Connectd

I was contacted via LinkedIn and interested (and flattered) enough to have a call. The representative was personable and the proposition made sense. But he then dropped the bombshell that "accreditation" and membership would cost £4.5k for the first 2 years. If their model is successful they'd make money via commission. Rather than being recruited, I realised I was being sold to. I haven't proceeded with them.

Their whole process has been very lacking in communication and not worth the price you pay. This is a paid service, and they will try to sell you hard on it. Their accredited training is just telling you things that you have already done for your day-to-day work, a bunch of reflection and exercise to build up your profile (which again most professionals already do), and telling you that you need to be a LinkedIn influencer. The placements are messy and not organized. As someone who was genuinely interested in their service, I have found it lacking and a waste of money and time.

Relies on mis-selling tactics through route of omitting key data, and relies on end-users not knowing their Consumer Rights. Claim they rely on being open & transparent but that was lacking throughout calls & pressure selling tactics. They believe they are bigger than the law (they offer no refunds even though this is against consumer law, and then will try to hide behind small T&Cs claiming you’re acting as a non-consumer; hint - this is not true! A company’s T&Cs can’t overwrite written law!) Be very wary of this company, not fit for purpose; missold courses, and I fear any start-ups trying to find a knowledge base will not be getting what they expected either.

Nice person, bit sales tactic for me but standard recruiter approach. Unfortunately it wasn’t clear this is a user paid service offering; would I have been aware, I wouldn’t have dedicated any time to it. They present themselves as a recruitment agency for potential NEDs, advisors etc representing start-ups etc, which they might be. However, from what I can gauge, it’s a paid for platform service which “connects” potential NEDs and start-ups. Not a business model I’d like to be involved with, personally. Some advice, you get more bees with honey, than with vinegar. Be upfront with your potential customers and you’ll have a far better conversion rate in future. I rarely end a meeting unless I feel my time is being wasted; this was one of those occasions.

This is a PAID subscription service which was unclear and the salesmen was some party boy who was likely too hungover to make the first call. Don’t waste your time unless you are desperate and need the opportunities to get a job

Connectd has been exceptional for our MedTech Company ZyDoc. We were immediately oriented as to the company website and procedures in a clear fashion. Our account executive Nathaniel Opedo was a delight to work with and accommodated our schedule in spite of the 5 hour time difference. He immediately understood ZyDoc's services and needs and quickly researched and produced several exceptional advisory board members who fit exactly fit our needs. He facilitated our meetings and made it easy for us to onboard them immediately. I expect the rest of our experience with Connectd will be similar with a clear gameplan to work with their experts grooming us for their investors. We are delighted to have been selected for their program.

I've been happy with Nathaniel Opedo and the team connecting me with advisors. But I signed up for the platform mainly to connect with investors and that have not been successful. If you want advisors on your team, Connectd is the place to be.

I had a really disappointing experience with this platform. I was approached and, unfortunately, decided to give it a try. Firstly, the course they offer is very basic and doesn’t provide much valuable knowledge. Although I was paired with a mentor, I completed my sessions with them before they could secure me a placement. I had the option to choose my mentor, who was average at best, and that was the best I could find given their limited offerings. As for the placement, the initial option seemed promising, but in the end, the founder took 3 month to respond only to say that they have changed their strategy and will need someone with my experience in the future, which forced Connectd to find me another opportunity. Unfortunately, the quality of the new placements was very poor; they presented me with companies that were still in the ideation stage and not yet operational. When I requested a refund, they refused and instead offered to extend my access to the platform for another year, which was pointless. Based on my experience, I would not recommend this platform. For context, I am a professional with 15 years of experience in my field, and I naively thought this platform would provide the support I needed to start a new journey. Since then, I have independently secured three roles in multimillion-dollar companies, all with governance and structured boards, so the issue was not with my qualifications or experience. I would not recommend this company unfortunately.