Podcast
Give It A Nudge London: Aaron Solomon, CEO & Co-Founder at Ambl
Co-founder and CEO Aaron Solomon joined Steve as our first London guest to talk about his startup journey and the inspiration behind launching Ambl.
About the guest
Aaron Solomon
CEO & Co-Founder at Ambl
Aaron Solomon spent 10 years in finance and banking before launching Ambl, a London-based app connecting real-time customers to hospitality venues including bars, clubs, and restaurants. He started the business while still in his day job, commuting into London after hours with an iPad to personally sign up venue owners one by one, and left once the business had raised seed funding and grown to a team of 12 in under eight months.
Episode overview
The very first Give It A Nudge London episode features Aaron Solomon, co-founder and CEO of Ambl, a hospitality app solving the real-time availability problem that every city dweller has experienced: eight people want to go out tonight and nobody can find a venue with capacity. Recorded in London with Steve Grace on one of his brief trips over, this episode covers Aaron’s origin story, how he signed up 150 venues in two months entirely through cold in-person visits, and what makes Ambl a network-effects business rather than just another booking app.
Aaron’s background is finance, not hospitality. The idea came from a single frustrated afternoon trying to find a restaurant table for eight and realising that all the demand was invisible to venues sitting with cancellations. He quit his job, joined the Hyper tech incubator, built a prototype, and then walked the streets of London after work signing up venue owners over gin and tonics.
Why Ambl is not just another booking app
Existing booking platforms like Google and OpenTable show static availability and published menus. What they don’t show is the last-minute cancellation at 6:45pm or the bar that had 20 people cancel on a Tuesday night. Ambl connects active real-time demand directly to venues with live availability, operating the same way Uber connects riders to drivers who are on the road right now. The product is designed for the spontaneous end of going out rather than the planned-ahead booking.
“In the same way that Uber connects you to a driver, we are basically connecting hungry people, people that want a drink or go out, to a venue that has availability right now.”
Aaron Solomon 01:00
Signing up 150 venues by walking into them at night
Aaron did not email venues. He did not call them. After working his finance job all day, he put his backpack on and walked around West London visiting restaurants and bars with an iPad showing a ten-slide prototype. He was getting the last train home at 1am or staying in a cheap hotel. The first venue signed up on the spot. The second bar owner told him it was the best thing he’d seen in 15 years of hospitality and immediately WhatsApped it to 100 contacts in the industry.
“He said this is the best thing I’ve seen in 15 years of hospitality and WhatsApped it to like a hundred people that he knows. Everyone knows everyone in hospitality. They’re all kind of supportive of each other.”
Aaron Solomon 14:00
The decision to quit was the easiest part
Aaron calls leaving his job the easiest decision he made in the whole journey. He had declared the business to his employer four months before leaving, was getting married the same year, and the business was growing fast enough that he could not do both properly. He left on good terms, with his manager supportive and well-wishing. Two of the three co-founders left their jobs within weeks of each other once it was clear the opportunity was real.
“I just said this is where I am. If I can go now I’d appreciate it. They let me go and covered my notice and wished me well. That was the easiest decision because it had to be done.”
Aaron Solomon 22:00
Building a network effect business in hospitality
Ambl has 1,200 venues on the platform at time of recording, but Aaron’s focus has shifted from quantity to nurture. Getting to 5,000 venues means nothing if the owners don’t know the product or trust the team. He is deliberately investing in relationship-building, mixers, and owner engagement so that when the app launches and bugs appear (as they always do), venue partners won’t walk away. On the consumer side, the rewards model is designed to make Ambl viral: frequent users get venue credits, exclusive events, and the ability to build pooled spending with friends.
Key takeaways
Chapters
00:00First Give It A Nudge London intro01:00What Ambl does: real-time hospitality connections04:00The origin story: eight people, no table, one idea08:00Joining the Hyper incubator and validating with venues11:00Walking London at night to sign up 150 venues15:00The WhatsApp moment: industry word-of-mouth at scale18:00Getting to 1,200 venues and shifting to nurture mode21:00Leaving his job and all three co-founders going all-in24:00Consumer acquisition and the Ambl rewards model27:00The brand, the name, and making Ambl a verb30:00Why join Ambl and what comes next
Mentioned in this episode
Frequently asked questions
What problem does Ambl solve for hospitality venues?
