📍 1 Triton Square, London NW1 3BF
Whether you're already building your career / business in the UK, or just exploring your options, join us as we partner with Innovator International and Tech Nation for an evening of honest conversations and practical advice.
Hear firsthand from founders and professionals who have successfully navigated the UK's visa pathways, alongside experts supporting global talent to thrive. Through an interactive panel, networking, and practical breakout sessions, you'll gain insights, expand your network, and discover the opportunities available to international innovators in the UK.
Powered by Advanced Research + Invention Agency
In partnership with:
Our Thursday Gatherings are for you to make serendipitous connections and make things happen!
There will be meaningful networking opportunities throughout the night, accompanied by a selection of refreshments and activities:
Fun Zone
Get to know your fellow change-makers in a fun, interactive, and exciting way!
Take a quick break from changing the world and recharge by pinning your hometown on our giant map.
Conversation Corner
Looking to connect beyond the name tags?
Drop into our relaxed Conversation Corner, a cosy space where founders, ecosystem builders, and global thinkers come together to share stories, swap lessons, and innovate. Grab a drink, pull up a chair, and jump into the discussion.
Join this brief workshop designed to beef up our mental resilience during periods of great change. We’ll work on developing tools to support mental adaptability to uncertainty, a key skill for anyone embarking on a UK visa journey. The session is led by Stephen Lee, founder of Gist in Time, a leadership and team strategy consultancy, and a proud naturalised UK citizen who knows firsthand the journey from work visa to ILR to passport.
Join Irwin Mitchell’s immigration team for a practical workshop focusing on the immigration requirements and key considerations for those looking to apply or continue their journey on the Innovator Founder or Global Talent visa route.
They will break down and discuss the common issues which can arise during the immigration process, the key points for students and graduates to be aware of, and what you need to know before, during and after applying.
They will also look beyond the visa application itself, including what to think about once your visa has been granted and other areas of UK law that may affect you as you start working, launching or growing a business in the UK.
Welcome Remarks from VCL
What does it really take to build a business in the UK as an international founder? Join entrepreneurs who have successfully navigated the Global Talent and Innovator Founder visa routes as they share practical insights, personal experiences, and the key decisions that helped them establish and grow their businesses.
Will Baker is a holistic software developer with 15+ years in web development and 7+ years in blockchain. He started at a young age, decoding and reassembling video games for fun alongside his brother Jon. Today Will specialises in writing Solidity smart contracts – software which intersects with cryptoassets like Bitcoin – and wiring them into live trading strategies, complementing Jon's work as system architect and debugger. The Baker brothers have been building together in the blockchain space since 2021. In 2024 they established TrendEspresso, the world’s first non-custodial copy trading platform®.
Richard Harrison is Co-founder and Director of Innovator International, a Home Office-approved Endorsing Body for the Innovator Founder visa route. With a career focused on innovation, entrepreneurship and business growth, Richard has worked across the public and private sectors to design and deliver programmes that help founders turn ambitious ideas into successful businesses. He has supported innovative ventures across a wide range of industries, helping entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of starting and scaling companies while working closely with organisations that foster innovation and economic development. Richard is passionate about identifying high-potential businesses and supporting founders who are creating solutions with real commercial and social impact.
Fernanda Huerta is Programme Lead for the UK’s Global Talent Visa in digital technology at Tech Nation, where she oversees the endorsement route for exceptional founders, engineers, and tech leaders relocating to the UK.
With experience spanning the public, private, and third sectors across Mexico, Europe, and the UK, she works closely with government, industry, and the wider tech ecosystem to support world-class talent building and scaling in Britain.
Jessica Mendoza is a 3x founder, writer, and one of the 1% of women founders who have exited. She built Monadd, a venture-backed proptech company helping residents update their address and services when moving. It ranked in the top <1% of startups that received backing from Amazon's Impact Fund, and she sold it in 2025. Jessica now advises startups and scaleups on fundraising, distribution, and building momentum.
Vinay is a Lead PM building agentic AI systems for regulated lending at OakNorth Bank, with a career spanning engineering and product roles across eBay, Microsoft, TrueLayer, and Cleafy — scaling a two-sided open banking network to 10M+ UK users and building agentic fraud detection for European banks. His path took him from India to the US to the UK, a journey the Global Talent Visa made possible without the constant visa uncertainty that so often comes with it — freeing him to focus on the problems in front of him rather than having to deal with visa related instability.
Manoj Narayanan is the Founder and CEO of Ryderoo, a Reading-based technology company
specialising in Radio Frequency Machine Learning technologies and systems. Ryderoo
develops a range of advanced counter-drone and radio-frequency fingerprinting solutions for
defence and security applications. The company is now expanding into the development and
manufacture of a defensive blockade interceptor drone designed to stop hostile drones with
minimal collateral damage, making it particularly suitable for homeland security and critical-
infrastructure protection.
