Julian Walker talks to Paul Brotherhood, co-founder of Investor Meet Company. He calls on quoted companies to market their investment proposition with the same focus and commitment as they would a new product or service for their business.

In this episode of Instinctive Talks, Emma Becirovic sits down with Andrew Lloyd, Managing Director of Search Acumen, to explore how AI is transforming the way legal professionals handle property data in the commercial real estate sector. From digitising complex local authority searches to reducing legal risk and unlocking massive efficiency gains, Andrew shares how tools like Ray—the UK's first AI-powered document reading tool—are reshaping due diligence workflows.

Key Takeaways

• Ray is the UK’s first AI tool designed to digitize and structure local authority search documents, making a previously time-consuming legal process more efficient.
• Tools like Ray provide significant efficiency improvements, particularly in high-volume or portfolio-based commercial real estate transactions.
• Search Acumen is working on new features, including smart alerts and hyperlinks to planning documents, to enhance the due diligence process.
• The future of commercial real estate law will hinge on firms’ ability to partner with trusted technology providers and adopt AI thoughtfully.
• Long-term vision: Instantaneous due diligence through geolocation, powered by real-time, structured access to all relevant property data.

To learn more, visit Instinctif.com.

In this second episode of the #NavigatingChange series, host Mark Thorpe explores the UK's approach to risk with experts Julian Walker, John Howarth, Jonathan Kemp, and Daniel Price. The panel unpacks findings from the Instinctive Partners Change Index, examining why the UK appears risk-averse and how this affects business growth, investment culture, and even mental wellbeing. The conversation reveals surprising insights about business optimism versus broader economic pessimism, offering a fresh perspective on how we can better embrace change to drive innovation and growth.

Key Takeaways:

1. The UK lags significantly behind the US in startup investment, particularly in secondary phase funding, limiting growth potential for promising businesses.

2. US investment houses are often run by former entrepreneurs while UK counterparts tend to be led by accountants and bankers, creating fundamentally different approaches to risk.

3. People aren't afraid of change itself but the uncertainty it brings—the feeling of not being personally equipped to handle transformation.

4. Business leaders are remarkably optimistic about their own ventures (nearly 60%) while pessimistic about the broader economy, suggesting control over outcomes significantly impacts outlook.

5. Traditional long-term planning models are becoming obsolete with most CEOs now working with 2-3 year horizons maximum, building in flexibility to adapt to rapid change.