In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs.
Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including alternative proteins and cellular agriculture leaders. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies. This podcast is syndicated through our media partners, Foodtech Weekly and Vegconomist.
Episode 35: Platter
In this episode, I talk with Jack Clegg, founder and CEO of Platter, a UK-based startup digitizing wholesale food ordering. Jack shares how he raised £350,000 from 13 UK angels and the Startup Wise Guys accelerator—all while cycling groceries at night to pay rent and building Platter during the day. He walks us through his no-shortcuts approach to investor outreach, from scraping LinkedIn and targeting ex-CEOs in food to earning trust through grit, clarity, and relentless follow-up. Jack’s story is a powerful blueprint for resilience, humility, and startup execution without shortcuts or handouts.
Key Facts Platter:
- Goal: To deliver the ultimate performance in aerial crop spraying.
- Recently raised £350,000 pre-seed round, joined by e.g. Startup Wise Guys and a group of angel investors.
Alex’s Top Findings:
- Built from the Ground Up with Relentless Hustle. Jack built Platter while working nights delivering groceries and days building the company — sacrificing comfort to maintain momentum. “ I delivered groceries five nights a week from 5:00 PM till 10 11, sometimes a bit longer, and worked on platter during the day. I did that for 12 months. I loved it because, cycling around Hackney in East London delivering groceries gives you a lot of time to think you can think about your business. Take your ego hat off. Don’t be embarrassed to what you have to do to get shit done.”
- Skipped the ‘Friends and Family’ Round on Principle. Jack made a deliberate choice not to take easy capital from family, instead seeking validation from external angels who believed in the business, not just him. “I could have probably done the full lot from friends and family, but that’s too easy. I wanted people to back me because of the business, not because they were related.”
- Tactical Prospecting: Target Industry Veterans, Not ‘Investors’. Instead of generic investor titles, Jack targeted ex-CEOs and operators from food companies who understood the space and had capital.“ 70% of people who have ‘angel investor’ in their LinkedIn title aren’t actual investors. I looked for ex-CEOs of food businesses who had sold in the last 10–15 years.”
Link to Apple Podcast here.
Catch the full podcast series here.
