VC10X - Why the UK Fails to Produce Trillion-Dollar Companies - Duncan Johnson, CEO, Northern Gritstone

Having a US funder on your cap table in the early years gives you a two times outperformance potential. Getting into the US BD ecosystem, i.e. US clients and having operations in the US in the early stages gives you a three and a half times outperformance potential.

The UK consistently produces world-class research and talent, yet struggles to produce technology giants at the same rate as the US. Where exactly does the value chain break?

We absolutely have the fundamental science and research. And in fact, globally, we are the number one in doing that. It's the talent not to produce that science, but it's the talent that can take that to a commercial proposition.

It's what separates the companies that become globally significant from those that remain great science projects.

Talent. It's all about people. The science, bizarrely for what we do, Prashar, is actually the commodity. We have so much of it. Honestly, it's everywhere. And it's all world class and it's always amazing. It's the talent that can see the opportunity and can execute on the strategy to create an amazing business or an amazing product.

Hey everyone, this is Prashant and I'll be your host for the VC10X podcast and today we have Duncan Johnson with us. Duncan is the CEO of Northern Gridstone, a permanent capital investment company backed by the universities of Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield, built to commercialize world-class research coming out of the north of England. In this conversation, we get into why the UK produces some of the best science in the world but struggles to turn it into globally significant companies. And where exactly that value chain breaks. Duncan walks us through the data behind why having a US investor on your cap table can mean a two times outperformance potential and why getting into the US ecosystem early might be one of the most important moves a UK founder can make. We also dig into Northern Gridstone's permanent capital structure, what institutional investors still must understand about venture risk and duration, why concentration beats spreading capital thin across the UK, and where Duncan believes the UK actually has the right to win in AI. So without wasting any time, let's dive straight in.

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I'm very good. Thanks, Prashant. Yeah, good.

Amazing. So let's start with our conversation. What specific problem in the UK innovation ecosystem were you trying to solve when you started Northern Gridstone?

So we started Northern Gridstone five years ago, and it was really a put up or shut up solution for a problem, which was the fundamental