David Richards MBE, founder of Yorkshire AI Labs, is unequivocal in his view of where the legal profession is heading – and intends to be at the forefront of the disruption.

Yorkshire AI Labs operates a sweat equity and cash model. Among the startups being incubated within it is Lexcelerate, a LegalTech which is targeting remortgages initially but has grander plans long-term.

LEXcelerate has been launched by Yorkshire AI Labs and aims to do for conveyancing what Uber did for taxis. Mark Hewitt, architect of the firm’s proprietary AI platform, has spent the last 30 years helping manufacturing, legal, insurance and property companies to transform their operations using tech.

“The starting point was a remortgage,â€� recalls Mark to ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud for Founder Friday. “The whole process, from start to finish, was atrocious: the lack of communication, the lack of interaction, and actually the mistakes that were made.

“So I decided that I would have a go – connecting to the land registry, allowing AI to read and understand and interpret documents such as a mortgage offer. And that started to work.â€�

Mark previously led legal software startup Rebmark from concept to more than £1 million in annual recurring revenue before its acquisition by Verisk Analytics, a NASDAQ-listed data analytics group headquartered in New Jersey.

The software was subsequently expanded into the insurance sector and is now used to manage more than £10 billion of catastrophic injury claims reserves.

“I had a lot of legal contacts and so I started to look at whether it could be a piece of software that could be packaged up,â€� says Mark. “But the reality was that wasn’t going to work – because you would have to throw away everything that a law firm currently does and start from scratch.â€�

Thinking bigger

He had known David, a multiple-exit entrepreneur, for more than 20 years. As founder of WANdisco, David had dual-headquartered the data firm in Sheffield and San Francisco but stepped down in 2023 after the actions of a rogue sales employee triggered a fraud scandal. The firm subsequently rebranded to Cirata plc.

“I knew him in passing – and from the pub! – and saw that he was back in Sheffield and launching Yorkshire AI Labs. I basically made it so that he couldn’t avoid me!â€� says Mark.

“Dave sent me off to speak to mortgage brokers, and also to have my idea sense-checked by Paul.�

This isn’t any old Paul from down the pub, but Paul Firth – a highly respected figure in British commercial property law who built DLA Piper into one of the world’s largest law firms and also served as UK regional managing partner at Irwin Mitchell for almost seven years.

“After those conversations, I told Dave that this didn’t work as a software play. He smiled and said: ‘I know – you need to think bigger. You have to ‘be’ the law firm.â€�

So rather than bolting software into a law firm, the idea is to replace the case management and practice management systems themselves, rewriting the whole process.

So starting with remortgages, an established law firm might have 20-25 stages, says Mark: “We’re past 150 steps, and a lot of them can be automated.

“So our starting point is to take the mortgage offer and effectively deconstruct it; then go to the land registry and get the title for property.

“The simplest check is: are the people that are listed on the mortgage offer the people that are listed as the owners of the property? 99.9% of the time that will be the case. But maybe they’ve got married since, leading to a difference in name; maybe there is a spelling mistake in the name; or an incorrect address or date of birth.

“Within about seven seconds of taking that mortgage offer we can highlight any issues that might come down the line; we can then go through the KYC (know-your-customer) and identity checks.

“The reality is that the computer is better at validating all this than a human is ever going to be.�

Lexcelerate’s target market is mortgage brokers who ordinarily suggest a law firm to their clients.

“If you ask a mortgage broker what their key issue is, it’s communication,� says Mark. “They are forever chasing up to find out where the law firm is in the process.�

Uber model

David draws a parallel with taxi disrupter Uber. “Minicabs existed – but what Uber did very cleverly was put it into an app; tell you exactly how much it was going to cost; exactly when it was going to arrive; and exactly where it was going to drop you off. All of it tracked.

“And what else did Uber do? They’re the biggest taxi company in the world without actually owning any taxis.�

He expands: “So Lexcelerate is a law firm – but in the same way that you can order an Uber, or sign up as an Uber driver, you can find a conveyancer, or register as one in under five minutes.

