As Pink Orange Media celebrates its second year in business, the agency has set out a bold pledge to donate a portion of all client retainers to global charities and provide employment opportunities to struggling job-seekers.
Nesta, the UK’s innovation foundation for social good, and UK Research and Investment (UKRI) have announced a new two-year partnership to provide up to £6m in combined investment and grant funding for companies working to improve health outcomes in later life.
LOT Network, an international community of high-tech companies committed to protecting its members from costly litigation from patent assertion entities (PAEs, also known as ‘patent trolls’), welcomes space tech startup company, Orbital Exploration Technologies (OrbitX), to its membership of more than 1,400 members. OrbitX is the first commercial space venture in the Philippines.
Student and graduate entrepreneurs are receiving a £40,000 boost through Kingston University’s longstanding partnership with Santander Universities to launch and develop their startups this year.
All products go through the different lifecycle stages of introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. As such, companies need to learn about the lifecycle stage to set performance goals, such as sales and profit growth targets, and make resource allocation decisions, such as strategic and human resource planning. A product lifecycle can last for several days or even continue for years.
Musicians reportedly lost out on two thirds of their income in 2020 with the doors to live music venues closed and festivals cancelled across the board. With live music taking a backseat, innovations in the sector came to the fore, with collaboration and creation taking on a truly digital-first approach.
Systems and procedures are crucial to the running of every successful business. Some company structures are inevitably simpler than others, and the complexity of the business does of course dictate the type of systems and procedures required, as well as the level of need. But whatever the size and complexity of the business, procedures are always needed.
A well thought through brand strategy can be the difference between success and failure when you’re starting out. And that’s been amplified thanks to COVID-19. So what steps can you take to drive success and give your startup the best chance?
If you’re one of the many business owners who have made a profit this past tax year you may be wondering how to extract those profits in the most tax-efficient way.
According to the latest statistics, the average business spends between 5-12% of their annual turnover on marketing. While millions of organisations – particularly those operating in B2C sectors – perceive digital marketing as fundamental to driving sales and resulting business growth, other business owners still need convincing of its value, and often have preconceptions of the Return On Investment (ROI) required to make it worthwhile.
What’s remarkable is that during COVID-19 startup companies thrived even during trying times, while some of the more established enterprises did not. Part of that is because even in the best of times, a startup company needs to be nimble and pivot with the market as it changes.
With research showing that up to 96% of customers would consider switching from a business after a single bad service experience, there can be no doubt that service is a key differentiator for today’s customers. Contact centres have always been challenged by employee productivity and surges in demand, but never more so than now as remote working has brought new and more complex management issues.
This week Alphabet Inc, parent company to Google, saw record profit earnings during its first quarter, with its net profit jumping by 162% in three months. This success has been unsurprisingly attributed to the pandemic, with more people at home using online services to stay informed, connected, and entertained, as we continue to work remotely under lockdown.
London-based AI scaleup, Vivacity Labs has been honoured with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise. The Vivacity Labs team was awarded the Innovation Award for its technology that supports government, regional bodies and local councils to re-think and optimise the way traffic and transport infrastructure is built and used.
Suss Ventures has backed five investment deals with a combined value of £570,000 in under half a year. The new investor matching service is funded by Sussex Innovation, the business incubator owned by the University of Sussex. Since it’s foundations in 2019, Suss Ventures has welcomed over 100 investors and fundraisers into its growing community and has hosted quarterly events welcoming over 300 attendees, comprising investors and founders.
Intrapreneurs are known as ‘the dreamers that do’. One thing’s for sure: they do a lot more than just brainstorm ideas. From boosting revenue and driving growth, changing company culture, and improving retention and recruitment, intrapreneurship has the ability to enhance a business from top to bottom. And for startups transitioning from bootstrapping into a more established identity with an increasing number of employees, it’s critical to nurture an intrapreneurial outlook.
Agility and resilience are qualities we’ve all had to show in the face of unprecedented challenges since March 2020. It has been hard for all of us personally, and it has also been challenging for many professionally, with industries created and destroyed overnight; wild variations in customer demand; and general economic instability. In response, many businesses have had to pivot fast to survive and, in some cases, thrive.
The number of public sector contracts being awarded to SMEs continues to rise and services are frequently being broken down into smaller contracts to facilitate SMEs. However, where SMEs may not have the funds to offer free value adds or perhaps offer the lowest price, it’s vital that they clearly articulate how they can deliver value.
It’s a shame when brilliant ideas are left in limbo before they are able to come alive because of financial constraints. Did you know that most founders underestimate how much time their startup will need to achieve market validation by two to three times? What if one of these businesses runs out of money before anything viable can be completed, then this means that many great ideas are never given the chance they deserve. How many businesses could have succeeded if they had more time and money?
Tally Market, the on-demand workspace platform for teams, announced that it has just closed a six-digit seed financing round. The oversubscribed round was funded by a group of prominent angel investors and startup veterans, and brings Tally Market’s funding to date to £330,000.
