This week was quite typical in that it was an unusual mix of many of the things that I get involved with as a mentor and that I have written about in the past. There was some international, some regulation, some cyber security, lots about women in business, and yet again on advisory boards and raising finance.

For many startups, the process of fund raising can be quite daunting. What method of raising do you use? How long is it going to take? To say nothing of the fact that it’s the time when founders and entrepreneurs have to stick their necks out and ask other people to invest and commit to their vision.

One thing that I have learned over the years is the importance of cooperation and working with the right partners, and this has only been reiterated during my activities as a mentor. By working with others that have skills or experience in areas that you do not, then 2+2 can, quite literally, equal 5.

Sounds like a simple question, doesn’t it? And yet a fundamental lack of understanding in who your customer is, where to find them and what they think or feel is often one of the most common mistakes businesses can’t afford to make, but do.

The demands, challenges and risks that come with running a small business can bring personal pressures and impact on health and wellbeing.

The world is over-populated and growing, warming at an unprecedented rate due to categorical human factors, and only now are we beginning to see the climate emergency for what it is. Greta Thunberg, and Extinction Rebellion are leading the way.  

So, you’ve had a great business idea, you have thought it through, built a business plan and a strategy and you believe in it so much that you now want to turn your idea into a reality.

Google for Startups has announced the latest instalment in its commitment to female entrepreneurs with its first Female Founders Residency programme.

This week I met with Deputy Chief Constable Jo Shiner at Sussex Police to talk about all the many ways that businesses of any size can work together with the police for the benefit of the company and the community as a whole.

This week, almost to underline my comments in the first of this series about not knowing what each week will bring, was almost entirely different to last week. Last week was full of face to face meetings and there was no particular thread to my week, other than of course the fact that it revolved very heavily around early stage businesses.

The story of Nikolay Stronsky, Founder and CEO, Revolut is a pretty incredible one, in just four years he has seen a rapid amount of success, with the company now being worth $1.7bn. So how did he do it?

Welcome to the first in the new series of ‘The Mentor’s Journal’ which will look at some of my activities from the preceding week, with a view to turning the theory outlined in my ‘Views of a Mentor’ series into real, everyday situations. 

Every day we read about amazing startup successes. We hear about these brilliant 'unicorns'. What we rarely hear about is the many more startups that fizzle and die. The sad truth is, most startups fail. Taking the leap to start a new venture is a tremendous risk.

Ruth Hallett, a consultant with over 20 years of project and programme management delivery experience for both commercial and public sector clients, demystifies the NHS for healthtech startups.

Most of us have experienced the labyrinth that is attempting to cancel a subscription.

Concerns about AI technology, in general terms, boil down to the quantity and areas in which it’s used to replace human tasks. Establishing the limitations of AI and unique skills innate to humans, provides insight into its future application, and alleviates some of the worry that one day AI will take over the taskforce.

The focus on company culture and brand values has become a top-tier priority in the modern workplace, as businesses start to realise the only way to persist isn’t to only keep up with changes in the market, but to keep up with changes in work culture and values.

Unbound Festival this year saw an influx of tech for good innovation, propelling the industry towards a bright and influential future. Spearheading the mainstream market today is a boom in self-care apps from mindfulness to sleep assistance, while location-based apps designed to tackle physical inactivity are making scenic walking as easy to find as getting an Uber is to order.

Startups have a lot to think about, especially when it comes to going global. There are many important aspects to think of when growing a company. Here are four common mistakes startups often make when going global.

The relentless pace of modern day brand communications and marketing means the fight is on for startups to win the appeal of consumers and keep their interest. But when it comes to PR, not all coverage is created equally. It’s hard to know where to start.

Startups working to solve consumer problems sometimes create technology that has the potential to become an industry standard. This may be a de-facto standard, an industry standard approved by a formal standards setting body, or something mandated by law.

x+why understands that not every business wants to be overshadowed by a behemoth co-working brand. For those businesses that are looking for a co-working space beyond the norm, and for somewhere more than just a place to sit, x+why welcomes you to its new co-working space in Whitechapel.

Society is currently being shaped by innovation in the tech industries, and once a year thousands gather to network, share and exchange insight in London to shed light on the future of tech, and our place within it.

It doesn’t matter whether a business is for enterprise or not for profit - to create a successful business, you need more than just an idea. You need to identify a problem/need to create an attractive market. It’s much easier to start a business if you have a unique product/solution, and a scalable, profitable model.

We’re living in a time of incredibly rapid change, where mobile phones are dominating consumer experiences and new technology is constantly being harnessed, turning traditional startup business models on their heads.

International Airlines Group (IAG) has launched its latest Hangar 51 global innovation programme in collaboration with Iberia, Vueling and IAG Cargo. The initiative will be based in Spain for the second time after the huge success of its previous Spanish programme in 2017.

