Features

Content marketing has been something of a golden child for companies, recently. SMEs and other firms have been happy to invest heavily in the likes of online articles and blogs, video, e-books, and research reports with the aim of driving customer numbers. According to my company’s research, 91% of marketers have increased their content budgets since 2020

The Framing Effect is all about perception. The way you frame or present the same thing changes how people perceive it. Customers don’t just react to the facts; they react emotionally to how those facts are shown. The roots of the idea go back to the work of Tversky & Kahneman (1981), applied in marketing by Ries & Trout.

Here’s an uncomfortable truth many founders discover too late: you’ve built something brilliant, gained traction, assembled a talented team – but when it comes to raising your next round, finding the right investors feels like searching in the dark. Meanwhile, investors complain they can’t discover quality deal flow outside their usual networks.

By 2050, one in six people worldwide will be over 65. In Europe, it will be closer to one in three. Although this stems from the positive reality of longer lives and better health, healthcare systems built for younger, shorter-lived populations now face the growing burdens of chronic disease, multimorbidity, and long-term care. And while we can celebrate the advancements that have taken us here, the ageing population is certainly an economic challenge that we must adapt to.

As a founder or product lead, you may have noticed how crowded the obvious markets are, leaving you with massive market opportunities that large corporations often overlook. Changing demographics, cultural shifts, and greater public awareness have created unmet needs that agile startups can service in various ways.

As summer holidays have wrapped up, Brits are entering what’s becoming known as the “Winter Arc” – the late autumn period where people focus on productivity, goal-setting, and getting ahead before the year-end rush. Employment Hero data shows that households and employees largely back in rhythm, making October and November key months for productivity.

Raising the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) often sparks debates about job losses and automation replacing humans, and this can be the case in hospitality, but in my view, in an industry built on personal connection, a different story is unfolding. In hospitality, AI isn’t replacing people – it’s empowering them. The next frontier of automation is human-centred, using technology to amplify empathy, not erase it. I believe everyone in hospitality needs AI.

There’s a dangerous myth that continues to linger in startup culture – if you build a great product, they will come. Though it’s the mantra widely attributed to Facebook’s rise in 2004, it simply no longer holds true in today’s world.

When National Australia Bank (NAB) recently disclosed it faces a staggering AUSD 130 million in costs due to historical payroll underpayments, some dating back more than a decade, it was headline news. However, while reports tend to focus on the scale of such mistakes made by large institutions, the underlying message should resonate deeply with organisations of every size: payroll errors are a serious issue, and can lead to significant financial, regulatory, and reputational consequences, for organisations of any size.

We’re living in a moment when technology cycles no longer stretch across decades, they compress into single-digit years. Cloud went mainstream in less than a generation, mobile rewrote consumer behaviour almost overnight, and generative AI stormed the enterprise in record time. But speed hasn’t equalled success. Scratch beneath the headlines and a sobering fact emerges: according to MIT, 95% of enterprise GenAI initiatives have yet to deliver measurable impact.

AI is no longer just a trendy technology that companies promote as a value add; it has become a must-have for organisations aiming to stay competitive. This message is heard in many technology events and workshops during 2025.

Since the global financial crisis of 2008, successive governments have placed high-growth companies at the heart of the UK’s economic strategy. The goal is to create an environment where innovative startups can grow into globally competitive businesses such as the fintech giants Revolut, Wise, Monzo, and Ebury.

Your startup’s story isn’t just a pitch, it’s the playbook for how you attract customers, talent, and investors. Here’s how to tell a story that sells your vision as much as your product.

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 posed unprecedented challenges to the nation’s startup ecosystem. Yet, against all odds, Ukrainian entrepreneurs have demonstrated remarkable resilience and innovation. From navigating funding shortages to adapting business models and entering international markets, Ukrainian startups have not only survived but thrived.

I spent eight years working for a small British manufacturer in Oxfordshire. The sort of outfit that, like so many brilliant UK manufacturers, makes astonishing kit in an unassuming shed tucked away in the beautiful countryside. I’ve lost count of the number of days I’ve watched vanish: chasing a work order hidden in someone’s desk, sitting in a meeting that should have been an email, or typing the same numbers into two systems that hate each other. So I started Mithryl with a goal to turn that chaos into usable knowledge and give teams their time back.

In just over a year, AI funding went from explosive to cautious optimism. After the staggering $108 billion poured into AI startups in 2024, 2025 has shown the emergence of a new pattern.

Enterprise AI is facing a severe reality check. Amidst a massive rush of investment, a recent MIT study has delivered a sobering finding: 95% of corporate generative AI pilots are failing to progress to scaled adoption and deliver measurable financial returns.

UK SMEs say specific Government initiatives designed to help them survive and grow don’t go far enough, according to new research from Bibby Financial Services (BFS).

In a tough economic climate, we hear a lot about ‘productivity’, often reduced to a statistical measurement associated with the economic output of a country or region. Because of their relatively small size, mathematically, startups don’t contribute significantly to the macroeconomic productivity figures.

America is the land of promise for many small British businesses. The population is generally fairly well off and there’s almost five times as many people as there are in this country. The potential to sell many more of your products and services there is enormous.