From corporate leader to startup founder

Curtis's transition from a long-standing corporate career to the fast-paced world of a startup founder wasn't an abrupt leap, but a staged evolution. She was a founding team member at a challenger bank, serving as employee number nine and building the business from scratch. This experience gave her the operational know-how and confidence to build a company, but it also highlighted a significant gap in her experience: fundraising.

"I never ever had to fundraise," she explains. "So I got practice building a business in that scenario without having the trauma of fundraising, and it is pretty traumatic!"

This realisation became her primary learning curve. Through a process of trial and error, she learned the ins and outs of securing investment. She emphasises the importance of building relationships with investors early, ideally before you need their money. This dynamic, she notes, allows for a more natural conversation and a focus on the business itself, rather than a desperate plea for funds.

Her learning journey was accelerated by participating in accelerators, but she advises choosing them wisely. She found the most value in broader programs like the Edinburgh University AI accelerator and Morgan Stanley's Inclusive Ventures Lab, which provided holistic support beyond just fundraising tactics. "If your business is really healthy and doing really well," she says, "it's easy to fundraise. So, how do you get your business to that position?"

The empathy-driven solution

The idea for Inicio AI was born from a deeply human story. A tech consultant Curtis was working with intervened to help a pregnant woman struggling with debt. The woman confided that she couldn't complete the required income and expenditure forms. The process of talking to human agents was so uncomfortable that she had given up, feeling hopeless.

This story became the catalyst for Inicio AI’s virtual agent, Budgie. Budgie offers a private, non-judgmental way for people to complete the complex financial affordability form. The solution proved its value immediately. In an early test, 30% of customers with old debt who hadn't engaged in over a year completed the form and set up payment plans. When the company launched with Northumbrian Water in 2023, they saw a 30% increase in customer engagement overnight.

Budgie's success lies in its design. It's a simple, user-friendly tool that can be accessed via a text message, email, or web link. It customises the form based on the user's circumstances, making it less overwhelming. It also prompts users when they enter unusual information, just as a human agent would, but without the risk of judgment.

The impact is far-reaching: happier customers, less stressed agents, operational savings and more successful payment plans for businesses, a win for everyone involved.

The fundraising journey

Moving from a corporate executive to a startup founder was a big shift, especially since Curtis had no prior experience in fundraising. The most valuable lesson she learned? Build relationships with investors before you need their money.

"It's a completely different dynamic," she explains. "They care much more about what you're building, why you're doing it. You can start to build that relationship without being, 'Can I have your money?'"

Many VCs didn't understand her business model, viewing the debt market as either too narrow or not an area that could make money. But then she met Rupert Lyle from Future Planet Capital Regional, who immediately saw her vision. He didn't see a debt solution; he saw an international data company.

His insight was a game-changer, and it led Future Planet Capital to lead Inicio AI's funding round. Originally aimed at £500,000, the round closed at £2.86 million, with multiple investors jumping on board after a credible lead had been secured.

The capital has been put to work to unlock three key areas of growth: building a full sales and operations team, launching a new and improved technology platform, and becoming the first and only FCA-regulated provider of its kind.

With a strong foundation in place, Curtis and her team are now setting their sights on international expansion and launching new data products. The journey from bank executive to AI innovator has been a long one, but for Curtis, it's just the beginning.