Sam Drew-Jones 0:00
Today, we're spotlighting our community member Jane middle Hurst. She's a powerhouse in the world of sustainable housing. Jane is the co founder of a game changing platform called home notes, along with Amy, her co founder, together, they're helping homeowners make greener, more ethical choices when renovating and actually our founder, Esme Verity, has also been spotted using their app. She's also the alumni of our alternative funding school. She's not only building Tech for Good, but exploring alternative ownership models to safeguard her Business's mission. Welcome, Jane!

Jane Middlehurst 0:32
That's so nice. Thank you. So what led you to launch home notes? We were running an architecture practice, so we'd been making kind of home renovations and residential architecture for people for many years, and just found that there was a lot of kind of hand holding and guiding for our clients to understand the process and to help them make the right decisions. And it felt like we could only do, you know, handful of projects a year. So we were really repeating this process again and again. So we thought, well, wouldn't it be better if we could make make a process so that people can learn themselves about how to make decisions on their projects and how to kind of do a home renovation, either with professionals or without. And so that's where home notes came from, really, on a more kind of personal note, I guess myself and my co founder, Amy, we'd been running a practice, and then we both ended up taking maternity leave exactly at the same time, so we had to shut everything down and shut the practice down. And it was really just a moment of taking a step back and having think about what we wanted to achieve, and what was, you know, the idea that you look at your profession and you think, what's the one thing that we can do to help move things on or make things better? And so we set up home notes like more, like focusing on helping lots of people through an online platform as a way to help and guide them through their processes of renovation, really?

Sam Drew-Jones 2:02
Yeah, we've been through it ourselves, so I know firsthand the frustration that we can go through one trip to IKEA, and I'm like, let's just not bother Yeah,

Jane Middlehurst 2:11
it's like that, but just all the time, isn't it? It's like every there's just so many decisions to make. And I guess now that we're moving into needing to create, you know, sustainable homes and decarbonizing our housing stock in the UK, there's just so much more to learn and more to understand, and it's, it's complicated for people, and I guess we want to make it easier for people to make environmental and sustainable choices about their home renovations.

Sam Drew-Jones 2:39
Yeah, tell me more about that. So like, how does sustainability show up in the choices you're enabling homeowners to make?

Jane Middlehurst 2:44
Well, it's funny, because actually, where we are right now, you probably I mean, other than the work we've done, lots of work, kind of educating people about sustainable choices, but the platform we've built right now is a project management platform, so it's helping you make budgets. It's helping you kind of spec all your products and make decisions, you know, based on the things you want to include in your project, and giving you that kind of control over the process. So from that perspective, what we've created in this moment, you wouldn't really know it was working towards that goal. And there is a reason for that, is because lots of people you know to be able to make those kind of higher level decisions, you need to fundamentally, first get a handle on your project. There's lots of kind of, there are lots of apps and kind of support out there for people who want to do kind of, they call it sustainable retrofit, where you're putting insulation in and making your house warmer and making those sustainable choices. But fundamentally, there's the you know, there's millions of people renovating their homes every year who aren't engaging in that process. So for us, it's about tapping into that network of people that are already renovating and already spending money on their homes and, you know, for extra room, you know, for personal choices. Once we've got that process sorted, then we can start to kind of bake in the decision making for the sustainable choices. Because at the moment, you know, there's a big step towards getting people on board with that, and people just need to get control of their projects in the first place before they can make those the same, like, extra sustainable decisions.

Sam Drew-Jones 4:26
Well, obviously we love the fact that you are, you know, a company focused so much on impact in so many ways, including in fundraising. So you know, and you've taken a really thoughtful, like impact first approach. So how have you navigated the funding from the beginning?

Jane Middlehurst 4:43
Well, in the beginning, I was just really lost. Actually, I knew that there was funding out there in some form or shape. It felt definitely like a very separate world to me, like I don't. Know many people who are in finance or connected with kind of funding or finance things. So it was just very alien to us. And I felt like I was definitely looking from the outside, trying to Google things and read things, and it just wasn't really making sense. And then I think I came across considered capital whilst looking for kind of alternative venture capital, I think the concept of venture capital always seemed like not quite right for us, like, I didn't necessarily really like, just on a kind of basic level, wasn't really sure that it was the right type of thing for us, but didn't know that there was any other option. Then I found Esme and considered capital, and was really interested in what she was talking about, and signed up to the to the course. And it was really great. I just, I really needed somebody to lay out all of the options, how it all works, so that I can it felt like somebody just opening the book and saying, This is what it's all about. And then, like, being able to look through that and think, Okay, well, what, what's going to be right for us, what's the right fit for what we want to achieve? And I guess we're still on that journey now, and we're still kind of tapping into considered capital. Like, I was speaking to Esme the other day, and I just was going back in to look at some other, you know, ways that we can set up our company to make sure that the effort that we're putting in now to make it purpose driven doesn't get lost if we do get funding from, you know, outside capital. So, you know, even looking at the way to structure the company, that's something that we've learned from from that course, which is really, really amazing, and I didn't know existed before,

Sam Drew-Jones 6:43
Yeah, me and Esme did the same entrepreneur course, like, 10 years ago, and we had the same sort of epiphany of, like, it's just VC money. There must be more out there.

