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.

As a business owner, navigating the complex world of taxes can be a daunting task. However, by employing effective strategies, staying informed about tax laws, and seeking professional advice, you can confidently navigate the intricacies of the tax system. By doing so, you can identify and leverage various opportunities to minimise your tax liability and optimise your financial position.

More than ever, startups are hiring college interns. But most startups have little experience training and managing interns. And most students have never worked in a professional setting, let alone a fast-paced startup environment. Result: host companies rarely educate interns properly. Only once in a while do students actually get to do anything substantial. More likely, they’re given too little to do or outright neglected. And it’s a shame. Here, Samantha Dewalt and Nicola Corzine share their insight.

Designing your business systems can give you clarity in many areas and identify what steps you are missing or need to improve. The key is to keep things simple. The core of your business is your customer journey, so that’s what you should focus on. You and your team may have many ideas on new ways to improve the journey, but it is important to look at the following six main steps when shaping it.

Small businesses are the backbone of the UK economy, accounting for 36% of turnover in the UK private sector and half of the UK workforce. However, this backbone is experiencing a great period of economic uncertainty as both their costs have increased and customers have less to spend. This uncertainty has led to four in five small business owners struggling to plan beyond 2023. Facing such economic headwinds, small businesses should look to the power of branding as the way to continue thriving. 

It’s mental awareness month, and educating people about mental health is essential as more and more people are affected. When people around us are experiencing mental health issues, we need to know how to respond.

In the final article in our four-part series, we will pick up where we left off in part three (startups leveraging each other’s networks to drive portfolio sales) and look at how young firms buying from each other creates opportunities for closer collaborations. Over to Sam Perry, Founder of Ensemble, with contributions from Rory Sadler Co-Founder and CEO at Trumpet.

If there is one thing everyone hates, it's the sense of failure. Indeed, the sweetness of victory feels just so much better. As an entrepreneur, though, you may learn much more from setbacks than successes. We must approach failure with a different mindset - seeing it as a chance rather than an obstacle.

Mental Health Awareness Week takes place 15 – 21 May, and this year’s theme focuses on anxiety. Most people can relate to feelings of anxiety around a social activity, be it a family gathering, big work meeting, or starting a new job. Social anxiety disorder, however, can be far more debilitating than the ‘normal’ nervousness that we can all experience, and it can have a significant impact on the wellbeing and relationships of those it affects, as well as those around them. 

In my day gig as a provider of sales support services to startups, it’s fascinating to hear which factors are believed to be the most important when trying to attract new customers.

Britain’s parents are paying to work.

Every startup or scaleup founder knows how tough raising investment in this environment can be. From getting the correct marketing documents together, perfecting your pitch to building your confidence and finding the right investors; the process can be a minefield.

As the Internet industry becomes increasingly competitive, businesses must differentiate themselves by providing unique customer experiences. Provide insight into CRM data and how it can be used to help personalise the experience. Engaging customers, retaining them, and increasing sales can be achieved by using customer data.

As a startup, branding can end up as an afterthought. It’s understandable when you’re spinning a hundred plates at once, many of which require immediate attention (finances, workforce, strategy).

Following the sudden switch to remote work caused by the pandemic, this new way of working has become commonplace, with huge demand among employees for it to stay.