“We think we can become the world’s largest virtual law firm, in the same way that Uber is the largest virtual taxi firm.â€�

Of meeting Mark, he recalls: “Mark came in and he had the technology, but he didn’t have the customers. So we went out and signed up mortgage brokers straight away. What we then needed was the deep domain expertise.â€�

The Three Amigos

Enter Paul. “At DLA we had a troubled subsidiary called DLA Direct, that were basically doing remortgages for Halifax, Lloyds Bank and people like that, at scale,� Paul says. “It was losing money when I got involved; we turned it round and sold it, ultimately, to Capita for about £14 million.

“What I learned during that process was how much of remortgaging could be basically done by cutting the process down and breaking it up into the constituent parts. This was way before AI [as we know it], but even then we could find significant cost reductions and efficiency improvements on each job.

“That’s what first triggered my interest in this. And now, what Mark has produced is highly impressive.â€�

So impressive, in fact, that Paul agreed to lead Lexcelerate. “It’s ready to roll out, and we really do think we can change the market.â€�

Back to David, the computer scientist who envisions a sea-change of tsunami proportions across industries.

“In the same way that [large language model] Claude makes a software engineer 25 times more effective, we make lawyers 25 times more effective – which means that there are 25 times too many lawyers,â€� he says. “The disruption is going to be across the entire sphere – most of the tasks are going to be gone.

“But what this platform actually does is give lawyers a chance of surviving. It won’t be hard to find a lawyer that’s looking for work – starting now.â€�

Meet Sheffield founder unlocking healthy device habits for kids

Luddites

Referencing the Luddites who protested against the Industrial Revolution, he continues: “There’s going to be massive unemployment. People still live in cloud cuckoo land.â€�

Yorkshire AI Labs is also looking to build disrupters across orthodontics; journalism; advanced manufacturing; and football scouting.

The next step for Lexcelerate is to buy a law firm, says David. “We’re looking at two or three different opportunities. Given what we’re doing, we don’t need to buy something with 100 lawyers in it.

“We can buy something with zero lawyers, and we will be able to execute. It just needs to be a shell. It just needs the operating license.�

There will be rival startups with the same idea, he admits. “Our philosophy is that we’re not bothered about competition. This is a £6 trillion global market – I’m okay with the 10% of that! A few hundred billion would be perfectly fine.â€�

Paul, who acquired tens of businesses at DLA Piper and loves deal-making, says: “What I like about this project is just seeing where we can take it.

“I’ve seen the legal business from the inside and, in many ways, it is very complacent. They think that the chargeable hour is here forever. Big commercial law firms are now charging £1,200 an hour for a partner.

“Why would you want to pay that when you can do it for a fraction of the price and get a better service?�

He adds: “This will scale far quicker than DLA, where we were acquiring law firms, trying to integrate cultures from different countries and having to deal with all the regulatory side of international business.�

The shining Dymond at heart of Sheffield’s tech ecosystem

The post Could world’s largest virtual law firm be created in Sheffield? appeared first on ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud.

As a single mother at 26 I’d built up a multi-six-figure business from nothing – winning awards and plaudits in equal measure.

By the age of 30 I was generating millions of pounds when I gave birth to my second child – but in a moment I did not see coming, everything came crashing down around me, as I stood on the side of a mountain, needing solace from everyone, and finally understood the cost of the path that had got me here

Fast forward a few years and I’m now running three businesses, with a combined turnover of more than £1m collectively – and I’m about to have my third child – but this time it’s different.

I’m managing 30 staff across the country but here’s the thing – I’m the calmest I’ve ever been because I’ve learnt a different way after studying neuroscience, hypnotherapy, spiritual practice and so much more, to try and understand the impact of trauma, and how it affects our nervous system.

If I was offering advice to my younger self I would say: ‘Don’t work 14-hour days, trying to hold it all together whilst slowly destroying myself.’

That’s why I’m determined this time will be different and I want to help other people make the same mistakes that I did through my

I’ve lived through many layers of personal traumas, from an unstable upbringing with an alcoholic father, to abusive relationships, both emotionally and physically.

Following my breakdown I hyper-focused on studying across multiple disciplines of neuroscience, hypnotherapy, spiritual practice and so much more to try and understand the impact of trauma, and how it affects our nervous system.

This is what I’d share with her younger self – at different points in the journey.