Why building meaningful values into your brand leads to the culture you want

Creating and sustaining culture can feel a little bit like a chicken and egg situation in a startup. You need to define your culture early on in order to attract the right employees, but culture itself is largely driven by people, so until you have the people in place, how can your culture be expected to flourish?

If you’re in the startup space, it is very likely you will have heard the term ‘ICO (Initial Coin Offering)’ thrown around a fair few times, and perhaps even heard it described as an attractive alternative to traditional types of fundraising.

With one parent an insurance broker, it was perhaps inevitable that Tobias Taupitz, CEO and Co-founder of Laka, would glean an interest into the world of insurance.

A new coliving space for Paris’ entrepreneurs, freelancers and startups has recently opened near to the famous STATION F coworking campus in the centre of the city. The Flatmates space will consist of three coliving towers and can house 600 residents.

It’s not what you know it’s who you know… The right place at the right time… These are both recognisable phrases that both serve to highlight the element of chance that can sometimes be associated with success. And nowhere is this better highlighted than in the world of sport.

Founded by Matthew Mayes and Claudio Piovesana and launching at Unbound, A-dapt is the world’s first adaptive-media consultancy that has been created to commercialise and scale a new AI-based technology format called adaptive-media, within the UK and beyond.

Companies are made up of individual people; even Apple, the world’s biggest brand, would mean nothing without its employees. Imagine if Apple was hiring random people and their board was changing all the time. The recent departure of Jony Ive led to a one percent reduction in Apple shares.

For founders looking to start a business it is imperative to get the culture right - as getting it wrong can lead to bad investor, customer and employee experience. At Women of Silicon Roundabout 'Founder Focus' workshop track, CEO and co-Founder of London-based foodtech startup Feedr, Riya Grover delivered a thought-provoking workshop titled 'Defining your culture blueprint to hyper-charge growth', and explained why it is so important to get it right from the start.

Startups Magazine attended the Women of Silicon Roundabout 2019 (25-16th June) workshop 'Getting an innovative mindset: why the world needs more entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs', and here's what we thought.

At the LeadersIn Tech Summit during London Tech Week 2019, a roundtable was held discussing the benefits and drawbacks of partnerships between corporates and startups. At the table, Anna Jones from FieldHouse Associates, Ryan Haynes from Ryan Haynes Marketing, Ben Rudman the CEO of MMT Digital, and Denise Glee from MagnaCarta Communications, lent their personal expertise to the debate.

Peak Labs, the digital health company, started with four co-founders (Gerald Goldstein, Itamar Lesuisse, Sagi Shorrer and Xavier Louis) in 2013 who set out with an aim to be the number one digital health brand using technology to help people’s wellbeing. Fast forward six years later, and you’ll find a 50-member strong team which has raised up to ten million dollars over three rounds of funding to accelerate and grow the company and its two digital products, Peak Brain Training and Rise.

Common sense suggests that an entrepreneur is the lynch-pin of a startup. At the recent TLA Investor Showcase 2.0 event, for example, investors repeatedly talked about the entrepreneur as being synonymous with startup and scale-up; the person they look to invest in. But are they right?

Disrupt of be disrupted, that's the challenge of innovation in a changing digital landscape. Digital transformation is crucial for business success, but how can you move from talking about innovation to putting it into action?

When it comes to marketing a startup, there can often be some misconceptions: Is it too soon to start thinking about? Is the company too small? Some people think marketing isn’t a priority and budget should be spent elsewhere (something that bigger corporations also fall foul of), or that any type of marketing is good.

Another finalist of the Subcon launchpad awards, ES Precision is a provider of laser processing services for marking, engraving and surface/thin material processing. This is the first year the launchpad awards will take place at the Subcon show and six engineering and manufacturing startups have made the final to try and impress and win a lump sum of money plus a stand at Subcon 2020.

In a demanding industry like manufacturing and engineering, admin holding you back is the last thing you need. Elements Technology, a multi-award winning developer of simple digital solutions for manufacturers has come up with a solution for this, and have also been listed as one of the finalists for the Launchpad awards at the upcoming Subcon show.

After being incorporated only two months ago, new kid on the block Circuitbuilder is a new web-based platform which aims to simplify the process of purchasing custom electronic circuits.

Member of the last Startupbootcamp IoT cohort in London, and featured in our upcoming July/August issue focussing on sustainability, Vesta Smart Packaging have a simple goal – to provide a really good reason for us all to use less plastic. 

The next generation of aspiring startups are hoping their technology will change the world. But what about the technology that is changing startups? I’ve spent the last few years working with some of Europe’s biggest startup success stories, helping them put in place the right business platforms to support rapid growth.

Startups Magazine first clapped eyes on Le Pavé Parisien at CES 2019 within the French Pavilion in the Eureka Park and was instantly intrigued to see the world's only high-end speaker cast entirely in concrete.

An idea churned out of the frustration of seeing good cheese go to waste and cheesemakers' reputations spoiled, one man set out to save the future of dairy delicacies.

