James Silver - Upscale: What it takes to scale a startup. By the people whove done it.

James Silvers career as a journalist began at the BBC, where he was a producer, reporter and documentary-maker at BBC Radio 4 and 5 Live. He went on to write over 400 feature articles and interviews - mostly covering media, technology and politics - for, among others, the Guardian, WIRED magazine, the Observer, Total Politics, the Independent, the Evening Standard and BBC News Online. Upscale is his first book.

Tech Nation empowers ambitious tech entrepreneurs to scale faster through growth programmes, digital entrepreneurship skills, a visa scheme for exceptional talent, networks and connections, and by championing the UKs digital sector through data, stories and media campaigns.

Founded in 2011 (originally as Tech City), Tech Nations programmes cater for businesses at all stages of company growth, from initial idea and early stages (The Digital Business Academy, Founders Network and Rising Stars), right through to the mid and late stages (Upscale and Future Fifty). It also recently launched its first sector-specific programme, covering FinTech, while Cyber, Deep Tech and Blockchain will be launching shortly.

www.technation.io

First published in 2018 by Tech Nation

Copyright James Silver 2018

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the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
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While every effort has been made to trace the owners of
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would like to apologise for any omissions and will be pleased to
incorporate missing acknowledgements in any future editions.

ISBN 978-1-911195-86-3

Also available as an ebook
ISBN 978-1-911195-87-0

And as limited edition in hardback
ISBN 978-1-911195-88-7

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Tech Nation would like to thank everyone who made Upscale the programme possible and a success, and all those who spared the time to be interviewed for this book.

Scale Coaches

Adam Hale; Alex Depledge; Alex Gayer; Amir Kfir; Andrew Crump; Andrew Graham; Anthony Fletcher; Asi Sharabi; Benjamin Grol; Brad Feld; Brent Hoberman; Bryan Tookey; Cian Weeresinghe; Claire Martin; Dan Hynes; Daniel Campion; Dave Shappell; David Norris; Devin Hunt; Divinia Knowles; Doug Monro; George Berkowski; George Bettany; Greg Marsh; Ian Meyers; Ian Sutherland; James Bilefield; James Routledge; Jerry Collona; Jessica Butcher; Jonathon Southam; Julien Callede; Luke Lang; Malcolm Locke; Matt Buckland; Meri Williams; Niklas Zennstrom; Patrick Campbell; Placid Jover; Romain Bertrand; Sarah Wood; Shane Corstorphine; Sian Keane; Simon Wright; Sophie Miller; Steven Dunne; Steven Rose; Thor Mitchell; Toby Moore; Tracy Doree; Verne Harnish; Will McInnes

Advisors

Andy Young; Davor Hebel; Dominic Jacquesson; Eileen Burbidge; Jamie Coleman; Jon Bradford; Katy Turner; Nic Brisbourne; Reshma Sohoni; Russell Buckley; Simon Calver; Saul Klein; Sitar Teli; Suranga Chandratillake; Tak Lo; Wendy Tan White

Tech Nation

Ashley Hough; Barbara Peric; Becky Smith; Ben Wackett; Caroline Rae; Davina Yanful; EJ Quinn; Gerard Grech; Jos Smart; MB Christie; Orla Browne; Parveen Dhanda; Reiz Evans; Ryan Proctor; Sinead Daly; Tia Mcphee; Ugne Sapezinskaite; Vicki Shiel; Will Dolby; Zheela Qaiser

by Gerard Grech, Chief Executive, Tech Nation

It was 2014 and the Tech Nation (then Tech City UK) team was at Web Summit (a leading technology conference, then held in Dublin), when we first began to notice a glaring gap in the market: a specialist programme for fast growth UK technology startups exclusively focused on scaling.

The early stages of company-building were already well covered by startup accelerator programmes in the UK, while our own Future Fifty was blazing a trail for later-stage companies. But no one was yet serving those founders who were circling that make-or-break moment in the startup journey: the transition from a tight-knit group of multi-tasking entrepreneurs and early hires with a Vision, to dozens if not hundreds of team-members, often in multiple offices around the world.

We had recently gone through a similar growth spurt ourselves, as Tech City evolved to become Tech Nation, almost doubling the numbers of employees every year. Having experienced our geographic focus, ambition, budget and staffing levels scale up dramatically, Id had a taste of the professional and personal adversity that tech entrepreneurs can face during that intense period.

As soon as that red scale button is hit, founders are assailed with challenges from all angles. From ramping up their infrastructure and processes so that theyre able to hire at least a person-a-week to building a product or service that works across multiple markets and languages, to fretting about company culture and values which can easily get watered down or even lost as a startup goes into hyper-growth mode, scaling a business can be a white-knuckle ride. Additionally, its a period where a startup founder is handling decisions and setbacks almost daily. Credible guidance and advice become critical to building the resilience to stay the course.

As the UKs leading network for technology entrepreneurs, we knew we were well positioned to provide this missing piece of the puzzle in startup support. And so, after a period of incubation, Upscale was born.

From its inception, we wanted Upscale to be a market-led programme, driven and shaped by the precise needs of entrepreneurs in the throes of scaling. While many issues which arise are generic - and thus easier to prepare for - others will be unique to founder x, building company y, in sector z at a given moment in time. That meant putting these (mostly) first time-founders in front of people whod been through the pain and the turmoil, the hard days and sleepless nights, as well as the immeasurable rewards of successfully scaling a business in the face of ferocious competition. So we assembled an ever-evolving team of mentors and coaches who could advise the companies we handpicked to join the programme and respond to the questions they had in real time, across every aspect of company growth.

These individuals were founders and investors who had recently built - or backed - UK companies, in many cases worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Not only did they have the experience and credibility to encourage the next generation of entrepreneurs; they could also talk plainly about the real-world mistakes they had made along the way. The very opposite of an academic programme delving into historic case studies, this would be a living-and-breathing education, running right alongside the inevitable turbulence of scaling a business.

What we went on to create with Upscale was a forum in which entrepreneurs could speak freely about the adversity they faced, secure in the knowledge that none of the proprietary details they shared would leave the room. Crucially, Upscale also became a place where entrepreneurs could use their own experience to advise each other. That network of peers, many of whom went on to form WhatsApp groups and close friendships, has proven an invaluable resource for entrepreneurs across the UK.