The Great British Entrepreneur Scale-Up Conference: tips for fast growth businesses

The Great British Entrepreneur Scale-Up Conference will attract an audience of 500 founders, entrepreneurs and business owners from ambitious businesses.

Working in association with Coutts, NatWest and RBS alongside significant partners and the media the inaugural Scale-Up Conference will take place in Central London on 20th November 2017 touching upon several areas of how to scale up your business from experienced entrepreneurs. Damian Hanson, co-founder of cloud-based business telephony system, CircleLoop, provides insight into his experiences as a start-up co-founder and entrepreneur in fast growing businesses.

Thinking big

As an entrepreneur, setting up a business with nothing but a sheet of blank paper and a pen is one of the most daunting things you will ever do. I would advise, however, to always think big with your ideas.

Aim as high as you can with your expectations of what you want to achieve. As you chip away at your strategy, the big vision will become a reality. Damian Hanson, co-founder of cloud-based business telephony system, CircleLoop, provides insight into his experiences as a start-up co-founder and entrepreneur in fast growing businesses.

Making mistakes and learning from them

For those in the early stages with an excellent business or start-up idea, it’s important to do your research to find out where your proposition would fit into the market. Following this, go and validate your idea with real customers, as they’ll provide the feedback that you need to really hit the ground running.

In business, failures are inevitable. The glory of making mistakes is that you can learn from them and take positive steps to enable you to reach greater levels of success.

Building a great team

Make sure you surround yourself with supportive people. Being able to share the challenges and burdens that inevitably come with being a start-up certainly makes things a lot easier — especially when times are particularly difficult.

Although there are obstacles and adversities that come with being a start-up, having a great team behind you that believes in you and your business makes it all worthwhile.

One of Steve Jobs’ most famous quotes is: “A small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players”. Work by this philosophy and aim to hire the best people that you can.

Becoming a leader

In terms of managing people and becoming a respected leader, often this development will happen naturally. By being an excellent worker and setting a great example for your team, you will gain their respect and they’ll then turn to you for guidance and support.

Having said that, great leaders come in different forms. Being a great leader isn’t an exact science; there is no definitive skillset, but being pro-active in the business and unafraid to get stuck in is always appreciated.

Maximising profitability

There are two core focus areas that will help your business be as profitable as it can be. The first (and most obvious) is to focus on sales and making money through the revenue your product/service will generate.

Although often ignored, the second area is the reason many businesses fail — being unable to see financial wastage within your company. If you can sell well and focus on sensible savings, you will maximise profitability.

Taking time out

It’s imperative to have quality time outside of work too. Being an entrepreneur, it can be quite hard to achieve a suitable work/life balance. As I’m sure others will testify, your mind is never really far from your business. That said, spending quality time with family and friends is paramount.

Most importantly, remember that success doesn’t come overnight. It’s the repeated actions and consistent efforts you make every day that will make you successful.