Small markets. Global capital. Big ambition.
Building the Caribbean's next generation of investable AI-powered businesses
KEYNOTE TAKEAWAYS · CARIBBEAN INVESTMENT FORUM 2026
Small markets. Global capital. Big ambition.
Building the Caribbean's next generation of investable, AI-powered businesses
Piers Linney MBE Co-founder & Executive Chairman, Implement AI
Closing keynote Hilton Barbados · 5–7 October 2026
THE TALK IN ONE MINUTE
1 Be precise about money. Capital here is scarce, so who you ask, for what and when matters more than how many people you ask.
2 Size the market beyond your island. Bottom-up, with a route to the next market, and work back from the exit.
3 Think like an investor. Show a credible path to 3–4x in 3–5 years, proved milestone by milestone.
4 Match the money to the business. Right investor, right money, right time. Get one wrong and you're wasting your time.
5 Put AI to work as digital workers. Start where it's reliable and pays back. Prove it, then scale what works.
Small markets. Global capital. Big ambition. · CIF 2026 closing keynote takeaways · Piers Linney MBE
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WHO'S TALKING
Every side of the table
Barbadian mother, Windrush generation. Raised in a Lancashire mill town.
“Ambition is evenly distributed, whereas access to capital, networks and opportunity isn't.”
FOUNDER
INVESTOR
BANKER
ADVISER
Built a leading B2B mobile business. Co founded Atherton Bikes (2018) and Implement AI (2023).
Investor on BBC Dragons' Den (2013– 15). Built venture capital and corporate-finance businesses.
Non-executive director of the UK
Solicitor at SJ Berwin, then M&A at BZW/Credit Suisse. Six years a Nesta trustee.
government-owned British Business Bank, through £90bn of Covid business loans.
PART 1 · RAISING FINANCE
Raising finance: the honest picture
The asks on stage this week come close to a whole year of the region's venture capital.
And exits are few Mostly trade sales. Investors will ask who buys you before they ask anything else.
That's not a reason to stop It's a reason to be precise about who you ask, for what, and when.
Sources: Caribbean Export (Sep 2026); IDB, Venture Capital in the Caribbean (Nov 2025), citing ECLAC (2021); First Angels Caribbean; IDB/Compete Caribbean (2014).
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RAISING FINANCE · MARKET SIZE
Size the market
The first question every investor asks: how big is this?
Size it bottom-up. Customers × price × how often they buy.
01
Look past your island. Your island is a test bed, not the market.
02
Show the route. First market, next market, and how you get there.
03
Be credible. “1% of a huge market” convinces nobody.
04
YOUR ISLAND IS A TEST BED, NOT THE MARKET
282,000
Barbados
The six countries behind this week's projects
16.8m
WORK BACK FROM THE EXIT
Raise US$5m for 25%, and you must be worth US$60–80m for investors to make 3–4x.
US$5m
US$20m
US$60–80m
→
→
buys 25% of your company
your value after the round
the exit needed for 3– 4x
Your market has to support that number. If it can't, you need different money.
Population (people): World Bank, World Development Indicators (2024). Exit maths is illustrative and ignores later dilution.
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RAISING FINANCE · INVESTORS
Think like an investor
Investors don't make money when they invest. They make money when they exit.
WHAT THEY SAY THEY NEED, A YEAR
3–4x
Private equity
~22%
Venture capital
~31%
in 3–5 years
That's 25%+ a year
Venture investors also look for about 5x on each deal, because most deals fail.
The five questions, every time
How big, beyond your island?
MARKET
Who pays, how much, how often?
REVENUE
Why you, and why can't others copy it?
ADVANTAGE
Who buys this business, and for how much?
EXIT
What will this money prove, and by when?
MILESTONES
Investors back milestones, not totals.
Asking for US$5m+? Show what the first US$1–2m proves.
Sources: Gompers, Kaplan & Mukharlyamov, What Do Private Equity Firms Say They Do? (NBER, 2015); Gompers, Gornall, Kaplan & Strebulaev, How Do Venture Capitalists Make Decisions? (NBER, 2016). Annual returns for 3–4x over 3–5 years calculated (3x in 5 years ≈ 25% a year).
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RAISING FINANCE · YOUR PITCH
What to put in your pitch
In this order. One point per slide. Numbers you can defend.
The problem
Who has it, and what it costs them.
01
Your solution
And why now.
02
The market
Sized bottom-up, beyond your island, with the route to the next market.
03
Traction
Revenue, customers, contracts. A result, not a forecast.
04
The model
Who pays, how much, how often, and your margins.
05
Your edge
Why you, and why a global player can't just copy it.
06
The team
Why these people will make it happen.
07
The ask
How much, what it buys, and the milestones it unlocks.
08
The exit
Who could buy you, and how investors get to 3–4x.
09
The risks
What could go wrong, and what you're doing about it.
10
How you'll use AI to do more with less
+1
Capital efficiency gets noticed. It means you need less money, on better terms.
Then stop talking and listen.
