What if your business could predict the future — even with barely any data?

In this episode, I sit down with Dash Tabor, founder and CEO of TUBR, a predictive analytics platform turning small data into big insights.

Dash started TUBR after one too many packed Tube rides in London — and ended up building a deep-tech company using a physics-based machine learning engine that helps small businesses forecast demand, sales, and staffing needs with minimal data.

But her journey wasn’t smooth.

She’s lost £500k in a day, rebuilt her team after losing her co-founder mid-fundraise, and turned down “life-saving” investor cash on moral grounds — all while keeping TUBR alive and growing.

We get into the raw parts of being a founder:

- Fundraising in a volatile market

- Building deep tech without a technical background

- Understanding investor psychology

- Rebuilding after disaster

- And why she left London for Sheffield

This is one of the most brutally honest founder stories yet.

Chapters:

00:00 - Why founders should never take “trenched” investor money

00:41 - Introducing Dash Tabor & the TUBR story

02:11 - The London Tube moment that sparked the idea

03:47 - From overcrowded trains to AI innovation

05:05 - What “machine learning” really means for small businesses

07:09 - Predicting croissants, customers, and chaos

08:57 - How much data is really needed for AI to work

10:21 - Sponsor: Opus — the network for entrepreneurs

10:41 - How Dash built deep tech without being a coder

12:28 - Leaving a stable job to build something from scratch

14:19 - When Liz Truss’ budget wiped out her customers overnight

18:09 - Losing her co-founder mid-fundraise

20:24 - Rebuilding the team from zero

21:09 - Hitting rock bottom — and the “keep going” moment

25:16 - The near-collapse and the £10K that saved TUBR

26:17 - Fundraising lessons: quantity over tranches

28:22 - The reality of raising as a female founder

31:13 - How to “build the house you want to live in” with investors

32:32 - Saying no to bad money — even when desperate

35:14 - Choosing Sheffield over London

38:48 - Building community and talent outside the capital

39:28 - Finding balance (or trying to) as a founder

43:10 - Who TUBR serves today & their new product “Pulse”

45:57 - What’s next: partnerships, scale, and profitability

47:53 - The real answer: talent vs luck in startup life

49:49 - Where to follow Dash & TUBR

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