🔒 Leadership

Financials for the board pack are on track. I'll have the Q4 close numbers and Q1 forecast in the shared drive by EOD. One note: Meridian cost variance is going to require a separate line item — flagging now so it doesn't surprise anyone.

Tech section of board pack: - Meridian timeline update (flagging 3-week slip) - Atlas compliance integration — still on track for Q1 - Vertex security programme — remediation ongoing I'll have slides ready by Thursday. Happy to walk through with anyone before the board meeting.

Legal section is largely ready. A few items pending sign-off from external counsel but nothing that should hold up the pack. I'd say we're broadly aligned on the regulatory timeline.

Quick heads up — I've been sitting on the Q1 engagement survey results for two weeks. Some of the engineering scores are genuinely concerning and I'd love 15 minutes at tomorrow's weekly to walk through them. Can we carve out time? Really important we don't let this slide.

Folks — just a reminder that the Meridian overrun discussion tomorrow needs to be outcome-focused. We've been circling this for three weeks. I'd like to come out of tomorrow's meeting with a clear decision on either scope reduction or budget adjustment.

Compliance section for board pack is ready. Noting for the record: Vertex remediation still has two open Category 2 findings. That needs to be disclosed accurately in the pack — we can't describe it as fully resolved.

Agreed Rachel — we'll note it accurately. Priya, can you make sure the tech slides reflect the open findings without making it look worse than it is? Balance is key. - S

Board pack financials uploaded. Key headline: Q4 revenue £4.2m, 6% ahead of plan. Q1 tracking to plan. Meridian variance is £180k against a £400k budget — I've modelled two options and will present both. The board will ask about it so let's be prepared.

Good numbers Marcus! Pipeline side: we have two enterprise prospects at final stage — Novex and Castleton. Both could close Q1 if legal can turn docs quickly. James — can we talk SLA on the Novex MSA?

Leadership weekly in 30 mins. Key items: board pack review, Meridian update, Q1 forecast. Please be prompt — we have a lot to cover. - S

Meridian slides finalised and in the board pack folder. Summary: 3-week slip due to third-party API integration delays. No additional cost anticipated beyond the variance Marcus flagged. Recovery plan in place.

Morning all — just flagging again on the engagement survey. Happy to send a pre-read so we're not starting from scratch when we do find time. Engineering eNPS is at 28, which is a significant drop from 41 last quarter. Wanted that in writing so it's on the record.

Legal review of board pack complete. Nothing that requires revision. The regulatory disclosures are appropriately worded. I'm comfortable with the current drafting.

Folks — engineering update for board pack is in. Kept it high level. If the board wants to drill into Vertex findings I'd recommend having Rachel on standby.

Board pack looks solid. Thank you everyone. Board meeting Monday 9am. Attendance: Sarah, Marcus, Priya, James, Rachel as needed. I'll circulate final agenda tomorrow. - S

Confirming financials are final and printed. One last thing: the Meridian variance options paper — I'll present both options cold to the board. Option A is absorb within existing budget via scope reduction. Option B is approve supplemental £180k. I'd recommend being ready to go either way.

Marcus — I'll lean toward B if the board pushes back on scope reduction. Meridian is too critical to the roadmap. But let's present both cleanly and let them decide. - S

Agreed on Meridian — scope reduction would delay the payments API launch by at least a quarter. That's a bigger cost than the £180k overrun. Will have talking points ready if the board questions the trade-off.

Heads up — Castleton have asked us to hold off on the MSA until after Easter. Not a drop, just a delay. Still very warm. Novex moving ahead — call next week.

Quick note: if the board asks about Vertex and the open findings, the accurate answer is remediation is ongoing, two Category 2 items remain open, and we expect closure by end of Q2. Please don't go beyond that without checking with me first.

Leadership weekly starting now. Main items: Meridian overrun decision, board debrief, Q1 tracking. Notes to follow. - S

Board approved Option B — supplemental budget for Meridian. £180k approved subject to a revised delivery timeline and monthly progress updates. I'll be drafting an options paper on how we handle any future overruns — this pattern cannot become a habit.

