Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Most of us think of homes being built with bricks or, at a push, timber, but Les Dawson of Uniblock doesn’t so much want to blow your house down as revolutionise the way you build it.
In many ways, Uniblock is a perfect good news story that chimes with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s pledge to get more social housing built across the North of England and opening a factory in Scunthorpe, still reeling from the closure of British Steel.
Dawson, 56, also shows that you don’t have to be a bearded hipster living in Shoreditch to have a cutting-edge start-up idea. His Uniblock system slashes the amount of time it takes to put up the walls of a new home from six weeks to under a fortnight. Rather than painstakingly laying brick by brick, Uniblock uses concrete-filled sandwiches of high-density polystyrene, which is quicker and easier to build with and offering greater heat insulation.
>See also: What winning The Start-Up Series meant for me – Andy Roberts, Weekly10
Dawson spent 14 years in the Army having taken part in the Falklands War and then ran several businesses in Asia for 15 years before returning to
Tag Archive for The Start-Up Series
Hot Business News Today
What winning The Start-Up Series meant for me – Les Dawson, Uniblock
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Most of us think of homes being built with bricks or, at a push, timber, but Les Dawson of Uniblock doesn’t so much want to blow your house down as revolutionise the way you build it.
In many ways, Uniblock is a perfect good news story that chimes with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s pledge to get more social housing built across the North of England and opening a factory in Scunthorpe, still reeling from the closure of British Steel.
Dawson, 56, also shows that you don’t have to be a bearded hipster living in Shoreditch to have a cutting-edge start-up idea. His Uniblock system slashes the amount of time it takes to put up the walls of a new home from six weeks to under a fortnight. Rather than painstakingly laying brick by brick, Uniblock uses concrete-filled sandwiches of high-density polystyrene, which is quicker and easier to build with and offering greater heat insulation.
>See also: What winning The Start-Up Series meant for me – Andy Roberts, Weekly10
Dawson spent 14 years in the Army having taken part in the Falklands War and then ran several businesses in Asia for 15 years before returning to
Hot Business News Today
Why should entrepreneurs care about EIS and SEIS?
by Matthew Cushen • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Matthew Cushen on Small Business
Why should entrepreneurs care about EIS and SEIS? The simple answer is because your potential investors do.
No credible entrepreneur would consider launching a product or service without getting into the head of their consumer. They would make sure they understand the needs they were satisfying, when, where and how competing options where purchased and consumed, and what it takes to influence the consumer.
It’s no different when ‘selling’ your business to investors. The more you understand about them, their rationale and how they make decisions, the better you’ll do in attracting cash to your venture. This means researching what you can about a potential investor. Are they professional (i.e. invest for a living, as part of a structured firm, maybe investing other people’s cash) or amateur (an angel investor, either alongside their day job or having retired)? Where does the cash come from? What is their investment rationale? What else is in their portfolio? How much do they like to get involved?
There’s one aspect that drives many investors in the start-up space and one reason that equity investment for start-ups is more available in the UK than in many other countries. The government have
Hot Business News Today
Why should entrepreneurs care about EIS and SEIS?
by Matthew Cushen • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Matthew Cushen on Small Business
Why should entrepreneurs care about EIS and SEIS? The simple answer is because your potential investors do.
No credible entrepreneur would consider launching a product or service without getting into the head of their consumer. They would make sure they understand the needs they were satisfying, when, where and how competing options where purchased and consumed, and what it takes to influence the consumer.
It’s no different when ‘selling’ your business to investors. The more you understand about them, their rationale and how they make decisions, the better you’ll do in attracting cash to your venture. This means researching what you can about a potential investor. Are they professional (i.e. invest for a living, as part of a structured firm, maybe investing other people’s cash) or amateur (an angel investor, either alongside their day job or having retired)? Where does the cash come from? What is their investment rationale? What else is in their portfolio? How much do they like to get involved?
There’s one aspect that drives many investors in the start-up space and one reason that equity investment for start-ups is more available in the UK than in many other countries. The government have
Hot Business News Today
What winning The Start-Up Series meant for me – Andy Roberts, Weekly10
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Andy Roberts started out as a developer, working with artificial intelligence and machine learning technology throughout his career. Several years later, while managing a team of 50 people, he came up with the idea for his business.
Frustrated by ineffectual annual reviews and anonymous surveys, he put his knowhow into creating Weekly10, an employee engagement and performance software platform measured in weekly sessions.
Companies, particularly those in the legal and accountancy sectors, really took to the software. And in recent months, the accelerated move towards remote working has seen a transformation in clientele for the business.
In February 2019, Andy entered The Start-Up Series competition and he bagged the funding for Weekly10. We caught up with him to learn more about the business and how The Start-Up Series has been invaluable to him.
The Start-Up Series competition begins again on September 1st 2020. You can register your interest on our pre-registration page.
Tell us about yourself and how you launched Weekly10.
Before Weekly10, I worked across different industries in the software sector.
We were always told by HR and senior management to run performance reviews every year and encourage people to do engagement surveys, but the most
Hot Business News Today
7 funding choices when it comes to financing your start-up
by Matthew Cushen • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Matthew Cushen on Small Business
As a start-up or small business, what are you funding choices? And the consequences of those choices?
