Daring voices: Kirsten Jack
Welcome to Daring Voices, our series spotlighting the founders in the Daring Capital community. In each edition, we sit down with a founder to hear their journey in their own words: from their origin story, to the challenges they’ve faced, and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.
This week, we talk to Kirsten Jack, founder of Uncommon.
What problem is your business solving, and what inspired you to tackle it?
Uncommon is an online community for neurodivergent tweens and teens. We help young people thrive through clubs, courses, summer camps and mentoring that flex across their journey into adulthood.
The idea came from lived experience. Many of us on the team are neurodivergent and know how isolating it can be to grow up misunderstood. Poor mental health, often rooted in masking, exclusion, and bullying, is a common thread – and support is limited. When my daughter was born, I was determined she and others like her would have better support. That mission has driven everything we’ve built.
Why does solving this problem matter to you personally?
Because the impact of unsupported neurodivergence lasts. As an autistic person diagnosed in my late teens, I struggled with friendships, felt isolated and experienced mental health challenges that followed me into adulthood.
We want young people to feel safe, heard and accepted – not just to cope, but to thrive. For us, this is about creating the kind of spaces we wish had existed when we were younger. That personal investment from the whole team is what makes Uncommon so powerful.
Why is now the right time to solve this problem?
There’s a surge in awareness and diagnosis - particularly among girls and women - who’ve historically been missed. Parents are becoming more informed and want affirming, strengths-based support for their children.
Meanwhile, services are overstretched. The NHS is under-resourced, clinical support is often unaffordable and waiting lists are long. One-to-one mentoring can be helpful, but it doesn’t address the underlying loneliness so many neurodivergent young people feel. Now is the time to offer scalable, community-based solutions that meet this growing need.
How does your solution stand out from existing alternatives?
We focus on social connection. Rather than only offering clinical interventions or one-to-one support, we create peer environments where young people build friendships, learn about their brains and feel understood – all while having fun.
Because we’re fully online, we’re able to support a wide range of communication styles and needs. Our sessions are co-designed with neurodivergent mentors and young people themselves. There’s no diagnosis needed and no gatekeeping; families can just book directly. That makes a big difference.
What does success look like to you, not just financially but in terms of impact?
Success is seeing a child who’s been shut down or withdrawn start to re-engage with life: joining family dinners, showing interest in hobbies, or simply smiling more. Parents regularly tell us their children go from isolation to laughter after just a few sessions.
We also measure success by how accessible we are. Many parents spend months – or years – fighting for support. When a parent says: “I booked it online, my child had a great time and we didn’t have to fight for it”, we know we’re doing something right.
Have you ever had to choose between your mission and making a profit? What happened?
Yes, and we chose mission. We offer discounted places to families on Universal Credit, because we know that neurodivergent families are far more likely to be on lower incomes. Around a third of parents of neurodivergent children stop working entirely to provide care. We couldn’t call ourselves inclusive if our services weren’t accessible. While it means tighter margins, it’s part of who we are. We prioritise impact alongside financial sustainability.
What has been your biggest challenge so far, and how did you get through it?
Our biggest operational challenge is designing spaces that work for everyone. Neurodivergent young people are incredibly diverse: some are non-speaking, some are highly sensitive, others are direct and outspoken. Creating spaces where each person feels safe and included takes constant iteration.
Being online has helped enormously. Digital tools give young people more control over their environment and communication style. These tools weren’t widely available before the pandemic, but they’ve enabled us to meet young people where they are, with a level of flexibility that simply wouldn’t have been possible before.
What achievement are you most proud of to date?
Our team. Every one of our mentors is neurodivergent and many are in their first job. We’ve built a training programme that helps them grow into confident, capable facilitators. Watching them develop professionally – and then move into dream internships or careers – is incredibly rewarding. We aim to create not just safe spaces for young people, but also meaningful early work experiences for neurodivergent adults. Seeing that work pay off is a huge source of pride.
What is your long-term vision for the business and the change you want to create?
We want to see every neurodivergent young person grow up feeling confident, connected and understood. That means making sure they’re part of communities where they feel they belong and can return to whenever they need support.
Our model is designed to flex across a young person’s life. Some may step away and come back later – and that’s fine. We want to be that consistent, trusted presence in the background, offering support without pressure.
We currently operate in the UK, but our long-term goal is to bring this work to young people globally.
What challenges have you faced raising investment, and how have you navigated them?
Two things stand out: the kind of business we are and the kind of founder I am. As a solo founder - and as a woman - I’m statistically less likely to raise investment. I’ve been lucky to meet investors who do back women and who understand businesses that put mission first. Getting advice like “investors are just going to halve your projections anyway” helped me learn to pitch more confidently and realistically.
The other challenge is that we’re people-heavy – by nature, not just by choice. Some investors struggle with that. Others find it hard to grasp the value in for-profit businesses that work in social care or education. But there are plenty of profitable companies in these spaces – and we’re clear that our triple bottom line is a strength, not a compromise.
What advice would you give to other underrepresented founders just starting their fundraising journey?
Know what kind of investment you want. Not all capital is good capital. I knew from the start that I wanted angel investors and foundations, not VCs. Our model is scalable, but not at the speed most venture funds expect – and that’s OK.
Look in the right places. Find people who understand your sector or have a personal connection to your mission. Ask for introductions and recommendations. You never know where the right connection will come from.
Work with platforms like Daring Capital. Especially as a solo founder, the time saved is invaluable. Daring helped me stay focused on running the business while fundraising, and the quality of their coaching and investor introductions has been exceptional.
What do you think needs to change about the fundraising ecosystem?
The system still doesn’t serve founders building outside of traditional profit-first models. We need more investors who understand different kinds of returns – not just financial, but social and emotional too. We also need more diversity among investors. I once told an investor that a child had asked their parent to join because they were lonely, and he replied: “No child says that”. But they do – all the time. If 95% of your customers are mums, but your investors don’t understand caregiving, they’re going to miss the nuance.
It’s just like women’s health: it struggled for funding until more women were at the table. The same principle applies here. We need more diverse investors with broader lived experience, so we can build a more inclusive investment ecosystem for all founders.
If you’d like to find out more about Uncommon, you can visit their website.
A big thank you to Kirsten for sharing her journey. You can catch the next in the Daring Voices series next week.
Jem
and the team at Daring Capital