Before you start this business – heal

You’re about to build something incredible, but you are also about to build it on foundations that are cracked.

ÀϾÅÆ·²è will push you further than you can imagine. It doesn’t just test your skills. It tests your identity, your capacity, your relationships, your survival instincts. It will shine a huge light on every unresolved trauma you are carrying.

The pressure will amplify the parts of you that are driven by fear- fear of not being enough; fear of losing everything; fear of being seen.

If you don’t turn towards those parts now – you will be forced to later, and when that moment comes, it won’t feel like growth, it will feel like total body and mind collapse.

Success built on survival is not sustainable success, so heal first, or healing will happen through crisis.

Stop proving. Start building

You think you are building a business but really, you are trying to prove your worth.

You are chasing validation, chasing security, chasing the feeling of finally being safe.

So you will overwork, over-give, over-achieve, and people will praise you for it. They will call you driven; resilient; inspiring, but they will not see the cost, nor will they care.

The exhaustion, loneliness and constant pressure is only yours to hold but you do not need to prove you are capable, because you already are.

Build from belief – not from fear

Boundaries are not selfish. They are non-negotiable.

You will try to be everything to everyone. Clients, staff, family, friends.

You will say ‘yes’ when your body is screaming ‘no’ and will stay available when you desperately need space.

And you will call this commitment, ambition, drive, but what you are actually doing is abandoning yourself, losing yourself.

A business without boundaries becomes chaos. A leader without boundaries becomes resentful, miserable and will lose all power.

Your capacity is not infinite and pretending it is will nearly break you. Protect your energy like you protect your income. Both are business assets.

You cannot outrun your nervous system

You will believe you won’t suffer burnout but you will. You’ll try and push your way through exhaustion, but you can’t.

Your body will always have the final say.

When you ignore the signals – the anxiety, the tension, the inability to switch off – they do not disappear they build and they build, until one day you physically and mentally cannot continue.

That breakdown on the mountain will feel like failure but it will actually be the turning point that saves your life. Learn to regulate. Learn to rest. Learn that slowing down is not falling behind. It is how you build longevity.

Success means nothing if you lose yourself. You will hit milestones you once dreamed of.

Financial freedom, recognition, growth, but you will realise, it isn’t worth it because you built a life that looks successful but feels empty.

You will have sacrificed time with your children, moments you cannot get back, versions of yourself you didn’t look after.

Second time round is different

The second time around, you will do it differently.

You will build with intention, lead with clarity and finally understand that real success is not just what you create but it is how you experience the life you are creating.

If I could go back, I wouldn’t tell myself not to start. I would tell myself to start in a different way.
With self-awareness, real support and with courage to face what I was running from.

• Megan Stachini works with successful leaders and entrepreneurs who are thriving on the outside and running on empty within.

The post ‘I thought I had it all – and then my world came crashing down’ appeared first on ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud.

The transition, to take place in the coming weeks, will see Simon Badley take up an advisory position.

“This is the right time for me to step back and for the business to move forward with leadership focused on that next chapter,� said Badley, who joined the Worcester firm in 2019.

Barnard joins Open GI from Aviva General Insurance, where he most recently served as its COO, leading a team of over 1,500 and accountable for technology, transformation and change delivery of the largest general insurance business in the UK.

He previously held numerous senior roles of increasing responsibility within the broader Aviva business and served at the Ardonagh Group, latterly as COO leading the CIO, CISO, transformation and other key operational functions.

The leadership transition comes as Open GI enters its next chapter of growth, having secured new capital from its majority shareholder in 2025 and initiated a strategic plan focused on offering advanced technology solutions, talent acquisition and development, and superior customer service.

‘Losing our dads at a young age is what drives incentifi’

“On behalf of the board, I am delighted to welcome James, a highly regarded and proven leader, to Open GI following a robust search process,� said Peter Thompson, chair of Open GI.

“With deep sector expertise and a strong background in technological transformation and talent development, James is well-positioned to lead Open GI through its exciting new chapter of growth focused on R&D, data, GenAI, people and our customers.�

Barnard said: “I am thrilled to join Open GI, a company I have long admired, at such a pivotal and exciting time in its growth journey.

