The UK has always prided itself on its startup credentials. London’s tech ecosystem helped 17 companies surpass the $1 billion “Unicorn” status since 2010 – over double the amount of other major tech cities such as Berlin and Paris – while hubs such as Edinburgh and Manchester have also nurtured tremendously strong startup communities.

A major factor in the UK’s startup success is the wealth of support and investment opportunities available to fledgeling businesses. Accelerators have boomed in popularity over the past few years, with programmes such as TechStars pairing new entrepreneurs with expertise and routes to funding.

When it comes to growing businesses, the national focus is often on the newer end of the market – think back to how many articles you’ve seen in the past week providing advice to founders who are either considering launching a startup or are in their first two years of operation. There’s a wide range of guidance in crucial early-stage matters such as developing a business plan or bringing a product to market.

But where is the next level of support for those firms which have grown beyond startup stage? There is a big black hole for scale-ups – businesses with between 10 to 15 staff who are on the cusp of rapid growth.

OECD research highlights that the UK scores high as a supportive location for launching a business and ranks third as the country of choice for startups. However, the country has slipped to thirteenth place for scale-ups – we’re taking the training wheels away from companies once they move past the startup phase, but we’re not replacing them with the next phase of support.

These scaleups are our future unicorns – let how can they possible transition to a £1bn valuation if they’re not receiving the support needed to make it into the middle section of the SME bracket?

Just one in ten UK start-ups that receive seed funding manage to progress to later stage, fourth round investment compared to one in four US firms. But investment is only half of the challenge. Once a business is off the ground, their needs are more complex. It’s no longer one-size-fits-all and the support to grow needs to be more specialised to their industry, proposition and unique needs.

While there are some green shoots of scaleup support starting to emerge, it’s clear that much more effort is required – via government initiatives and programmes from the wider business and corporate community – to turn our fledgeling companies into world-dominating firms.  However, there are a number of different resources which scale-ups can tap into which may provide the support they need:

• Cross-industry collaboration – rather than isolating your small business in a hidden office or working remotely, basing your scale-up amongst other firms at similar stages across different industries will provide an instant support community and peer network, as well as perspective on your own challenges and how to tackle them.
• Business-academia partnerships – the value of academia working side by side with enterprise is well recognised, but it can also be valuable to approach this the other way around. Forging links with higher education institutions, particularly those with a focus on technical research, can help further refine a scale-up’s R&D. Consider scouring for talent in the university labs, or searching for programmes that invite businesses to mentor post-graduates
• Make use on the dedicated growth programmes that are now emerging – rather than giving yourself over to an accelerator for three months, seek a dedicated growth programmes, such as, The Future 50 Programme, which run alongside your business as you grow.

Despite support for scale-ups not being as readily available, these examples show that there are opportunities out there through which founders can tap into to access peer support.

As an industry facing such uncertainty about our economic future, it’s in our best interest to better support the growth of SMEs. We also need to remember that despite the UK’s impressive track record in producing unicorns, it is still the exception not the rule. Growing a business beyond the initial startup phase takes hard work and collaboration to succeed and can’t be achieved alone.

Read more:
We need to fix the scale-up support missing link

Author Porter Gale wrote the most important asset in business isn’t financial capital, but social capital – the ability to “build a network of authentic personal and professional relationships.”

The majority of entrepreneurs, start-ups and established businesses are surrounded by some type of support network everyday, be it in the workplace, on social media platforms such as LinkedIn and many often rely heavily on family and friends. But what is the use of making more connections if we don’t know how to make the most of our support network?

Building the network is one thing, but how to we then go on to leverage our ‘community capital’?

A good support network needs to encourage and help your business thrive by adding value where it’s needed the most, but many find themselves stuck in a cycle of giving and never receiving the same back. How can this be done?

Sweat your existing network

If you look on your LinkedIn profile, you probably have several tens or hundreds of connections that you don’t utilise or call onto for business advice or opinion. Similarly, how many business cards do you have in your wallet or purse that you think could be of true business value? Start doing something about it, drop them an email, give them a call and re-introduce yourself.

Remember – business thrives on collaboration, and your network could be just as keen for your input as you are for theirs. Seek out complementary businesses and learn together. This will open up opportunities and provides the chance for you to share your own expertise.

Seize opportunities to meet face-to-face

It’s important not to get stuck in the digital age and only ever “meet” people via email or over the phone. The majority of SMEs, start-ups and already established businesses forget that human interaction is key to developing good relationships and some of the most valuable business connections start with a face-to-face conversation. People exchange information for more freely face-to-face.

Email and Skype should make real-world interactions easier and more efficient, not hinder them, so make time to catch up with people face to face. Of course face-to-face meetings take up more time, but the benefits could be career changing

Attend workplace events

Attending workplace events is an excellent way of connecting and networking with peers. This allows you to branch out to your most immediate network – your colleagues.

