My Takeaways from the Property & Entrepreneur Summit 2025

This was my first time attending the summit, and what an experience it was! I was invited by my friend Jonny Brown, the property investor, photographer, estate agent and the founder of Men in Property community. Now in its third year, the summit has built a reputation as one of the UK’s biggest and most content-packed property events and it absolutely delivered on that. With an incredible line-up of speakers and some of the most recognisable names in the UK property scene, it far exceeded my expectations.

Pre-event 

Shortly after registering to the summit, I was added to the official pre-networking WhatsApp group, with over 350 property investors and professionals already connecting, sharing ideas, and arranging meetups before the event even began.

Another thoughtful touch from the organisers was the personalised social media tiles they created for attendees. It was a brilliant way to build momentum and visibility in social media leading up to the summit. 

The buzz on social media in the lead-up to the summit was electric. My WhatsApp and social media feeds were full of people introducing themselves, sharing what they do in property, and building genuine connections well before the doors even opened. The organisers did a fantastic job keeping the engagement high by offering giveaways, teasing speaker announcements and highlighting the networking opportunities that awaited us. Expectations were high.

I was also glad to see a few familiar faces from Sheffield and South Yorkshire area making the trip – Jonny, Luke and Chloe that I know and interact with. Knowing some of my network would be there made the whole experience even more exciting.

Arrival and Check-in

The big day had finally arrived and I set off early in the morning, full of anticipation. Thankfully, the journey to Milton Keynes was smooth, just a couple of hours drive without any hiccups.

As I pulled up, the venue team were on point, guiding everyone efficiently to the parking area. Even the short queue to get into the venue turned into a great networking moment – I struck up a conversation with a landlord from Reading, which made the wait fly by. Before long, I was through the doors, badge in hand and ready to dive into the summit experience.

Just inside the main hallway, the event organisers had set up a branded backdrop where attendees could get their photos taken – a simple but brilliant idea. It added a touch of excitement right from the start and created a fun and welcoming atmosphere. It was a great way to break the ice, get people smiling and build that buzz before the sessions even began.

The venue itself was huge. Sponsor stands lined around the room, showcasing everything from finance brokers and lenders to property tech platforms, education providers, furniture suppliers and service companies. It was a one-stop shop for anyone serious about property.

With around 450 attendees in the room, the atmosphere was great. Conversations were happening everywhere and you could feel the buzz of excitement and ambition in the air.

The agenda was absolutely packed with dynamic, interactive sessions led by seasoned property investors. Deep dive workshops into property acquisition and financing strategies and hands-on talks about building efficient systems and scaling your property business and building powerful branding, every moment was packed with value. 

Huge kudos to the Lexie Carducci, Michelle Cairns and Paul Stapleton and their team for organising such a great event and pulling such an inspiring line-up of topics and expert presenters. They really nailed the perfect balance between practical insights and big-picture vision.

Morning Sessions

After a quick overview of the day’s agenda by Lexie Carducci, the spotlight turned to Dan Hill, a truly inspiring figure in the property world. An award-winning serial entrepreneur, investor and developer, Dan shared the story of how he built his impressive £10 million property empire. He broke down the smart strategies he uses to maximise returns, from high-density build-to-rent projects and commercial-to-residential conversions to hands-on asset management.

What really stuck with me was Dan’s breakdown of the three levels of wealth creation, a simple but powerful framework that reshaped how I think about property and business growth:

• Level 1: The foundation. Here, cash flow is king, covering your bills and keeping things ticking over. This is where most people start, trading their time for money, whether self-employed or working for someone. In property terms, it’s the landlord who manages their portfolio personally;

• Level 2: The growth stage. At this level, you’re not just surviving, you’re making a profit and reinvesting it to build momentum. This could be a salesperson earning commissions or in the property world this would be a transition from a landlord to property investor focussing on growing their portfolio and putting systems in place to manage their day-to-day operations;

• Level 3: The entrepreneurial or scaling stage. Here, the focus shifts to buying businesses and asset wrappers, rather than individual properties. You might also provide expert consultancy, advising others on growing their property ventures. This stage is all about creative ways of purchasing assets, leveraging private finance, and thinking bigger than ever before. This is also where you manage other people's assets to help them increase the value of their assets either controlling those assets directly or through providing consultancy services.

As someone who thrives on structure, this framework gave me a clear blueprint to guide my own journey – a reminder that building a property business is just that: a journey, not a destination. Huge thanks to Dan for sharing such invaluable insight!

