Alex Depledge

Radical Centrist. Entrepreneur trying to make it serial w @resi_uk. NED @PersimmonHomes; Speaker @SpeakingOffice1

[Alex Depledge @adepledge]

My fav investors who I could not close and shall remain nameless inc this hilarious table in their annual update. So true on valuations 🤣

[Alex Depledge @adepledge]

@andrewjb_ @ArchieHall @chalmermagne The sovereign argument for me is the strongest

Ha I can out of hiatus just to respond to that AB :)

[Alex Depledge @adepledge]

@mr_james_c @Dom_Hallas @StartupCltn Jeez louise living up to your grumpy handle

[Alex Depledge @adepledge]

@BrinnyElton Thank you so much for finding me on here and letting me know! Such a kind message thanks!

[Alex Depledge @adepledge]

@MattHancockFan @bbcquestiontime Note the word “highly”

[Alex Depledge @adepledge]

@micheal_olainn @bbcquestiontime Thanks

[Alex Depledge @adepledge]

@Jan2555 @bbcquestiontime Erm no I am not. I have never given a penny

[Alex Depledge @adepledge]

No one seems to cover this side of it. If you ever want to cover solns happy to chat. Sorry I couldn’t DM you Alex

[Alex Depledge @adepledge]

@aliceTTimes 100% agree w todays column. We have an internal program for exactly this and it’s like pulling teeth getting it into the networks of young people. Councils & schools don’t respond, it’s time consuming doing direct outreach to bodies / orgs that skirt around this.

[Dom Hallas @Dom_Hallas]

I've been told this is not the way you're supposed to do comms for this sort of thing but here goes... 🤷‍♂️

Today, the @StartupCltn found ourselves tangled up in a Daily Mail piece. Here’s how it went 👇

Yesterday we got an “urgent” email from a Mail journalist saying that we would be in a story they were writing as “part of our campaign against the proposed Al copyright exemption” (good to start with impartial journalism and facts in mind 😂). We were given a few hours to respond to claims of a conflict of interest because Entrepreneur First’s COO Tom Shinner sits on our steering board while Matt Clifford (who co-founded EF) is advising the PM on AI opportunities.

This whole thing is hilarious to me for a few reasons.

First - the idea of drawing an It’s Always Sunny meme link between startup orgs & Matt is kind of unnecessary. It would be much weirder if we didn’t have links to Matt. And weirder still if the Government appointed an AI adviser who didn’t know anything about the AI ecosystem he was supposed to be advising on.

Second - Not only do we know Tom, Matt & EF, they and lots of other VCs are involved in our work including providing a lot of our funding. If the Mail had been interested in listening to what anyone had to say we would have happily told them. Funnily enough they didn’t bother & chose to completely ignore the statement we sent over instead of running it as any sort of response.

Third -  Even if you’re writing a hit piece, I think we’d all prefer basic facts to be right - like the fact that Vinous Ali (my female deputy referenced in the piece) isn’t ‘Mr Ali’. Or that Matt isn’t ’the tech oligarch for the UK’ (as cool as that makes him sound).

And finally - we can argue about the exact right approach to AI policy. But I don’t think it’s particularly surprising that we’d be on the side of AI startups & making sure they stay & build their models/companies in the UK instead of leaving to take their jobs & innovation with them to places like the US (indeed that’s what Vinous was saying in Parliament...).  Side note: I’m personally just amazed that we’ve found an issue where according to the Daily Mail the EU’s policy is too deregulatory 😂

The truth is this stuff isn’t really about the Startup Coalition, it’s not about Tom, it’s not even really about Matt (though there's been a raft of hit pieces on him over the past few months). It’s actually about the Mail, their proprietor & their commercial interests. Of course, they’re well within their rights to argue their case, I’d just politely suggest that they can make it by doing what Vinous did in openly contributing ideas to the legislative process rather than running pieces designed to defend their interests under the guise of impartial journalism.

Whatever your opinion on the rights & wrongs of AI and copyright you too can contribute to the Government consultation until 25th Feb. I’d genuinely encourage you to do so whatever your views

[Alex Depledge @adepledge]

When everyone becomes a victim, no one is a victim

[Dom Hallas @Dom_Hallas]

It’s budget day!

So here’s the thread of the most important announcements for tech startups and scaleups… 🧵

[Alex Depledge @adepledge]

100% this. Not just for conservation areas - everywhere. You shouldn’t need planning for a heat pump.

19m out of 26m homes don’t meet basic standards. It would take 130 years to knock them down and rebuild them. Existing has to form part of the solution. Yet to be mentioned

[leylaboulton @leylaboulton]

⁦⁦⁦@AngelaRayner⁩, will your reforms also streamline #planning to facilitate #retrofit of millions of existing homes in conservation areas and make them cheaper + more comfortable to live in? Residents, pls respond to 8-week consultation! https://t.co/5SpIXtJMjQ

[leylaboulton @leylaboulton]

⁦⁦⁦@AngelaRayner⁩, will your reforms also streamline #planning to facilitate #retrofit of millions of existing homes in conservation areas and make them cheaper + more comfortable to live in? Residents, pls respond to 8-week consultation! https://t.co/5SpIXtJMjQ

[Alex Depledge @adepledge]

@jimmym @JonathanEley And we also do bespoke. Knowing nothing about your home I am guessing £120-150k all in is probably more realistic unless its listed, you go for super high end finishes etc

[Alex Depledge @adepledge]

@jimmym @JonathanEley See what you think - https://t.co/tsPwdPVNXP

[Alex Depledge @adepledge]

@pwlsh @julescoleman @1250 @Techstars @jd @dogpatchlabs Nah mate plus you can stay out later than us 🤣

[Calgie @christiancalgie]

Still can't get over the Tories spending an entire morning branding the Rachel Reeves plagiarism story "really serious" and then a few hours later having one of their own MPs arrested for rape.

[Alex Depledge @adepledge]

@H4ryB @Jeremy_Hunt @citylordmayor Lol

[Alex Depledge @adepledge]

@CharlotteIvers Love your writing and loving this new column.

Please please please cover Kennington Cafe in Vauxhall. It’s family run, our cafes are dying and I literally built my first biz there. Hali (owner) is a legend and the place need celebrating as cafes in general do :)

[Alex Depledge @adepledge]

@Dom_Hallas @RachelReevesMP @StartupCltn “Wonderful” that’s the biggest complement I have ever gotten from you 😊