30-SECOND CV

didn’t come from a business background – it was all survival of the fittest.”

Having survived the startup phase, Meaney says companies need to tap into a different set of skills to scale up with the hope of becoming another “unicorn” like Skyscanner or Fanduel. “Up Ventures can bring in non-executives to help, and we increasingly find ourselves finding management people to come into the businesses. But timing and luck still count.”

The accelerator, which is based in Edinburgh and Mediacityuk, counts international tech giants such as Google, Microsoft and Samsung among its partners and sponsors. The initiative, established in 2012, connects brands, start-ups, investors and governments to “drive ● Born: Edinburgh, 1954 ● Education: BA management studies and MBA, Edinburgh Napier University ● First job: Briefly worked for Scottish Widows ● Ambition while at school: To be a journalist ● What car do you drive: Audi A5 ● Favourite mode of transport: Train – I try not to fly these days ● Music: Eclectic – indie innovation that creates scale and stakeholder value”.

Meaney says Scotland’s start-up ecosystem has “a lot going on”, acknowl- rock to classical, but I can’t stand heavy metal ● Reading material: Thrillers ● What makes you angry: Inequality of opportunity ● Favourite place: Glasgow ● Best thing about your job: I get to meet loads of really interesting people ● Best piece of advice ever given to you in business: Do the right thing for the right reasons, and the money will come ● Can’t live without: My family edging the recent launch of pre-seed tech accelerator Seed Haus, and says Up Ventures will likely run its next programme at Codebase. And while fledgling