Have you been inspired by StartUp Britain to start your own business or run your own enterprise initiative? Have you been to one of our events or received mentoring through the campaign? Or are you a StartUp Local Champion who is supporting enterprise in your local area?
We want to learn from all of your experiences to improve the campaign. If you would like to share your experiences with us, please add a testimonial below.
A Go Up Britain Success Story
In 2011 my business partner, Tom Skinner, and I were trying to decide whether to take the risk and start up our own online marketing and web design firm. We are both in our early twenties and the idea of running our own business excited us, but the risks concerned us. However, after watching an inspirational speech made by Emma Jones of Start Up Britain, our concerns were eased and we decided to take the plunge. Go Up has been trading for three months now. In this time, we have gone from a two man band to a six man team. This will shortly turn to eight, as we are set to hire two more full-time staff later this month. We were profitable from month one, and have grown in success every since. We are now an extremely profitable venture, and this increases every day. We have gained our success through doing brilliant work for a wide range of clients, from 5 star resorts in Kenya, to Energy Companies in Australia, from local shops to national plumbing, maintenance and building contractors. We consider Start Up Britain to have been fundamental to our success. Their team are brilliant, and their resources indispensable. They were the catalyst for the decision to start the business and we very much indebted to them. Edward
- Edward James
Business start up
It is great to see that Start Up Britain are doing so much for individuals that are currently not working or indeed in jobs that does not fulfil their values, beliefs or desires. I am very proud to be working with Start Up Britain and helping people achieve their goals and eventually live their dreams. Good luck to everyone...
- Simon Misiewicz MBA, ACCA, FinstLM
GEC2012 & Start-Up Britain
I was extremely excited to attend GEC2012 for the first time this year. In between the seminars, I met with StartUp Britain who have been supporting me in getting my business idea off the ground. They introduced me to lots of important people, including the President of Dell, a great example of 'big companies helping small'. I will continue to enjoy working with Start-Up Britain as I can really see the opportunities opening up for me.
- Hannah Catmur
Startup Nations
We had the pleasure of working with Startup Britian to organise a Startup Nations event, in the margins of the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Liverpool. They were always on top of everything, providing leadership in the project organisation, and being excellent event hosts. The final event was very successful, resulting in stronger international connections and what will develop into an international Startup Nations Community. I feel that Startup Britain has successfully identified and recruited an excellent, dedicated and energetic team that will help bring entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship to the forefront of the UK Prosperity agenda!
- Nicole Arbour
Great resource for start-ups
Since the first engagement with StartUp Britain they have been most helpful. So far they have helped with our launch event and getting some PR in national press. A great bunch of people, with great experience and a great resource for start-ups. I will send a lot of people over to them to give them greater support in getting started.
- Simon Dixon CEO, BankToTheFuture.com
StartUp Britain's 'Entrepreneurs' Budget' Breakfast
The breakfast discussion chaired by Lord Young about what could be done in the Budget to help Entrepreneurs was very interesting. Several topics were discussed with a number of point of views expressed by entrepreneurs gathered by StartUp Britain. It was extremely well organised. The follow up group on LinkedIn was also a good idea. Only improvement I would suggest is hosting it at Hummus Bros next time :)
- Christian Mouysset, co-founder of Hummus Bros
StartUp Britain connecting entrepreneurs with investment
StartUp Britain have been an essential partner for the Accelerator Academy since our launch in 2011, helping to signpost early stage digital entrepreneurs to our training, mentoring and seed capital programme for high growth businesses. Not only have they been consistently proactive, but they are also incredibly well connected, and have helped to identify investment partners for the entrepreneurs in our programme, notably inviting a number of corporate venturing partners to our Investor Showcase presentations. On behalf of the Accelerator Academy, we would like to extend our grateful thanks, and look forward to continuing to build on the relationship with this excellent organisation.
- Ian Merricks, Co-Founder of The Accelerator Academy - http://www.AcceleratorAcademy.com/ and Managing Partner at White Horse Capital LLP - http://www.WhiteHorseCapital.co.uk
StartUp Britain - U rock!
I think the whole StartUp Britain campaign has been a fantastic initiative for those people wanting to turn their dreams and ideas into reality. Sometimes it does take something to spark that first step and for me StartUp Britain was just that spark. I loved the idea that there was a central repository for all things StartUp so I immediately downloaded the StartUp guide and you shouldn't underestimate how useful for this is. I consider myself "up" on tech stuff and yet there were apps and tips which have totally helped my StartUp which I would have only known about through Emma Jones' fantastic guide. I've been fortunate enough to meet Emma on a couple of occasions and she's been so inspirational and helpful so I would encourage all thinkers and StartUps to read the guide as it lays everything out in a very logical and informative way and offers real world solutions to starting up. Go on you know you want to! Do it, it's great and well done to the StartUp Britain team! U rock.. P.S Anyone want to buy a Desktag? They are lovely and shiny and would great on YOUR desk!
- Richard Baldock
In July I won the Marketing4StartUp Britain Week Competition
Following the win of the Marketing4StartUp Britain Week competition, we were provided with the services of Iris Worldwide, a global full-service marketing company. They have been incredibly proactive in putting together a marketing plan, PR plan, and conducting market research and have been an expert sounding board for a variety of challenges that we have faced as a fast-growing start-up. In addition to their practical support, having Iris’ name on Safetray’s business plan has been a huge endorsement for us - we raised funding through an equity investment round during the latter half of this year. I cannot emphasise enough the value of winning their services for a year. Emma Jones of StartUp Britain team has been another constant source of support, and recently hosted us down in London as part of her Global Entrepreneurship Week event at the O2 Workshop, where we spoke to exciting young companies with global aspirations. Her encouragement and belief in young companies extends to all those who attend the many events organised as part of this crucial campaign. A big thank you to all those involved with the StartUp Britain campaign for providing Safetray with such fantastic opportunities and support.
- Alison Grieve, Founder of Safe Tray - http://www.safetrayproducts.com/
The StartUp Britain Summer Bus Tour was a huge success in my eyes
It inspired people to talk about their ideas and their goals. But, at the same time, they were able to receive invaluable advice from experts that someone in the early stages of their journey may not even realise the importance of. I, personally, had this experience and it has helped me shape my company into what it is today.
- Daniel Bridgewater, Founder of Fourth Wall Theatre Network - http://www.fourthwalltheatre.co.uk/