From 24th October to 14th November 2025, twelve founders from Scotland traded their home ecosystem for three weeks of total immersion in Silicon Valley. It was a founder-led opportunity in how ambitious companies behave inside the world's most intense startup environment.
The Techscaler Silicon Valley Programme followed a deliberately flexible structure: three jam-packed days at TechCrunch Disrupt, followed by two weeks for founders to activate their new networks, pursue meetings, and explore US market opportunities. The design was intentional—less scheduled, more entrepreneurial. A chance to test how Scottish founders hustle when dropped into a world-class ecosystem.
Who Was on the Cohort?
This was one another internationally ambitious cohort, with several founders already planning a US presence:
- Vladimir Scutelnic, Cleanifiq - An instant price cleaning marketplace for businesses
- Hugh Craigie Halkett, stampfree.ai - AI technology enabling parcels, letters, and returns to be sent via smartphone
- Danae Shell, Valla - Provides instant access to intelligent legal support
- Bryan MacMillan, Tyre Runner - Helps vehicle fleet companies monitor, predict, and replace tyres
- Aleksandra Czech-Seklecka, VanFill - AI-driven logistics platform matching delivery needs with spare vehicle space
- Eva Steele, Amytis - Developing a next generation digital workspace for scientific research
- Jo Tennant, 20 Photos - Photo platform that turns photo libraries into story-driven collections
- Stephen Elliot, NeuroBright - Health wearable startup helping people manage mental wellbeing and brain performance
- Chelsea Jarvie, Neon Guard - AI-powered system enabling platforms to meet global safety laws without collecting personal data
- Michal Gondar, Appio - Adds mobile widgets and enables native push notifications for web apps without needing developers or app stores
- Nicholas Guy, NoLogo - Building AI infrastructure for creator brand partnerships
- Aphrodite Yao, Aethernova - Developing an AI-powered extended reality platform for assessing neurodevelopmental conditions
Week One: A Crash Course in the Silicon Valley Mindset
TechCrunch Disrupt
The programme opened with three intense days fully embedded in the TechCrunch ecosystem. Founders ran between panels, investor encounters, founder meetups, hackathons, and side events. The cohort's WhatsApp group became mission control—a constant flow of intel, sightings, and tactical updates: "Run to the third floor—this VC is meeting companies now!"
The value was immediate and visceral. Founders spotted global competitors exhibiting at the conference—including surprise rival discoveries that instantly clarified the global market reality. The sheer speed, ambition, and volume of opportunity expanded mindsets overnight. Several high-value spontaneous contacts emerged, the kind of meetings that would never have happened online.
Between 6am wake-ups for UK calls, all-day conference sessions, and evening networking events, founders experienced firsthand what scaling in Silicon Valley actually demands.
"It was interesting to hear that investors are tired of pitches where everything circles back to AI. They want to see how it fits into a bigger story - more about the problem you're solving, the solution you're building, and the impact you're creating." - Aleksandra Czech-Seklecka
GlobalScot Session at Mindspace
The cohort met with GlobalScots Irené Waldman and Ian Houston, two exceptionally well-connected figures across San Francisco and the broader US. The conversation explored ecosystem differences, funding realities, and pathways into US networks—and didn't pull punches.
The core insight: Scottish founders are often funded to "play small." The amounts offered prevent them from achieving real scale. What's needed is bigger capital, bolder bets, and global benchmarking. One idea floated during the session was a California-based Scottish diaspora angel syndicate to support Scottish founders entering the US market.
Irené and Ian immediately shared the cohort lookbook with the British Consulate, and plans were set in motion for an official cohort visit (delivered in the second half of the trip).
Asks & Offers Workshop
A structured founder roundtable gave the cohort space to exchange investor leads, skills (cold outreach coaching, sales processes), and tools (intro systems, warm intro automations).
The session built trust and opened peer networks across the cohort while helping founders prioritise which contacts to chase in Week 2. For many, the peer-to-peer knowledge exchange became a significant benefit of the programme, as previous cohorts have experienced.
Week Two: Turning Contacts Into Outcomes
Founder Session with Tom Charman (Blok)
UK founder Tom Charman joined the cohort for a deep-dive Q&A, sharing full transparency on fundraising strategy, investor psychology, and the realities of scaling. A serial UK entrepreneur now deeply embedded in the SF startup world with multiple exits and an extremely strong investor network, Tom gave all founders free access to Blok and his personal email for introductions while in San Francisco.
Many founders left "wide-eyed"—it was a pivotal mindset shift moment. The session provided tactical investor-readiness advice grounded in US expectations and warm intros from someone with enormous credibility.
"The Techscaler Silicon Valley programme enables Scottish Founders not just to meet prospective clients and investors, but to open their minds to Silicon Valley thinking. The soft benefits of this are actually of as much value as the hard ones." - Hugh Craigie Halkett
Antler San Francisco Visit + Silicon Valley Bank Session
The cohort visited Antler's San Francisco presence for a session with GP Ryan Somerville, who has strong personal ties to Scotland. Ryan listened to founder pitches, gave feedback, and shared how global funds, like Antler, assess early-stage companies. Founders co-worked from the Antler space later on in the trip.
