Episode Details

This bonus episode of Millennial Masters features a condensed version of Barney Hussey-Yeo’s evidence to the UK House of Lords inquiry on scaling AI and creative tech.

Barney is the founder and CEO of Cleo, the financial AI assistant founded in the UK in 2016 and later scaled in the US. In this session, he lays out a blunt view of why the UK keeps producing talent, startups, and technical breakthroughs but still struggles to turn that into lasting global tech power.

The conversation covers the structural problems holding the UK back, from weak growth capital and infrastructure gaps to regulatory drag and talent retention, as well as the policy shifts Barney believes could give the country a stronger shot at competing.

What's in this episode

1️⃣ Why the UK keeps falling short at scale

Barney explains why strong universities and startup energy have not translated into enough large, durable tech winners.

2️⃣ The capital gap hurting ambitious AI companies

This part gets into why UK growth-stage funding still falls short when companies need to raise at serious scale.

3️⃣ Where regulation starts pushing founders away

Barney argues that risk-averse systems and weak incentives make it easier for companies to build elsewhere.

4️⃣ Infrastructure, energy, and the limits of ambition

AI needs more than talent. The episode looks at compute, power costs, and the physical constraints behind national competitiveness.

5️⃣ What would need to change for the UK to compete properly

From pension capital to tax, listings, and a bigger national AI push, Barney lays out the shifts he thinks matter most.

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