What services are out there for new businesses?

[Yiuwin Tsang]

What external support was available for you in starting up your business - with the recent demise of Business Links and the bonfire of quangos, what help and support was available for you in starting your business, what help did you use and why?

 

[TaxAssist]

Business Link were always very useful for helping people arrange a business plan for the bank funding. We are now helping businesses do this more and more but I agree there are less free business planning services out there.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Didn't help me, but The Prince's Trust is a great help for certain sections that it works with.

 

[Gillie]

Strangely enough we do this! Yes we make money from it as well - well isnt that the whole thing about business making money??

We offer monthly seminars throughtout the whole of the north west plus hold webinars at regular times as well - and all for free.

We are also finding that local networking groups are also at long last getting in on it and offering meets that would just include startups.

We also have various agencies such as Orvia and Business Growth Hub - who offer to a larger degree what business link in this area did.

In my town and area the local councils are now also employing and setting up sections to aid startups - plus holding regular business meets.

Not quite sure why but at one local gov meet that was organised we had Lindsey Hoyle Deputy Speaker of the House in attendance (he is our local MP too!) and he backed the initiative as well.

In fact because of the seminars we offer - we have been picked up by the NHS PCT's that are making redundancies in this area to run a series of five seminars to their soon to be ex staff to give them the tools to do something else.

So actually I find the new initiatives are actually better than Business Link ever was!

 

[Yiuwin Tsang]

There are some genuine success stories around Prince's Trust, KashFlow being one I believe. Although I understand that you have to meet particular circumstances or criteria to qualify to help.

In previous lives the chambers offered support however you needed to be a member to benefit in a meaningful way.

Has anyone gotten involved with the BIS Business In You initiatives?

 

[businessfunding]

BusinessLink is still a valid source of good information, but not advice

There are many regional spin-offs for advice based services, my local one being Enterprise First

Beside that there are a lot of targeted initiatives such as Start_up loans (for young people), NEA (for unemployed), Princes trust (mainly aimed at the disadvantaged etc)

There are also paying courses at a number of colleges - the one I am currently running at Guildford College cost £84 which - without blowing my own trumpet - represents exceptionally good value.

 

[Yiuwin Tsang]

Hi Bizman, thanks for your post, when you guys started out, did you receive any external support, advice or mentoring?

So many start-ups have shallow pockets, and being start-ups would be perhaps hesitant to immediately pay for services so early on - so anything like the new initiatives Gillie outlined you might have come across or attended yourself would be useful for readers of this thread I'm sure.

 

[Bizman2010]

Hi Bizman, thanks for your post, when you guys started out, did you receive any external support, advice or mentoring?

So many start-ups have shallow pockets, and being start-ups would be perhaps hesitant to immediately pay for services so early on - so anything like the new initiatives Gillie outlined you might have come across or attended yourself would be useful for readers of this thread I'm sure.

Hi there!

there wasn't that much support. I remember when we looked at various things similar to businesslink. I remember sitting there talking through our business plan, he'd been an adviser for 30 years and had been high up in a bank... and he sat there with his pen in his hand. After listening to us, he put his pen down and said in an honest manner... "there's nothing I can tell you"

In someways it was a compliment, but also a little frustrating!

 

[imbusi]

i would say you'r best bet is a honest reliable partner with the funds and experience needed for what you want to do. everything else out there is just giving advice of witch no one understands.
you may disagree but from trying these 2 places myself that is the experience i got from it.
i am sure there is places that can give you the help you need but you need to pay for that kind and not just £100 i am talking £1000 for something that still may not work. hope you get your answer your looking for and hope my advice is good to good luck

 

[Yiuwin Tsang]

Has anyone had much interaction with LEPs? There was one announce with great fanfare in Bristol but seems to have gone a bit quiet...

 

[Flavius Agrippa]

I just directed a gent in another thread to the UK business incubation site ukbi.co.uk

If you are just starting out these can be a real godsend.

 

[Yiuwin Tsang]

There needs to be more made of incubation projects - Setsquared in Bristol is similar offering support to tech companies in the area as well as connecting potential investors - http://www.setsquared.co.uk/home/about-us/business-acceleration-centres/bristol

I'm sure they operate further a field (in the South).