Join Simpson Wood Financial Services Ltd for an in-person panel and networking event exploring the post-exit journey of tech and SaaS (Software as a Service) founders.
Aimed at entrepreneurs who have successfully exited at least once — or are on the path to doing so — this event creates space to reflect on the opportunities, decisions, and challenges that come after the deal is done.
We’ll hear from exited founders with very different second acts alongside a host-led discussion.
• How to decide what to invest in — and what to let go of.
• Roles beyond founder: becoming an angel, advisor or LP.
• Wealth, purpose and balance after the hustle.
• Reframing identity and ambition in the post-exit phase.
The event will include Q&A with the audience followed by drinks and networking with the panel.
This is a candid, founder-led conversation about what comes next — and how to make it count.
Jane Slimming, CEO of Zeal Ltd.
Jane will be facilitating the panel discussion at this event. Jane Slimming is the founder and CEO of Zeal, a digital agency committed to helping e-commerce startups and scale-ups grow through strategic branding, performance marketing, and technology solutions. With over 15 years of leadership at Zeal, Jane has built a culture-led business focused on innovation, purpose, and sustainable success. Zeal supports numerous tech founders with their go-to-market strategies and Jane is a big believer in collaboration as a driver for success.
For the last three years, she has been interviewing founders and investors for her podcast, Zeal Talk. She also sits on the board of the Lifted Project, a five-year data- and ecosystem-led project which aims to increase the flow of capital to regional, high-growth, women-led businesses.
In 2023, Shaun was the driving force behind shifting Simpson Wood Financial Services to a discretionary asset management model. This regularly results in the firm outperforming much bigger household names and has been instrumental in the firm earning the accolade of being named 11th on FT Adviser’s 2024 list of the 100 best financial services firms in the UK. The firm currently holds assets under management of just over £340m.
Shaun is a passionate advocate for giving back and promoting sound financial education. He personally mentors young people who have financial talent to support them into careers in finance; he also delivers an annual guest lecture at the University of Huddersfield; and oversees Simpson Wood Financial Services’ active apprenticeship programme. The firm have also just renewed their sponsorship of Huddersfield Town FC and regularly support local charities.
Lizzy holds a PhD in Medical Engineering from the University of Leeds, where she researched spinal cord injury and worked on a digital health startup project. She also contributed to the Creator Fund, supporting the Northern pre-seed ecosystem for students and spinouts.
Richard Burhouse, Exited Entrepreneur and Tech Start-up Investor.
Richard Burhouse is the founder and former Managing Director of Magic Rock Brewing. Starting in Huddersfield in 2011 the brewery grew to produce over 3 million pints annually and export to more than 25 countries worldwide, before being acquired by Australian multinational, Lion in 2019. He has since invested in ed-tech start-up called Nautilus, an educational platform which helps school leaders evaluate and improve the quality of their teaching.
George Fairhall,CEO at wac.
Georgina Fairhall is a female founder and award-winning entrepreneur dedicated to supporting the lowest-paid workers. She was sick of working in hourly paid work — undervalued, overworked, and underpaid — so founded wac to change the lives of millions. wac, a globally downloaded app, empowers hourly paid workers to track their earnings and feel more organised when it comes to erratic hours and pay. George has raised over £1.5m in funding, has over 50m views on TikTok and is now scaling her business.
