Our latest Invest in Nottingham event delivers scale-up advice showcasing a cross section of Nottingham’s entrepreneurial successes

Attendees gathered at Dance4 for our latest event. The aim of the workshop was to bring together a panel of business leaders who have transitioned their own business from a start-up to a successful company, to share and offer advice to those at the beginning of that transition.

Brendan Moffett, Chief Executive of Marketing NG, opened the session with a reminder that the best way to grow an economy is to encourage the next generation of businesses and entrepreneurs. 

Richard Baker, founder of BakerBaird, continued the scene setting with a nod back to Nottingham’s heritage in tech. The story of how hire purchase furniture in the sixties created a problem - a huge amount of paperwork - which was then solved by a local company called IBM by creating a database to house this data on a computer. Of course, that company developed and went on to become one of Nottingham’s biggest business success stories ever, Experian. 

The first speaker; Josh Dickerson, Associate at Deetu, explained their success comes from being able to solve their client’s problems using innovation and expertise, whilst reinforcing that you can’t know everything, so it is important to outsource when the team has skills or knowledge gaps.

Dickerson also stated: “Nottingham’s tech community provides an environment for innovation and diversification. The city has scale in terms of funding opportunities and investment, yet it doesn’t swallow up start-ups amidst a sea of other start-ups – essentially getting noticed here is much easier than in London.”

Nabeena Mali, Head of Marketing at AppInstitute, shared the importance of gaining key investment to grow the team to deliver their objectives and remaining focussed on the successful projects and not getting side-lined by distractions.

Mali expanded: “It is always positive when opportunities present themselves, however it is crucial to remain focussed whilst on that scale-up journey to avoid overstretching your resources.”

Aaron Dicks, Founder and Managing Director of Impression advised that recruitment was one of the driving factors in their growth success, having utilised the talent stream coming out of the two universities in the city, and creating a culture that employees demand to attract the best candidates. 

Dicks added: “Nottingham has supplied us with a high-quality team, through our close relationship with the universities and the business community. It has also been critical to be brave enough to let go and delegate, trust in your team.”

Matt Denman, Founder and Chief Executive of Podium shared details of his latest project after selling his first successful start-up to Experian. Matt, with his partner Mark, hopes to replicate that success using the learnings made previously. 

Denman stated: “Nottingham’s strength in the fintech sector has enabled us to build the relationships required to reach our clients and deliver results. Of course, there have been set backs, but to succeed you have to get back on course and have confidence and belief in your idea”.

Brendan Moffett, Chief Executive of Marketing NG, added: “Invest in Nottingham continues to work with the business community to develop potential, celebrate successes and demonstrate that Nottingham has the environment to sustain business growth.

“Such events as this enable the start-ups within Nottingham, and further afield, to understand why Nottingham is such a hot bed for success. Nottingham has the support network and the collaborative approach to enable an entrepreneur to make their idea a profitable enterprise. For those looking to take their business to the next level, Nottingham should definitely be on their radar as a place to call home.”

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Join us at our next event on scaling-up, held at Campus London, Google Space on Thursday 26 July. Full details here.

Read more about the panel:
AppInstitute, Deetu, Impression and Podium