Brighton and Barclays mean business for high growth entrepreneurs

Chimera's MD Jill Woolf recently interviewed Barclays' Corporate Relationship Director, Paul Williams, on the bank's sponsorship of a session at Brighton Summit. The Summit is organised by Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce and is a popular business conference, now in its fourth year, attracting around 300 delegates comprising start-ups, SMEs and bigger corporates, business owners and managers, not-for-profits and entrepreneurs, working in and around the city.

Jill is Lead Ambassador for the Chamber and a member of its Board.

High growth business entrepreneurship and its challenges are the subject of the Barclays-sponsored session and the speaker is Marc Koska, the inventor of the K1 auto-disabling syringe and founder of the SafePoint Trust, a charity which campaigns for safer syringe use.

Jill: We’re delighted Barclays is on board for this year’s Brighton Summit, Paul. I’m sure members and delegates would like to know more about your unit’s role within the bank, and the synergy between what you do and the session you’re sponsoring. As head of the high growth entrepreneur team, what are you looking for in an ideal high growth business?

Paul: In black and white, a high growth company should be consistently growing at 20% each year in terms of revenue and number of employees over the last three years, or has received external investment through post seed funding. That said, not all high growth businesses fit into the black and white definition so we also look at the companies’ USPs, growth potential, management team and strategic plans to move the business forward.

Jill: What does your new service offer, why did Barclays feel it was necessary now, and how will high growth businesses in the city benefit?

Paul: Barclays is continuing to build out its proposition, which supports high growth companies and entrepreneurs right across the UK. Through its ‘High Growth & Entrepreneurs’ offering, the bank is at the forefront in helping founders and entrepreneurs build and scale their businesses at speed.

Building and maintaining forward momentum in a high growth business requires continuous investment, so we’ve developed a suite of funding options to meet the changing needs of a high growth business. Barclays can support entrepreneurs from idea to IPO utilising our £200m fund for venture debt lending.

The specialist Brighton team has individuals from many parts of the business including a dedicated high growth and entrepreneur manager so we’re able to guide and support a company from start-up all the way through to flotation or sale.

Jill: What particular challenges do high growth entrepreneurs have that others don’t?

Paul: Good question! In our recent white paper ‘The Scale Up’ report, which Barclays commissioned with the support of Cambridge and Oxford University, a number of challenges were identified. The report is available free of charge to download from the Barclays High Growth & Entrepreneur website and well worth a read - https://entrepreneurs.barclays/  

In a snapshot, funding presents a huge challenge to scale up business, however it’s not all about money, and the skills gap and ability to scale at speed, production and personnel also present unique challenges for scale up businesses. 

Jill: How does the Eagle Lab fit in?

Paul: Barclays Eagle Lab provides the facility for UK start-up businesses to co-locate, collaborate and grow.

The Eagle Lab provides access to resources including expert mentoring, 3D printers and laser cutters - giving Brighton’s start-up community a crucial boost. For more information, visit https://labs.uk.barclays or pop in to the Eagle Lab, which is located at Preston Circus.

Jill: Tell me about your background and journey to get to your current post. Do you have an entrepreneurial background?

Paul: I’ve been a business manager with Barclays in Brighton for 20 years and I’ve supported start-up businesses all the way to corporate companies. It’s great to see some of the entrepreneurs I helped to start up now turning over six figure sums. I’ve always lived and worked in the area and I feel I have developed a strong understanding of the unique Brighton market.

Jill: Thanks so much for talking with me, Paul, and I hope you enjoy this year’s Summit.

Paul: It’s been a pleasure. I’ll be there along with members of my unit so not only will be joining in with the day, we’re there to answer any questions from delegates and offer advice. I’m really looking forward to it, and of course our sponsored session on high growth business.

Brighton Summit takes place on 14th October 2016 (www.brightonsummit.com) 

 This blog post was originally published on the Brighton Summit website.

Work-Life Balance Olympian Style...

7 Work-Life Balance Secrets of Elite Champions... and You

Guest blog by Nick Le Clere, strategic change consultant and facilitator, executive leadership coach, trainer, innovator and speaker, running online webinars and learning events for conscious business leaders of the future www.nextlevelconsulting.co

Hooray for our Team GB Olympians! What truly outstanding performances from so many, to win 67 medals in all. 27 Gold, 23 Silver and 17 Bronze - wow, truly amazing.

Wonderful timing for putting the heart and self-respect back into Great Britain, after Brexit as well.

How did that happen?

What did it take to create that level of success, both individually and as a team? What did it take, to peak at the precise time, for the maximum Olympic effect?

Well for sure, the athletes didn't just roll up to Rio and get lucky. They did not drive themselves to the edge of insanity, just before the Games and hope to pull off a coup. They did not pray for miracles. They knew they could do it, deep down inside themselves. They were ready.

Many of the athletes talk about planning for this event for many years beforehand. Some deliberately missed other competitions like the Commonwealth Games to be able to retain absolute focus on Olympic Gold in Rio 2016.

All the while, training relentlessly and building their mental commitment, emotional resilience and self-belief levels to astounding levels of positivity and self-assuredness.