“Open GI benefits from a strong suite of technological capabilities, a loyal and quality customer base, and an experienced leadership team.

“As the sector continues to evolve rapidly, Open GI is on a strong footing to capitalise on the opportunity set and solidify its market leadership.�

Daily Mail owner to sell US data arm in $1bn cash deal

The post Aviva COO to take over CEO role at Open GI appeared first on ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud.

The facility empowers Praetura to increase the funding capacity of its sales finance division, which backs businesses with a range of products including invoice discounting, asset-based lending and cash flow loans.

Praetura’s latest announcement builds on an existing relationship with NatWest, which was the inaugural funder in Praetura’s sales finance division – first launched as Praetura Commercial Finance in 2016.

The business has trebled its loan book to £600m in the past five years, including support for more than 1,500 UK SMEs in 2025, with £328m worth of funding.

Its 150-strong team has offices across the North West, with additional presence in London, the Midlands, the South and the North East.

Peadar O’Reilly, chief executive at Praetura, said: “Closing this facility with a renowned and respected institution reflects the quality of the whole Praetura business, and empowers us to offer more extensive funding support to UK SMEs as they continue to navigate both the challenges and opportunities created by the current economic outlook.

“The entire organisation remains committed to a common goal of supporting the sustainable growth of these businesses and we are grateful for NatWest’s backing to help us do exactly that.�

‘Losing our dads at a young age is what drives incentifi’

Andrew Barraclough, head of ABL origination at NatWest, added: “We are delighted to support Praetura with this significant facility. The business has an experienced management team, strong credit discipline and an excellent track record in supporting UK SMEs.

“NatWest has a long history of backing specialist and alternative lenders through structured ABL and back‑to‑back solutions, helping extend funding safely and responsibly across the UK economy.�

Last year Praetura’s venture capital division Praetura Ventures announced a merger with Par Equity, creating PXN Group.

ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud marks 10 years with biggest month yet

The post SME lender Praetura secures £150m NatWest facility appeared first on ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud.

Trepp was founded in 1979 and acquired by the Daily Mail and General Trust plc in 2004.

It has grown into a provider of data, insights and technology for the structured finance, commercial real estate and banking industries.

Rothermere Continuation Holdings, parent company of DMGT, agreed the sale to Fitch Group, a global leader in financial information services.

The timing of completion is subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including regulatory clearance.

Lord Rothermere, executive chairman, commented: “We acquired Trepp more than two decades ago and I am immensely proud of Annemarie DiCola (pictured) and her team for building a world-class digital information business.

‘Losing our dads at a young age is what drives incentifi’

“Fitch will be a brilliant long-term custodian for Trepp. It has the pedigree and experience to drive the next stage of Trepp’s growth.

“I have no doubt that Trepp’s employees and customers can look forward to the future with confidence under Fitch’s ownership.�

Centerview Partners and Goldman Sachs acted as financial advisers and Baker McKenzie as exclusive legal adviser to RCHL during the disposal process.

Version 1 swoop for CreateFuture ‘creates €500m powerhouse’

The post Daily Mail owner to sell US data arm in $1bn cash deal appeared first on ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud.

Historically, it has been the layout of the page and the ease of the design, but thanks to advances in technology and engagement, companies that operate online are now using different techniques to keep people clicking on their site, with an array of interesting results. Continue reading to find out more.

Personalisation and AI

In the modern day, people want more from their online experiences, whether they are buying shoes or looking for a . If you are designing a site to keep your visitors engaged, using AI and personalisation of the experience is the way to go.

Why? Simply put, it offers a tailored experience based on them. For instance, if you are designing a casino page and a particular user has expressed an interest in slot machines, then with the help of AI, you can instantly show them slot machine-based games the next time they log on. This will likely cause them to revisit the page and will keep them engaged with it when they do.

Chats

Depending on the business website, you may have noticed an increase in chat bars on the home page.

For websites like banks, credit card homepages, and even delivery sites, this helps to categorise the need for the visit. Someone who needs to track a parcel is likely to enter the information into a chat log; if the or a database, it can provide them with the essential information. This helps the site user to stay engaged for long enough to resolve their issue and will also solve their problem at the same time.

