Features

As manufacturing startups rely more on digital technologies, they become more vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

It feels like artificial intelligence has developed more in the past week than it has in the last 10 years.

We’ve got a femtech problem.

Before I was a banker, I was a founder. 

My background is in R&D, marketing, and business strategy, so lends itself well to where I find myself today.

Sadly, with only 10% of startups making it through their first year, there’s no doubt they face a challenge ahead of them. Reasons for this can include poor budgeting, misplaced marketing, lack of research, and/or choosing the wrong partners.

That whole Monday to Friday, nine to five institution most of us know as reality is apparently coming to an end…or so they say.

Launching a startup is an exciting time, but typically it can also be a little frantic as you struggle to juggle competing necessities before your launch date.

With more than a decade of experience in early-stage investing Lian Michelson, Investment Director at Vala Capital, finds that, unlike men, women underplay what their business is worth when they pitch to VC investors. Here she gives her top tips for that successful pitch.

We know that email prospecting works.

Academy’s Head of Performance, Natalya Sverjensky, sat down with Academy grad Tavija (who recently joined the railtech division within Tracsis plc) and her mentor Magda, Director of Digital Delivery at Virgin Media O2.

Last year, just a few weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, I took a trip to Krakow, Poland (against my mother’s wishes).

Without a doubt, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are essential to the European economy.

Industry players are on a mission to differentiate themselves, while merchants and consumers are demanding innovative ways to pay for what they buy.  A seamless payment experience is becoming more and more important to consumers and therefore merchants as ecommerce continues to be as competitive as ever.

Physical assets such as stock, machinery, cash and business premises are often core to business operations and might be the first thing business owners think about when valuing a company on the balance sheet. 

Dry January is the annual campaign which urges participants to abstain from alcohol for a month. Paula Allen, Global Leader of Research and Total Wellbeing at TELUS Health shines a light on what businesses can learn from Dry January and how to identify and support substance use and addiction in the workplace.

Predictions are always hard to make.

What do we get if we take a dose of entrepreneurial impostor syndrome, media, and a female founder? The potential for a perfect storm that leads to business failure before it has even had the chance to bloom.

Among the questions I am most frequently asked is this one: When is the best time to pursue a start-up?

There’s no question that UK small businesses are feeling the strain right now. These SMEs are contending with a cocktail of rising overheads, while customers have less cash in their pockets to spend.