Simon Porter
Managing Partner
Simon is a private company investor and experienced non-executive director, with a strong focus on consumer businesses. He currently acts as an independent consultant working with venture capital funds as well as advising founders on fundraising strategy and approach.
Over the past decade alone, Simon has invested over £100m in 180+ transactions at venture capital firms Pembroke VCT plc and Active Partners. Notable transactions include LYMA, Plenish (exited), Hackney Gelato, Pasta Evangelists (exited), KatKin, ME+EM (exited), TALA, Popsa, and Thriva. At Pembroke he led a team responsible for the full investment cycle for all new and follow-on investments including origination, detailed due diligence, deal structuring and execution.
He has served as a board director to multiple companies including Troubadour Goods and Alexa Chung.​ Prior to his roles in the venture space, Simon spent three years as a corporate finance advisor, working on buy and sell-side mandates in the mid-market TMT sector. He graduated from the University of Bristol with a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering.
Rubies in the Rubble
ME+EM
KatKin
Tala
Eave
Alexa Chung
Some leading founders Simon has helped take the right next step
JustWears
Hackney Gelato
Smartify
Journey Alerts
LYMA
Boom Cycle
Plenish
COAT Paints
Troubadour Goods
Credentially
Marleybones
Why Leading Founders?
After 10+ years in the private company space, Simon is making his experience and expertise available to help guide the next generation of founders. A poacher-turned-gamekeeper, he launched Leading Founders to help steer founders and management teams through the daunting process of raising money, by helping with all aspects of business strategy, pitching, fundraising and transaction mechanics.
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Simon is uniquely placed in the market to help maximise your chances of success, based on an intimate understanding of the needs of, and options available to, early-stage businesses that require growth funding. He has a strong command of the myriad technical elements that go hand in hand with fundraising, but is able to simplify and translate those for non-experts. In addition to fundraising expertise, he has a significant breadth of business knowledge; this general and real world experience always compliments fundraising and leads to better and more sustainable outcomes for founders and management teams.
Integrity
We strive for open partnerships with total transparency. Building trust and getting to solutions quicker. We work closely with our founders, and always with their best interests at heart.
Support
Taking the mystery out of the world of VC. We’ll provide a guiding hand and no judgement support through each stage of the process.