Polls and Quizzes

Quizzes and polls aren’t just for Survey Monkey and they aren’t always about user experience.

Having a poll or quiz on your website offers your site users the chance to offer their opinion or to potentially win a prize, which is a common result of a quiz. Offering your site users the chance to partake in a discussion will always be popular and is also a must-have for associated social media pages for a business.

Virtual Events

If you have been on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, you will have undoubtedly seen advertised by influencers. Everyone from Dr Mike to Mr Ballen offers these, and they are fantastic for viewers and for recognition.

Even though these started on social media to boost likes, many businesses like Lush and Tesla use them to announce launches or to promote products. These are usually pre-booked (or free to view, depending), which ups the engagement in the online event and helps to boost the brand. Plus, depending on the business model, there are often giveaways, the aforementioned polls, and call-ins to help keep people engaged.

So, if you are looking to build a business that has a high level of user engagement on your site or social media platform, be sure to have at least a couple of the aforementioned tips as a starting point. It will keep people interested and will help you to succeed in the online world.

The post How businesses are using live technology to increase user engagement appeared first on ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud.

What once depended on proximity now depends on connectivity, trust, and the ability to operate securely in distributed environments.

As this accelerates, leadership has become less about control from the centre and more about enabling access at the edges. The companies that scale fastest are not always the ones with the most resources, but the ones that manage information flow without friction or exposure risk.

This article explores how decentralised access is reshaping modern leadership, why secure connectivity is a core part of operational risk management, and what founders need to consider when building companies that operate across distributed environments.

The rise of decentralised decision-making

ÀϾÅÆ·²è leadership is shifting away from fixed hierarchies toward distributed execution. Founders are no longer making decisions in isolation at headquarters. Instead, strategy is shaped in real time across shared platforms, cloud systems, and asynchronous communication channels.

In this environment, secure access is not optional infrastructure and sits at the core of operational resilience. Tools such as are increasingly used by founders who need consistent, controlled access across multiple systems without triggering unnecessary security flags or interruptions.

This is also reflected in how modern founders approach discipline and structure. The principles outlined in the 5 golden rules every founder needs to know highlight a consistent theme in that clarity, resilience, and focus matter more when teams are no longer co-located.

At the same time, decentralisation introduces new pressure points. When access points multiply, so do risks. Devices, logins, and shared systems become entryways that must be managed with greater intention than ever before.

Founder momentum and the compounding effect

Growth rarely happens in a straight line. It builds slowly through repeated execution, small improvements, and decisions that compound over time. The challenge for founders is staying in the game long enough for that compounding effect to take hold.

Remember, don’t quit before the compound effect kicks in, and frame persistence as a strategic advantage rather than a personality trait. In decentralised companies, that persistence is often tested by operational friction, especially when systems are fragmented across tools and locations.

Maintaining momentum requires removing unnecessary barriers. Secure, stable access to systems ensures founders can stay focused on decisions rather than troubleshooting connectivity or managing inconsistent authentication environments.

In decentralised environments, this momentum is often shaped by how seamlessly founders can operate across locations. The realities of working while travelling, explored through , show how closely productivity now depends on stable, secure access across changing environments.

Managing risk in a borderless operating model

As companies expand across markets, risk becomes less about physical infrastructure and more about digital exposure. Sensitive data now moves across devices, networks, and platforms that are not always controlled by a single environment.

Industry analysis on highlights a growing shift toward distributed security models designed to protect access points rather than isolated perimeters. This reflects a broader reality in that security now follows identity, not location.

For founders, this means rethinking how access is granted and maintained. Every login becomes a potential vulnerability if not managed correctly. Secure authentication, controlled access layers, and consistent identity verification are no longer technical details.

Secure web hygiene as a leadership discipline

Security habits are often treated as operational concerns, but in distributed companies, they become part of leadership behaviour. Founders set the tone for how data is handled, how systems are accessed, and how risk is managed across teams.

Simple practices such as separating work and personal environments, using controlled access points, and maintaining consistent digital identities reduce unnecessary exposure. These decisions do not slow teams down. They create stability that allows them to move faster without interruption.

The shift toward decentralised access has made digital hygiene a core part of organisational maturity. The strongest companies are not just those that build quickly, but those that maintain control while scaling across fragmented environments.

