StoryTime @ Climb26; Four Stories of Failure

Jason Crispin — Founder & CEO, AUDITSU
Jason Crispin is a serial founder with two startup exits before the age of 24 and over 20 years in sales.
He is now Founder and CEO of AUDITSU, the platform that helps companies measure, manage, and declare their digital accessibility compliance in-house. With the European Accessibility Act now in force, thousands of businesses are legally liable for the accessibility of their apps and websites. Traditional audits cost £15,000 to £50,000 and depend on outside consultants. AUDITSU replaces that with a self-serve platform any team can run without code access or specialist expertise.
Backed by the UK Government, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and PXN Group.

Lisa Shepherd was born and raised in Germany. She has a degree in Transcultural Communication from the University of Vienna, Austria. Volunteering in the Galapagos Islands she met her British husband. They travelled the world together before settling in Leeds, UK. She has two wonderful children who are not only her pride and joy, but also her greatest teachers. Together with her friend Saskia Roskam, she founded The Biskery, an online business that specialises in personalised and branded biscuits. The real product however is kindness. Not only do they help spread kindness in biscuit form, they capitalise on kindness in all aspects of the business - from the way they interact with customers and staff to the impact they have on our planet. They are on a mission to make 10 million people feel appreciated through their handmade biscuits. Their vision is to introduce more female qualities to the business world, remove the stigma associated with working mothers, and run a purposeful business that enables women to combine a career with motherhood - without the guilt.

Rachel Roche is the founder and CEO of PetPact, a legaltech platform reimagining how pets are protected when their owners can't care for them - covering guardianship, care planning, and the legal gaps that open up through death, incapacity, and relationship breakdown. PetPact grew out of Roche Legal, the private client law firm Rachel has led for over twelve years as sole director and a specialist in wills, trusts, and estate planning. She is a solicitor, the author of How to Start a Law Firm (The Law Society), and a Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses alumna. In 2026, PetPact won an Innovate UK Women in Innovation award and completed Innovate UK's Global Incubator Programme in Toronto, where Rachel is building its route into the Canadian market. A vocal champion of women founders and of legal reform on pet welfare, she speaks on building a tech venture from inside an established profession, and on raising, scaling, and doing things differently.