My First London Tech Week: Key Takeaways for International Tech Businesses

It was my first time at London Tech Week – and how impressive and inspiring it’s been! The Ignition Stage with startup pitches and panel discussions became my base, I explored the exhibition floor, met some existing partners and made some new contacts, and attended side events in the evenings. LTW was most of all a perfect opportunity to network and a great way of keeping up with the global trends in AI & Tech.

Some key takeaways…

– The UK’s Tech Future is Regional – while this may be up for discussion, the panel who discussed it had convincing arguments that it’s easier to scale your business in on a regional level.
o It is easier to get support from a particular community rather than relying on national initiatives.
o Choose a region where you have universities with certain graduate programmes, combined with regional demand for business development in your expert area.
o Many cities outside of London offer more affordable office space, have a lower minimum wage, and have less staff turnover.

– How to scale and succeed in the UK – advice from international founders who learned their lessons the hard way and shared their thoughts regarding pitfalls:
o You can’t do it all from London, depending on your product/service.
o Not everyone is enthusiastic about your product.
o Hire local GTM experts, have people on the ground.
o Know the culture instead of assuming you do, travel the country yourself.
o When you choose a business partner, go for ‘opposites’ rather than someone too much like you.

Some personal notes if you plan to attend next year’s LTW yourself…

– Plan ahead! The App is a fantastic tool to set up meetings in advance, to identify the right pavilions to visit and good sessions to attend. If you spend a day or two preparing, you will make the most of it and not waste time.

– Schedule some breaks! My head was spinning at times, with the background noise of thousands of voices talking at once and running from one meeting to another. I took my noise-cancelling ear pods and listened to calming music every once in a while. I also scheduled some free time in my diary. That helps to keep your sanity

– You cannot attend every single event! There is a huge amount of side events in the evenings. While I learned that there are ways to create a digital clone and be in various spaces at the same time, I do not recommend rushing from one event to another. Choose wisely and ask colleagues if they could cover some events.

– Always take an umbrella! I followed this rule. Many visitors didn’t. The queue for registrations on the first day was so long that hundreds of people were getting soaked outside.

The UK remains one of the world’s leading destinations for innovation and growth, and there are many opportunities to raise capital. Did you know that the UK VC market is big in comparison to other European economies? By Q3 2025, British startups had already attracted more VC funding than startups in France, Germany and Switzerland combined.

Hello, thanks for checking out our post! Would you like more recommendations and handy tips for your UK business or maybe have a chat with us about this topic?

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