Many founders now adopt principles drawn from a well-structured , where device security, network consistency, and controlled access points form the baseline for operating safely across distributed systems. This reduces friction while reinforcing long-term operational discipline.

The future of the borderless boardroom

The boardroom is no longer a place. It is a network of people, systems, and decisions operating in constant motion. As this model becomes standard, the ability to manage access securely will define how effectively companies scale.

Founders who treat secure access as part of their operational foundation will be better positioned to handle complexity without losing momentum. The goal is not to centralise control again, but to build systems that remain stable even when everything else is distributed.

In this environment, leadership is measured by how well a company protects its flow of information while continuing to expand it.

The post The borderless boardroom: Managing founder risk through decentralised access appeared first on ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud.

There’s a distinction worth making, and I don’t think enough students have thought about it. Some AI tools do the thinking for you. Others force you to think. The ones that help you learn tend to be the second kind.

## The passive trap

Here’s what I see happening a lot, particularly with GCSE and A-level students gearing up for exams. A student has a textbook chapter to revise. They paste it into ChatGPT, ask for a summary, read the summary, and feel like they’ve studied. They haven’t. They’ve let a machine do the thinking, and the thinking was the whole point.

This isn’t a moral failing. It’s a reasonable response to the tools available. But it runs directly against what cognitive science tells us about how memory works. Dunlosky and colleagues reviewed ten common study techniques in a and found that the two most effective were practice testing and distributed practice. Rereading and highlighting, the methods most students default to, were rated low effectiveness.

The issue with using AI to summarise your notes is that it replaces the mental effort that actually builds memory. You end up with a tidy summary you didn’t have to think about. That might be fine for getting a rough overview before you start, but it’s not the same as revision.

## What the research says about testing yourself

The reason self-testing works so well comes down to something called the testing effect. Roediger and Karpicke published a that showed students who took practice tests after reading a passage remembered significantly more a week later than those who simply re-read the material. Pulling information out of your memory, even when you get it wrong, strengthens the memory trace in ways that going over notes again does not.

This has been replicated many times since. A of active recall strategies found that practice testing and self-quizzing were reliably linked to better academic outcomes in young adults. At this point, retrieval practice is one of the most well-supported findings in educational psychology.

So when you’re picking AI tools for revision, it’s worth asking: is this tool making me work to remember things, or is it remembering them for me?

## Tools that actually help

With that in mind, here are the tools I’d actually recommend.

Before you can test yourself on anything, you need your notes in one place. Notion works well for this because it handles different formats: lecture recordings, PDFs, handwritten notes you’ve photographed. The AI search features are handy for finding things later, but I’d avoid using Notion to generate summaries you haven’t written yourself. Organisation is the boring part of studying, but skipping it leaves gaps.

The self-testing part is where AI is most useful. Writing practice questions from your own notes by hand works, but it takes ages, especially when you’ve got four or five subjects on the go. A can take your notes and produce multiple choice or short answer questions in seconds. Quizgecko is one tool that does this. You paste in your material, pick a format, and start testing yourself straight away. The questions won’t always be perfect, but they force you to retrieve what you’ve studied rather than just stare at it again.

For spaced repetition, Anki is hard to beat. It’s been around for years. The idea is that you review material at gradually increasing intervals, so you come back to each card just as you’re about to forget it. It’s particularly good for factual recall. A-level biology terms, history dates, that sort of thing. The interface is ugly, I won’t pretend otherwise. But the scheduling algorithm works and it’s free.

Grammarly is worth mentioning with a caveat. It’s useful for catching grammar mistakes and awkward phrasing in your own writing. It becomes a problem when students use it to rewrite entire paragraphs they didn’t compose themselves. There’s a difference between getting feedback on your writing and having software write for you. Be honest with yourself about which one you’re doing.

For research, Google Scholar is still the best starting point when you need peer-reviewed papers for essays and coursework. Perplexity is newer and handy for getting an overview of a topic with citations, though I’d always check the sources it gives you. Neither writes your essay for you. They help you find material, and you do the reading.

## Building a weekly revision routine

Tools on their own don’t do much. How you fit them together matters more than which ones you pick.

