National campaign, StartUp Britain was launched on 28 March meaning the campaign has just passed its second month. I thought at this juncture you would appreciate an update on how the campaign is doing and how you might like to get involved.
Re-cap
For anyone not aware of the campaign, StartUp Britain aims to encourage more people to start a business and support existing businesses to grow. It does this by shining a spotlight on useful resources and opening up access to corporate offers.
The campaign is about promoting enterprise and does not itself deliver business support. There are enough great bodies/groups/individuals doing that, and our job is to point you to them!
The campaign was launched with support from the Prime Minister and is run by a small team of business owners of which I’m one.
Impact
The campaign has motored since launch. The site www.startupbritain.org continues to attract high traffic and other impact points include:
* People searching for term start-up has risen 25% since campaign launch [Experian]
* Over 2,800 Start Up Guides downloaded and thousands of corporate offers activated
* Over 1,500 hours of mentoring pledged by top entrepreneurs
* Support from three corporate sponsors; AXA, PayPal and Barclays
* Inspired projects including StartUp Saturday and Industry Open Weeks
More to come
The action doesn’t stop here! Indeed, we’re about to enter six months of activity where the campaign will be represented at events across the UK from a StartUp Summer at UCL through to MADE Festival in Sheffield and a ‘Homes & Gardens’ start your own business show. A couple of points to flag for your immediate attention:
* If you are a start up or small business owner, you’ll want to know about a full week being run by the Marketing Agencies Association in partnership with StartUp Britain where marketing agencies will open up their doors, invite you in, and offer instruction, advice, guidance on how to best market your business. This Marketing Open Week will take place from 4 to 8 July and it will be very special!
* If you are passionate about seeing start ups thrive in your area, why not create a StartUp campaign for your area? This will be my personal area of focus for the next couple of months; helping people adopt and adapt the StartUp brand in your own town/county/region. Please get in touch if you’re interested.
This is just a quick round-up and I’ll continue to keep you updated as the campaign progresses and the weeks unfold. In the meantime, do visit the campaign site or contact the campaign team with any questions/ideas/suggestions!
Let’s together ensure StartUp Britain is a continued success – the country will be a better place if we do!
From our business hub in Telford, we have launched Start Up Shropshire http://t.co/58nktFq We’re now looking for a sponsor to help us train and mentor new young entrepreneurs.
Woo hoo! Go, go, Shropshire! I’m biased – you are my home county – but thanks for being so supportive.
I would like to help to create StartUp Birmingham! I already have a network that can offer mentoring support.
The West Midlands is coming out strong here, isn’t it?! Great. Have you noted for StartUp Birmingham. The plan is, I will contact all interested parties with details on how to launch your own local campaign – kind of like a DIY kit. This is being developed at the moment.
Thanks for your interest and support.
Hi Emma. Great to hear how everything is going. I’d be really keen to create a StartUp Surrey / South West London. Be great to have a chat soon. Keep up the good work. Chris
Well, we can’t have the Midlands being the only region represented – me and my business network would love StartUp Surrey! We’ve already started mentoring cottage industry startups.
Hey, hey, do I see a partnership in the making? Chris and Laura to share Surrey?! Seriously though, thanks for coming forward. You are now on my list
Hi Emma, I’d love to create a StartUp Wolverhampton / Black Country. There’s already a good core of enthusiastic mentors who support start-ups available, alignment with a succesful delivery programme (SPEED WM) and use of tools and training that could be brought together fairly quickly. It would be good to have a chat! Warm Regards, Gary
Can’t help thinking this has been a bit of a damp squib. 2,800 free guides in 2 months doesn’t sound like a lot to me, sorry.
Not sure Startup Britain focuses on the most important factors in successful startups. I think a bigger issue than the practicalities is getting employed people to understand that there’s nothing special about entrepreneurs and the self employed, except that they went ahead and did it.
In my view, the key would be to help people learn how to come up with great business ideas and then how to effectively research them so that they have confidence that their business will fly. Starting businesses is about having the confidence to get started, not about a small Paypal discount.
Hi Kevin
Many thanks for your helpful comment. If you take a look at the StartUp Guide that has been made available free of charge, courtesy of the campaign, you will see it covers exactly what you suggest. We are covering all angles on this campaign!
Do keep the suggestions coming in though.
Best wishes
Emma
Gary – great – we will indeed chat!
Will get details to you and really appreciate your support. Let’s create these start ups!
Hi Emma,
I would love to create a Startup Herefordshire. There really is a need here. Best wishes Melanie
Hi Emma
I’d love to help with this!
Would love to see startup se london
Please do get in touch.
Mary
Hi Emma,
I want a copy of the guide but don’t have an eBook – Luddite! Is it possible to get a hard/pdf copy or any other version?
thanks
The start up Britain Guide is absolutely brilliant. I know Emma has put in a lot of work doing this. I live in a hostel but have the hostel staff right behind me getting the funding/grant to start my business up.Here is my question,does anyone use the Linux operating system along side windows? Im using Windows 7 Home Premium, at present and wonder if you can use the Windows system and the Linux together. Or is one of the systems better than the other.I have researched a lot on the net for funding,I can tell you, Emma and this hostel manager are the only people who have actually helped me.Your doing a great job Emma, keep it up. Where would people like me be without You.
looks very interesting…I may also be interested in getting involved
This is a really good thing to see, especially given the continuing economic woes. I hope any start ups do well and succeed! Best of luck