Solvej Biddle

A strong idea gets you into the room. It does not determine what happens once you are there.

In this flagship keynote, Solvej explores why capable founders and leaders can lose important decisions even when the commercial case appears compelling. The answer is often found not in the proposition itself, but in the responsibilities, pressures, motivations and unspoken concerns of the people evaluating it. Drawing on her experience as a lawyer, founder, investor and adviser, Solvej shows audiences how to:

– Understand what stakeholders are really evaluating
– Recognise shifts in the room before they become objections
– Respond to challenge, silence and uncertainty without becoming defensive
– Adapt to the people in front of them without losing authenticity
– Leave stakeholders confident in both the idea and the person carrying it forward

This keynote is ideal for founders, leadership teams, professional-services firms, accelerator programmes and anyone responsible for gaining support for an important idea.

Every successful brand looks more orderly in hindsight than it felt while it was being built.

In this candid and entertaining keynote, Solvej takes audiences behind the polished version of entrepreneurship. She shares how she built Content & Calm into an international consumer brand sold across five continents, secured joint investment from Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden, and established partnerships with organisations including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Amazon, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Boots and John Lewis. Alongside the milestones, she explores the setbacks, negotiations, surprises and less glamorous realities involved in building a business from scratch. Audiences will hear about:

– Turning a promising idea into a product that customers will pay for
– Starting before you have every answer and learning quickly without losing direction
– Raising investment and choosing the right investor relationship
– Winning major retailers, airlines and commercial partners
– Navigating manufacturing, international expansion and the realities behind apparent overnight success
– Building the resilience and tenacity to persist, adapt or change course

This energetic, story-led keynote is ideal for entrepreneur events, founder communities, business schools, innovation programmes and organisations looking for an honest account of what building a business really involves.

Growth demands more than ambition. It requires founders and leaders to recognise which relationships, decisions and conversations will genuinely move the business forward.

Drawing on the experience of scaling her own company across five continents, securing major international partners and now advising and investing in other founders, Solvej examines what changes when a business begins to think beyond its original market. She explores:

– The difference between activity and commercially meaningful momentum
– How to identify the stakeholders who can materially accelerate growth
– Why the rooms change as a company scales, and why the founder must change with them
– How to approach larger partners without diminishing your own value
– How to balance speed, judgment and commercial courage

This is a keynote for scale-ups, entrepreneurs, innovation teams and organisations seeking to encourage more ambitious thinking grounded in commercial reality.

When a female founder struggles to secure support, confidence is often the first thing questioned. But what if confidence is not the whole problem?

In this challenging and constructive keynote, Solvej examines how credibility, ambition and potential are interpreted differently in investment and leadership settings. She explores the tension between being told to “be yourself” and being evaluated against an inherited model of what confidence is supposed to look like. This is not an argument that confidence does not matter. It is an invitation to distinguish anchored confidence from performed confidence, and to examine the room as closely as the woman standing in it. Audiences will consider:

– How evaluation dynamics affect what is heard and believed
– The double binds female founders frequently encounter
– How women can hold their ground without adopting an inauthentic persona
– What investors, advisers and ecosystem leaders can change in their own rooms
– How to recognise genuine commercial potential beyond familiar patterns of presentation

This keynote is designed for founder communities, investors, accelerators, professional-services organisations and events focused on women in business and technology.

The meeting ends, but the decision-making continues.

Important decisions are rarely made entirely in front of the person seeking them. Once the founder, adviser or executive leaves, the proposal is discussed, retold and interpreted by other people. What gets repeated in that second room can be more influential than what was said in the first. Solvej reveals how to build influence that survives your absence by helping audiences understand:

– Who will shape the decision after the meeting
– How to identify and equip an internal advocate
– What stakeholders need in order to repeat an idea accurately
– Why follow-up is part of the influence process, not an administrative task
– How consistency before, during and after the room builds lasting credibility

This keynote is particularly valuable for leaders navigating boards, investment committees, partnerships, complex sales and organisational change.

Founders and innovators naturally become attached to their solution. But customers, investors and strategic partners may be looking at an entirely different problem.

In this keynote, Solvej challenges audiences to step outside their own expertise and examine the proposition from the stakeholder’s side of the table. She explores how to:

– Separate the underlying problem from the solution already created
– Recognise when a stakeholder is evaluating a different risk or opportunity
– Test whether the problem matters enough to justify action
– Replace assumption with commercially useful curiosity
– Reframe an idea without weakening or abandoning it

This is a highly practical session for innovation programmes, accelerators, founders, product teams and organisations developing new propositions.