What are the secrets of sustainable growth?
Founders must decide how much equity to give away, according to one expert, while several attendees at ‘s recent roundtable said hiring is also key.
A panel of entrepreneurs and industry experts attended the exclusive discussion at Exchange Station in Liverpool, which was hosted by 老九品茶Cloud executive editor Chris Maguire.
- Mo Aldalou, program director, Baltic Ventures
鈥淓very startup will hit a fork in the road at some point and will have to decide between having a smaller piece of a bigger company or a bigger piece of a smaller company but ultimately it鈥檚 a choice. Do I want to own a larger share in a business and grow it organically or do I want to raise funds, double down, increase my chances of being first to market and living with the fact you鈥檒l be diluted?鈥�
- Raina Heverin, co-founder, Supplywell
鈥淏e mindful around hiring. Don鈥檛 grow too fast. Take your time and understand what鈥檚 essential in terms of growing your team.鈥�
- Jen Fenner, co-founder and managing director, DefProc
鈥淭he best advice I could give is not to rush your growth and make sure of what you鈥檙e offering and how you鈥檙e going to get there. Equally, it鈥檚 about making sure you don鈥檛 over-stretch your team and yourselves and try and maintain a good work / life balance as well.鈥�
- Dean Ward, co-founder, Evoke Creative聽
鈥淏e humble enough to know when to bring someone else in. That could be the owner, CEO, or wherever. You need to identify that to achieve the next stage of growth might require someone else.”
ADHD, dyslexia and autism won鈥檛 stop me building 拢100m business
- Andy Kent, chief executive, Angel Solutions聽
鈥淧eople and a good business are key. Being able to plan and having the right intelligence to be able to make informed decisions are also very important.鈥�
- Madina Barker, director / owner, CNC Robotics
鈥淯nderstand your skills gap and identify what skills you鈥檙e going to need in order to be able to scale up. If you can鈥檛 get those skills, work out how you鈥檙e going to grow that capability inhouse.鈥�
- Andy Feeke, partner & head of corporate finance, MHA Moore & Smalley
鈥淔or me it鈥檚 about focussing on the infrastructure required for growth – and infrastructure includes people. Equally, document your growth plans clearly by modelling scenarios, to ensure stakeholders 鈥� current and potential future stakeholders 鈥� understand your strategy and buy-in to your plans.”
- Kevin Marren, managing director, Eccleston Homes
鈥淚t鈥檚 about people and having people who can do better things than you at certain things and you鈥檒l be able to overcome those issues that are particular to your business.鈥�
- Antony Shimmin, chief operating officer, director and co-founder, Mycardium
鈥淚 think there are two secrets to sustainable growth. One is hiring people who are better than yourself right across the business. 聽The second key is to continuously model your finances in the short, medium and long-term.”
- Lorna Green, CEO, Lyva Labs
鈥淜now what your route to market is and bring in the right people and the right funding for you at the right time.鈥�
- James Duffy, COO & co-founder, Flare
鈥淜eep burn rate low and bring in better people than you when you recruit.鈥�
- Vincent Vernon, director, Oil Salvage
鈥淲ork hard, work smart , don鈥檛 regret anything when you get to 56.鈥