Should three LoRs all talk about the impact from the last 5 years?

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Three Letters of Recommendation (LoRs)

In the TechNation Guidance, there is no specific requirement that Letters of Recommendation (LoRs) must address impact within the last five years.

In my case, two of my LoRs describe impacts that occurred more than five years ago:

  • Angel Investor’s LoR (2014): This letter is from an angel investor who was interested in investing in my startup in 2014. So the most part of his letter is talking about my leadership qualities, entrepreneurial spirit, and the significant impact of my product when he knew me back 10 years ago. He also mentioned that he keeps an eye on my business and describe my impact on the industry, but it is just in 2-3 sentences.
  • Digital Expert’s LoR (2015): This letter is from a digital expert with whom I collaborated to launch a product in 2015. The product made a substantial impact on the industry and remains active in the market. The letter details how I led the team in developing the product and the overall impact it had.

2. Optional Criterion 3 (OC3)

If I choose to focus on technical impact for OC3, should the letter from my employer emphasize my technical contributions specifically, or should it address my overall impact, including technical aspects such as building the tech team, leading product strategy and roadmap, and driving business transformation?

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Making reference to work done is 2014 and 2015 doesn’t meet the criteria. Let your reference speak to work done from 2019 till date Your letter should talk about your all round impact with metrics to help the assessor understand that the impact is significant.

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Hi Francisco, thank you for your clarification.

As far as I understand,

MC: evidences should be within 5 years.

OC: evidences can be more than 5 years as long as business are active in the market OR business is dissolved within 5 years.

In terms of LoR, I found nowhere in the guidance that reference should speak to work done within 5 years. However, to reduce the risk, I will make the change.

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Letter and evidence should be within 5 years. It may not be explicitly stated but it is implied. We also know this based on feedback from rejected applications posted on this forum.

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Thanks, Francisca! I am reworking on my letters and evidence! Huge help!

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It has taken me 6 months to reach this stage. Your feedback is highly appreciated before the submission. Thank you! @Francisca_Chiedu your clarification has helped me reframe my files. @Elias your post is helpful to structure my material.

My skills include: Entrepreneurship, Head of Product and Technology
Application category: Exceptional Talent
All evidences are within 5 years.

PS: in terms of my future plan in the UK, how specific it should be?

LoR1_ Angel Investor of my Startup and CEO, We have worked together for 10 years.

LoR2_CTO of the UK company. We have worked together only for 10 months but knew each other for 1 year. // The letter is not strong as my contribution within only 10 moths is not that significant.

LoR3_Senior Manager at Ant Group, we worked closely in 2 projects and knew each other for 10 years

MC1: Ownership of the Startup and Company’s Revenue in 2023

Company introduction, shareholder agreement (10%) and breakdown of investment (1.7 million GBP investment from angel investors in 2015 and 2018), a statement that I am the founder (I founded the company in 2008), revenue in 2023

MC 2. Comany’s Honors and Gave Speech on a High Profile Meeting

Media Report of the company’s honors. I stated that I am the only shareholder who has the technical background, as a tech company, the company’s honors is inseparable from my contribution.

Gave a speach on a national wise competition, but it is in 2016.

MC 3. Patent and Software Copyrights to demonstrate my leadership in the growth of a product-led digital technology company

Product introduction, my invention patent and two software copyrights, and my contribution.

MC 4. Reference letter from a Digital Expert who was my client

OC1 1. Patent

I explained my contribution, solution description, process flow diagram, proof of product in the market by showing recent revenue breakdown, shareholder agreement.

OC1 2. Innovative Product A

Media report of the product (my name is not mentioned), an Email I sent to the client regarding the system diagram, list of innovations, proof of product in the market by showing contract in 2023 (price is included), shareholder agreement.

OC3 1. Technical Impact of SaaS Product

Media report about the product in 2020: the enterprise clients number and the transaction volume.
Screenshot of the product.
Platform real-time dash board.
Two screenshots of two Platform Architecture Diagram from Confluence. One diagram was drawn in 2016, and the other in 2020. I explained the tech stack and the technological advancements of the new architecture.

OC3 2. Technical Impact of Product B

Product dashboard to show the transaction amount.
Screenshot of the product and media report of a marketing program regarding Product B
Platform technical solution doc screenshot with my name on the first page.