Also receiving the help and support of coaches, mentors, physios, trainers, families, friends and of course Lottery Funding.

The support these athletes have received has been planned and organised since the Lottery Fund was first started in the 1990s. That’s the kind of long-term planning, organising and consistent investment in the environment and infrastructure that has been going on behind the scenes for years. Not to mention the ongoing benefits of the London Olympic infrastructure created previously.

What can you do for you, to nurture your high performance?

What can we take and apply from this amazing Olympic lesson in discipline, commitment and resolve, to be the best you can be, on your particular stage?

 1. Pick your battles and commitments

Beware of over-commitment. Be fully aware of what you say yes to. Don’t try to do everything and wear yourself out.

Make time for urgent and important activities and delegate as much stuff that you don't like doing as possible. Keep your edge sharp, not blunted on trivia.

2. Manage your down-time as well as up-time

Sporting legends look after themselves and know how to relax and switch off. Plan and organise your time with your own rest and recovery cycles in mind.

Burn out = no medals at all. Give yourself priority among the ever-increasing workload.

3. Build high quality support systems

None of the Olympic athletes could have achieved what they did without full-on help and support over an extended period.

Ask for help. It’s a sign of strength not weakness, if you want to win the big stuff.

Balance your work, rest and play time, and actively schedule these things in your calendar, if necessary. Look at your eating and drinking habits and make more healthy choices.

4. Get a coach and/or mentor

Get yourself a coach and/or mentor with whom you really connect and bounce new ideas around to raise your game.

Most athletes have more than one coach - areas covered include winning mindsets, self-belief, various capability sets, energetics, optimising emotional content, and work-life balance.

Coaches help you see what you can’t yet see or what’s staring you in the face while you look around everywhere for answers. They help you create new pathways for high performance and wellbeing.

5. Stay grounded and centred

It’s far too easy to lose your centre and sense of self under intense pressure. Sustained exposure to pressure and stress creates fatigue and leads to deteriorating performance.

With both stress overload and fatigue, simple things start to become difficult to achieve consistently and self-mastery goes out of the window.

Finding ways to relax and come back to your centre, say through visualisation, meditation or taking regular time in nature to soften your focus and create harmony within, is time well spent in the pursuit of high performance.

6. Stay positive and focused

While easier said than done, when under pressure, if you feel overwhelm approaching, the best thing you can do is stop and breathe and take a time out.

Stepping back helps to refocus your attention on the bigger picture and create an opportunity for positivity to be reclaimed.

This can be hard when in the thick of challenging situations, but at the first chance you can, create, pull back and evaluate as an observer and notice new ways of doing things entering your perceptions...

You can do this and still keep your eyes on the prize!

7. Manage expectations

Rome was not built in a day. Olympic medals are not won through short-term effort cycles.

Be honest with yourself, and others around you, about just what is possible. Get used to saying no, if things feel wrong.

By saying this, you may be able to create new ways of approaching things that you feel more able to say yes to. Practice discernment and be aware of how much pressure you put on yourself and its effect - positive or limiting.

Too much pressure over extended periods is madness and no medals come from that choice or habit whatsoever. Unless cultural insanity is the prize.

And finally…

Be kind to yourself, especially if no-one else is being kind to you.

If this is your normal working environment, and work-life balance is not possible in your team or business - then it’s time for a change.

If you don't put your work-life balance first, no one else will.

So it’s up to you - how badly do you want the end prize?

What is your Gold medal event, at your own lifetime Olympic Games?

I recently took part in a Dragons' Den event where I was a Dragon, along with three other eminent business people.

In one respect, it was a very different way to spend a morning. I learned much about the approach taken by the start-up businesses we met. But in another way, I realised it represented some of the conversations I have with potential new clients who have gone ahead and started a business without enough prior preparation and thought.

Our brief that day was to imagine ourselves as the Dragons on the TV programme, with a large pile of money on the desk in front of us. Which business would we invest in? The start-ups we were seeing had been briefed to use the time with us as a useful opportunity to practice what they might well have to do in the real world later on, but in a safe and 'friendly' environment.

Photo source: Thameside Media

First of all, it was particularly interesting to see that none of the start-ups actually asked for an investment. If you don't ask, you don't get, right? Will there be investors lining up to contact the start-ups, begging them to let them invest? Unlikely.

Secondly, each was incredibly emotionally involved in their businesses which is perfectly natural, but there needs to be a reality check which can't take place if you can't disassociate yourself from your business persona. 

My next observation was that some of the candidates had taken a perfectly good hobby and thought they could make a business out of it. Whether they'd read something in a magazine which said it was easy to do so or not, I don't know, but there had been little or no market research (professional or not) to see if there was a need for the product/service nor any real life experience or consideration of sourcing products, manufacturing, distribution, business management or marketing.

At some point, our role as potential investors turned into 'critical friends', and our feedback became as realistic as it had to be. Some must go back to the drawing board; some did have a sound business idea but needed a rethink on their strategic direction and some should go get a job working for someone else. 

Did we feel we could 'invest' in any of those start-ups? Sadly not, but let's hope the start-ups took on board our advice and will come back to us another time to wow us into handing over our imaginary dosh.