Meet founders navigating the complexity of scale
The Festival of Entrepreneurs returns to the NEC, 3–4 November 2026.
5,000 founders, 200 speakers and 150 partners gathering to scale serious businesses.
If you provide strategic advisory, legal, financial, governance or leadership expertise, this is where growth-stage founders seek experienced partners to support the next phase of their journey.
Many attendees are moving from early traction into structured scale — where leadership, governance, finance and risk management become critical.
Founder-led businesses moving from operator to leader
83% are founders or senior leaders. 35% run £1m+ revenue businesses.
As businesses grow, the challenges facing founders evolve rapidly.
Operational complexity increases. Leadership demands shift. Financial, legal and governance structures must mature.
The Festival attracts founders who are:
• Raising capital
• Expanding internationally
• Building senior teams and boards
• Moving from founder to leader
• Formalising governance and reporting
Management consultants, legal advisors, corporate finance specialists, accountants, insurers and fractional leaders joined the Festival to engage directly with scaling founders.
The programme brought together advisors helping founders navigate growth, governance, funding and structural complexity.
2025 leadership & advisory speakers included…
Scale introduces complexity — and leadership decisions
63% of founders attend to meet new partners with expertise that can drive their growth.
As revenue grows, founders face increasingly complex decisions around leadership, governance, finance and risk.
Across the programme, themes include:
• Founder transition and leadership evolution
• Board development and governance
• Funding preparation and transaction support
• Strategic clarity and prioritisation
• Corporate structuring and compliance
• Risk management and financial control
Founders attend the Festival to gain perspective from experienced advisors who have supported businesses through real scale journeys.
The environment encourages meaningful conversations that can develop into long-term advisory relationships.
Exhibit within a high-density founder environment
• Stand options from 6sqm to 72sqm
• Positioned around high-traffic stages and networking hubs
• Premium shell scheme stands and turnkey options
• Access to pre- and post-event marketing exposure
The floorplan is designed to drive movement and maximise meaningful interaction.
Lead conversations around structure, governance, leadership and scale
• Deliver experience-led sessions grounded in real cases
• Share frameworks for founder transition and growth
• Align with content themes across scale and leadership
• Extend visibility through professionally recorded sessions
Advisors who demonstrate credibility and depth resonate strongly with growth-stage founders.
“The Festival of Entrepreneurs was a great event, there was real interest in applied AI with established Founders who are scaling their businesses and we made valuable connections. We have rebooked for the next one!”
— Dominic Kos, Founder of Cleverfox AI“Festival of Entrepreneurs was a fantastic event for Strategus Consulting. It was great to meet so many entrepreneurs and founders and hear their ambitions. Follow up has also been excellent, with over 85,000 people viewing our FOE related episodes of the Leaders in Strategy Podcast. We will be back in 2026 with a much bigger stand”
— Mike Harris, CEO of Strategus"We exhibited at last year's Festival of Entrepreneurs and picked up many leads for our fractional c-suite services, so this is a highly recommended event"
— John Courtney CEO, BoardroomAdvisors.co “Our presence at the Festival of Entrepreneurs was a real standout this year. The energy around our stand was fantastic, engaging, inviting, and full of meaningful conversations with entrepreneurs, innovators, and partners who were genuinely excited about what we had to offer. Overall, the event was a brilliant platform for us.”
— Linsey Luke, Head of Business and Stakeholder Engagement, FSB“I had a fantastic experience at the Festival of Entrepreneurs. It’s a rare event that brings together such an open, ambitious and generous group of founders, and the energy across the day really reflected that. I left feeling inspired, with several valuable new connections and conversations that I’m confident will turn into long-term relationships.”
— Mark Rushmore, Co-founder of SURI“The scale and energy in Festival of Entrepreneurs was fantastic, and we really appreciated the opportunity to be part of it.”
— Jay Lad, Business Growth West Midlands
A national platform hosted at the NEC Birmingham
The Festival draws founders from across the UK, with strong representation from London and the South East alongside a growing Midlands base.
The 2026 event doubles in scale — expanding the exhibition, the content programme and the curated networking zones.
The Festival is becoming an essential knowledge exchange and marketplace for scaling founders and the partners who support them.
40% of exhibition space already allocated
Early movers get the advantages of prime exhibition stand locations and alignment with speaker topics.