Scrappy to Scaleup – What it actually takes to grow a tech startup in 2026
Scrappy to Scaleup – an intimate evening with Bristol's builders, powered by Kaldi
There's a moment every founder knows: when the scrappy hustle that got you here stops being enough – when the thing that made you move fast starts holding you back.
Getting from scrappy to scaleup isn't a funding milestone. It's a shift; one that most people figure out the hard way.
This June, we're bringing together an exclusive group of Bristol founders and operators for an evening of honest conversation, sharp questions, and (excellent) beer & pizza.
Your host Ash Phillips sits down with Edgar Thoemmes – serial exited entrepreneur and founder of Virtually There and Aleš Čadež – CEO of Kaldi, for a fireside chat that gets into the real stuff. The decisions that weren't in any playbook, the things you should do differently, and what scaling actually costs.
What to expect
Intimate fireside panel format — no boring keynotes
Curated guest list of Bristol founders and senior operators
Plenty of time to connect with the room
Exceptional pizza from local legends, Pizzarova
Beer & soft drinks
This event is for you if:
You're building something and hacking it together yourself
You've got an MVP that you're looking to scale
You're a tech founder in Bristol + beyond, feeling the chaos of the early stage
You want to be in a room to share your journey with other folks like you
Spaces are limited and personally curated. Apply to attend below.
More about our Speakers:
Edgar Thoemmes built Canton Tea from a kitchen table into a luxury supplier to five-star hotels and restaurants across the UK — then did it again, and again. He's now Executive Chairman of EAT Holdings, founder or CEO of multiple businesses spanning virtual office services, property restoration, and insurance, and a hands-on investor in others. Increasingly, he's embedding tech at the core of his ventures — using it to unlock scale, sharpen operations, and deliver better experiences without losing the personal touch that built his reputation. An Ironman and ultramarathon finisher, Edgar builds companies the way he races: with patience, grit, and a very long finish line in mind.
Aleš Čadež is the Co-founder and CEO of Kaldi, a Product Studio with 14 years and 40 people, building and launching SaaS, Fintech, and Digital identity products. Operating in UK and Slovenia, Kaldi is not a traditional software agency that writes code but a product-focused partner that strategically helps founders from idea to global scale.
With a background in computer science, Aleš has made a career out of turning ambitious ideas into products that actually work — at scale, and with a WOW moment baked in. He’s the kind of builder who obsesses over the user experience as much as the backend architecture, and it shows in everything Kaldi ships.
6pm, 10th June, Temple Studios, Bristol
Scrappy to Scaleup is brought to you by Kaldi in partnership with Rebellious Co – for people who build things.