📍 1 Triton Square, London NW1 3BF
Whether you're already building your career / business in the UK, or just exploring your options, join us as we partner with Innovator International and Tech Nation for an evening of honest conversations and practical advice.
Hear firsthand from founders and professionals who have successfully navigated the UK's visa pathways, alongside experts supporting global talent to thrive. Through an interactive panel, networking, and practical breakout sessions, you'll gain insights, expand your network, and discover the opportunities available to international innovators in the UK.
Powered by Advanced Research + Invention Agency
In partnership with:
Our Thursday Gatherings are for you to make serendipitous connections and make things happen!
There will be meaningful networking opportunities throughout the night, accompanied by a selection of refreshments and activities:
Fun Zone
Get to know your fellow change-makers in a fun, interactive, and exciting way!
Take a quick break from changing the world and recharge by pinning your hometown on our giant map.
Conversation Corner
Looking to connect beyond the name tags?
Drop into our relaxed Conversation Corner, a cosy space where founders, ecosystem builders, and global thinkers come together to share stories, swap lessons, and innovate. Grab a drink, pull up a chair, and jump into the discussion.
Join this brief workshop designed to beef up our mental resilience during periods of great change. We’ll work on developing tools to support mental adaptability to uncertainty, a key skill for anyone embarking on a UK visa journey. The session is led by Stephen Lee, founder of Gist in Time, a leadership and team strategy consultancy, and a proud naturalised UK citizen who knows firsthand the journey from work visa to ILR to passport.
Join Irwin Mitchell’s immigration team for a practical workshop focusing on the immigration requirements and key considerations for those looking to apply or continue their journey on the Innovator Founder or Global Talent visa route.
They will break down and discuss the common issues which can arise during the immigration process, the key points for students and graduates to be aware of, and what you need to know before, during and after applying.
They will also look beyond the visa application itself, including what to think about once your visa has been granted and other areas of UK law that may affect you as you start working, launching or growing a business in the UK.
Welcome Remarks from VCL
What does it really take to build a business in the UK as an international founder? Join entrepreneurs who have successfully navigated the Global Talent and Innovator Founder visa routes as they share practical insights, personal experiences, and the key decisions that helped them establish and grow their businesses.
Will Baker is a holistic software developer with 15+ years in web development and 7+ years in blockchain. He started at a young age, decoding and reassembling video games for fun alongside his brother Jon. Today Will specialises in writing Solidity smart contracts – software which intersects with cryptoassets like Bitcoin – and wiring them into live trading strategies, complementing Jon's work as system architect and debugger. The Baker brothers have been building together in the blockchain space since 2021. In 2024 they established TrendEspresso, the world’s first non-custodial copy trading platform®.
Richard Harrison is Co-founder and Director of Innovator International, a Home Office-approved Endorsing Body for the Innovator Founder visa route. With a career focused on innovation, entrepreneurship and business growth, Richard has worked across the public and private sectors to design and deliver programmes that help founders turn ambitious ideas into successful businesses. He has supported innovative ventures across a wide range of industries, helping entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of starting and scaling companies while working closely with organisations that foster innovation and economic development. Richard is passionate about identifying high-potential businesses and supporting founders who are creating solutions with real commercial and social impact.
Fernanda Huerta is Programme Lead for the UK’s Global Talent Visa in digital technology at Tech Nation, where she oversees the endorsement route for exceptional founders, engineers, and tech leaders relocating to the UK.
With experience spanning the public, private, and third sectors across Mexico, Europe, and the UK, she works closely with government, industry, and the wider tech ecosystem to support world-class talent building and scaling in Britain.
Jessica Mendoza is a 3x founder, writer, and one of the 1% of women founders who have exited. She built Monadd, a venture-backed proptech company helping residents update their address and services when moving. It ranked in the top <1% of startups that received backing from Amazon's Impact Fund, and she sold it in 2025. Jessica now advises startups and scaleups on fundraising, distribution, and building momentum.
Vinay is a Lead PM building agentic AI systems for regulated lending at OakNorth Bank, with a career spanning engineering and product roles across eBay, Microsoft, TrueLayer, and Cleafy — scaling a two-sided open banking network to 10M+ UK users and building agentic fraud detection for European banks. His path took him from India to the US to the UK, a journey the Global Talent Visa made possible without the constant visa uncertainty that so often comes with it — freeing him to focus on the problems in front of him rather than having to deal with visa related instability.
Manoj Narayanan is the Founder and CEO of Ryderoo, a Reading-based technology company
specialising in Radio Frequency Machine Learning technologies and systems. Ryderoo
develops a range of advanced counter-drone and radio-frequency fingerprinting solutions for
defence and security applications. The company is now expanding into the development and
manufacture of a defensive blockade interceptor drone designed to stop hostile drones with
minimal collateral damage, making it particularly suitable for homeland security and critical-
infrastructure protection.