After a bit more reading of the forum and Tech Nation visa guide, I’ve tried to answer a couple of my own questions, and maybe these can be challenged 
@Francisca_Chiedu I know you’re active in the forum and have responded to some other similar cases—if you get a chance, I’d appreciate any feedback you might have, or pinging anyone else in the forum that you think might have some good input. Thank you!
- Does anything stand out as being particularly contentious in my application and evidence?
- Are there any pieces of evidence that are better suited to some other criteria, e.g. educational coursework being MC “led the growth of a non-profit organisation or social enterprise” vs. OC2 “How do I demonstrate that I have been recognised for my work outside of my immediate occupation that contributed to the advancement of the sector?”
- Evidence #1 Competitive remuneration also includes a clause about transfer of IP for the coursework to the consulting company, which should provide enough evidence that this was originally developed “outside of my immediate occupation”.
- I haven’t spoken at major conferences and don’t have any publications, but I’m hoping my contributions to the field with the freely available online coursework and framework and the references to this coursework and the framework in research and academia will make up for this. Given that both of these artefacts are now owned by the consulting/venture studio company but were developed by a small team and me before this company was founded, am I able to argue that these were developed “outside of my day-to-day job”?
- The plan is for the consulting company to become a venture studio effectively. Are there any forum posts/cases of venture studios having successful applicants, or are they categorised similarly as consulting/outsourcing/etc…?
- The few cases I have seen, this seems to be okay, as the products are developed in-house. Whenever referring to the company, I’ll focus on its role as a venture studio.
- Before the consulting company, I worked on a low salary in pre-funded startups, working my way up in my career. Should I use my latest competitive salary, even at a consulting company, or is it critical that this is at a product-led digital technology company? Alternatively, I can use the letter of intent/offer conditional on seed funding for salary at the spin-off.
- If I make the case of the company being a venture studio and, as a result, a “product-led digital technology company”, then this should be okay. It still says in the contract that I’m a “contractor” but also a co-founder with equity—this is just how the company operates.
- We were a small team at the consulting company, with at most one client at a time, effectively full-time. We had one of these clients for two years, and they were an innovative and successful product-led digital technology company. We were practically an extension of their own team. Many companies in Europe engage with their employees as contractors, and we were effectively contractors, just via the consulting company. How can I frame this best? I’ve been advised that you could use the term “working for X on behalf of Y”.