According to the latest ‘The 1000 companies to inspire Britain’ report by the London Stock Exchange, the UK had a record number of start ups in 2018.
It goes on to highlight that:
- Creative industries drive exports worth more than £21bn pa
- Food and drink is the biggest manufacturing sector in the UK with an annual turnover of £97bn
- The UK technology sector attracts more investment than any other European country
Average annual growth for the South West was 62% (nationwide the average UK growth is 71%) and 84,162 people are employed by scale-ups in the West of England.
Scale-up companies are defined as either growing by more than 20% per year by turnover growth, employee growth, or both, for at least three years. These businesses generally have at least two years of sustained growth the aspiration to continue their growth and the willingness to make time and financial investments in the growth of their business.
The continued creation and growth of these businesses is crucial to the sustainability of the local economy, yet 47% of UK scale-ups said they felt there was little support available to help businesses like theirs.
The 2017 ScaleUp Review found the key barriers to growth for small and medium enterprises are:
- Access to talent
- Access to home and international markets
- Business leadership capacity
- Finance
- Infrastructure
The biggest challenge for founders is that when you are fund raising that is also a full-time job on top of running the company and your team’s jobs depend on it too. You need as much support as possible. It is hard work with lots of meetings, calls, emails and presentations. Every potential investor has their own ideas and requirements to consider. It is a busy and exciting experience in which you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your true partner.
In founders’ own words, here are some business challenges and how coaching can keep your scale-up on track:
| | SCALE-UP CHALLENGE | BENEFITS OF COACHING |
| 1 | 65% of UK scale-up companies said access to leadership development and training will be vital to their continued growth. | Coaching is a flexible way to access leadership development and accelerate learning to ensure real-time return on investment in people |
| 2 | Founders need to share and delegate leadership and empower the team to enable them to simultaneously fund raise | Coaching can fast forward leadership and maturity in young or new leaders and support them to take real responsibility for delivery |
| 3 | Perseverance to follow your vision and keep going | Your coach shares your vision and belief that you can create a successful business in line with your values |
| 4 | Overcoming doubt when people are telling you it is not a good idea or it is taking time | Your coach is a partner, cheerleader, mirror and holds you to account on things that are important to you and need to happen in specific timescales |
| 5 | Working longer and harder than you could ever imagine! | Your coach can help you understand what motivates you to keep going and make your company a success |
| 6 | Maintaining energy, allocating funding and managing the finances | Coaching keeps the spotlight on what is important so you invest your precious time and resources smartly and wisely |
| 7 | Navigating the bumps in the road and unforeseen circumstances | Your coach can support problem solving while holding you accountable to your purpose and vision |
| 8 | Seizing further opportunities for growth | Coaching can be used to keep a relentless focus on your customers, listening to them and making bold choices for business growth |
Does this sound familiar? Would you like a conversation about how coaching can make a huge difference to your scale-up business? Get in touch and we can arrange a coffee victoria@coxenconsultandcoach.com
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