Here’s a sneak peek of what happened at the Startups Awards 2017 judging day Find out what high-profile entrepreneurs Touker Suleyman, Liz Earle MBE and Paul Lindley thought of the incredible Startups Awards finalists.... Written by Henry Williams Published on October 20, 2017 Our experts We are a team of writers, experimenters and researchers providing you with the best advice with zero bias or partiality. Written and reviewed by: Henry Williams Want to know what goes on behind the scenes on the Startups Awards judging day?With the Startups Awards 2017 finalists now unveiled – and thousands of votes already cast for People’s Champion 2017 – we thought we’d share a teaser of the 2017 judging day, where we gathered some of our esteemed judges to share their thoughts on the high calibre of this year’s exceptional finalists.Dragons’ Den star and Hawes and Curtis CEO Touker Suleyman, serial entrepreneur Liz Earle MBE, and Ella’s Kitchen founder Paul Lindley were among the entrepreneurs and industry leaders given the mammoth task of selecting winners and runners up from a record-breaking 77 finalists across 14 categories, (excluding People’s Champion and the overall award of The Start Up Loans Start-up of the Year).Now in its 14th year, the Startups Awards – supported by headline sponsor The Start Up Loans Company – is the longest-running UK awards of its kind and celebrates incredible early-stage businesses launched in the last four years with the potential to become established brands.Discussing this year’s finalists, Suleyman said he was inspired by the way these young entrepreneurs could “take an idea and make it real”, while Robert Leigh, joint CEO of bronze sponsor DeVono Cresa, said the calibre of entrants had been “second to none” and believes some of the businesses “could become household names”.Meanwhile, Earle was impressed by the Startups Awards finalists in how they have such “passion for a great idea”, and Lindley commended businesses for the way they’d capitalised on a hole in the market.The Startups Awards 2017 winners will be announced during a prestigious awards ceremony at the Royal Garden Hotel on Thursday 30 November hosted by StartUp Britain co-founder Oli Barrett MBE.There’s still plenty of time to vote for the Startups Awards finalist that gets your vote for People’s Champion. View the shortlist and cast your vote here, voting closes at midnight on Sunday 5 November 2017. Share this post facebook twitter linkedin Written by: Henry Williams