Folks — good outcome on Meridian. Monthly progress reports are fine, we can do that. I'll set up a standing check-in with the delivery lead. One thing the board noted: Vertex findings need to be closed before any new enterprise onboarding. Rachel — your read on that?

On Atlas — yes, I'm across it. The compliance review is progressing. I'd say we're aligned on the overall timeline. Nothing to flag at this stage.

Since we're doing a post-weekly debrief — can I raise the engagement survey? I promise it'll take 10 minutes. Engineering eNPS at 28 is not something we can keep parking.

I'll have the overrun options paper circulated by end of this week. It will cover: approval thresholds, governance process for cost escalations, and reporting cadence. This is now a board-level interest item.

Board prep sync tomorrow 2pm. Attendees: Sarah, Marcus, Priya, Rachel. Agenda: review board feedback actions, Vertex status, Atlas timeline. Calendar invite sent. - S

Prep for tomorrow's sync: I'm going to bring a draft Vertex remediation plan outline. It's not complete but it'll give us something to react to. David's team is the right owners but Chris needs to drive the content.

Board prep sync done. Summary: Vertex plan needs to be formalised and written — Rachel to define required format. Atlas compliance sign-off — James to confirm scope by end of month. Overrun paper on track for Friday.

I'll send Chris a template for the Vertex remediation plan. It needs: finding-by-finding status, root cause, fix action, owner, and target date. I want a draft back within two weeks.

On Atlas compliance scope — I'm working with external counsel on this. The review is more complex than initially anticipated but I wouldn't say we're off track. More to say when I've had another conversation with them.

Novex call confirmed for next Tuesday. They're interested in our enterprise tier — could be £400k ARR if they go full suite. James — we'll need NDAs and an initial MSA draft in the next 2 weeks ideally.

Sarah — our Tuesday slot got moved by your EA. Can we reschedule the engagement survey session? The data is time-sensitive, and I'd like to share action proposals before end of month.

Overrun options paper is in the leadership drive. Please review before Thursday's leadership weekly. TL;DR: any project overrun above 15% of original budget now requires CFO sign-off before supplemental funds are released. Any overrun above 25% goes to the board. Feedback welcome.

Sensible framework Marcus. My only ask is that the clock starts from the point the overrun is formally identified, not when it's first raised informally. Otherwise engineering gets penalised for flagging things early.

Marcus — also worth noting that Atlas and Vertex are technically separate budget lines. The compliance integration work for Atlas isn't tracked in the same way as Meridian. Something to clarify so the policy applies consistently.

Thanks Sarah — I'll prep a one-pager for the survey discussion next week. Headline findings, key risk areas, and proposed actions. Should be easy to digest.

Novex call was excellent. They want a 60-day pilot on the payments API. Getting legal and technical requirements over this week. This one is moving. Estimated close end of April.

Note for the record: Novex pilot cannot proceed while Vertex Category 2 findings remain open. I'll need written sign-off from Sarah if we proceed otherwise. Not trying to block the deal — just flagging the dependency clearly.

External counsel has reverted on Atlas. The compliance review framework is more nuanced than a standard PSD2 overlay — there are some bespoke contractual considerations. I'd say we're still broadly aligned on Q1 completion but the precise date is harder to pin down right now.

End of Q1 check-in: - Meridian: delivery on revised plan ✓ - Atlas: compliance review status unclear (James to clarify) - Vertex: remediation plan draft expected from Chris by Apr 3 - Novex pilot: on hold pending Vertex Let's go into Q2 with clear owners and dates on everything above.

Q1 close numbers will be ready by Apr 8. Revenue came in ahead — preliminary read is £4.3m. Costs slightly elevated due to Meridian. I'll present full picture at the Q1 Business Review. Date TBC — I'm suggesting Apr 10.

Sarah — Tuesday worked for the engagement survey catch-up, thank you. I'll come with data and proposals. Also flagging: I want to include the survey in the Q1 Business Review pre-read. People metrics belong in Q1 review.

Chris has not yet returned the Vertex remediation draft. The deadline was Apr 3. I've followed up twice. Priya — can you escalate within engineering?

Atlas compliance review update: external counsel has confirmed the framework. We're working through the final checklist. I'd characterise us as on track, albeit at the later end of our expected window.

