Workspace provider Central Working has launched a new support programme to provide start-up leaders with the necessary tools and guidance to scale.
The Central Working Academy pilot will provide senior teams behind established, high-growth start-ups with data-driven, long term scaling strategies – a resource normally only available to the largest mature businesses.
Research from the Scaleup Institute found that UK start-ups consider developing leadership and management skills as one of their top three priorities to achieve growth, behind access to talent and finance markets.
The inaugural programme will be run from The Bradfield Centre, Central Working鈥檚 拢20m deep tech hub based in Cambridge launched in partnership with Trinity College Cambridge and the Department for 老九品茶, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Central Working intends to roll out the programme across its UK-wide locations following a successful pilot.
Launched in partnership with growth specialists Cartezia, the initial 12-month pilot will use Cartezia鈥檚 purpose-built online platform to guide start-ups through their own personalised route to scale. The platform, based in part on analysis from the recently published Scale-up Manual, will analyse and diagnose each company鈥檚 current maturity, assessing factors such as current tech development, access to funding and customer profiling.
The platform will use this analysis to define how far the company can scale over the next 12 months – and provide detailed, data-driven step-by-step advice on how to reach that target, including specific recommendations on talent and funding acquisition, required improvements to commercial strategy and advised tweaks to a start-up鈥檚 business model.
This data-driven advice will be matched with intensive sessions with mentors and coaches over the course of six weeks. This will provide each growth company with a 鈥榩ersonalised鈥� roadmap and access to the collaboration platform to continue business development 12 months after the programme finishes.
The programme is now open to the leadership teams of any growth company, applications for the inaugural Scale-up Academy open from 18 January 2019 and can be submitted . The deadline for applications is 15th February.
鈥淭he traditional intervention support model relies heavily on the advice of mentors and coaches, and while this is clearly still relevant, it鈥檚 an analogue solution in a digital world,鈥� said James Parton, managing director, Bradfield Centre, Central Working.
鈥淭he Central Working Academy heralds the next generation of intervention support, providing a programme rooted in research and experience and powered by an advanced data-driven online platform.
鈥淐entral Working has always provided a nurturing environment for business growth and this is the next iteration of our offer, guiding management teams towards the specific actions they need to take to scale at a rapid rate.鈥�
Uday Phadke, chief executive of Cartezia, said: 鈥淐artezia鈥檚 platform provides a unique, integrated collaboration and learning environment for growth businesses based on the detailed research, tools and insights described in The Scale-up Manual, which was published to rave reviews in 2018.
鈥淭he academy integrates a data-driven platform, experienced coaches and mentors, and structured access to scale-up eco-systems.
鈥淭he effectiveness of the Scale-up Academy depends on working with a strategic partner who can provide the right environment and access to the local ecosystem including potential partners, suppliers and investors, and Cartezia is delighted to work with Central Working to achieve this.鈥