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Investment, succession planning and exit strategies were among the topics discussed at 老九品茶Cloud鈥檚 latest roundtable.

The discussion was organised by and and hosted at the Bonded Warehouse, in Manchester.

Character World co-founder Danny Schweiger opened up about his experience of dealing with panic attacks before several entrepreneurs shared their own approach to growth.

Green shoots of recovery

Richard Barnes is the commercial director of sales recruitment and training company Furza, which is backed by private equity firm MonacoSol. 鈥淚n terms of growth we鈥檙e seeing green shoots in the market at the moment,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e investing in our staff to ensure they can be the best that they can be but we’re聽 also hiring junior people to support those senior staff to continue the growth.鈥�

Be authentic

Hannah Munro is the managing director of ITA Solutions, which helps finance teams and businesses transform the way they work using Sage technologies

She said: 鈥淣ot all customers are equal. My takeaway from today is the importance of understanding your customers, understanding which customers add value to the business and don鈥檛 take as much resource as they give. Once you understand that, find more of those customers and build on that.

鈥�One of the things about being an entrepreneur is it allows you to create something that suits who you are as a person. Authenticity is key.鈥�

Surround yourself with good people

Daniel Ashton is the owner of KeyGenie and The Surveying Experts. He said: 鈥淪urround yourself with people you trust. That鈥檚 probably my experience. A lot of people who have worked for me have worked for me for 15+ years and we鈥檝e promoted people quickly from within. There鈥檚 definitely some benefit to bringing some external resource in.鈥�

Plan for your end game

Nick Richardson is the founder of The Insights Family and has been appointed as the Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Greater Manchester.聽 He said: 鈥淯ltimately, it鈥檚 got to be based around what your end game is. If you want a 拢10m-拢20m business you are possibly going to need investment.鈥�

Award-winning entrepreneur opens up about mental wellbeing struggle

Richardson said planning ahead was crucial. 鈥淟ooking at things five years (in advance) is a good place to be,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e seen some of our three-year plans take longer and we鈥檝e a lot of things come quicker but for me five years is always a good number.鈥�

Deliver best customer experience

Dave Timmis is the founder of Stockport-based car leasing comparison site Leasing.com. He said: 鈥淔ocus on a niche, deliver the best consumer experience you can do, surround yourself with the best people and empower those people to be the best that they can be. Also, listen to customers and keep your customers happy.鈥�

Don鈥檛 fear failure

Mark Lindsay is the CEO of WeDo Finance and said: 鈥淒on鈥檛 be afraid to try different things. Don鈥檛 be afraid to fail because sometimes they鈥檙e the best lessons you can learn. But when you find something you enjoy, go with it passionately because life is too short to do something you don鈥檛 enjoy.鈥�

Work smarter

Kate Burt is the founder and CEO of Preston-based HiveRisk and advises law firms on market strategy, insights and regulatory compliance.

She said: 鈥淚n the early days you鈥檝e got to get it off the ground. If you鈥檙e starting a business from scratch you鈥檝e got to use all your own vital energies and you鈥檝e got to lay those bricks yourself and it鈥檚 very difficult. 聽When you鈥檝e got the thing off the ground it鈥檚 time to get smart and you use efficiencies to grow faster and easier.鈥�

Raising investment has pros and cons

Rob Richardson is a corporate finance partner at MHA and said: 鈥淲hen we talk to our clients it鈥檚 about thinking about the end game, where you want to get to and what are your objectives?

鈥淭hen you can build a plan that works towards the shareholders鈥� objectives and stay on track along the way.That may or may not involve taking investment but it鈥檚 about having a clear objective of where you want to get to.鈥�

Incentivise key staff

Sean Mitchell is a tax partner at MHA and said it was important to surround yourself with the right people. He said: 鈥淢ake sure those people who are key to you are well incentivised and they鈥檝e got things that will keep you for the long term. Don鈥檛 forget to look after your personal wealth outside the business as well. Make sure you鈥檝e got that derisk, that nest egg and that mortgage paid off.鈥�

Plans change

Derry Green is the owner of Secret Garden and went on Dragons鈥� Den to secure investment. He said 鈥淓veryone has a plan but my plans change literally change on an hourly and daily basis. What I want to take away from this discussion is figure out a more stable line of 聽growth for what we do. My own passion drives the speed of what we go at.鈥�

Invest in technology

Dominic Bennett is the CEO or eLearning platform Aspire Software and said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e a growing business with nine staff. We鈥檙e a tech business and we lean heavily into AI to make us more efficient.鈥�

Protect your mental health

Ben Dredge is the managing partner of North West law firm CG, which employs nearly 70 staff across its three offices in Manchester, Liverpool and Chorley.

He said: 鈥淢y takeaway from today would be around looking after your mental health and looking after yourself, particularly as a business owner and founder. Also, authenticity is important. If you鈥檙e going to set your own business up, be passionate about it. Why would you not be authentic and make sure your customers and clients can see that?鈥