Tier 1 ET Tech City UK endorsement - business development route

Hi Everyone,

I received my Tier 1 ET visa last month. I applied for Tech City UK endorsement under Business Development Route.

Short Bio:
1 year as a founder of a successful start-up in my home country
5+ years in finance, 2 of them in the UK - Tier 2 visa
1+ year as C-level exec in London based disruptive tech start-up - Tier 2 visa

Application process timeline
26 Feb - Started working on my application
30 Mar - Submitted my application pack online. Received immediate payment confirmation.
31 Mar - Submitted a hard copy of the application by post.
10 Apr - My application was referred to Tech City - e-mail from Home Office
4 May - Received my Endorsement letter in a pdf attachment. My heart dropped to the floor while I tried to
understand what was the decision. Luckily, I was endorsed!
4 May - Submitted my online visa application, very straightforward process, took me 5 minutes.
21 May - Received same day decision in Premium Visa Centre. The process took an entire day.

Supporting documents

This was a tough part for me. There was not much information available on what type of documents would be suitable. Initially, I thought that I cannot provide enough evidence (i.e. no qualification diplomas, no contributions to GitHub, no portfolio and etc) to prove my achievements. Hence, I decided to take the following approach.

1. In my personal statement, I explained few potential roles I wanted to pursue if I am successful. I did not have a job offer, nor a business plan in place. However, I named a vertical within which I want to work.

2. I put down a list of qualities required to succeed in the above roles. I asked 5 people to provide me with recommendation letters. Each letter talked about one of those qualities: leadership, technical acumen, operational experience, successful fundraising and ownership.

3. This approach allowed me to focus on my ideas in the essay, rather than explain why I would be successful.

4. Separately, I want to mention the last essay Q: 'Please explain your long-term plans in the UK'. In my view, this is one of the most critical questions for BD applicants. Make sure you answer it wisely.

Hope this is helpful. Good luck!!