The successful entrepreneur’s guide to... Scaling-up a business

While putting together our Curious Investor’s Guide to... Scaling-up a business we enjoyed some interesting conversations with a group of successful and inspirational Bristol entrepreneurs.

We weren’t able to fit all of their invaluable advice into our Guide. So here are some pearls of wisdom that we didn’t want you to miss out on. Huge thanks to Cathy, Matt and Steve for taking part and generously sharing their experience.

Cathy Moseley, Founder and The Kernel, Boundless

“Expectations of businesses and their leaders are changing as a result of Coronavirus. More people are shopping online, they expect – quite rightly – to be listened to, and health is rapidly moving up the agenda. At Boundless, we have listened to our customers and know that we need to make these changes easy and fun, not worthy.

“Company values are becoming more important as corporate behaviour is increasingly scrutinised by consumers. Again, quite rightly. It’s important to us that Boundless snacks are for everyone. We want to be affordable but our core value is to never compromise on product.”

Cathy’s 3 top tips for scale-up businesses

1. Never compromise on your core values, your care for the customer, or your product.
2. Cash is king so always understand your cashflow. You can’t look after your people if you don’t have any money.
3. Trust others and delegate to the experts where you need to. You can’t do everything.

Matt Dyson, Co-founder and CEO, Rockit

“At Rockit we are on the crux of moving from a start-up to a scale-up. Since the early days, my co-founder and I have been really keen to not overstretch ourselves financially. We’ve been able to draw on our existing expertise in engineering and product design to do a lot ourselves. 

“We know that part of making the move to scale-up is a change of mindset and delegating more. It’s challenging, but it’s enjoyable and a real buzz. We’ve just launched a new product with another in the pipeline for the end of the year.”

Matt’s 3 top tips for scale-up businesses

1. Take advantage of the free advice that is out there. Bristol has a particularly supportive business community and people are keen to help where they can. But also remember to be generous with your own advice to others.
2. Don’t over stretch yourself and get help when you need it. It’s good to have ambition and drive the business forward, but make sure you assess the risks.
3. Stay agile and flexible. The benefit of being a small team is the ability to make decisions quickly. Avoid making decisions by committee. That can often kill a great idea!

Steve Vangasse, Co-founder Kudo Coach and investor

“The appeal of starting and growing a business for me is the opportunity to build something that affects customers in days, weeks or even hours. It’s very different to working in a large corporate where things can take years. Or don’t make it to market at all.

“I made mistakes building my first company but that is the time when I accrued the most knowledge. Like many others in business, I learned from those mistakes. That’s why it’s always a good move to tap into networks of people who’ve done it before.”

Steve’s 3 top tips for scale-up businesses

1. It’s important for me to grow the businesses I start in a sustainable way, for the long term. I like to maintain as much control as possible, which flies in the face of traditional advice that you always need investment. Organic growth is an option.
2. Get in front of your customers, get feedback and be led by them from day 1. As a small business, take advantage of a short feedback cycle to learn and adapt quickly.
3. Keep an eye on your accounts. It’s key that you understand your balance sheet, profit and loss. If it all gets too much for you, get some external advice.

For more advice to help you scale-up your own business view our Curious Investor’s Guide to... Scaling-up a business. It’s full of tips from experts and entrepreneurs who’ve been where you are now. 

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