Next up was Susannah Cole, who took the stage to share her incredible journey in property sourcing. Over the past 4.5 years, she’s sourced more than 200 deals worth over £45 million – a truly inspiring achievement. Susannah laid out some eye-opening statistics: roughly 10–20% of the population holds between £20k and £50k in savings, 5–10% have up to £200k tucked away in savings and pensions and less than 1% would have investable funds up to £5 million. Just within the summit audience alone, that translated into over £20 million ready to be invested. Her message was clear – successful deal sourcing is all about unlocking access to that capital by opening doors to potential investors.

She also highlighted a crucial reality: it takes an average of 5 to 9 “touchpoints” before an investor considers to discuss a deal. So if investors aren’t knocking on your door yet, it might be because the right questions aren’t being asked or the messages aren’t breaking through the noise.

Susannah made a compelling case for prioritising face-to-face interactions whenever possible, rather than relying solely on emails or social media. People connect and build trust much faster when they can see and relate to the person behind the message. In today’s tech-heavy world, with social media and AI blurring the lines between real and fake, genuine human contact is becoming even more vital. I think as AI-driven scams, fake profiles, and impersonations rise, the value of authentic, in-person connection can’t be overstated – it’s what builds real trust in an increasingly uncertain digital landscape.

Then came one of the most exciting parts of the day – Property Elevator Live, often dubbed the Dragons’ Den of the property world. Taking the panel on stage were four heavyweight angel investors: John Howard, Hayley Andrews, Scott Marshall and Ranjan Bhattacharya – all familiar faces from the Property Elevator show on Sky TV. But this time, it was happening live, right in front of us.

Three bold and passionate property entrepreneurs stepped up to pitch their deals not just to the panel, but to a room packed with hundreds of industry peers. That alone takes serious courage and conviction and hats off to them for stepping into the spotlight.

A big shoutout to Chloe, who not only delivered a solid pitch but also secured a deal with Hayley Andrews, along with the opportunity to collaborate on future projects. Well done Chloe!

Lunch Break and Specialist Workshops

The lunch break wasn’t just about grabbing a bite – it was a great opportunity to network, connect and dive deeper into the property world with fellow attendees. Alongside the buzzing conversations, there were also four focused workshops running, each packed with practical insights.

Topics covered everything from finding below-market-value deals and mastering the art of property sourcing, to selling and closing with confidence. Also I attended the session on specialist financing options – especially around HMO financing, bridging loans, and development finance – areas I’m actively exploring right now as I heavily focus on BRRR to HMO strategy currently. It was the perfect mix of learning and connecting.

Afternoon Sessions

The afternoon sessions shifted gears, diving deep into the themes of scaling, structuring, and automating property businesses, including through the use of technology and AI, as well as building a powerful brand in the property space.

Kicking things off was Nick James, founder of Expert Empires – the UK’s leading platform for coaches, consultants, and entrepreneurs focused on business growth. Nick’s talk centred around one powerful notion: structure and discipline are essential ingredients for scaling any successful business.

He shared valuable insights from his own entrepreneurial journey, including building and scaling multiple ventures – and even his bold ambition to buy a football club one day! His success, he explained, comes down to mastering three core elements:

• Vision – Create an ambitious but achievable vision for your business. This acts as your North Star, defining and guiding business purpose, the value you offer, and the principles that guide how you deliver that value. It’s what keeps the team aligned and focused on long-term goals;

• Strategy – With the vision in place, the leadership team needs to define quarterly and annual priorities covering hiring, operations, financing and leadership. These decisions should be supported by clear metrics and evidence of progress;

• Tactics – These are the short-term actions (1–12 weeks) that help to drive strategic goals forward. Each task should be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound with clear ownership and accountability.

These takeaways really resonated with me. They reinforced much of how I already approach both my personal and professional life – but also gave me a renewed sense of clarity around refining my structure and sticking to it consistently as I scale my business.

The next talk named “Lead Generation with AI” was delivered by Carly Meyers. In my mind it turned out to be one of the most unexpectedly powerful talks of the day.

Admittedly, I went in thinking it might be another surface-level discussion about using ChatGPT to source or sell property deals. But Carly’s session went far beyond that. With a background in the entertainment industry, she brought creative flair, charisma and deep entrepreneurial insights to the stage.

Carly showcased a range of real-world AI applications that can supercharge lead generation and business growth, particularly in property business. From creating thought leadership content and articles to building an automated lead funnel using custom-trained AI chatbots, she broke down how accessible and powerful these tools have become.

