Joe had been building Iventis for around four years when he took part in Greenborough Management’s Taming the Dragons programme.

For the first two years, he largely worked alone, combining consultancy work with testing and developing the idea behind Iventis. The business later recruited its first employee, a University of Lincoln graduate, and moved into a small office at Spark House.

By 2019, Iventis had secured its first significant contracts and was beginning to demonstrate its potential. However, the business was still completely bootstrapped, with a small team.

Despite the opportunity ahead, Joe wasn’t actively looking for investment.

Like many founders, he had assumed that building a business meant finding a way to do everything yourself.

“I think there was probably a bit of naivety. You have this idea that you build a business yourself, from the garage, and just keep going.”

Russell and the Greenborough team encouraged Joe to take part in Taming the Dragons. Although initially unsure whether investment was something the business needed, he agreed to pitch.

That decision would become a pivotal moment in the Iventis journey.

The Taming the Dragons format required founders to deliver a short pitch without slides. For a highly visual software platform, Joe initially found that restriction frustrating.

In practice, it proved valuable.

Rather than demonstrating features or explaining the technical detail behind Iventis, Joe had to concentrate on the story: why the business existed, the problem it solved and why there was an opportunity to build something bigger.

It taught him an important lesson about investment pitching.

Founders can become immersed in their product and assume their audience shares the same level of technical knowledge. Investors, however, need to understand the opportunity and believe in the person behind it.

For Joe, learning to make the proposition accessible rather than overly technical became an important part of communicating the business.

From Pitch to Investment

Joe went into the Taming the Dragons final without expecting it to lead directly to investment.

It did.

Following his presentation, Joe was approached by Sandy Reid from Mercia Ventures, representing funding from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund. Another angel investor representative also expressed an interest in the business.

The conversations that followed ultimately resulted in a £250,000 seed investment from Mercia Ventures in 2019.

The investment enabled Iventis to strengthen its technical capability at a crucial point in its development. The team grew from around two people to approximately five, including the recruitment of a more experienced software engineer, alongside further investment in product development, marketing and the website.

For a business that had previously relied entirely on its own resources, it represented a significant change.

It was also the beginning of a long-term relationship with Mercia Ventures, which went on to make further investments as Iventis developed.

Growth Since Taming the Dragons

The years that followed brought considerable growth – as well as some important lessons.

When COVID-19 brought the global events industry to a standstill, it initially appeared to pose a significant threat to Iventis. However, many of the major international events the business supported were postponed rather than cancelled, and organisers suddenly needed to carry out far more of their planning remotely.

Demand for collaborative digital planning increased.

During this period, Iventis secured further backing through Mercia Ventures and the Government’s Future Fund, followed by a £1.5 million investment to accelerate growth.

The business expanded, investing heavily in its technology and marketing.

Iventis also explored taking its technology into new markets beyond major international events.

As post-pandemic market conditions changed, Iventis chose to sharpen its focus on the complex, high-profile events where it is strongest. Mercia Ventures remained a supportive, long-term investor throughout.

Joe is open about the lessons that came with that experience. Looking back, he believes slower, more controlled growth may have been preferable to expanding as quickly as the business did.

Inventis Today

Today, Iventis has a dedicated, specialist team concentrating on the complex events where its technology and experience can deliver the greatest value.

The platform is used to help teams plan everything from road races and cycling events to major international sporting competitions.

Its technology has supported some of the world’s most recognised events, including the multiple football World Cups, Commonwealth Games, World Rugby’s major tournaments, London Marathon Events and World Expos.

Iventis continues to work internationally, while maintaining its roots in Lincoln.

The business is commercially stable and growing steadily, with a clear focus on the markets it knows best.

The next stage for Iventis is about controlled, sustainable growth.

Rather than trying to serve every type of event, Iventis is concentrating on the areas where it has established expertise and where its visual planning technology can make the greatest impact.

The longer-term ambition is to build towards an eventual acquisition or exit, creating a return for the investors who have supported the business over its journey.

More than a decade after Joe first started developing Iventis, the business has moved from a largely one-person, self-funded operation in Lincoln to a technology platform working with complex events around the world.

The Value of Taming the Dragons

For Joe, the value of Taming the Dragons is particularly easy to trace.

He entered the programme without actively seeking investment and unsure about the value of pitching the business. He left having won the competition and started a conversation that led directly to Iventis’ first significant external investment.

The £250,000 Mercia Ventures investment gave Iventis the ability to strengthen its team and technology at a point when the business had begun to demonstrate potential but didn’t have the resources to capitalise on it.

That first investment subsequently developed into a much longer funding relationship.

But Joe believes there is value in the experience even when a pitch doesn’t result in investment.

At worst, founders get the opportunity to practise their pitch, receive feedback and look at their business from another perspective. At best, they could make a connection that changes the direction of their business.

His advice to future Taming the Dragons participants is to focus less on explaining every detail of their product and more on telling a story people can understand.

Investors aren’t simply investing in technology or an idea. They’re also investing in the founder and their ability to turn that opportunity into a successful business.