Piers Linney

Piers Linney is a well-known champion of entrepreneurship and growth businesses, and is best known as a former Dragon on BBC Dragons’ Den and as a Channel 4 Secret Millionaire, which was filmed inside a Young Offenders’ Institution. Piers qualified as a lawyer specialised in corporate finance and venture capital in the City before joining the investment banking team at Credit Suisse. He left the city to start a dotcom business and became the CEO of a corporate finance business raising funds for technology start-ups and SMEs before becoming a partner at a hedge fund specialising in providing structured debt and equity.

Piers has founded several technology and communication businesses and has won a range of entrepreneurship awards, including Entrepreneur of the Year at the inaugural EYM sponsored Black British Business Awards. He sat on the Cabinet Office SME Panel and the Board of TechUK, and is a trustee of Nesta, the UK’s leading innovation foundation with a £450m endowment, which provides him with unique insights into the future of economics, business and work. Piers is a Non-Executive Director of the government-owned British Business Bank, which aims to unlock capital for UK SMEs and which has facilitated over £12bn of financing.

Piers has been recognised as one of the top 100 most influential Black Britons and as a leading ethnic minority executive by The Financial Times. He is also an advocate for diversity and inclusion in the workplace and on company boards.

Piers provides practical advice to entrepreneurs and business-owners with growth ambitions through his #ScaleUp initiative across a range of social media channels.