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RAISING FINANCE · SQUARE PEG, ROUND HOLE
Match the money to the business
Steady business, pitched to a VC? Square peg, round hole. A fast-scaling platform pitched to a bank: same problem. Not all money is the same, and not all money is right for you. Match the money to the business, not the business to the money.
TYPE OF MONEY
WHAT THEY WANT
FITS
Grants & development finance
Impact, not ownership
Early proof, green and public-good work
Bank & asset debt
Security and steady cash flow
Profitable, asset-backed businesses
Angels
A founder they believe in
First outside money
Venture capital
Very fast growth and a big exit
Businesses that can scale far beyond home
Strategic investors
Market access, and maybe buying you later
A fit with a bigger player's plans
Private equity & family offices
Steady growth and cash returns
Established businesses
Right investor, right money, right time
Right investor
Right money
Right time
Their sector, stage, cheque size and geography fit you They've backed businesses like yours
Equity, debt, grant, or a blend A financial investor, or a strategic partner Their return target fits your plan
After proof, not before it
You know the milestone this money buys Before you're desperate. Investors can tell.
They bring more than the cheque
Get any one wrong and you're wasting your time, and theirs. Do your homework on them, the way they'll do it on you.
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PART 2 · AI
AI · WHY NOW
The pace is exponential
The mistake most people make is drawing a straight line from today. That line falls further behind the real curve every year.
We're in the AI-assisted window now: 2–5 years before AI-first, which comes 5–10 years out for software and 10–20 for robotics.
AI · THE REAL GAP
The gap is no longer the technology
THE MODELS
What they can do Answer, read, chase and process, at the standard of a trained person.
MOST BUSINESSES What they've put to work Pilots, co-pilots and chat windows. Very little running on its own.
The space between is the implementation gap. That gap is the opportunity: most of your competitors haven't closed it yet, and the businesses that close it first will win.
Pace chart: Implement AI framework; Singularity date from Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near (2005). Gap chart is illustrative, not data.
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AI · IT'S ABOUT PEOPLE
Digital workers on demand
BEFORE
NOW
Every expert is a hire: costly, slow and hard to find locally.
Stand up an AI agent for almost any knowledge work.
Analyst Reads your numbers, flags what matters
Researcher Sizes your market, profiles your investors
Compliance Drafts, checks, monitors
Marketing Content and campaigns, on brand
Sales Follows up every lead, every time
Service Answers customers 24/7
one team went from 5,000 to 45,000 conversations a year, without hiring
85–99% lower cost per action
9x
You're not replacing your people. You're giving them superpowers.
AI · WHERE IT FITS
Three problems, three AI workers
Start with the problem, not the technology.
Most deployments combine two or three. Every win pulls one of two levers: take cost out, or bring revenue in.
Cost and capacity figures: Implement AI client deployments, UK.
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AI · CUT THROUGH THE NOISE
Start where AI is reliable and pays back
Most AI news is about the frontier. You don't need the frontier to get ahead. You need the return.
Where to start on Monday
01 Find where work piles up Missed calls, unchased quotes, re-keying. Look for revenue leaking, capacity wasted and inconsistent service.
02 Pick one with clear ROI Bottom-left of the matrix: reliable AI and a number you can measure. Not a moonshot.
03 Prove it, then scale Expand what pays back. Drop what doesn't.
ARE YOU READY?
Leadership owns it. A leadership decision, not a tech purchase.
One problem, one owner, one number.
Team involved early.
Data AI can reach.
A clear AI policy.
A baseline first, so you can prove the return.
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TO TAKE HOME
Think big. Start small. Close the deal.
Your market is the world, not the island.
THINK BIG
One problem, one owner, one number.
START SMALL
Bring investors a result, not a forecast.
CLOSE THE DEAL
Since 2022, this forum has showcased more than US$350m of projects to investors from 50+ countries. This week, more than US$39m was on stage. Success is deals done: make yours one of them.
Piers Linney MBE Co-founder & Executive Chairman, Implement AI
implementai.io pierslinney.com
SOURCES
1. Caribbean Export Development Agency, Caribbean Investment Forum 2026 (Sep 2026): 8 UNIDO-vetted projects seeking US$39m+; US$350m+ of projects showcased to investors from 50+ countries since 2022. 2. IDB, Venture Capital in the Caribbean (Nov 2025), citing ECLAC (2021): under US$50m of venture capital invested across the Caribbean in a year. 3. First Angels Caribbean: about US$3m invested across 23 deals, 2014–2023. 4. IDB/Compete Caribbean (2014): collateral of about 182% of the loan value requested from firms in Barbados. 5. World Bank, World Development Indicators (2024): population of Barbados and of the six project countries. 6. Gompers, Kaplan & Mukharlyamov, What Do Private Equity Firms Say They Do? (NBER, 2015): ~22% target return. 7. Gompers, Gornall, Kaplan & Strebulaev, How Do Venture Capitalists Make Decisions? (NBER, 2016): ~31% required return; ~5x target multiple. 8. Implement AI: pace-of-change framework; cost and capacity figures from client deployments in the UK. Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near (2005).
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