Every session featured an active investor or founder who has been there and done it.

Among them was Dominic McGregor, founder of Fearless Adventures, who shared his journey as an entrepreneur from co-founding Social Chain just a few hundred metres from the site of Climb24 and managing its explosive growth, to alcohol dependency and his subsequent sobriety.

Resilience was a key theme throughout. Lee Chambers, founder of Male Allies UK and Essentialise Workplace Wellbeing explained how he overcame an illness that left him temporarily immobile and talked about the work he is now doing to create a legacy of social impact.  

Lee shared his experience of stepping out of his business to become a stay-at-home parent. Despite being told by other tech CEOs it was ‘career suicide,’ Lee found himself in environments that allowed him to listen to the stories of women and see gender from a different perspective. It was this moment that led him to start a new business focused on helping organisations to cultivate gender equity.

Climb24 celebrated the power of relationships and meaningful connections. We heard from Zandra Moore and Anna Sutton, two entrepreneurs who grew up on the same estate in Guiseley, but only met in 2018 when a mutual connection introduced them at an event in Leeds. Each of them experienced very different funding journeys and the two shared some of the things they had learned since starting out and explained how it had impacted their career journeys.

Gordon Bateman, founder of Investor Ladder and Climb24, said: "We created Climb to accelerate investment into regional ecosystems by facilitating better connections between national and international investors and founders. That doesn’t just mean networking and making introductions. As we’ve seen from this year’s event, it’s also about creating a space to discuss some of the bigger challenges and opportunities in our sector. I was overwhelmed by the honesty and willingness to share we saw at Climb24.’’