Dreaming Bigger, Building Better
- Carolyn Röhm
- Apr 28
- 5 min read
Reflections on the Creative HQ FinTech Lab 2025 Accelerator
The Power of Community
If there’s one thing the start-up journey teaches you quickly, it’s that you cannot do it alone. People matter — not just for advice or introductions, but for encouragement, perspective, and energy when you need it most. The right people lift you up when things are hard, challenge you to think bigger, and remind you why you started in the first place. Community, relationships, and support aren’t side notes – they are critical to start-up life.
From the very beginning, meeting the other founders in our cohort was simultaneously one of the most grounding and one of the most energising parts of the Creative HQ FinTech Lab 2025 accelerator. Hearing their stories, seeing their determination, and celebrating their wins — sometimes small, sometimes not so small — made the road ahead feel less lonely and far more achievable. We aren’t just building businesses; we're building a community of founders determined to make a positive impact on the world.
As part of the application process, we talked about our challenges and what we wanted to focus on. The CHQ team then matched us with mentors. The impact our mentors, Ian and Corinna, had on our business cannot be overstated. They brought curiosity, insight, and generously shared their hard-earned wisdom. Their questions helped sharpen our thinking at critical moments, and their encouragement gave us the extra momentum we needed to keep moving forward.
We were also incredibly fortunate to have our coach, Nedra, walking alongside us. She asked the questions we didn’t always want to be asked but needed to hear. She shared practical frameworks, made thoughtful introductions, and gently challenged our assumptions, all while keeping us steady and focused when the pace of startup life threatened to overwhelm us.
It isn't just our immediate mentors and coach — the generosity of the entire CHQ team, sponsors, and broader ecosystem is extraordinary. Every conversation, workshop, and piece of advice was offered with openness and genuine belief in what we're trying to achieve. This is a space where learning, growth, ambition, and even vulnerability are not only welcomed but expected.
At the heart of it all was the CHQ team itself. Their energy, their passion, and their unwavering commitment to creating a high-impact, high-trust environment set the tone for everything. They don’t just talk about building community — they live it, every day, in every interaction. And that, more than anything, made all the difference.
Learning to Tell Our Story
While the relationships we built were the heart of the experience, the skills we developed are the engine driving us forward.
Early on, we identified enterprise B2B sales as a significant skill gap — one we need to close if we’re going to scale. Selling into large organisations isn’t just about having a great product; it’s about navigating complexity, understanding decision-makers, and building trust at every step. With the support of the CHQ team and our mentors, we’ve made a focused effort to learn how better to navigate these long, often winding sales cycles.
Working closely with Corinna, we also sharpened how we articulate our value. From a credit risk perspective, there are numerous things we can do — many opportunities to make a difference. However, telling the story in a way that allows others to truly understand the power and potential of what we offer is a different skill altogether. Corinna helped us find that clarity. She pushed us to think more sharply, speak more simply, and connect more deeply with the real impact our solution has. Our messaging today is stronger because of that guidance — clearer, more confident, and much more compelling.
At the same time, Ian, along with invaluable input from investors, fund managers, and the CHQ team, helped demystify the investment pathway. What once felt abstract and distant now feels real and navigable. We gained not just an understanding of what investors look for, but a much clearer view of the road ahead — the milestones we need to reach and the story we need to tell.
Turning Possibility into Action
As our understanding deepened, so too did our ability to tell the right story to the right people at the right time.
Through numerous conversations, workshops, and mentor sessions, we refined our business messaging, finding clearer and simpler ways to articulate the real value that Scores4All delivers. It’s one thing to know, deep down, that you’re solving important problems; it’s another to be able to communicate that so that others see it too.
As a result, new market opportunities have begun to emerge. Potential clients who we had previously discounted may now want our help, and many opportunities feel far more real and attainable. Our vague hopes have been replaced by grounded plans, backed by new momentum.
Our network has also grown stronger. Connections with mentors, potential partners, and investors weren’t just introductions — they were the beginnings of relationships built on trust, shared values, and a belief in the impact we are trying to create. These relationships are now part of the bedrock on which we will continue to grow.
Growth Beyond Business
Of course, the growth we experienced wasn’t just in our business — it was personal too.
One of the quieter, but perhaps most profound lessons of the accelerator was the acceptance that there is always more work to be done, and that rest is a critical part of that work. Building a business can feel like a race you can never win, but CHQ helped us reframe that thinking. They reminded us that sustainable progress comes not just from pushing harder, but from knowing when to pause, to breathe, and to come back stronger.
Throughout this programme, we have been stretched and challenged in all the right ways. And always within a safe, supportive environment — one where questions are welcomed, vulnerability is not a weakness, and growth isn’t just encouraged, it is expected.
This experience strengthened more than just our skills. It strengthened our resilience, our adaptability, and our strategic thinking. We leave the programme not only with sharper tools, but with a deeper sense of confidence in our ability to navigate whatever comes next.
We didn’t just work harder — we learned to live more deliberately, to choose where we put our energy, and to build the kind of foundation that can last.
The Road Ahead
As we step forward from the accelerator, the path ahead feels clearer and more exciting than ever.
Scores4All is now onboarding new Behaviour Scoring clients, working with organisations who believe, as we do, that proactive financial care matters. These are companies that recognise the importance of reaching out early and supporting customers before financial challenges escalate.
Beyond individual clients, we are continuing to build towards something bigger: a more responsible, proactive credit ecosystem. One where lenders aren’t just reacting to problems, but helping to prevent them, and where customers feel seen, supported, and valued.
To anyone thinking about applying to the CHQ FinTech Lab: do it.
If you are accepted, don’t just lean in — dive in.
Embrace every opportunity, especially those that feel most daunting.
This programme has the power to challenge you, support you, and change the way you see both your business and yourself. We will always be grateful that we said yes.
We’re just getting started.
Thanks to CHQ, we are stronger, wiser, and more ready to make a difference than ever before.
Discover how Scores4All can empower your team to support customers in need proactively. For a confidential discussion on how we can help you make a real difference, reach out today—we’d love to connect.
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