Last night, 26 February 2026, the lights came up at UP in Croydon, and something shifted in the room.
Seventy founders, freelancers and small business owners arrived at the easy kind of welcome that sets the tone for a proper community event. Drinks in hand, food on the table, conversations starting before anyone had even taken a seat. That is always the sign that people have come for more than a talk. They have come to connect, to learn, and to move their business forward.
Our event, Fire UP Your Funding, was designed to do exactly that. Practical funding advice, honest founder stories, and the kind of networking that leads to real opportunities. It was delivered through a simple format that worked. A fireside chat with a founder who has lived the journey, followed by a panel of experts who see funding decisions up close, then time to meet the people in the room and turn insight into next steps.
Why this event mattered and why it happened at UP
Fire UP Your Funding was delivered as part of the Croydon Business Support Programme (SBSP), funded by Croydon Council, to ensure local entrepreneurs can access relevant support when it counts. The evening was also made possible with the backing of partners who believe in the Croydon business community, including State Bank of India UK, who sponsored the drinks, and Crack Cookies, who brought the sweet finish to the night.
It is also worth saying clearly that this event reflects what UP is becoming.
You may have known us as Startup Croydon. The brand change to UP is not cosmetic. It is a signal. Businesses do not just need help to start. They need support to start and grow, and our work has expanded to reflect that reality. UP exists to give founders and teams the space, guidance and network to take the next step, then the next one after that.
Welcome to UP and the support behind the support
Our CEO, Saffron opened the programme by introducing UP and our five pillars of support, and by recognising the organisations that helped make the evening possible. Thanks were shared for Croydon Council, Fireaway Pizza, State Bank of India UK, and the partners who helped promote the event and bring the room together.
Then we moved straight into the heart of the night.
Fireside chat: Mario Aleppo and the power of a local story
When Mario Aleppo began speaking, you could feel the room lean in.
Mario is the owner of Fireaway, an innovative pizzeria chain known for Neapolitan-style pizza, served fast, with a customer experience built around choice. But the story that landed most strongly was not the brand or the numbers. It was the fact that he is a local young entrepreneur with a deep drive to build something of his own.
He spoke about that early, stubborn ambition many founders recognise. The feeling that employment might be a stepping stone, but ownership is the destination. Croydon produced that ambition, and it also produced the grit required to act on it.
Mario shared that his original plan was to buy a franchise of a well-known sandwich chain. It felt like the obvious route into business, a system already built, a recognised name, a clear playbook. But as he explored it, two things became clear. The investment required was beyond what he could comfortably take on at that stage. And the structure itself felt more like buying yourself a job than building a business.
So he pivoted.
He saved. He took a loan. He opened the first Fireaway store, and he did it with an idea that was simple, customer-led, and quietly bold. Pizza that is ready quickly, combined with the freedom for customers to choose ingredients in the moment. Familiar enough to understand instantly, different enough to stand out. It is the sort of move that readers of Blue Ocean Strategy will recognise, creating space where competition is not the point because you are no longer playing the same game.
What surprised many people in the room was what came next.
There was no masterplan for rapid growth at the beginning. No grand expansion map pinned to the wall. The momentum came because people started asking the question founders dream of hearing. Can I buy into this? Can I open one? Can I franchise it?
That demand shaped the direction, and today Fireaway has grown to more than 160 stores across England and Europe.
Mario also spoke candidly about the challenges and mistakes along the way, the parts that founders do not always hear on stage. The decisions he would make differently. The pressure that comes with employing more people. The work required to turn a great local business into a repeatable model.
He shared plenty of advice, too. We will not publish all the details here, not because we want to be mysterious, but because the value of these moments is in being in the room, hearing the nuance, and asking the questions that matter to your own situation. If you want the full story and the practical takeaways, make sure you sign up to our newsletter so you never miss an upcoming event, workshop, or funding opportunity.
Funding in practice, not in theory
After a short break, the room reset. Drinks refreshed, snacks grabbed, and people moved into the panel session with the kind of purposeful energy you only get when founders are surrounded by other founders.
Dee Miller, an UP Trustee, facilitated the discussion and kept it grounded in the practical.
The panel brought together a mix of perspectives that founders rarely get to access in one place:
- Viveck Patil from State Bank of India UK
- Nick Howe from NatWest
- Lucy Kebbell from The WIP
- Kevin Monserrat from Execution Capital
Rather than generic encouragement, the session focused on what funding readiness looks like in the real world, including:
- What bankability and investment readiness actually mean in practice
- The most common mistakes founders make when applying for funding and how to avoid them
- How to think about mixing grants, loans and equity
- One immediate action founders can take to improve their chances of receiving funding
Founders left with clear themes to work on, from how to present financials and evidence traction, to how to communicate risk and credibility in a way decision makers can trust. Just as importantly, they left with names, faces and connections, which often matter as much as the information.
The networking that turns into opportunity
After the panel, the room did what it does best when you bring the right people together. It networked.
Introductions happened between people who should know each other. Funding conversations continued in corners. Partnerships began with quick exchanges that will become longer meetings next week. That is the quiet success metric for nights like this. Not just inspiration, but movement.
What UP offers next for businesses
Events like Fire UP Your Funding are a window into what UP is here to build.
We support businesses through the real stages of growth:
- START: Practical support to help founders go from idea to action, including our bootcamps.
- GROW: Hands on guidance to help businesses scale, including delivery through the Croydon Business Support Programme (CBSP).
- SPACE: Flexible workspace options that help you operate professionally, including Virtual Offices and Serviced Offices.
- CREATIVE: A thriving creative community, including our work with schools and colleges through the CDL, Creative Digital Lab.
- NETWORK: Connections that create momentum through our partner ecosystem and events like Fire UP Your Funding.
That mix is deliberate. START gives you direction and momentum. GROW gives you the structure and support to scale with confidence. SPACE gives you stability and professionalism. CREATIVE brings fresh thinking, skills, and new talent. NETWORK gives you reach, relationships, and opportunities that move faster than you can on your own.
Keep the momentum going
If you joined us last night, thank you for bringing your questions, your curiosity and your ambition into the room. If you missed it, we would love to see you at the next one.
To stay in the loop on upcoming events, bootcamps, funding opportunities and business support, sign up to our newsletter here: https://uphub.work/newsletter/
Fire UP Your Funding was a reminder that Croydon has founders with big goals and the willingness to do the work. UP is here to make that work a little less lonely, a little more connected, and a lot more supported, from start to growth.