Over the course of a year, I spoke with hundreds of employees, employers and HR professionals. In those interviews, I learnt about wellbeing at work, the challenges in keeping people healthy and happy, and why wellbeing packages offered by businesses are falling short.

AO, the online electricals store, and L Marks, leading advisor in applied innovation and experienced investor in early-stage technologies, have partnered in a global search 'for the next digital disruptors who will make online shopping easier and faster for its customers'.

Last week’s article focussed on Business Plans; what should be in them and why you should write one. One of the key pieces of information required is of course sales figures, both actual numbers for historic sales and those forecast for the future. It is also very important to include the assumptions and how you market your goods in order to achieve those sales. It is those subjects that I am going to focus on this time.

Over the last five articles I have tried to set the scene in terms of outlining what help is available to early stage businesses, and certain aspects of finance, including a valuable but often overlooked tax refund. In this article and the next I wanted to focus on two fundamental issues that will determine how your business develops and how you grow sales.

South-By-Southwest is an annual assemblage of conferences and festivals that takes place in Austin, Texas in early March to celebrate the convergence of film, music, interactive and other industries. Created to foster both professional and personal growth across multiple levels, the ten-day event prides itself on truly being all things to all people.

In the last two articles in this series I have looked at various aspects of finance and this time I am going to stay with the financial theme but from a very different angle – tax. But tax is a very broad topic and I wanted to focus on one unusual aspect of the UK tax system, and that is R&D (research and development) tax credits, and it is unusual in the fact that this time it is HMRC giving you money rather than taking it.

If you are an engineering startup and proud raise your hand! It is nearly a year since the first issue of Startups Magazine, and if it has opened my eyes up to one thing, it is that there are a lot of you startups out there – which is a great thing!

There is not enough diversity in the technology sector as a whole. At London Tech Week, Mike Butcher editor at Tech Crunch, said this year’s figures show that in the tech industry 20% is made up by females, and that has dropped from 33% in 2002.

There is a massive stigma out there that certain careers are for boys and others are for girls. But why?

2018 was 'the year of engineering', and arguably a year that allowed more women to make even more of a breakthrough in the industry.

So far in the series I have looked at some of the different types of assistance that is available to a startup and also about what benefits working with a Mentor can bring and how you should be trying to maximise those benefits. 

Founded in 2009 by four graduates, Bare Conductive has already launched two successful Kickstarter campaigns. Startups Magazine talks with with Isabel Lizardi, CCO and co-founder.

15Gifts was started seven years ago by founder, Tom Cox, when he had the idea to create the first intelligent gift finding engine.

According to research from King's College London, over 9,000 Londoners are dying early every year as a result of toxic air.

French startup Electrosmart sets out to increase people's awareness of electromagnetic radiation.

Jane Henry, co-founder of Marylebone Difference Marketing shares some words of PR wisdom for startups.

In 2015, Nicolas Gambini decided to create the world's first autonomous underwater drone. Four years later, meet iBubble.

Has our love affair with our phones reached obsession? Maybe it's time to get some space and find a new phone/life balance with SPACE app.

Launched on Kickstarter, this startup was supported by 3,140 backers who pledged a total of €313,637 to bring this project to life.

Co-Founders and CEOs of Apptimisation, Clara Toombs and Monica Pal first met in Japan whilst indulging in their shared passion for travel and it was there that they realised that they both had complimentary skill sets with which to provide fellow solo travellers with means to connect.

When you’re travelling around the UK and spending hundreds of pounds on train tickets, you expect a good rail service. You expect trains to arrive on time and no unexplained cancellations. Unfortunately, for many travellers it has become something of a rarity to see the 5.34pm train from London to Birmingham arrive on time… if it even arrives at all!

When I first heard the name ‘Tonik', my first thoughts conjured up images of a large gin.

In this, the first of an occasional series, I will be passing on my thoughts and observations in my capacity as a Mentor and how accepting the help that is available to startup business can help transform them.

The French pavilion has dominated the Eureka Park at CES, and 2019 was no exception with the country represented by no less than 414 startups. However this year's CES saw Britain step up to the plate alongside its global counterparts, bringing along over 100 UK companies.

With the recent A-Level and GCSE results being released in the UK, let's look at the statistics  of young women studying STEM subjects. 

A recruitment startup that uses technology to enable people with disabilities to work as effectively as anybody else.

Startups Magazine chats with Magalie Belmo, Head of Marketing at Primo Toys.

We all know the feeling of buying the latest gadget, boasting two years of battery life, only to see it breaking down before the first year is up. 

Senior Associate at Autonomy Ventures in New York; board member of NYVC; advisor at Astia and Yeshiva University Women In Business; as well as the co-founder of Pivt, Lynn Greenberg discusses the opportunities in being a woman in tech.

Ben Hayes, Director of Grasp Brands, exposes the tech industry's big and costly branding problem.