Q1 Business Review format circulated. Pre-read sections: Finance (Marcus), Product/Tech (Priya), Partnerships (Daniel), People (Ben), Compliance (Rachel), Legal (James). 4 pages max per section. Due Apr 9 EOD without exceptions.

Update on Vertex: spoke to Chris. He says the plan is 'mostly done' but needs another few days for the technical detail. I've told him Apr 7 is the hard deadline. No extensions. Rachel — I'll loop you in directly when it lands.

Folks — Meridian milestone 3 completed on time. No issues to flag. Team is on track for milestone 4 (payments API test environment) by Apr 18. Good news for once.

Flagging: I've also messaged Chris directly on Slack and by email. He's responsive on other things. I don't understand the hold-up on this one specifically. David — is there something blocking on his end we should know about?

Q1 Business Review pre-read (People) is ready and in the shared drive. Happy to talk through it ahead of Friday if useful. The engagement data paints a clear picture — we need to act, not just note.

Finance pre-read uploaded. Revenue £4.3m Q1, 2% ahead of plan. Gross margin 61%, slightly below target due to Meridian costs. Q2 forecast: £4.8m. One watch item: if Novex pilot doesn't close by end of April the Q2 number is at risk.

Compliance pre-read uploaded. Key items: Vertex open findings (2 Cat 2), Atlas compliance review status pending (James), FCA reporting due May 15. None of these are in the clear yet.

Partnerships pre-read uploaded. Headline: Novex moving, Castleton back in conversation, two new inbound leads from fintech conference. Pipeline looking healthy for Q2 if we can unblock Novex on the compliance side.

Legal pre-read uploaded. Atlas compliance review section: I've noted that the review is substantially complete and we are working toward finalisation. I've been intentionally conservative in the language given the complexity of the interdependencies.

All pre-reads are in. Good work. Q1 Business Review tomorrow 10am sharp. I want this to be a working session, not a read-out. Come with questions and decisions to make. - S

Thank you Sarah for confirming the engagement actions are being tabled at next weekly. I'll prepare a 10-min slot with the three priority proposals. This has been pending for 5 weeks so I really appreciate it making the agenda.

Just to add: the Q2 plan is predicated on Atlas and Novex both progressing. If either slips materially I'll need to revise the forecast before the next board update. James and Daniel — please flag me immediately if there's any change in trajectory.

Rachel — send the comments and give Chris 48hrs to fix. If it's not in acceptable shape by Monday morning, escalate to me directly and we'll manage this differently. - S

Apr 11 today. No Vertex plan in my inbox. Chris — this is now formally overdue. Priya, Sarah — I need one of you to intervene directly.

I received a draft from Chris at 6:30pm. It's incomplete — the root cause sections are missing for two of the findings and the remediation owner fields are blank. I'll send comments back tonight but this is not an acceptable final document.

Ryan's cloud migration — I've approved the £120k via email, is it in the system? Want to make sure it's captured before month-end close. Someone from finance must be across this but just checking.

Marcus — please make sure that gets properly logged. We can't have £120k approvals floating around in email chains. That's exactly what the overrun framework was meant to prevent. - S

Morning — can I get 15 mins at tomorrow's weekly? The engagement survey actions were agreed at the Q1 review and still haven't been discussed. I have proposals ready. Engineering scores have not improved since I last shared them.

Castleton back on. They want to proceed with a commercial proposal. Target: enterprise tier, 18-month contract. Could be £350k. James — I'll send the initial brief today, need a heads-up on capacity.

Vertex remediation plan — Chris sent revised version on Monday. Better but still missing one root cause. I've accepted it as a working document and we're on the same page about what needs to close by Q2. It's not perfect but we can work with it.

Tech update: - Meridian: on track, milestone 4 (payments API test env) complete - Atlas: development complete, waiting on compliance sign-off before go-live - Vertex: working document in place, two findings still open but closure plans agreed Atlas is the main blocker now.

Atlas compliance sign-off update: we're in the final stages of external review. I'd rather not give a specific date because there are still a couple of open questions with counsel. But I'd say we're close.