Jane Middlehurst 6:55
You know, I think one of the major things that she taught us was that we are purpose driven. Because I think we always have been like right from, you know, day dot with our architecture work, it was all about, you know, creating community. And, you know, we were doing housing developments for custom build, which is where people take, you know, shells and customize themselves. So it's very much been about user agency and clients, kind of taking control of their projects and having the knowledge to make decisions on their own. So that's always been part of what we wanted to achieve, and it's always come first. And I think because we weren't, we didn't fit into the kind of charitable sector or the not for profit sector, it just never occurred to me that we could, you know, see ourselves as a purpose driven company and get funding, you know, to further that cause that we want, which is helping people to, you know, get good homes and sustainable homes. So, yeah, that was an eye opener for us. I'd never seen ourselves in that light, and that opened up a whole new option for us to apply for grants, which, again, I'd never even considered before.

Sam Drew-Jones 8:06
You won the Creative Catalyst Award, right? Yeah. Congratulations. Well deserved. Where did you find it and what did that unlock for you?

Jane Middlehurst 8:15
Well, through Esme and you know her announcements, I think that she think that it was actually originally the women in innovation award that we put us onto the Innovate kind of grants. And we heard about that through considered capital. And so we applied for that. We didn't get it, but it introduced me to the whole process of the application. We got some really good feedback from it. And so when the creative cat list came up. It was just really a good fit for us, like we fitted the criteria, and I felt a lot more positive about writing our application. And it paid off, and we got the grant, which was amazing. So we've just come to the end of that project, which was building our MVP, which we just learned launched a couple of months ago, which is the app, so it has really was fundamental in progressing our company and progressing what we're doing. So, yeah, it was a massive opportunity. Yeah, brilliant.

Sam Drew-Jones 9:10
It's amazing that you've got an app now as well. And I love the branding. Everything looks so good.

Jane Middlehurst 9:15
I would say the app has been, I don't know, seven plus years in the making. So we were because we're boots dropping, and we don't have a lot of capital to put into the company. We've always been earning and putting the money back in, you know, doing architecture work and then trying to fund this kind of progress, what we're trying to achieve. And the app has always been there from the very beginning. It's just, you know, we were trying to do it ourselves. I was trying to learn how to code. I was trying to, you know, every way to try and make it happen. We've been trying, but I guess the advantage to that is that through that journey, we've just managed to really connect with our audience, because we ended up doing the podcast, and we ended up doing teaching and training and coaching. It's, in a way, kind of a happy circumstance that it took us so long, because in that time, we've just really focused on what our audience needs and what's going to help them. So yeah, it feels like it came at the right time in the end.

Sam Drew-Jones 10:17
I'm a really big fan of making, like, building things slowly with community. So it's really great that you focused on that as you know, we are hoarders. We love to, we love to, you know, pull all the grants together for everyone else and serve them up on a platter. So we save everyone time you you've used the live funding database, which we've had for a year now today, has that helped you? Has it helped you in any way?

Jane Middlehurst 10:41
Yeah, it really has. I think that obviously the thing with funding is, you get your first bit of funding and immediately you need more. Because, you know, the journey doesn't stop. It just keeps progressing. Yeah, we've been on the database looking for new opportunities, and I just check in on it, you know, every few weeks, just to see what new things have been added, because it's interesting. We didn't, we haven't, I know that there are databases in other places that are kind of, I don't know, the big databases that you have to have a subscription, like a professional subscription to and stuff, and it it always just felt like it wasn't really tailored for us and what we needed, whereas your database is aimed at small startups looking for the right type of purpose led opportunities. So it's just perfect for us. And yeah, I just like to keep up to date with it. We've used it several times to kind of look at different funding opportunities that we just wouldn't have the time to look for otherwise. Everything's so busy and hectic that I can just cherry pick and filter what is right for us and only apply for the things that that make sense. Yeah? We like to

Sam Drew-Jones 11:49
think of it as, like, online shopping, you know. So you're using all the same filters you would if you're shopping for something, but it's just, it's grants you're looking for,

Jane Middlehurst 11:56
yeah? And, you know, it's just so varied, you know, there's so many small little bits of funding and grant money out there that you just you would never know about. So yeah, it's interesting to see, actually, how broad the scope is of the opportunities that are out there.

Sam Drew-Jones 12:13
Yeah, the little ones can get hidden by Google. Yeah, and you came through the alt funding school, so talk in a community. Who did you meet on the alt funding school and how did it help you?

