5 tips for growing a digital creative agency

June 7, 2011

Around 100 attendees packed How-Do’s recent Creative Industries Business Forum held at the stylish The Hive in Manchester.
Liane Grimshaw (former managing partner at Amaze) stole the show for me with a passionate summary of the key learning points that have framed her entrepreneurial journey so far. Here’s my summary from my notes:
1. Know when to [...]

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1 April is no joke for UK companies!

April 1, 2011

1st April is an important date for UK companies as it signifies the start of a new tax year (yes, the personal tax year is different running to 5 April each year) and there have been some important announcements made in recent Budgets. Here are the headlines:
1. Small companies rate of corporation tax falls from [...]

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5 tips for securing funding – Bill Morrow: Angels Den

March 29, 2011

Bill Morrow, founder of the Angel Network, outlines 5 top tips for entrepreneurs seeking funding from VCs:

Make sure you can explain your business quickly and succinctly. If it takes you more than 5 minutes, then you’ve yet to get it nailed. Back to the drawing-board for you!
Outline the pain that your product or service will [...]

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Crowdcube: A useful funding option for UK startups and fast growth companies?

March 28, 2011

Crowdcube presents an interesting angle on an idea I’ve been pondering for a while:
“How can we open the door for armchair investors to (partially) fill the funding gap suffered by UK startup businesses whilst providing a more interesting and varied investment opportunity compared to say traditional pension or ISA investment offerings?”
Business angel investor networks are [...]

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Budget 2011 supports digital, technology and creative businesses (mostly!)

March 24, 2011

Yesterday’s Budget speech provided largely good news for entrepreneurs in the digital, technology and creative sectors.
George Osborne had promised an “unashamedly” pro-business, pro-growth and pro-aspiration Budget and, although it might be over-flattering to suggest that he achieved this, he certainly made some positive inroads toward addressing some of the roadblocks facing early-stage startups and [...]

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My single biggest wish for the Budget 2011

March 23, 2011

Aside from the minute detail behind likely tax changes and incentives that might emerge from today’s Budget announcement, there is one overriding wish that business owners repeat to me again and again and its a wish that I too share:
Stop tinkering and remove red-tape so that UK businesses can plan for the future with a degree of certainty
 I live [...]

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Budget 2011 must support entrepreneurs

March 23, 2011

With a little less than 30 minutes to go until the Budget speech, I am looking forward to a pro-entrepreneur business set of proposals and actions to support growth for the future.
Looks like the Institute of Directors (IoD) are too with some of their proposals – here’s one in particular that I like:
Introducing an exemption [...]

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Northern Tech Awards 2011 – Techcelerate – 23 March 2011

March 22, 2011

It is a busy day tomorrow with the Budget 2011 closely followed in the evening by the inaugural Northern Tech Awards 2011 hosted by Techcelerate.
Last time I checked there were a handful of tickets left. We’ve got a table there and it promises to be a great evening.
Techcelerate is a great initiative for tech and [...]

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Budget 2011: How to inform (and engage?) businesses

March 22, 2011

Hmmh, so its this time each year (more than once per year in recent years) that accountants / tax advisers, like myself, scratch our heads and wonder how best we can inform our clients on issues relevant to them that emerge from the Budget speech.
This approach is constantly evolving – my plan for tomorrow’s Budget [...]

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Budget 2011 wishes for fast growth digital and tech companies

March 22, 2011

With George Osborne promising an “unashamedly pro-growth, pro-enterprise and pro-aspiration” Budget tomorrow at 12.30pm, I am looking forward to hearing these words turn into solid, workable solutions for UK entrepreneurs.
Giving Budget predictions is almost as much fun as delving into the actual Budget announcements afterward so please allow me to indulge myself for just two minutes!
Here are [...]

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