Bindi is incredibly passionate about all things startup in Europe and connecting the dots between Investors, Founders, Corporates and Government, and as a result, has worked in and around technology startups for most of her career. As a Consultant (PwC Consulting), as a Corporate (Microsoft BizSpark /Ventures), as a Startup employee (Trayport), as an Advisor (Startup Europe, TechStars Startup Weekend, Tech London Advocates, European Innovation Council, WEF), as a Connector (GQ UK, the IoD and Evening Standard have all recognised this) and as their Banker (Silicon Valley Bank). She is deeply inspired by entrepreneurship, and is the founder of a Boutique Advisory Firm, bindi ventures, focused on advising and connecting across four core Innovation pillars (Corporate, Startup, VC Managing Partners, Government) for commercial success.
She currently sits on the Advisory Boards of seven startups, one Venture Debt fund, and is a Venture Partner at a London VC. She also sits on Corporate Digital Advisory Boards, the Advisory Boards of European Innovation Council, Startup Europe, Tech London Advocates, Ambassador for Innovate Finance, Governor at the University of East London, and was recently appointed by World Economic Forum to their Digital Leaders of Europe Group. She strongly believes in promoting Women in Tech, and as such, seven of her Advisory Board roles are for women-founded businesses.
She joined Silicon Valley Bank where she launched SVB’s early stage banking efforts in Europe, as well as driving the Bank’s relationships with Corporate & Emerging VCs. Her passion for entrepreneurship was cemented as Venture Capital/Emerging Business lead at Microsoft UK. For five years, she lead BizSpark in the UK. (now Microsoft Ventures) She focused on how Microsoft could drive success for early-stage technology companies, and partnered extensively with the UK Investor Community.
Bindi was born in the UK, raised in Canada, but now calls London home.
1. Best piece of advice you’ve been given
You’re nobody until you’ve failed at least three times. The lessons learned from failure are inherently more valuable than succeeding every single time. And more important, you need to learn to have the resilience and fortitude to dust yourself off, pick yourself up and keep heading pushing forwards. This is the hallmark of a great entrepreneur.
2. Worst piece of advice you’ve been given
Become a doctor, lawyer, accountant and have a safe profession ????
3. What would you tell your younger self?
Have more confidence and self-belief in yourself. It’s also ok to be different and be a positive catalytic troublemaker, it helps you stand out from the crowd, so just own it.
4. What excites you most about the future of your industry?
Right now, I’m currently obsessed with the Deep Tech segment of the industry, so many incredible technologies solving the deepest of problems, and we’ve barely even started yet. It’s also the part of the industry attracting the best and brightest minds, and these are the people that I love working with and learning from.
5. Who or what is your biggest inspiration?
The entrepreneurs and investors and innovators I surround myself with every day. Their energy, drive and sheer passion for technology matches mine, and it’s great to bounce off of and learn from each other every single day. They inspire me, all day, every day.
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