Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) has been the corporate craze of recent years: the route for global giants to flex their eco and workforce credentials, and an excuse for business consultancies to generate endless new reports and frameworks. But the biggest corporate secret is that, when it comes to ESG credentials, startups consistently steal a march on their rivals.

Despite the ups and downs of startup funding over the past year, several areas continue to draw interest from investors – and medtech is one of them. That’s especially true of startups looking to apply AI to healthcare, a sector where angels and VCs believe smarter diagnostic tools and better drug development pipelines can result in major cost savings.

It’s Mental Health Awareness month and this year’s focus is on anxiety, something most of us are unfortunately more than familiar with.

Turning an idea into a reality is an exhilarating pursuit.

You know the phrase ‘two nations divided by a common language’? Apparently coined by George Bernard Shaw about Britain and America, it could just as easily be said about different – and sometimes warring – factions in companies. In particular, sales and marketing. 

Funding for your business can, in theory, come from many different places.  It can be self-funded from your own resources, otherwise known as bootstrapping, or you can ask friends, family, and others that know you, to assist. 

Working hard and overcoming failure are two essential elements for achieving success. Often, people who are successful in their fields are admired for their talent, skill, and intelligence. However, what many people don't realise is that success is not just about talent or skill. It's about putting in the hard work and overcoming failures that come along the way.

Tina Charisma covers the disrupters and innovators of the world, highlighting Samuel Brooksworth and his courage and dedication to his tech on-demand services platform, Remoteli. 

Startups are as likely to fall victim to cyber-attacks as large organisations. A survey by Identity Theft Resource Centre shows that 58% of cyber attacks in 2022 targeted small businesses. 75% of these victims were attacked more than once in the same year.  A constant threat lurks over the IT infrastructure of startup companies and they need cybersecurity to safeguard their digital assets, data, employees, and stakeholders.

You've had a bright idea, given what feels like endless hours of thought to your business and worked on your company mission statement, which will shape culture and guide commercial activities. You've pulled the business plan together, developed a marketing strategy for the year ahead and set the company's revenue targets to deliver incremental growth. You can pitch your product or service; you know who your customer is but who are you? And what matters to you and your team? Where's the plan that guides your activities as a business owner, as an industry thought leader, or as a diverse collective of human beings?

Synonymous with famous landmarks, chic neighbourhoods and multiculturalism, London is a dream destination for tourists, enchanting millions of travellers each year. However, is the capital an ideal place to launch a tech startup? 

Mental Health Awareness Week only started two decades ago in 2001. Luckily, since then mental health in the workplace has grown in importance. However, there is still so much real change needed in workplaces to provide better mental health support for employees. Many companies now have mental health policies and guidelines, but in reality, aren’t supporting their employees. Mental Health Awareness Week should be a significant date in the calendar for startups.

When it comes to workplace mental health initiatives, self-employed people and small businesses are often overlooked. But the truth is, these groups need mental health support now more than ever.

People are the most important part of any business, and looking after their health and wellbeing is a top priority for most organisations - we know that a happy and healthy workforce is an engaged and productive one. 

I run a recruitment business for startups, typically helping companies 10-50 employees to help them make key hires and scale their team. Our team gets to talk to founders and leaders about their hiring challenges and plans, as well as people that are thinking about their careers and what they would want if they were to take a new role.

Ask any early-stage business owner and they will tell you that getting funding to scale can be tough. Very tough. All will tell you that it takes much more time and effort and takes much longer to complete than they had expected. And all will tell you that raising finance is a massive distraction from actually running and growing the business.

Business today is extremely competitive. Customers have access to a large number of products and services and are hesitant to make buying decisions.

When is the right time for startups to invest in PR? With a Seed round secured, focus turns immediately to the most pressing priorities and how to spend wisely to move the boat faster. 

Of the six million UK businesses in 2022, just 32,000 (that’s just 0.01%) grew beyond 45 employees and only 8,000 businesses scaled to the point that they employed more than 250 people.

In the past, requesting a demo or contacting the company was seen as a mainstay of B2B commerce. Today, however, modern B2B customers have shifting expectations when it comes to their purchasing journeys, and B2B websites must keep up if they want to turn traffic into leads.