Jane Middlehurst 12:24
I guess it was just hearing people's stories, really. I think it's more coming across different kind of people and their stories and the journeys they've been on to make their companies. We had Emma Shaw talking about the library of things in our cohort, which was amazing, and it just hearing firsthand how she took the idea through the funding and how she'd set up a steward, ownership, Steward, ownership, yeah, yeah. So she'd set up a different type of company structure that was really inspiring, and that just led me to kind of go down a rabbit hole of searching, how can we set up our company in a different way, and how can we put how can we take the steps like, what are the small steps you need to take to jump from one thing to the next? Because I think there's this feeling that, I guess I always had, this feeling that with the kind of venture capital or some kind of accelerator would kind of spot us, and we'd be zoomed off into kind of, you know, some kind of funding Oblivion, where we'd get all the support we need, and they'd help us. I think I just it's like with everything, with your business, you just need to take baby steps, like every, every small step you take is working towards that journey. And to hear somebody talk about their journey was just really enlightening and helpful, and it just made me see that we can do the same thing. We just need to, you know, it's just hard work, isn't it? You just need to research what you want to achieve and just keep on working towards it. And that's the only way, really to get there.

Sam Drew-Jones 14:00
Yeah, it just normalizes it so much when you hear other people telling you, oh, there's this other way and you're going in the right direction.

Jane Middlehurst 14:08
Well otherwise, you only see people that have already got there, and that just seems really odd, like, oh, they must have been super special somehow. Or how did that happen for them?

Sam Drew-Jones 14:18 "Overnight success!"

Jane Middlehurst 14:19 Exactly. Yeah, there is no such thing as overnight success. It's just it doesn't happen like that. Whenever you talk to somebody that feels like they've just popped up on your radar, you know there's, there's all those steps behind them that they've taken. Yeah, that was really reassuring, and just made it seem possible. So that was really great.

Sam Drew-Jones 14:39
Well, talking to next steps, like, what is next for you? What are you exploring? Is it ownership models yourself, or app developments, or something we wouldn't expect?

Jane Middlehurst 14:48
Yeah. So we've just launched the app now, so we've been, you know, running around, doing all the user testing, really trying to make sure that everything's working properly and already. We're ready for our next kind of sprint to take it on further. So it's a combination of doing more development work, user feedback, looking at grant funding, looking at our ownership structure. So we're really interested in, you know, the steward ownership model. And so it's doing all of all of the things as it always is at once. But it definitely feels, you know, so nice to have, you know, a great product, a great MVP now that we can, you know, be tweaking and progressing. And I think just having that connection with our like community, and everyone's been so amazing at feeding back to us and testing things out and telling us how to improve things. So it just feels like we have got a really clear, clear path forward now of how to make it really help people. So yeah, it feels exciting, and we're just peddling as hard as we can to keep all the plates spinning and getting it all to work at the same time.

Sam Drew-Jones 16:08
What's your secret to staying motivated during those funding challenges? Yeah,

Jane Middlehurst 16:13
I think it's just I was thinking about this when you're when we didn't get the women in innovation grant, that just felt like, Oh, of course, we didn't get that. Of course, you know, you can kind of feel like, of course, we're never going to get funding that doesn't, you know, it's not applicable for us or something. But getting, obviously, getting the other grant, you know, you're suddenly on the other side of it, where you where it changes how you see yourselves and your company, and it is really good to get that external validation, but since then, we've applied for more grants and not got those grants. So I think it's every time we've applied for something, it has pushed our thinking on. It's pushed our business model on, because it causes you to really take a really deep look into what you're proposing, how beneficial it's going to be. Like, you're really trying to sell yourself in that in that moment, and really make it crystal clear, like, what the outcomes are going to be. So I think I would just say, like, for every grant that you're applying for, see it as a business development opportunity. And if you're reading the gram, and it's not going to develop your business by applying, you know, by answering all those questions. It's not really going to, it's not pushing you in the direction you want to go in. Then it's probably not the right, the right grant for you. You know, since then, I've kind of seen other grants and thought, well, we could, we could kind of fit that. But they're saying, Do I want to spend my time, you know, preparing and thinking along this other slightly different path? If it isn't pushing you in the direction you want to go, then then, you know, it's not, probably not worth your time. And if you kind of view it as that business development, then you've not lost anything at the end of it. I think I'm so happy the last one we did and we didn't get I'm so happy we did it, because we now have all this kind of thinking and, you know, research that we did for that proposal that we can use for other things. So I think, yeah, just use it to your advantage, so that if you don't get it, that's okay too, and don't measure your worth on whether you get it or not. You know when you're on the outside, it feels like people are making a judgment on whether your business is a viable thing or not, when actually you know that for yourself, you just need to have the confidence to keep knocking on the doors. Oh,

Sam Drew-Jones 18:35
I love a good reframe. Such good reframing. Well, thank you so much for sharing all of your wisdom from your journey so far, and really like looking forward to seeing what you do next. I will definitely come knocking when we're doing our next renovation. Oh,

Jane Middlehurst 18:49
thank you. And we're always, you know, whenever we get the opportunity, we're always telling people about considered capital and the database. If you're on the if you're on the outside looking in, you just want that person who's gonna kind of hold your hand and be like, You know what you can do it like that. That's all it takes is for somebody to tell you that, actually, you already know, you know that you can do it yourself. You just need somebody to tell you how. So it's just such a great thing that you're doing. So thank you.

Sam Drew-Jones 19:18
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