One of the standout moments was when she talked about the concept of "Vibe Coding" – using AI to create websites or software with simple prompts, no coding knowledge required. Combine that with the rise of AI image and video generators and you’re suddenly looking at a world where creating high-quality content, media and even a software is fast, cheap and scalable process.

She also shared a fantastic framework for writing effective AI prompts: Context – Role – Action – Output. A simple but powerful way to guide AI to produce precise, valuable results. As someone deeply interested in AI tech myself, I couldn’t agree more with her point that prompt engineering will be a must-have skill in the near future.

But perhaps the most thought-provoking part of Carly’s talk for me was the idea of AI-based employees or what she called a “Virtual AI Executive Board.” Imagine training individual AI agents to act as your Legal Advisor, Tax Consultant, HR Manager, Content Creator, Sales Lead and even Virtual Assistant. While this does require some upfront work and cost to train the agents on your specific business processes and uploading documentation, in a longer run it will mean drastically low cost of running business because there are no human employees (well apart from the business owner or an executive who actually needs to manage and prompt all of these "AI employees") and potential automation and streamlining between AI-agents and processes mean very low overheads and close to zero delays. 

Yes, all of this sounds a bit like science fiction and scary at the same time, but I think the world is moving towards intelligent machines. Although there are some risks & concerns that by exposing our lives and our businesses to AI, we might become "AI slaves" and AI might kill the human creative potential and and even the fear of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) gaining control over critical systems and might be used in adverse military purposes (hello "Terminator"!), I think human ingenuity and creativity mean we will find the ways to co-exist with AI and if used wisely, AI can become a phenomenal force for massive productivity gains and can help to unleash more creative potential.

The final session of the day zoomed in on something many entrepreneurs might overlook early on: the power of a brand.

A panel of branding and marketing experts with impressive credentials and battle-tested stories took to the stage to share their journeys. What made this session particularly memorable was how candid they were about the struggles, missteps and lessons they learned while building their own brands. They also took questions from the audience, making it a real interactive session.

Here are some of my key takeaways from this session:

• Branding isn’t just the finishing touch – it should be part of the foundation:
  When launching a business, it’s natural to focus on the operational day-to-day stuff: building a team, securing a finance, managing costs and keeping the wheels turning. Branding often gets pushed to the back burner. But this session made it clear– your brand is not just how you present yourself, it’s how you’re remembered. And that’s something to consider from day one.

• Be careful about tying your entire business identity to your name:
  Many entrepreneurs name their businesses after themselves – it’s personal, it’s legacy-driven and it makes sense emotionally. But as one audience member pointed out, this can backfire. He had built a successful construction company under his own name and was planning to hand it over to an apprentice over time. The issue? Clients associated the brand entirely with him. Transitioning ownership risked shaking customer confidence, showing just how tricky it can be to separate personal identity from business identity when the time comes to scale, exit or sell.

• Branding is a three-part equation: You, Your Business and Your Product:
  A strong brand needs to unify three core elements:

  • The personal brand of the founder or key people

  • The business brand – its mission and what business stands for

  • The product brand – the value business delivers and how it’s perceived.

The real challenge and the hallmark of a successful businesses is aligning all three under one cohesive and compelling brand identity. This alignment is what separates the great from the average.

This session was the perfect way to end the day. It reinforced a powerful truth: branding isn’t just about visuals or logos – it’s about clarity, credibility, and connection. And in today’s fast-moving, AI-infused world, a strong brand might just be your most valuable asset.

All in all, the day was an absolute source of insightful talks, hands-on workshops and valuable takeaways. There was so much to learn, from scaling business, creative deal sourcing and financing strategies to AI-powered systems and the art of branding. But for me, the real highlight wasn’t just the content – it was the people.

Connecting with fellow property investors and entrepreneurs, meeting some of the biggest names in the UK property scene (including the legendary John Howard, pictured bottom left) and simply sharing the experience with my friends and business partners Jonny and Luke (bottom right) – that’s what made the summit truly special.

Events like this remind me why I’m in this space. It’s not just about property, it’s about community, collaboration and continuous growth. I walked away with a head full of ideas, a notebook full of notes and a renewed sense of purpose. Mission accomplished.

I'm always open to talking to and partnering with potential investors looking for strong returns through high-yielding property investments. If this is something of interest to you, please reach out to me by submitting the below form or by booking 30-minute call with me via Calendly.