As someone who designs for startups, it’s clear that not everyone knows how to work with this group of founders. 

Let me take you back to 2017 – I stood as a young mother, with a dream to build a business that would change the future for my family. I didn’t have a marketing budget for my new cleaning business, so instead I planned to use social media to build a brand, attract more followers, and make some vital sales.

With the theme, "Step into the future: Experience Swiss AI innovation," swisstech will present two dedicated pavilions at CES at the Venetian featuring Switzerland's leadership in Artificial Intelligence (AI), innovation, and its thriving business ecosystems. An example is the recent debut of one of the fastest computers in the world, the new ethical supercomputer Alps, which strongly contributes to research infrastructure.  

Despite stormy weather conditions hitting the UK last weekend, the nation’s support for small businesses remains strong, according to new research. The study by American Express to mark this year’s Small Business Saturday (7th December 2024) shows that even faced with the force of Storm Darragh, over 10 million Brits shopped small on Small Business Saturday.

In the fast-evolving workplace of 2025–2030, communication in the workplace is becoming increasingly complex. Cancel culture and fear of saying the wrong thing is growing, and in turn it is paralysing human connections and professional relationships.

After two years of excitement and experimentation, 2025 will be the year companies get serious about proving AI’s ROI. The days of flashy demos and vague promises are over. Instead, businesses will need to see hard evidence that AI delivers real results, whether that’s faster processes, cost savings, or something else tangible.

When I was eight years old, I watched the Mexico Olympics on television and thought ‘I want to do that.’ It took eight years and an incredible amount of work, including extraordinary highs and lows, to achieve that goal.

Creating a positive public profile and an engaging story can be the critical difference for scaling businesses, between securing investment to grow and treading water indefinitely while searching for funds.

As the digital landscape evolves, one thing remains clear: personalised, human-to-human connections are the driving force behind successful sales.

Small business owners and solopreneurs are the driving force behind the UK’s economy, fuelling innovation and strengthening local communities. Yet, the pursuit of entrepreneurial success often comes with significant personal trade-offs.

Sustainability is no longer a distant ideal for businesses – it’s a pressing priority and a transformative opportunity. In the face of environmental and economic challenges, a new report reveals how small businesses across the UK are embedding green practices into their operations. These businesses demonstrate how sustainability can drive innovation, strengthen communities, and ensure long-term success.

As startups begin to grow, and projects develop, we find that it can be easy for founders and employees to ensure that every task undertaken by the business aligns with future goals. As part of our Innovation Toolbox, which is a wide range of resources developed for startups, we developed the Strategy Ladder as a way to make sure your mission and vision run through every piece of work you do.

Nscale, the hyperscaler engineered for AI, has announced that it has raised $155 million in Series A funding to accelerate expansion across Europe and North America. Led by Sandton Capital Partners, with participation from Kestrel, Bluesky Asset Management, and Florence Capital, this oversubscribed funding round signals strong confidence in Nscale’s path to building the hyperscaler, purposely engineered for AI.

FIGR Ventures, a newly established family office fund, has announced its first portfolio investment into TRUSS, a UK-based tech startup revolutionising the fashion industry by powering resale with AI-enabled data infrastructure.

2024 was a turbulent year for startups. The anticipation of a new government coming to power and what the subsequent Autumn Budget would hold meant the landscape for the startup ecosystem in the UK was uncertain for much of the year. Meanwhile, budgets were tight due to restricted cash flow as the UK and Europe recovered from shrinking economies in 2023, and VC funding declined in early 2024.