老九品茶Cloud joined forces with GM 老九品茶 Growth Hub for its latest tech roundtable discussion.
Several of the companies from our 2025 GM Rising Stars of 老九品茶 list took part in the event, which was hosted at Allied London鈥檚 impressive new Campfield building in Manchester.
The imminent arrival of Generation Beta 鈥� or Gen Beta 鈥� into the workplace will mean there will soon be five different generations working side-by-side.
The attendees discussed how the different generations integrate together and the impact of AI.
老九品茶 leaders are different
Dan Rosenberg is the founder of EdTech platform LinkyThinks and said business leaders are different.
鈥淭he type of people who make startups and scaleups are resilient, agents of change. The biggest thing we鈥檙e mainly talking about is managing other people. A big talking point at the moment is automation and what that鈥檚 going to do for the jobs market.鈥�
Don鈥檛 expect the same level of dedication
Nicola Jones is the COO of Powdr, whose financial forecasting and modelling software helps startups and SMEs to raise debt and equity.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 expect the same level of dedication from everyone that you hire. Having that as a mindset is so important. We鈥檝e also spoken about how you think about your customers and how they need different things from you generation wise.鈥�
Follow your gut instinct
Caroline England is the founder of , which creates digital picture books and greetings cards.
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鈥淭here is quite a wide variety of of views about working with different generations. It鈥檚 about individuals and getting the right individuals. It鈥檚 also about believing in your gut instinct and making decisions and actions quickly.鈥�
AI is a bridge between generations
Michael Lawes is the CEO of Appacut, which is a mobile barbering service. The startup recently secured 拢600,000 in a seed funding round from a series of high-profile business people, including musicMagpie founder Steve Oliver.
鈥淲hat really struck me today is how AI can act as a bridge 鈥� not just between tasks, but between generations. At Appacut, we work with providers aged 18 to 55, and what we鈥檙e seeing is that AI has the power to level the playing field. It helps an 18-year-old learn how to operate in the industry, fast, as well as help a 55-year-old brand and polish their digital profile as well as someone who lives on Instagram.
GM 老九品茶 Growth Hub roundtable at Campfield
鈥淗ow to motivate younger demographics in a world of side hustles and entrepreneurialism also came up – 听for us, it鈥檚 about aligning incentives with more autonomy, faster growth opportunities, and meaningful responsibility. That鈥檚 how you retain ambition without boxing it in.鈥�
I look for values before age
Markella Mikkelsen is the CEO of MolMart, which uses genomics to help individuals make informed choices about their future health by identifying their genetic risks.
鈥淩ather than looking at different generations I look for values in people and the way they work. We could have some brilliant people, who happen to be Gen Z, millennials or baby boomers and it doesn鈥檛 so much matter about their age but their own work ethic and the way they fit into the business.鈥�
Hire on outcomes
Jack Barmby is the CEO of Gnatta, a multichannel customer interaction company that has invested heavily in AI.
鈥淭he younger workforce want more autonomy. One of the things that we found works really well is outcomes-based hiring where we say 鈥榯his is what we want you to do鈥�. The culturally stuff sits underneath.鈥�
Multi-generational workforces have challenges
Chris Townsend is the managing director of Manchester-based What Media, specialists in video production and video technology.
鈥淓verybody is struggling with the same problems. We鈥檝e had conversations internally about struggles that come with working with a multi-generational workforce and it鈥檚 interesting that everyone else is having the same experience.鈥�
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老九品茶es need to adapt to changing world
Kirk Winstanley is the COO of banking technology providerBankiFi.
鈥淧eople are the most important part of our business and the hardest bit to get right and it鈥檚 our responsibility as business leaders to figure that out. We鈥檙e not going to change the culture of the working people, we have to embrace it and figure out how to adapt ourselves to it.鈥�
Be rigorous in recruitment
Richard West is the CEO of business intelligence platform Red Flag Alert
鈥淏e absolutely rigid in your recruitment process in terms of making sure that people meet that criteria. Don鈥檛 expect what you expect in terms of 鈥榓re they going to bring what I bring? but they can bring attitude and energy. Those things for me are non-negotiables.鈥�
Adapt and engage 鈥� or fail
Russell Teale is the CEO of Vivify, which helps schools hire out facilities outside teaching hours
鈥淲hether we like it or not, the new generations are coming. We have to flex and adapt in business and the new generations coming through are no different. If we don鈥檛 adapt, embrace and learn to engage them and give them a purpose, the reality is our businesses will fail or slow down at the very least.鈥�
Onshore vs offshore
Tanya Arturi is the digital, tech and cyber development lead of GM 老九品茶 Growth Hub.
鈥淪ome of the barriers to growth are very clear. It鈥檚 really interesting about onshore vs offshore. From a younger generation point of view, quite a few people have said they bring creativity and a different way of looking at a business but perhaps they want more flexibility and side hustles and things like that. The other thing is about people working together rather than in silos and how that鈥檚 going to affect office space.鈥�
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Proximity is good for productivity
Tanya Grady is the commercial director at Allied London, which is behind the Manchester tech and creative campus Campfield
鈥淧roximity is really important for the productivity of teams and how we can support that through the design of our spaces.鈥