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SUB36 By Rob Kelly
Real funding. Real deals.
Real decisions. Growing a business, planning an acquisition, or exploring investment? This is where you’ll learn how funding really works.
Steve Bell Pierce
Martin Emmott Rosebud
INNOVATOR IN MOTION
“I always wanted to be the guy at the front of a room, now I’m regularly standing up in front of the whole business.”
For fulfilmentcrowd’s Austin Waddecar, that journey from the sidelines to the spotlight began with a Sub36 award that changed everything.
Derry Green Secret Garden Glamping Ben Smith Kingsley Asset Finance
Date: 17 June 2026 Time: 08.30-11.00 Venue: Village Hotel Blackpool
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Back in 2018, Austin got his hands on the ‘Innovator of the Year’ award and he says it played a ‘key role’ in helping in his rise inside one of Lancashire’s fastest-growing businesses.
Today, technology sits at the heart of his world, and AI is reshaping it faster than even he expected.
Now 37, Austin sees its pace with the urgency of someone living on the frontline of innovation.
He says: “There aren’t enough hours in a day to consume the amount of learning needed in AI alone – it’s moving that fast.”
However, the father-of-three says Chorley-based
logistics provider fulfilmentcrowd is already adapting at high speed.
He explains: “We’re working on the bleeding edge of technology as the goalposts are always changing. On a couple of projects, we’re on second revisions within a year, because the technology keeps improving.”
marketing roles, frustration became the catalyst for change. He says: “I felt like I lost a lot of control. I’d hand my work over and then see it being translated into something I’d not necessarily designed.”
The solution was self-taught development, which was a decision that led him to
Being recognised for what you do matters.
The scale of it being broadcast around Lancashire makes it something I’m really proud of
The need to develop and improve has driven Austin on personally, even when he was at the start of his business journey as a young designer, teaching himself to code after hours.
After a short stint at university and early
fulfilmentcrowd 13 years ago and laid the foundations for everything that followed.
His role grew as he helped introduce a more modern product-led approach. He later became head of innovation and head of product before joining the operations board.
And he recently stepped into the title of director of product (management) as fulfilmentcrowd accelerates its international expansion.
While Austin’s work helped reshape fulfilmentcrowd’s technology, he is clear that Sub36 reshaped him personally.
The business encouraged him to put himself forward for the award, which felt out of place at first. He says: “There was that imposter syndrome, thinking about who I might be up against.
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