Early-stage founders gained clarity on how their propositions are perceived by VCs and their positioning in global markets. Seed-ready founders built a warm relationship with a globally recognised fund, creating a potential bridge for future visits
Later in the day, a Silicon Valley Bank representative explained how non-US companies set up US banking, credit, and expansion infrastructure—practical knowledge for founders preparing for US expansion.
Founder Demo
The session also included a founder-led demo where Danae Shell, a fellow programme participant, shared her full fundraising workflow, including how she structures investor outreach and follow-up, tools for tracking opens and engagement, and her process for sharing pitch decks. It was immediately applicable knowledge, particularly valuable for founders preparing for upcoming US raises.
British Consulate Visit
The cohort's visit to the British Consulate provided both a credibility boost and additional warm intro potential into UK diplomatic and trade networks. The cohort met with Tim Roper, Head of Trade & Investment at the British Consulate-General, alongside representatives from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and Scottish Development International (SDI) teams. Founders introduced their companies and received strategic advice, feedback, and local connections that helped ground their US market approach.
Self-Directed Activity: Where the Magic Happened
Beyond the structured programming, the real transformation came from founder-led activity. This is where the magic happened.
Founders turned conference contacts into demos and meetings. They flew to LA, Austin, Portland, and New York based on introductions. They attended everything from major AI conferences to tiny after-hours meetups. They developed deeper networks than any two-week preplanned schedule could ever achieve.
The result: real US pipeline development—investors, pilots, partnerships. Founders became recognisable faces in the ecosystem. Confidence skyrocketed around a simple realisation: "We can operate here."
"The TechScaler Silicon Valley programme gave me the freedom to focus on exactly what I needed as the founder of 20 Photos. Being in San Francisco helped me test our technical foundations against the global best, uncover significant growth pathways, and build connections with companies and investors that couldn't have happened from Scotland." - Jo Tennant
"Being in San Francisco always expands my thinking, reinforces my ambition, and the programme opened some doors that would have taken a lot more time and effort to access alone. The conversations, introductions, and intensity of the ecosystem gave me a much broader sense of what's possible - and the confidence to build for a truly global market." - Stephen Elliot
Key Insights & Themes
The Power of In-Person Serendipity
Meetings that never would have happened on Zoom led to pilots, investor leads, and product feedback. Face-to-face introductions created momentum founders didn't know was possible.
Global Mindset Shift
The realisation hit hard: it's not enough to win Scotland, or even the UK. Exposure to global competitors and investor ambition reset the benchmark entirely.
"It is difficult to convey just how different it is to experience the San Francisco tech scene in person rather than reading about it. Almost every cliché holds up, but it hits differently when you are there. The trip gave me a new level of ambition and energy." - Michal Gondar
Warm Intros Are Gold
A repeated theme throughout the trip: founders who secured warm introductions achieved the biggest wins. Those expecting more structural intro support learned the critical importance of asking early and often.
The Techscaler Silicon Valley Flywheel
The pattern became clear: the programme leads to contacts, contacts lead to meetings, meetings lead to other US cities, which leads to more deals. Many founders are now considering a return within three to six months to keep conversations alive and move towards investment or partnerships.
"The programme was an incredible experience and has helped me grow as an entrepreneur. I took away many learning points which will help me build a more competitive, global business and made invaluable connections. Any Scottish entrepreneur looking to build and scale a global business should get to Silicon Valley as early as possible in their startup journey." - Chelsea Jarvie
Founder Community as an Asset
Peer mentoring, shared tools, and cross-sector networks were surprisingly powerful. Founders built connections they might never have had access to back home.
"The Techscaler Silicon Valley programme has genuinely transformed my life and my business. It changed my network and my self-belief: in just 21 days I made more friends, and met more like-minded, ambitious, smart, action-driven people, than I had in the previous year. I finally felt I'd found where I belong." - Aphrodite Yao
Tangible Outcomes
The results are already emerging. Introductions to major global organisations have led to likely paid pilots. Multiple early-stage founders have developed new investor pipelines. Several are planning US fundraising rounds in 2025. Warm intros to West Coast tech leaders are opening doors. Customer leads, partnerships, and deep competitor intelligence are accelerating growth plans.
Why This Trip Mattered
Exposure accelerates ambition. Networks expand faster in person. The cohort left with clarity, confidence, and global momentum. Silicon Valley is no longer theoretical—it's operationally accessible.
"For No Logo, the Techscaler Silicon Valley programme gave us a front-row seat to the future of business. It's a chance to learn directly from operators who've actually scaled, to test your thinking, and to come home with a clearer and bolder roadmap. It's great for any Scotland-based founder who has a global ambition." - Nicholas Guy
For many founders, TSV4 was not a peak—it was a launchpad.
Interested in future Techscaler programmes? Become a member for free today.
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