Make time to cast the net further afield and sign up to industry events. Trade magazines are often a great place to look – many will have their own programme of conferences – but also try Facebook where groups dedicated to your sector will routinely share events.

Don’t just connect – broadcast

It’s important to stay connected with people via email, telephone and meet for occasional business lunches, but what about social media? Naturally you’ll want to remain in touch with your existing network, but also consider how you’re broadcasting your insight to those you haven’t connected with yet – beyond a snappy bio, what insight are you sharing?

Consider producing content for social media – particularly LinkedIn. Reeling off a quick, insightful post on a topical industry moment or providing advice to others with a longform article will see you shared into other networks.

Pay attention to the comments – even those who disagree with you – as they often provide opportunities to spark up a conversation. On more than one occasion, I’ve found myself exchanging contacts with someone who I first interacted with following a LinkedIn article. This isn’t marketing fluff – it works.

There’s no right or wrong way of building a successful support network but whether you’re a startup, entrepreneur or an already established business, a strong support network is vital in order for your business to stay afloat.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help, seize opportunities to meet peers face-to-face, attend networking events and most importantly stay connected. Soon building and leveraging your support network will become second nature.

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Do any of us make the most out of our support network?

There’s no denying that remote working has changed the face of day-to-day business, we seek to label these, such as the gig economy certainly do drive this change.

Organisations big and small are increasingly enabling staff to work from different locations, whether that’s from home, from a separate small office external to the company’s main offices, or from shared workspaces.

Gone are the days when all employees are housed under a single roof with a big logo over the entrance. Thanks to the cloud, I too work from many locations around the world but maintain the connectivity to business. With systems such a Zoom.us I can speak to my team and hold conferences with many clients without being located in our HQ.

Some companies, particularly older, more established organisations, may balk at these evolving work habits. Business leaders have historically taken a degree of reassurance from the knowledge that all their employees are within arm’s reach, where they’re easy to motivate (and even easier to monitor). I understand the hesitation, even if I don’t agree with it. To me, it’s clear that the era of centralised headquarters is over – and that’s fantastic news for business.

First and foremost, it’s crucial to understand that market pressures have forced the rise in remote working. Ever-spiralling commercial property rents and the thought of locking into a long lease with lack of business rate reform mean that a sprawling office building has gone from the mark of a company on the rise to a costly albatross around the neck if you are fast pace and scaling fast, sucking increasingly heavy costs from the balance sheet.

We started seeing an SME exodus from Central London as far back as 2012, but today around the country, big and small businesses are weighing the cost of remaining in a central urban location or moving out to the more affordable city fringes.

It’s often unfeasible for companies to uproot their entire staff, so we’re currently seeing a more gradual transition, with selected employees or teams trailblazing into new offices or shared workspaces, with others either following later or remain behind permanently.

And it’s not just business leaders mulling a location change. Recent research from Savills has found that the number of people moving out of London has risen 80 per cent in 5 years due to living costs.

We need to scream louder as you can’t argue with the data, London is losing to other cities taking an entrepreneurial stance on attracting talented companies.

Staff are eager to move to areas that guarantee a better quality of life and more affordable housing – and businesses are eager to retain skilled employees at a time when access to talent has never been a more pressing concern.

Allowing staff to work from home has become a quick and easy solution, but it’s also been a catalyst that causes many businesses to rethink their talent acquisition strategy.

At Central Working, we’ve seen an increasing number of businesses based in Southern England launch secondary programming teams in our more northern workspaces, specifically to target tech talent.

The high demand for skilled digital candidates, coupled with higher-than-average London salaries, mean that companies in the capital are struggling to offer the remuneration packages of the Googles and Facebooks.

Instead, many companies are looking to hubs such as Manchester, Edinburgh and Birmingham, where communities of skilled programmers, coders and developers already exist, and setting up separate offices to appeal to these candidates directly.

Sales and marketing teams may still be based in the client-rich capital, but hubs around the UK are doing an increasing amount of the heavy lifting when it comes to research and development. And this external investment is further fuelling the growth of regional hubs across the country. It also great to hear more stories coming from the regions!

Protecting both balance sheet and staff roster should be enough to convince business leaders that the demise of centralised HQs is nothing to mourn. But there’s real opportunity here, not just reactive safeguarding.

Splitting up departments and having them mix with new organisations, either in shared workspaces or mixed offices, encourages and the intake of fresh ideas. It’s also a catalyst for that driver of business success, collaboration.

A company’s success often depends on the valuable connections that staff make, whether you’re looking for clients or suppliers. It is also the clarity they gain from being able to work in more fluid environment rather than a old office environment. If all your employees are shackled to a desk in one location, they’ll have to find time to get out into the world and make these connections.

