Investor Mark Pearson recently wrote on UKBF about the invaluable experience of having connections and a support network in his early days
We all know online forums are a great place to start when it comes to passing around ideas; but what happens when your business starts to scale up and the advice you need can't be gleaned solely from online contacts?
You can turn to online growth-stage business advice platforms such as BusinessZone, of course, but tangible human interaction with growth-stage businesses on a day to-day professional level - such as the cluster of speedily growing tech companies in Silicon Valley - is something that has been missing from the UK.
The founders of Tech City in London's Shoreditch identified this problem and set about launching Upscale, a six-month accelerator programme for scaling businesses. The majority are around three to four years old, have an average of £1.3m revenue and have enjoyed series A funding.
Upscale has handpicked 30 companies to take part. Participants will meet up once a month to pick each other's brains and solve the challenges of growing.
The programme has brought in high-level expertise (scale coaches), including the founders of Skype, Zoopla and LoveFilm, to advise the 30 on scaling up.
We spoke to one of the 30 tech scale-ups, Receipt Bank, which has developed an app that allows users to take a picture of a paper receipt and automatically feeds it back into bookkeeping and accounting software.
The London-based business was kickstarted by Michael Wood in 2010 when he bought the business, then called Receipt Farm, while working as a consultant marketing director.
Wood found the service 'incredible', and when he found out it was about to close down he 'contacted the owners immediately and asked if I could buy it," he previously told AccountingWEB.
Wood got in touch with his former colleague Alexis Prenn who helped him acquire the operation and the two became co-founders of the renamed Receipt Bank.
It has since developed its offering and is now a 100-person company, which is growing at '300% to 400% per year,' Wood tells UK Business Forums.
Wood says he got involved with Upscale as the company is rapidly growing but doesn't necessarily have the support base it would like to continue its upward trajectory with confidence.
'Scaling is wonderful fun. It's a lovely thing to have. But it is a day-to-day challenge to sustain and to have any help or assistance about how you do sustain it is great,' he tells us.
'If we were based in San Francisco, there are lots of companies scaling at that rate: the likes of Airbnb, Uber, Facebook - all the companies you think of when you think of tech. They have a lot of experience in what it means to grow consistently at that pace and how to solve any problems that arise from it.
'Although lots of other countries around the world want to bring Silicon Valley to them, it's that experience about scaling that is one of the few things that only Silicon Valley has. It's really difficult to find someone in London, Paris or Berlin who has experience of growing a company that quickly. The appeal of Upscale to us is to meet other companies growing that quickly and to compare notes with them,' Wood tells UKBF.
Companies interested in the next intake can apply via the Upscale website. To be considered you would have to provide evidence of your growth and go through one or two rounds of telephone interviews, after which a panel of advisors - including VC Eileen Burbidge - selects the successful applicants.
Is Upscale the answer to a Silicon Valley in the UK? Six months down the line, we might just find out. To comment on the article, sign up or login to UKBF!
We all know online forums are a great place to start when it comes to passing around ideas; but what happens when your business starts to scale up and the advice you need can't be gleaned solely from online contacts?
You can turn to online growth-stage business advice platforms such as BusinessZone, of course, but tangible human interaction with growth-stage businesses on a day to-day professional level - such as the cluster of speedily growing tech companies in Silicon Valley - is something that has been missing from the UK.
The founders of Tech City in London's Shoreditch identified this problem and set about launching Upscale, a six-month accelerator programme for scaling businesses. The majority are around three to four years old, have an average of £1.3m revenue and have enjoyed series A funding.
Upscale has handpicked 30 companies to take part. Participants will meet up once a month to pick each other's brains and solve the challenges of growing.
The programme has brought in high-level expertise (scale coaches), including the founders of Skype, Zoopla and LoveFilm, to advise the 30 on scaling up.
We spoke to one of the 30 tech scale-ups, Receipt Bank, which has developed an app that allows users to take a picture of a paper receipt and automatically feeds it back into bookkeeping and accounting software.
The London-based business was kickstarted by Michael Wood in 2010 when he bought the business, then called Receipt Farm, while working as a consultant marketing director.
Wood found the service 'incredible', and when he found out it was about to close down he 'contacted the owners immediately and asked if I could buy it," he previously told AccountingWEB.
Wood got in touch with his former colleague Alexis Prenn who helped him acquire the operation and the two became co-founders of the renamed Receipt Bank.
It has since developed its offering and is now a 100-person company, which is growing at '300% to 400% per year,' Wood tells UK Business Forums.
Wood says he got involved with Upscale as the company is rapidly growing but doesn't necessarily have the support base it would like to continue its upward trajectory with confidence.
'Scaling is wonderful fun. It's a lovely thing to have. But it is a day-to-day challenge to sustain and to have any help or assistance about how you do sustain it is great,' he tells us.
'If we were based in San Francisco, there are lots of companies scaling at that rate: the likes of Airbnb, Uber, Facebook - all the companies you think of when you think of tech. They have a lot of experience in what it means to grow consistently at that pace and how to solve any problems that arise from it.
'Although lots of other countries around the world want to bring Silicon Valley to them, it's that experience about scaling that is one of the few things that only Silicon Valley has. It's really difficult to find someone in London, Paris or Berlin who has experience of growing a company that quickly. The appeal of Upscale to us is to meet other companies growing that quickly and to compare notes with them,' Wood tells UKBF.
Companies interested in the next intake can apply via the Upscale website. To be considered you would have to provide evidence of your growth and go through one or two rounds of telephone interviews, after which a panel of advisors - including VC Eileen Burbidge - selects the successful applicants.
Is Upscale the answer to a Silicon Valley in the UK? Six months down the line, we might just find out. To comment on the article, sign up or login to UKBF!