Can you afford the time that it could take to grow the business organically – limiting the upfront cash and reinvesting revenue? Or do you need to develop the product/service quickly, chuck cash at marketing, get the brand in front of people, grow quickly and grab market share before others?
Do you have some personal cash to keep you going or are you going to need to pay yourself a salary before the business is generating enough cash to cover it? Are you going to recruit and pay others? Probably the most stressful aspect of building a team is ensuring you can meet payroll each month.
‘If you aren’t a natural spreadsheet warrior then find someone who is that can help’
How to create a cash flow forecast
To answer these questions you need a cash flow forecast, and ideally some comparisons across some different scenarios.
The high investment/fast growth scenario, the slow burn scenario, the optimistic scenario and the worst-case scenario where you don’t manage to generate any of the expected revenue and cash is flowing one way. A cash flow
Hot Business News Today
7 funding choices when it comes to financing your start-up
by Matthew Cushen • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Matthew Cushen on Small Business
As a start-up or small business, what are you funding choices? And the consequences of those choices?
Can you afford the time that it could take to grow the business organically – limiting the upfront cash and reinvesting revenue? Or do you need to develop the product/service quickly, chuck cash at marketing, get the brand in front of people, grow quickly and grab market share before others?
Do you have some personal cash to keep you going or are you going to need to pay yourself a salary before the business is generating enough cash to cover it? Are you going to recruit and pay others? Probably the most stressful aspect of building a team is ensuring you can meet payroll each month.
‘If you aren’t a natural spreadsheet warrior then find someone who is that can help’
How to create a cash flow forecast
To answer these questions you need a cash flow forecast, and ideally some comparisons across some different scenarios.
The high investment/fast growth scenario, the slow burn scenario, the optimistic scenario and the worst-case scenario where you don’t manage to generate any of the expected revenue and cash is flowing one way. A cash flow
Hot Business News Today
The Start-Up Series competition is back — £250,000 equity funding up for grabs!
by Nick Ismail • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Nick Ismail on Small Business
Following a short hiatus due to the coronavirus, Small Business and Worth Capital have partnered to reopen the UK’s largest seed funding competition — The Start-Up Series.
The Start-Up Series competition
The Start-Up Series competition was launched in 2016 by Worth Capital, with the aim of searching for the brightest entrepreneurs with the smartest ideas to invest real cash into these promising start-ups.
From September 1st 2020, The Start-Up Series competition in association with Small Business is back and will open for applications at the beginning of every month.
Each month one or two winners will be selected to receive a prize package consisting of:
• Up to £250,000 of SEIS/EIS equity funding.
• A minimum of 2 years invaluable hands-on help from experienced mentors.
• Media coverage on smallbusiness.co.uk and other channels to promote your business.
We are on the hunt for B2B or B2C business across all sectors. As long as your business is eligible for SEIS or EIS HMRC advance assurance, then we’ll consider your application.
We’ll be impressed by innovative products or services, in high growth or underserved markets, with the potential to build a loved brand. If you can demonstrate these, you’re in with a fighting chance.
For
Hot Business News Today
What winning Start-Up Series meant for me – Nick James, Bedfolk
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Engaged couple Nick and Jo James were finding the experience of shopping for bedlinen extremely frustrating when they hit on the idea for Bedfolk.
Traditionally dominated by one or two department stores, Nick and Jo decided to set up an online business exclusively selling the finest cotton sheets, duvet covers and pillowcases. They are inspired by other online vendors who specialise in one bespoke product, such as Harry’s razors.
James says: “For a product you spend a third of your life in, it seemed ripe for disruption, getting better quality at better prices.”
The couple spent a year researching the bedlinen market, trying to source the best suppliers. The couple spent their honeymoon romantically or not, depending on how you see it, visiting textile factories in Portugal before settling on one in particular.
James says: “We go and do the hard work to find the best materials and the best makers and because we’re online we can do it at a fraction of the traditional luxury retail price.”
The couple, who like many entrepreneurs were working full time while pursing their start-up dream, sold their London flat to raise working capital and persuaded a Portuguese
Hot Business News Today
The Start-Up Series competition is back — £250,000 equity funding up for grabs!
by Nick Ismail • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Nick Ismail on Small Business
Following a short hiatus due to the coronavirus, Small Business and Worth Capital have partnered to reopen the UK’s largest seed funding competition — The Start-Up Series.
The Start-Up Series competition
The Start-Up Series competition was launched in 2016 by Worth Capital, with the aim of searching for the brightest entrepreneurs with the smartest ideas to invest real cash into these promising start-ups.
From September 1st 2020, The Start-Up Series competition in association with Small Business is back and will open for applications at the beginning of every month.
Each month one or two winners will be selected to receive a prize package consisting of:
• Up to £250,000 of SEIS/EIS equity funding.
• A minimum of 2 years invaluable hands-on help from experienced mentors.
• Media coverage on smallbusiness.co.uk and other channels to promote your business.
We are on the hunt for B2B or B2C business across all sectors. As long as your business is eligible for SEIS or EIS HMRC advance assurance, then we’ll consider your application.
We’ll be impressed by innovative products or services, in high growth or underserved markets, with the potential to build a loved brand. If you can demonstrate these, you’re in with a fighting chance.
For