Monthly Archives: July 2020

Hot Business News Today

Why should entrepreneurs care about EIS and SEIS?

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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

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Hot Business News Today

How do I apply for a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan?

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Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
How do I apply for a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan?
UPDATED: Today (July 30), the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme has been relaxed to make more SMEs eligible for emergency funding.
Until now, an SME that was classed as an ‘undertaking in difficulty’ was barred from getting access to the loan unless the business was less than three years old. They’d be an undertaking in difficulty if, by deducting accumulated losses from its reserves, it was left with a negative amount greater than half of its subscribed share capital, as of December 2019.
This changes mean that SMEs with fewer than 50 employees and a turnover of less than £9m will not be classed as an undertaking in difficulty, unless they’re subject to insolvency proceedings or receiving certain types of aid. It’s expected to help small businesses that have previously secured private equity and venture capital funding.
Allie Renison, head of Europe and trade policy at the Institute of Directors, said:
“This is a welcome move towards helping more British businesses access much-needed finance. The UID test has caused a lot of frustration, and the IoD has been knocking hard on the door of both government and Brussels

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Hot Business News Today

New company launches fell by a quarter between January and May

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Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The number of new company launches in the UK fell 25 per cent on average between January and May as COVID-19 swept through Britain.
The biggest fall of 40 per cent was during the four weeks following lockdown on March 23, according to a new Economics Observatory report.
The figures are important because new bussinesses are the engine room of the economy, employing more young people whose job prospects have been worse hit by the virus.
>See also: 5 best ideas to start a small business post coronavirus
In America, where the data is more complete, an average 16.3m jobs are created and 14.9m jobs are destroyed each year. This means that annually a third of all US jobs are either new or destroyed.
However, start-ups in the US create 2.9m more jobs than they destroy each year, so microbusinesses are large contributors to job creation. In addition, it is start-ups which are often the most productive when it comes to lifting aggregate productivity growth.
>See also: Top 10 tips for single parents who want to start their own business
The good news is that since May’s reopening, UK registrations have bounced back, with Economics Observatory suggesting just 7,100 fewer

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Hot Business News Today

Why should entrepreneurs care about EIS and SEIS?

by  •  • 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

Read more...