#3: Building at the regulatory frontier, with Hoxton Farms
Welcome back to The Form Playbook, our newsletter supporting founders building in markets where policy matters. Form is the only fund dedicated to helping founders understand, navigate and build where regulation is a driver of success.
This month:
đď¸ Interview with Ed Steele, Co-Founder of Hoxton Farms: How to build at the frontier of technology and regulation
đ° News & Views: Our take on what a new Liz Truss government means in the short term, especially following the Queenâs death
â° Form Updates: Our investment in Stitch, the patient retention platform for clinical trials, speaking to Sifted about startups and lobbying, and joining a new campaign to encourage UK entrepreneurship
Ed Steele, Co-Founder of Hoxton Farms, on building at the frontier of technology and regulation
Starting from just a few cells, Hoxton Farms combine cell biology and mathematical modelling to cultivate delicious, cruelty-free and sustainable animal fat. Building a company at this technological frontier also brings unique regulatory and go-to-market challenges, so we sat down to discuss the most important actionable insights from this experience.
Ed's Advice for Founders:
To ensure that you can make well-informed product decisions and nail strategic discussions with customers, itâs worth pushing for a seat around the table with regulators. These conversations have been essential for us in understanding where and how we will go to market, which products we will produce and what science we can do in the lab.
Make sure you understand how policymakers and regulators are making decisions based on their own constraints and incentives. Itâs often worthwhile to speak to as many people as you can within the same government department: donât rely on their own internal communication!
Questions about regulatory risk are common to fundraising, and investorsâ regulatory understanding varies. Despite the uncertainty, drawing on policymaking precedents about time-to-market and showing how youâre reducing your exposure to risk can help resolve these concerns.
Read the full interview on Medium: Hoxton Farms on how to build at the frontier of regulation
News & Views
Following Liz Trussâs appointment as the UKâs new Prime Minister, UK Parliament has been suspended in light of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. This, combined with the upcoming party conferences, will delay any major policy beyond the PMâs announcement on energy bills until mid October.
Two of Trussâ major appointments are Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor and Therese Coffey, who ran her campaign, as Health Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister. Kwarteng has quickly sacked permanent secretary Tom Scholar, promising to replace Treasury âorthodoxyâ with what he regards as more of a focus on economic growth.
The new PM has also cut down on the number of advisers both in No 10 and across the Cabinet. In the short term this may limit how much else can be delivered, beyond efforts to address the cost of living crisis and the pressures facing the NHS this winter.
Weâve called on the new government to look to the many UK start-ups helping to solve some of these immediate pressures. As we set out here, thereâs a huge opportunity to tap into this resource via reform across household debt, childcare, employment rights, housing and health. We also fully support the ideas in The 2022 Tech Startup Manifesto produced by our friends at Coadec and The Entrepreneurs Network.
Itâs also that time of year: Atomicoâs State of European Tech survey is out now. The survey discusses the regulatory environment for European start-ups and what decisionmakers should do to help the ecosystem reach its full potential. Given the report is read by senior policymakers across Europe, itâs worth taking 10 minutes to respond!
Form Updates
Weâre thrilled to announce our investment in Stitch, the definitive patient retention platform for clinical trials. Patient churn is an under-reported reason why clinical trials are so expensive and can fail altogether. Stitch, working with the likes of Cancer Research UK, are helping fix this.
Patrick spoke to Sifted about startups and lobbying, and we signed a letter coordinated by Jimmy McLoughlin calling on the new government to host a new national entrepreneurship competition and encourage business growth across the UK.
As always, if you know anyone building a game-changing company in a market where regulation either already exists, or is taking shape â or youâre an investor thinking about how policy affects your portfolio, get in touch.