A rough weekly pattern that works: spend the first half of the week studying new material and taking notes in your own words. Mid-week, generate practice questions from those notes and test yourself without looking at the source. Pay attention to what you got wrong. Spend a session going back to those weak areas specifically, then test again. At the weekend, keep up with your Anki reviews and add new cards. Twenty minutes is enough if you’re consistent about it.

This doesn’t need to be rigid. The point is that self-testing happens throughout the week, not just the night before an exam when you’re panicking.

## A note on academic integrity

UK universities and exam boards are updating their policies around AI use, and the rules vary quite a bit depending on your institution. The Russell Group universities generally take the position that AI can be used for personal study and learning, but submitting AI-generated content as your own work in assessed coursework is academic misconduct.

The same principle applies at GCSE and A-level. Using a tool to quiz yourself on your notes is studying. Pasting an essay question into ChatGPT and submitting what comes back is cheating. The line between the two is usually obvious, even if it’s tempting to pretend otherwise. If your school or university has published specific guidance on AI use, read it. And when in doubt, ask your teacher or lecturer.

## The right tools don’t replace the work

The way I think about AI study tools is that they’re multipliers. If you’re already testing yourself and spacing your revision, they can speed the process up and take some of the admin out of it. If you’re using them to skip the hard parts of studying, you’ll probably get less out of your revision than someone with a pen and a blank sheet of paper.

Learning is supposed to feel difficult sometimes. That moment where you’re staring at a blank page trying to remember something you read yesterday, and it’s not coming, that’s frustrating. But it’s also where the actual learning happens. I’d rather students picked tools that lean into that difficulty than tools that paper over it.

The post The best AI tools for students in 2026 and how to use them without getting lazy appeared first on ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud.

Fresh from celebrating our 10th birthday, April 2026 will go down as the biggest and most significant month in ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud’s decade-long history.

After achieving a 71 per cent increase in website traffic in 2025 to 818,000 unique users, ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud started April by launching dedicated founder content.

As well as launching our Founder 250 list to showcase the UK’s best founder-led and founder-influenced companies, we also unveiled our new Naked Founder podcast.

The Naked Founder is a business podcast where nothing is hidden. The series kicked off with an exclusive interview featuring CONDUCTR co-founders Peter Cliff and Jos van der Steen.

Other guests have included Distology CEO Hayley Roberts, Panache Cruises founder James Cole, Make Events CEO Holly Moore and Apprentify Group CEO Jonathan Fitchew.

The Naked Founder has already entered Apple’s top 50 business podcasts in the entrepreneurship category.

Alongside the podcast, ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud is publishing daily founder insights from a range of business leaders.

Other highlights from April included:
• Publication of our MarTech 50 and RetailTech 50 rankings
• Jonathan Symcox’s Founder Friday interviews
• 500 new LinkedIn followers
• An exclusive roundtable with Top 100 law firm Ward Hadaway and a panel of business leaders on how to turn ambition into reality
• A repost from Lord Sugar following our coverage of The Apprentice winner Karishma Vijay

ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud editor Jonathan Symcox said: “Our feet didn’t touch the ground in April.

“Although we had a record-breaking 2025, there’s no room to rest on our laurels, so we’ve undergone a slight rebrand to become the go-to place for founder content.

“The Naked Founder podcast has already attracted a global audience, while our short-form videos are getting thousands of views.

“We’ve also been working on our inaugural Founder 250 list, which is being sponsored by RSM, law firm CG, OBI and Mercia Ventures.

“Meanwhile, we’ve continued producing our popular tech rankings with the publication of the MarTech 50 and RetailTech 50 lists.�

Recognition: Lord Sugar shared ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud’s story on this year’s winner Karishma Vijay

ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud’s most-read stories in April focused on its coverage of The Apprentice, with this year’s winner Karishma Vijay and Lord Sugar reposting one of our articles.

Symcox, co-owner of ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud alongside Chris Maguire, added: “ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud really is multi-channel. Our website sits alongside our YouTube channel, LinkedIn account, social media platforms and in-person events.

“We have some great episodes of The Naked Founder podcast lined up for May and plan to publish our Founder 250 list in June.�

The post ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud marks 10 years with biggest month yet appeared first on ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud.