Ambl gives venues a platform to show real-time availability and attract spontaneous customers who are looking for somewhere to go right now. This solves the problem of last-minute cancellations and no-shows going to waste: instead of sitting with empty tables, venues can broadcast availability and fill gaps dynamically.
How is Ambl different from Google or OpenTable?
Google and standard booking platforms show static listings and scheduled availability. Ambl connects active real-time demand to live venue availability, the same way Uber shows you drivers who are on the road right now. It is built for spontaneous outings rather than planned reservations, and it lets users broadcast what they need so venues can respond immediately.
How did Aaron Solomon get Ambl’s first 1,200 venues?
Entirely through in-person visits. Aaron would finish work, put his backpack on, and walk around London visiting bars and restaurants at night with a prototype on an iPad. He got the last train home at 1am or stayed over. He signed up 150 venues in about two months. The hospitality industry spreads things word-of-mouth, so once a few well-connected operators bought in, the rest followed.
How does Ambl plan to acquire users on the consumer side?
Ambl’s consumer growth strategy is built around natural virality: when you use the app in a group, your friends see how you found the venue and want the same. A rewards program credits frequent users with venue spending, which can be pooled with friends, creating an incentive to share the app. The company is also building a marketing roadmap through influencer and community channels.
When did Aaron Solomon leave his finance job to focus on Ambl?
Aaron declared his business to his employer four months before leaving. He officially left when the business needed him full-time, roughly when fundraising conversations required him to be unavailable during the day. He left on good terms and the company covered his notice period. Two of the three co-founders left their previous roles around the same time.
Topics discussed
Full transcript
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Show full transcript (33 minutes, 7 sections)
00:00 Introduction: first Give It A Nudge London episode
Steve Grace introduces the first-ever London episode of Give It A Nudge, recorded in person in London with Aaron Solomon. Aaron is the co-founder and CEO of Ambl, a hospitality app. The backdrop features a view of London, and Steve notes he’s only in town for a couple of days.
01:00 What Ambl does
Aaron explains Ambl as a real-time connector between customers and hospitality venues. Like Uber pairs riders to available drivers, Ambl pairs people who want to go out right now with venues that have capacity. The problem it solves is last-minute cancellations and no-shows that leave venues with empty tables while customers can’t find anywhere to go.
04:00 The origin story
Aaron came from 10 years in finance and banking. The idea came from spending 25 minutes trying to find a restaurant for eight people and realising all the conventional tools were failing. He said out loud why can’t we just broadcast what we need and have venues respond. The idea evolved over a weekend conversation with a co-founder and kept getting stronger as they talked to venues and validated it.
08:00 Joining the Hyper incubator
Aaron approached Hyper, a London tech incubator, and went through their selection process. They initially said not another hospitality app but Aaron convinced them his approach was different. Hyper helped the team map the business, build a 10-slide prototype, and think through what venues actually needed. Aaron then used that prototype to go out and sign up venues directly.
11:00 Signing up venues in person at night
Aaron did all his venue outreach in person after finishing his finance job during the day. He would put his backpack on and walk around London visiting restaurants and bars with an iPad. He signed up 150 venues in about two months, often staying out until 1am or sleeping in a cheap hotel. He describes one bar owner who said it was the best thing he’d seen in 15 years of hospitality and immediately WhatsApped it to 100 contacts.
18:00 Building to 1,200 venues and shifting focus
Ambl now has 1,200 venues on the platform. Aaron explains why the focus has shifted from acquiring more venues to nurturing the ones they have. The app hasn’t launched yet and he wants every venue owner to know the team personally before it does, so that early bugs don’t cause churn. He is investing in mixers and direct relationship-building.
24:00 Consumer acquisition, rewards, and virality
The consumer side of Ambl will grow through natural virality (using it in a group spreads the product), a rewards model that credits frequent users with venue spending, and exclusive ambler events for heavy users. Aaron also discusses the brand name: originally SpawnTable, the company rebranded to Ambl with the goal of making it a verb, like Uber became a verb for getting a car.
About the host
Steve Grace is the founder and CEO of The Nudge Group, a technology-focused recruitment and advisory business. He has built and scaled companies across Australia and the US, and hosts Give It A Nudge to spotlight founders and operators building something meaningful.
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