Bristol Spring Boards:
Behind the Scenes with Dez Futak – How Christian Entrepreneurs in Bristol Are Building Businesses with Faith, Prayer and Real Accountability
If you want to see what Christian entrepreneurship in Bristol really looks like in 2025, picture this: six founders squeezed around a wobbly coffee-shop table at half-nine in the morning, cappuccinos going cold, laptops half-open, and Bibles quietly poking out of rucksacks. It’s a far cry from the usual start-up hype – and that’s exactly why it works.
Bristol Spring Boards - a behind the scenes look at how they work with Dez Futak
Nine months ago, Bristol Spring launched Spring Boards: part peer advisory group, part spiritual direction, part kingdom-focused boardroom. What started as a hunch around a Boston Tea Party table in the heart of Bristol has quietly become a go to support network for Christian start-up founders and established entrepreneurs in the city.
One of the first to join was Dez Futak, the web developer behind a fast-growing, musician-focused platform that’s giving artists affordable, professional online homes without the eye-watering upfront costs of the usual suspects.
We sat down with Dez to go behind the scenes of Bristol Spring Boards and find out why Christian entrepreneurs across Bristol are calling it a game-changer.
“It wasn’t just better business advice – it was hearing what God is saying”
Dez joined with what he freely admits was “a slightly transactional mindset”, expecting sharper strategy and maybe a bit of networking. What he found was far deeper. “It wasn’t just business advice,” he says.
“The question that kept coming up was: what is God actually saying in this situation?”
Together with his sister – a 40-year veteran of the music industry – Dez spotted a gap the big site-builders have ignored for years: musicians need specialist features and fair pricing long before they can justify thousands on a website. Their answer is a vertically-integrated platform built purely for artists.
Like every founder, though, Dez knows the lure of shiny objects and scope creep all too well. Spring Boards became the guardrail he didn’t know he needed. Coffee-Shop Tables, Honesty and Prayer .
The format is deliberately low-key: two hours once a month in an ordinary Bristol coffee shop. No booked room, no flipchart, no pitch decks. Just six Christian entrepreneurs, a table, and permission to be completely real.
The rhythm is simple but powerful:
Quick catch-up
One person shares whatever’s on their heart – business, family, faith, fear
The table listens without interruption
They pray
Honest, loving feedback follows
“We call it ‘spotlighting’,” Dez explains. "‘Someone will gently say, ‘Last month you committed to X – how’s that actually going?’ or ‘You say this is your priority, but your diary seems to tell a different story.’
“It’s not Silicon Valley confrontation – it’s friends who love you enough to tell the truth.”
Because the group prays together over every decision, the accountability carries real weight. “When five people have just spent twenty minutes praying for you, you really don’t want to rock up next month having ignored it all,” Dez laughs.
When kingdom-minded founders become genuine friends perhaps the biggest surprise for Dez was the depth of friendship that has grown outside the monthly meetings.
“I didn’t join to find community,” he says, “but month after month it just happened. Now I’m praying for these guys in my own quiet time, celebrating their wins, carrying their burdens. That’s how you know it’s real.”
God as CEO:
The Core Difference
This is where Bristol Spring Boards stands utterly apart from other groups: Every conversation is shaped by the conviction that God is the ultimate CEO and the one we want to answer to. The questions aren’t only “What should I do?” but “What is the Holy Spirit saying?”
Sometimes that’s a scripture, sometimes a prophetic nudge, sometimes a loving challenge to stay in the lane God has marked out rather than the one ego or fear is pushing toward.
The result?
Christian start-up founders in Bristol making decisions with eternity in view, not just the next funding round or year end push. .Two hours a month that keep eternity in View. In a city full of hustle, two hours a month sounds almost too small to matter. Yet for Dez Futak and many other Christian entrepreneurs in Bristol, Spring Boards have become non-negotiable. “It’s kept me on track,” Dez reflects.
“More than that – it’s helped me steward the years I have left in a way that will actually bear fruit that lasts.”
Because at the end of the day, kingdom-minded entrepreneurship isn’t finally about valuation or exit. It’s about stewardship.And stewardship is never meant to be done alone.
Christian entrepreneurs and start-up founders in Bristol: limited places are still available in the next Bristol Spring Boards groups. Visit bristolspring.com to find out more and apply.