Leadership weekly tomorrow. Agenda: Vertex plan review, Atlas go-live timeline, Novex status, engagement survey (Ben — you're on the agenda). Please prepare updates. - S

Folks — just to flag before tomorrow: Chris still hasn't sent the completed version of the Vertex plan to the leadership shared drive. Rachel has a working copy but it's not accessible to everyone. Can we formalise that before the meeting?

I'm going to be very direct: the engagement survey has now been bumped five times. I understand Vertex is serious. But the engineering eNPS is 28 and we are going to lose people if we don't act. I will raise this as a risk formally if we cannot get 15 minutes next week.

On Atlas moving to Q2 — the financial impact is manageable but I need a target date to plan the revenue recognition. James — I know you said May 2 for a written target but I really need something by end of this week to update the board forecast.

To close the loop on Vertex: I've sent Chris a formal written notice that his remediation plan is overdue and incomplete. He has until May 1 COB to provide a finalised version. I've copied David and Priya. This is now a compliance matter of record.

I've spoken to David about Chris. There may be capacity issues on his team that are contributing to this. David — can you speak to that? I want to understand if this is a resourcing problem or a prioritisation problem.

Novex update — they've been patient but are asking for a firm go-live date before they'll sign the pilot agreement. I've told them provisionally mid-May. Is that achievable if Vertex closes out?

Atlas written update as promised: I am targeting end of May for compliance sign-off. This is subject to counsel completing their review, which is substantively done. I want to caveat that this date assumes no further queries from the FCA.

Chris submitted revised Vertex remediation plan at 4:45pm. I've reviewed it. The two open findings now have owners, root causes, and target closure dates (May 30 for both). I can work with this. Not perfect but sufficient for provisional compliance sign-off.

Good. Thank you Rachel. Chris — noted. Let's make sure the May 30 dates hold. - S

Confirming for the record: engagement survey is on today's weekly agenda and I have a 10-minute slot. Three proposals ready: (1) structured skip-level sessions for engineering, (2) revised recognition framework, (3) team health check cadence. Thank you for making time.

Thank you everyone. I know it took a while to get here but I'm glad we're moving. David — calendar invite for implementation planning session sent for May 12. Priya — will include you.

Quick note: I'm still tracking the £120k cloud migration through the finance portal. Nina has confirmed the spend is real and the PO was raised retrospectively. It's in the system now. But I want to remind everyone — no verbal or email approvals for spend above £25k. Process exists for a reason.

Novex pilot agreement signed! They countersigned last night. 60-day pilot starts May 19. This has been a long road — thank you Rachel and Priya for getting Vertex over the line. £400k ARR on the table if pilot converts.

FCA reporting deadline is May 15. I need all reportable incidents and data from each team lead by May 13 COB. This is regulatory — no exceptions. Template in the compliance drive.

Tech section for FCA reporting is being prepared. David — can you confirm Meridian and Vertex incidents list is complete? I want to review before it goes to Rachel.

Legal inputs for FCA report will be with Rachel by May 12. Atlas will be noted as pending compliance completion — that's the accurate and appropriate characterisation.

Q2 update for leadership: tracking to plan at the 6-week mark. £2.1m revenue recognised. Novex pilot signed — contingent revenue recognised on conversion. Castleton pipeline active. No material deviations to flag.

Folks — Meridian milestone 5 (full payments API integration) on track for May 21. No blockers. Team is in good shape. Vertex remediation closure still targeting May 30 — Chris confirmed yesterday.

I'd also recommend we loop in legal counsel before anything goes to Margaret. James — can you review the board briefing note before it's sent? I want to make sure we're not inadvertently creating further disclosure obligations.

Board briefing note draft is in the shared drive — 'Vertex Board Briefing 12May'. Key sections: issue summary, timeline, current status, remaining remediation actions, expected closure dates. David's timeline inputs incorporated. James — over to you for review.

I've sent the Vertex remediation plan to Margaret Liu with a covering note explaining it was finalised May 1 and that two findings remain open with May 30 closure targets. I've noted that both findings are Category 2 (medium risk) and that no customer data was impacted. Copy to Sarah and James as requested.

Board briefing note reviewed. Minor edits made — primarily to the regulatory disclosure language. The document is now clear and accurate. I'm comfortable with it being sent. Sarah — it's ready for your approval before going to Margaret.