There’s a reason behind the huge spike in corporate accelerator programmes in recent years – big business has recognised that there’s money to be made by working alongside a range of companies, small or large. We also need to support intra-entrepreneurs in companies to unlock their entrepreneurial qualities.

Central headquarters will always have a place in the business world, but it’s fair to say that business will only become more flexible in the future.

That’s not to say you should instantly despatch your employees to different corners of the country – but it’s worth bearing in mind that the companies that offer adaptable, responsive working conditions now will be among those best placed to tap talent and collaborative opportunities in the future.

Read more:
Centralised HQs will soon be a thing of the past – & that’s good for business

Contrary to popular belief, becoming an entrepreneur is relatively easy. The hard part is making your business thrive once it’s off the ground – and this is the phase that often requires founders to think about investment.

The newly-released SME Finance Monitor found that six out of ten companies readily admit they know nothing about equity finance. But simply knowing what these avenues are is only half the battle, as entrepreneurs must accurately assess whether the time is right for their business.

In the entrepreneurial community there’s a common misconception that securing investment will be the springboard to scaling and eventual world domination. If your business idea is robust, surely a financial injection will propel you from start-up to unicorn? But deciding to seek funding is a seismic event in your company’s life, and while the billions invested in various companies make great headlines, the often-underreported reality is that the vast majority of young companies fail to secure investment.

Is your business ready to enter into this extensive, often turbulent process? And even if you decide that it is, are you prepared to make a strong enough case?

Timing is everything

Many entrepreneurs mistakenly believe that sooner is always better. But raising capital too early can prove costly, as it’s likely that early stage entrepreneurs will be forced to surrender more equity than they’d first envisaged. Is the extra funding worth relinquishing control over your company’s direction, as well as a sizable portion of profits?

At Central Working we usually advise our members that if they can sustain growth independently for the next six months, they should avoid entering into the funding process and reassess after this period. Your goal should also be to add as much value to your business before going out to investment. This will not only place you in a better negotiating position, it may also entice some of the more seasoned investors to the table.

Connections are key, build your network and don’t take the first offer that may seem right at the time only to wish you waited a few more months. It is not always about money, you need to find the right fit for your business and ensure that the person investing also adds more than just cash. As your business scales this will become more important, and taking cash just for the sake of it will seem a rushed decision. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and sometimes it is too late to back out once you have already given too much away.

Assess your ambitions

A common trait of entrepreneurism is the desire to be your own boss and blaze your own path. Pursuing funding can infringe on these ambitions, as many investors will – quite rightly – expect a degree of influence on the business’ direction to assure a return on investment.

That said, bringing external financing can have benefits that go beyond the initial capital. Many investors are seasoned entrepreneurs in their own right and can provide invaluable insight. Canny entrepreneurs who have established a robust proof of concept can afford to be selective and opt for investors with a record of success in their specific sector.

Surround yourself with good people, good people are key to any successful company and you need these people to help scale your idea at pace.

Making your case

If you decide to move forward with the investment process, you’ll need to put forward a strong case as to why an investor should see value in your business. This is often a time-consuming affair and can involve extended meetings, presentations and negotiations. Underpinning the entire process will be your business plan, and it’s crucial that you make this document as robust as possible. You need to transform an investor’s leap of faith into a confident step.

The importance of market research can’t be overstated and you should know your customer better than you know your own mother. But don’t copy the market, build your own path and be bold and different. What are they doing now and why do they need you in their life? If you can’t demonstrate this within the safe confines of a business plan then how can investors have faith that you’ll have a handle on your market once you have the means to scale?

Know your exit. It is harsh at times but investors main focus is ROI so you will be pushed to look in other directions but be firm on your business, or your customer. Their sole priority is their money and how much they will get back. So realistically highlight what returns they can expect.

The numbers are the numbers. Make your forecasts believable and you should be able to confidently show potential investors how you’re going to hit those projections. Always give yourself a fall back, under promise and over deliver has done most businesses well and is a good guide for life. In reality, the large majority of growing businesses fail to immediately reach their most optimistic figures. Things never go to plan, but any decent investor will know this. A crystal clear vision and knowledge of the market will demonstrate that you’ve considered your approach carefully.

Above all, keep it simple. If you can’t easily express your vision then it’s going to be impossible to raise money. To clear confusion, find a friend or family member with little to no idea about your sector or technology. If they can grasp your basic business premise then you’re on the right track.

Ultimately only you can decide if seeking funding is right for you. It’s not a decision to take lightly, and even if you commit to pitching your business as a valuable commodity, there are no guarantees that the investor community will agree with you. But earning that valuable capital can turn your promising start-up into a thriving, scalable business. Just make sure that you’re making your case in the right way, at the right time. And I leave you with a final comment. Surround yourself with amazing mentors, they are key! Approach someone you trust or admire and learn from them as they are valuable sounding boards for your business.

Read more:
Are you prepared for the investment assault course?