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From Hip-Hop To Exited Founder: How Jarvey Got Lucky , Again and Again

August 25, 2026

23mile

What Does It Take to Go From Touring Musician to Exiting a Tech Startup?

Jarvey Moss, founder and CEO of Saible. Jarvey recounts his unconventional journey from performing in a touring band and working as a tour manager to co-founding Amigo Technology, navigating its post-COVID restructuring, and exiting to Good Growth. He discusses starting his second venture, Saible, a construction tech company aimed at fixing late payment culture, while sharing lessons on investor dynamics, angel funding, navigating startup risks, and accepting the role of luck and serendipity in success.


GUEST BIO

Jarvey Moss is a tech founder, CEO, and former musician. He holds a degree in Experimental Psychology from Oxford University and began his career touring in a major-label signed band before transitioning into tour management. Seeking to streamline logistics, he entered tech, co-founding enterprise digital-experience platform Amigo Technology in 2014, which he successfully built and exited to Good Growth in 2022. In 2023, Jarvey co-founded Saible, a fintech startup focused on de-risking payments and managing supply chain cash flows across the construction industr

Agenda:

  1. Cold Open: Luck, but that luck only came about because I was in the room...

  2. Introduction

  3. From Stage to Software: Transitioning from touring musician and tour manager to building software tools and co-founding Amigo Technology.

  4. Academic Background & AI: Studying cognitive psychology at Oxford and early exposure to neural networks in the late 1990s.

  5. The Amigo Tech Journey & COVID: Scaling Amigo Technology, surviving the severe impacts of the pandemic on travel/hospitality clients, and negotiating its acquisition by Good Growth.

    \Origin of Saible: Transitioning out of Amigo, discovering systemic cash-flow issues in construction, and launching a fintech platform to secure supply chain payments.

  6. Fundraising Philosophy: Bootstrapping, securing angel investors vs. VCs, and the modern investor shift toward early profitability.

  7. The Role of Luck & Serendipity: Why hard work must be paired with putting yourself in rooms where serendipity can happen.

  8. Quickfire : Favorite places traveled, returning to music, and defining entrepreneurship in one word.



KEY TAKEAWAYS

  1. Embrace Bootstrap & Angel Capital Early: Early-stage founders should consider angel investors who understand the specific industry problem, allowing the company to target profitability and infinite runway before seeking growth VC funds.

  2. Network Drives Serendipity: Success relies heavily on luck and timing, but founders must consistently put themselves in active networks and rooms to create opportunities for serendipity.

  3. Focus on Problem Over Product: When selling or pitching, target "evangelists" who feel the specific pain point deeply enough to advocate for adopting your solution internally.

  4. Execution & Adaptability in Crises: Navigating extreme market shifts (like COVID-19) requires decisive action, cost-cutting, and identifying strategic M&A alignment to keep tech alive.

  5. Mindset Shift on Profitability: Investors are increasingly prioritizing early profitability over "growth at all costs," giving profitable startups total control over their runway and destiny.

Memorable Quotes

"You absolutely have to get lucky. You have to get lucky for your business to be successful. And for a business to be really successful, you're gonna have to get lucky multiple times."

"When I was talking to VCs three, four years ago about what I was planning to do, that idea that I was trying to build a profitable business was not very well received... People are a lot more open to that approach now."

"If you can get your business to profitability then your runway is infinite."

"99 out of a hundred of the bands that are signed fail. And the one that succeeds is not necessarily the one that the label put all the money into or thought was going to succeed."

"Don't spend time with people you don't want to spend time with... do your best, try and plan ahead, think about what might happen, but it'll almost certainly be something else."

Resources Mentioned

  • Amigo Technology / Good Growth: Enterprise digital platform co-founded by Jarvey Moss, later acquired by Good Growth.

  • Saible: Construction fintech company co-founded by Jarvey Moss.

  • The Prince's Trust: Provided an initial business loan that funded his early band's tour van.

  • Townhouse Studios: Iconic London recording studio where Jarvey's band recorded the final album before closure.

  • Boardwave: Tech founder and CEO networking community mentioned during discussion on networking events.

  • Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore: Classic technology marketing framework referenced regarding early adopters and market entry.

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