lightweight event invites to breakfast.
Signal detection:
The VC finance segment showed particularly strong engagement for in-person events. So much so that we were quickly oversubscribed for our first event, and we had to split it into two…
Clearly, we struck a chord with VC finance leaders (who were invited to events less often than their investment counterparts) when it came to peer-based networking.
First event pilot:
We hosted a small breakfast roundtable for VC finance leaders in London. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, validating the format.
Iteration:
Refined event format, introduced structured discussions, and partnered with other companies to boost credibility.
Scaling:
Formalised a bimonthly event series, grew attendance steadily through word-of-mouth and referrals, and began treating the community as an ongoing growth channel.
Outcome
Built a vibrant community of 150+ VC finance leaders in London
Established a monthly breakfast event series that continues to grow
Created a sustainable inbound growth channel, leading to new leads and revenue
Unexpectedly, the community began generating customer referrals (~1-2 per month), compounding its value
Learning
This project reinforced several lessons about growth and product strategy:
Double down on what works — once a tactic shows traction, execution matters more than theory, especially under contraints
Community compounds — building genuine value for participants created unexpected referral loops
Focus drives growth — narrowing from scattered outreach to one high-signal persona unlocked outsized results