How to make your business investable

Let’s face it: if your business is growing fast, you’re likely to need capital. There are different ways of financing it (advanced or discounted sales, strategic partnerships, bartering, grants & loans, crowdfunding) with Venture Capital one that arguably poses the greatest risk for both founders and investors.

We have reached a tipping point

To remain competitive, every company across every industry is now compelled to rethink its established ways of doing business. Change is set to continue, the ride is only going to get faster and the differences more fundamental. The risks of not adapting are now outweighing the risks of staying the same.

Why do startups fail?

If you are considering beginning a new startup business, you will not be happy to hear that 90% of start-ups fail; according to the Startup Genome Project. However, if you understand the reasons why new companies fail to become successes, you can avoid falling into those pitfalls.

Over 50% of women would consider digital if they knew how to retrain

The Institute of Coding (IoC), a government-supported initiative designed to respond to the UK’s digital skills gap, recently hosted its second annual conference at the IET Savoy Place in London. At this two-day event, new research from the IoC and Deloitte was shared that provides powerful insights into the factors that motivate women to study and work in the digital sector.

What challenges do female founders face?

In honour of Interntaional Women’s Day, Startups Magazine spoke to Veronica Neo, co-founder & COO of dedicated classical music streaming service startup, Primephonic about what challenges she has faced as a female founder.

The Business Travel Show: Rent ‘n Connect

Finally at The Business Travel Show, Startups Magazine got to speak to Orkun Acikgoz, General Manager of Rent ‘n Connect that allows you to stay stay connected in over 130 Countries, with 4G high-speed pocket WiFi for up to 10 devices. Reserve your choice of Mobile Hotspot on Rent ‘n Connect for the dates you wish to have it or throughout your stay, the essential arrangements will be made and sent to you, so therefore you will be available to use it freely as soon as you pick up your Mobile Hotspot device.

Five ways to accelerate (and manage) business growth
This article is part 1 of 2 in the series Scale-up 2.0

Many companies collapse after expanding too quickly and spending more than the new business brought in. The sales figures can be high, but the profit may not be there. Or, an unexpectedly large order may put extra pressure on employees – if they deliver a positive experience, a business can be propelled into the next stage of growth.

How to look at your company like an investor

Not all investors are equal. They each have different expectations and require subtly different information to be able to make a decision. So how do you know what kind of investor is best for your company?

Almost half of UK employees want to start their own businesses

According to a survey conducted by Holvi and YouGov of over 1,000 full time workers, sole traders, freelancers and small business owners, almost half (47%) of full-time employees would consider starting their own business.

The Business Travel Show: FlightBox

Also at the Business Travel Show we caught up with Khalid Medaghri, Chief Executive Officer at FlightBox, who offer multi-brand and ready-to-go travel kits with Personal Care essentials in travel size (cabin luggage adapted).

Why do tech startups botch their marketing?

The startup landscape is notoriously difficult to navigate. The numbers speak for themselves – 60% of startups will fail in the first three years of launching. Whether it’s because their core proposition is unworkable and fails to fulfill a market need, or the fact they simply haven’t built the right team, there are a variety of reasons that could lead to a company ultimately closing its doors.

How to tweet like an entrepreneur

We’ve all wondered how to crack the world of Twitter. How much should I tweet? Am I tweeting too much? What time should I tweet to get the most engagement? If you’ve ever been curious about how tech giants like Elon Musk Jeff Benzos compare on Twitter, then you’re in the right place.

Workplace attitudes towards periods: is your startup period-savvy enough?

The stigma attached to periods manifests in many ways and in the workplace, it can often prove quite a difficult obstacle to overcome. In 2018, there were 15.3 million women aged over 16 in employment, with the total female employment rate being 71.4% — the highest ever figure since 1971, when records began.

Making sustainability commercial

In 2018, I joined business mix as a COO and like many startups it’s been quite a journey. Since then I’ve been lucky to be part of a great team that’s driven the business to a global scale, accessing innovation from London, Singapore, Israel, India as well as across South East Asia.

Commercialising sustainability for business and the planet

It’s openly recognised that environmental destruction is going to be devastating for 100s of millions of people globally and it’s already showing its effects. Awareness of the moral implications of sustainability issues for current and future generations has increased dramatically, owing to the types of campaigning that’s occurred. However the commercial opportunity of this has yet to be realised by business

A little bit about Business Mix

As a proud partner for Startups Magazine, Business Mix is an innovation consultancy based in Shoreditch in London and Singapore, and has supported the magazine for sometime now. 

The UK’s emerging cleantech supercluster

The last 12 months has seen an unprecedented surge in the geopolitical urgency of the climate crisis. Greta Thunburg, Australian wildfires and Arctic warming has a created a tipping point in public perceptions of the climate crisis.

Scaling sustainable businesses

For more than 25 years I’ve been helping new things come to life and scale from within the heart of a large corporate and more recently, working with startups and smaller companies to help them grow.

Telling a good story

The third in our six part series of articles harnesses our Associate and Partner network and focusses on narrative and storytelling.  How you talk about yourself and your company is literally the front door key to everything else.

“Tell Me More About Funding Options?”
This article is part 9 of 26 in the series Overheard at a startup...

Whatever any of us care to call it – funding, finance, getting investors, or any other variation on the theme – obtaining finance remains one of the biggest areas of both concern, and lack of detailed knowledge, for many startups.