Having collectively spent over two decades building businesses from the ground up across recruitment, travel and high-end hospitality, it was not their first rodeo. Yet incentifi comes from a very personal place for them both.

“I lost my dad suddenly when I was young, and in recent years my mum has been living with dementia. It really does change your perspective on life,â€� Paul tells ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud. “You start to think much more about your own health and how important it is to make the most of your time.â€�

After turning 40, he built an online community around a series called ‘Lads & Dads’ which saw him share a video a day highlighting how men his age could look after themselves – and ultimately have more time with their families.

“That is our goal is with incentifi – to create a platform that rewards employees by simply getting their steps in each day, looking after their health and, in return, being rewarded with discounts on their travel and next holiday,â€� Paul explains.

“My co-founder James and I unfortunately share a mutual pain of both losing our dads at a very young age. It is what motivates us everyday with building incentifi.�

Rewinding back to 2013, he founded recruitment-to-recruitment agency Madison Warner, with offices in London and Manchester. He then pivoted during the COVID pandemic to become a luxury travel consultant. Madison Warner was dissolved in 2023.

James, meanwhile, spent 15 years in Las Vegas building a VIP hospitality and corporate events company. He still runs London 2 Vegas today, but has returned to the UK to build incentifi.

“When we met in 2022, we realised we were both watching teams become dramatically more productive, engaged and energised when the reward wasn’t another bonus or voucher, but something experiential such as travel,� says Paul.

“We come from very different industries, but both have taught us the same thing – it is all about putting people first.

“From running our own businesses, we saw first-hand that prioritising the wellbeing of your team is essential to success, as people work harder, smarter and more creatively when they feel heard, rested and healthy.�

James says the UK is the best place to start and grow their startup – contrary to the common narrative that entrepreneurs are desperate to leave the UK. The startup has raised more than £150,000 pre-seed funding under the SEIS scheme and is targeting £500k.

“London is the right place for us to build and grow incentifi: the city has a vibrant startup ecosystem with attractive financial incentives such as the SEIS and EIS schemes which our investors have benefited from,� says Paul.

“The UK also makes sense for us as a market because it has always been at the forefront of employee wellbeing compared to the US. We get a lot more annual leave, parental leave, health insurance – there is just a much bigger emphasis on wellbeing in the UK, so it makes sense to start here and go from there.â€�

Being your own boss means there’s no off switch

incentifi users earn i-Points through daily activity tracked via existing health data from the likes of Apple Health and Google Fit. These points then get converted into i-Coins, which unlock real cash back when booking travel through the incentifi platform.

Coins can be used to reduce the cost of future travel or redeemed for digital gift cards.

“Delivered through employers, we are building a platform that is accessible to every level of the workforce, making wellbeing genuinely motivating and inclusive – and not just a benefit for the few,â€� explains Paul.

“Most wellbeing platforms track behaviour and offer token rewards; a discount here, a voucher there. incentifi does something structurally different: it turns consistent healthy habits into real financial value, not symbolic gestures.

“Rather than a one-off yoga class, employees are working towards something tangible and aspirational – a more affordable holiday.

“The second differentiator is the travel layer itself: incentifi gives employees access to closed user group pricing with wholesale hotel rates unavailable anywhere publicly.

“Before a single point is earned, the platform already delivers exceptional value. Add cashback on top, and the proposition becomes impossible to ignore.�

So what are their growth plans over the next 12 months?

“We are looking to launch our pilot soon, with the aim of fully launching soon after,� says Paul. “We want to ultimately expand into the insurance, healthcare and consumer space, positioning incentifi at the intersection of health, rewards and commerce.

“Our growth strategy is all about scaling through employers first. We recently announced our new partnership with Healf, which we are really excited about, as it will allow incentifi users to take part in Healf-branded challenges such as run clubs, movement challenges and lifestyle activities.

“We want to continue to partner with brands such as Healf to grow incentifi into the best platform available for employee wellbeing.�

Ben McKay: A week in the life of a founder

The post ‘Losing our dads at a young age is what drives incentifi’ appeared first on ÀϾÅÆ·²èCloud.