Barclays Eagle Labs & Mercia - How to build a C-Suite Team

In collaboration with Mercia, Funding Hero & The 51% Club we are excited to bring you the next in the next event with an insightful event for founders looking to raise investment on the key topic of how to build a rockstar C-suite team.

We will have a panel of speakers and have some other short discussions from founders sharing their journey and learnings to date,

Panel consists of:

Mercia Ventures

Katherine Hill – As a Venture Capitalist Investor for Mercia, Katherine will be moderating the discussion on how to build a rockstar team when scaling your business. Mercia have supported Barclays Eagle Labs and Funding Hero businesses before and know what the investment landscape looks like for Mercia and the West Midlands. Katherine brings nearly 10 years experience in audit and business restructuring from her time at BDO LLP.

Jim Shirley is the founder of Funding Hero, the leading online e-learning platform for investment readiness, and author of The Startup Fundraising MBA, with his very own 6 Pillars of Fundraising framework.

A seasoned CFO with over 20 years of experience scaling companies, Jim has raised millions in debt and equity and helped two companies grow rapidly to successful exits for hundreds of millions. He now runs Funding Hero to support self-taught investment readiness and delivers his in-person 12-week fundraising accelerator for Pre-Seed to Seed stage high growth potential companies to become truly investor-ready.

Scarlett Allen-Horton is a multi- award-winning recruitment entrepreneur, BBC Apprentice finalist, proud founder of Harper Fox Search Partners, a purpose led executive search firm. As a business partner to Lord Sugar, board advisor, and keynote speaker, Scarlett champions leadership, STEM, and EDI. She has scaled her business from the ground up to seven figures and is recognised for her impact in recruitment and diversity, with features in The Times, BBC News, and Business Leader. Scarlett also serves as an EDI advisor and Judge.

Alexa Grellet is the co-founder of HR DataHub, a start-up giving HR teams real-time salary data and insights to make confident pay decisions in the UK market. The company’s mission is simple: better information should help SMEs create the best deal for both their people and their business.

As a first-time founder, Alexa has navigated the highs and lows of scaling a SaaS company - learning fast, making mistakes, and building resilience along the way. She believes a strong culture and sharp operations are the foundations of any successful start-up.

So far, HR DataHub has raised £4M+, passed £1M ARR, and serves 200+ customers - with profitability in sight for 2025