OC3 3. Description of My Role and Impact

This letter is provided by the startup, not by any individuals, and explains my role, contributions, and the organizational chart.

Questions:

  1. PS. in terms of my plan in the UK, how specific it should be? Now I talked about I will join another UK company to disrupt an industry, but I still hold a strong desire of running a business in the future, but I don’t have specific timeline. In other reference letters, my potential contribution to the UK is mentioned also in a very generic way.

  2. Do I need to provide evidence to support the statement of LoR2_CTO of the UK company? As I my contribution was limited, the evidence is not that strong.

  3. In terms of commercial success, is the annual revenue of 0.6 million GBP a successful business?

  4. In the past 5 years, I spent almost 3 years in the UK. My significant impact is done before I came to the UK. Will it weaken my application?

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Hi @snailxu

Q1. PS: you can mention your immediate, mid-term and long/term goals.
If your impact in other reference letters is mentioned in generic manner, they will be weak. We have seen many rejection letters where TN says “even though the letters are complimentary of the applicant they do not demonstrate how the applicant has significantly contributed or prove the applicant is a leading talent”. Your letters need to have your contribution & why was it significant through quantified impact.

Q2. If the LOR is not strong it can become a reason for rejection. You don’t need to provide evidence but you need to provide strong LORs themselves otherwise high chance of a flag.

Q3. Need to put it in context of why is the revenue significant for the stage of the company. Cannot benchmark as an individual number on its own.

Q4. No it will not weaken, many ppl (incl. me) do successful applications without any work ex in the UK. However only last 5 years of work evidences are considered acceptable by TN hence your 2 years of outside UK work needs to come out strongly in your application.

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Snail,

It looks great and I believe you can have your endorsement.

Also, Hope you can find more media or evidence for MC, it’s the only part I found might not be that shine.

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Hi Pahuja,

I appreciated your reply. I like your comment on clarifying the significance of the revenue and mentioning my short, mid-term and long term goals.

For the LoR from CTO of a UK company, I am thinking to move it to OC3 part.

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Hi Alex,

Thank you. I also feel the same way. That’s why I spent a lot of time in the past month to make my MC part strong. Let me think if I can find more.

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Also, I dont know if you mentioned in your PS or MC.

Which is what product you innovated and why this product is so innovative or important to the community/.

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@snailxu You need 3 solid LORs from people who will themselves be considered experts in digital technology, who highlight your significant contribution (to the work they describe in their letter) via your role in that work and quantified impact.

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Got it! I need to rework on my LoR. Thank you @pahuja

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Thank you @AlexBlack for your reminder. I am working on it to highlight my impact and innovation in MC and PS.

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Hi Alex, to strengthen my MC part, can I add media reports of the products I oversaw, along with a screenshot of the internal dashboard showing a large volume of transactions? However, neither my company’s name nor mine is mentioned. But it is backed by a reference letter from the client.

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We all know if your name is in the report that would be great.

But if you don’t, please make sure you can create the connection by

  1. certified translation to link the product name and the company and yourself
  2. Make sure at least one of your LoRs or 3rd party letters mention that news or achievements.
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Alex, appreciate for your reply. I am working on linking the connection between the product, my company and myself.

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Hi Alex,

Here is what I have modified to create the connection between the product and my contribution in the MC part.

1). Media report of the product significant impact
2). Media report of my company’s business where the product name was mentioned.
3). Screenshot of SVN source code submission where my name is shown
4). I stated that I am the founder of the company and the only shareholder who has the technical background and oversaw the entire tech and product team.
5). My contribution in terms of the product is mentioned in two reference letters.

Does it sound strong enough? Thank you.

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Hi Pahuja,

Do you think it is necessary to include my two UK employment contracts in the MC part as evidence of my role in the UK, even though my impact there is less significant than my role in my home country? One contract is from my employer last year, and the other is from my new employer. Currently, all my evidence is from my role in my home country, except for the reference letter from the CTO of the UK company. Thank you.

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@snailxu what do the employment contracts indicate? Do you want to prove high salary with it?

You can create just one evidence set with all your employment contracts, ESOPs/equity if applicable, rise in salary and promotions, pay scale benchmarking etc.

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