I was made redundant three times — but that didn’t stop me from following my ambitions

Jennifer Sieg and Emmanuel Nwosu sit down with entrepreneur Zoe Bucknell of Kuberno to hear how she’s managed to surpass the challenges on her entrepreneurial journey so far.

Zoe Bucknell worked in a range of different legal and compliance roles during her two-decade career in financial services.

While each role was different, one thing always stood out — outdated legacy tech systems were holding everything back. 

Often, there were almost too many unnecessary and complicated tasks to count. 

It seemed to be a common frustration, because once she started to voice her concerns, others followed.

Bucknell co-founded Kuberno in 2020 with a mission to streamline complicated legal governance processes with data-driven decisions, ultimately aiding in the delivery of faster results to stakeholders.

“Kuberno was very much sort of born out of the pain [felt] in the particular area that we launched and that I’ve suffered, my peers have suffered and my teams have suffered,” she says. 

“I knew I had to find something that really was a true pain point, not just for me but for my network… that’s why I settled on legal entity management.” 

The start-up closed a £3.5m Series A financing from Nasdaq Ventures last year, and has since grown to employ a staff of 37. 

Just two years after its debut, it also managed to secure a win on the Rising Stars 4.0 list, which recognises ‘the brightest and best early-stage tech scale-ups’.

Is there ever one ‘lightbulb moment?’ 

There was never one significant “lightbulb moment” for Bucknell. Instead, it was a long road of challenges that led her to leave her 9 to 5 life behind. 

It wasn’t necessarily because of the idea of working eight hours a day that bothered her, either. It was the rigid structure of corporate life.

She says the path of undergoing her graduate training scheme, obtaining a law degree and becoming a general counsel was far from a smooth ride.

“Whether that’s linked to the fact that I’ve always struggled in the corporate environment, I don’t know. I discovered at the age of 48, that I’m neurodiverse – I’m dyslexic,” Bucknell says.

“So, I see the world slightly differently, maybe, to some people. My spelling has always been atrocious. How I became a lawyer, I am not quite sure – but I did,” she laughs. 

Before co-founding Kuberno, Bucknell was made redundant three times in her career – once while she was pregnant. 

To add to her struggles, she became a single mother when her daughter was two years old, while the company she was working for at the time was going through an IPO. 

“There’s been some highs,” she says, adding that running an IPO was “an amazing experience.” 

“I think entrepreneurship has always been on my path, it was just how to get there and when the timing was right,” she says. 

Becoming your own boss 

Bucknell turned her corporate frustrations into a new kind of framework, creating a work culture she could be proud of at Kuberno.

“So, for instance, we have a big focus on flexible working… a large number of our members of staff work on a flexible basis,” she says. 

Flexible working has been an interesting topic in the workforce of late, with some companies pushing for a five-day work week, while others are more open to a work pattern that suits their employees. 

Kuberno is on the side of the flexible approach. 

Bucknell says: “You make up your contractual hours how it suits you, with always the caveat that, you know, we’re a team and we work together and sometimes we need to communicate around when we need things done. 

“It’s a much more flexible, less rigid approach to working, and we’re finding that people are more productive, happier, [and] more secure – we have very, very low turnover in our teams.”

What’s next? 

What’s the future of Kuberno? It’s very exciting, Bucknell says. 

The SaaS company recently launched its US subsidiary in New York and is looking forward to the potential growth of the business. 

Especially after a DMJ Recruitment & Kuberno technology survey highlighted that 40 per cent of organisations anticipate implementing legal entity management software in the next three years. 

Regardless of where the business is going, Bucknell plans to continue its focus on their customers – and her advice to other entrepreneurs would be just that. 

“Focus on your customer. If you’re not delivering for your customer, you’re not going to be growing your business,” she says. 

“But also, focus on your people, because you won’t have happy customers if you don’t have happy people.”

CV

Name: Zoe Bucknell
Company: Kuberno
Founded: 2020
Staff: 37
Title: CEO and Co-Founder
Age: 51
Born: 1973
Lives: Kent
Studied: Law
Talents: Finding humour in nearly any situation – definitely not spelling!
Motto: Illegitimi non carborundum (mock Latin for don’t let the bastards grind you down)
Most known for: Being a governance geek
First ambition: A very early ambition was to be an archaeologist – my parents tell a story of me aged around five loudly announcing the presence of a hypocaust, an ancient central heating system, at the local Roman villa excavations
Favourite book: Humanocracy by Gary Humel and Michele Zanini
Best piece of advice: “You’ll never find rainbows if you’re looking down.” – Charlie Chaplin