Startup Guides for Entrepreneurs

Introduction

Startup guides enable the entrepreneurs to make important decisions regarding the ventures. In other words, startups do not involve in strategy planning and implementations rather it modifies the resolutions taken for adaptation according to the business needs (Startups.co.uk, 2020). It helps in considering a number of aspects by analyzing certain elements such as the demand, the market competition, legal and licensing factors, the funding process and the investors, the support and management systems. Thus, startup guides form the preparatory phase of the entire process.

Description of the business environment

Number of new startups

One of the largest hubs for startups, Sheffield has witnessed almost 196 new tech startups in the year 2019, which have been 6% more than 2018's data. According to the Centre for Entrepreneurs, this made Sheffield one of the top 20 cities in the UK where startups in this sector have been booming. With almost 678,288 new firms being registered all over the UK in the year 2019, startups have since been on the rise (Startups.co.uk, 2020).

Success or failure rate:

The place has always been supportive to any would be entrepreneurs. Taking into consideration, Harper James, a law service firm in the area provides start-up advice to more than 1000 businesses stated that the number of business increments in the area have been positive despite the political uncertainty in 2019 (Fund squire UK, 2020). There was a huge success rate in the digital business that rose to 126% from 2011 to 2016. According to the Tech National Report 2018, digital tech business saw a turnover of €745 million with almost 6,209 rises in employment (BBC Bite size, 2020).

Impact of Brexit:

Brexit influenced on the UK-based market in mainly four different ways that includes trade, rules and regulations, migration and the Governmental finance. As influenced by Dessyana and Riyanti (2017) hurdles in negotiations with the EU regarding free trade agreements and most favored nations have seen certain setbacks regarding the ventures at Sheffield. There have been complications regarding the export but despite such hurdles Sheffield has seen some progress in the field of entrepreneurship. Sheffield business startups have been focusing on the duties of imported and exported on exchanging materials along with the value added taxes post Brexit. This caused a fall of 10, 968 in the 2015-2018 period rather than 11,855 in the 2012-2015 periods. The UK firms’ productivity too slipped slightly from 8.4% in 2014-2017 to 8.3% in 2015-2018 (Oxford Economics, 2020).

Entrepreneurship Theories

a. Schumpeter’s Theory of Innovation:

According to this theory the entrepreneurs indulge innovation in the business practice and attract the economic cycle towards them. Innovation could involve newness in the current products, in the existing methods and procedures applied for business program implementation, the opening up of a new venture or innovation in management and strategies (Economics Discussion, 2020). Taking in consideration Sheffield has always been the growth hub with incorporating new technologies for implementation of innovative strategies with regard to current market trends along with analyzing the core competences and reviewing current business models.

b. Max Weber’s Theory of Social change:

Max Weber stated that the social and religious factors determine the needs of business products as it influences the mindset of both the entrepreneurs and the customers. Max Weber also stated that capitalism makes the fundamental aspects of business startups. In free capitalism the entrepreneurs could easily upgrade their ventures due to the presence of economic freedom (Economics Discussion, 2020). According to the spirit of capitalism it promotes the entrepreneur ventures by allowing more profit along with more growth. Thus, capitalism along with social and cultural needs of a particular location drives the growth of the ventures to some extent.

Support opportunities for start-up within the chosen ecosystem

According to the Tech National Reports it has been seen that Sheffield in the last few years has given birth to multiple tech start-ups. Creation of jobs in this sector has grown faster than ever. According to Dickel et al. (2018), Sheffield can be recognized as the best place to start a venture with low capital, plethora of resources and low overheads because of various reasons. In other words the blooming industries in Sheffield especially the tech industry have given a desirable dynamic to the entrepreneurs and made them enthusiastic to be a part of its start-up culture (Startacus.2020). Among the various forces that have driven the city to secure the top spot in the context of starting and growing a business, some are discussed below:

University of Sheffield: The Sheffield University can be considered as one of the drivers of the incredible start-up culture in the city. Beatty (2020) opined that the institution has always been passionate about promoting entrepreneurial talent. In order to create impactful and integrated entrepreneurship that can be assessed by all graduates and other staff, various programs are carried out there.

Accelerators and incubators: The Maker Hub has backed the tech industry in Sheffield with an investment of £3.5 million. Another accelerator has been a support to the entrepreneurs namely Dotforge (Startacus.2020). It is a developing network that aims to bring innovation and change in collaboration with many business leaders.

Venture capitalists and funding: In Sheffield growing funding, mass resources are available to fresh business entrants. The city in recent times has been found to experience a series of developments in the context of start-ups in the UK (Wright et al. 2017). With the aid of regional economic growth along with increased finance options, Sheffield shows the potential of being the best option for starting a venture especially for the creative and tech industry.

Mentoring and coaching: The city also offers support from knowledgeable and experienced business advisors coupled with commercial lawyers for any query and that is for free. Numerous free coaching for business are also available there.

Government: The development of Sheffield has also been escalated by the government and city councils. Several negotiations made the government pump the local economy that has been very significant for start-up developments in the city (Alder et al. 2019). The government promises to continue to do so for the next 30 years in order to enhance entrepreneurship like ever.

The Growth Hub: It has been very promising and still works with several organizations and expert individuals in order to encourage the initial stages of businesses and give support to the entrepreneurs.

Launch pad- It is a major support program for start-ups in collaboration with Princes Trust and Business Don Caster (Welcometosheffield.co.uk. 2020). The initiative has become a blessing to the entrepreneurs.

Y Accelerators- Along with the Launch pad this initiative has been designed to provide the new business entrants with three month business support and a chance to secure funding (Welcometosheffield.co.uk. 2020).. In addition to all these Scale Up 360 regulated under Sheffield Hallam University, Government’s National Business Support helpline are also there to encourage the entrepreneurs.

Viability of creating a start-up in the chosen region

Creating a start-up in the city, Sheffield could be justified by the numerous support opportunities, mentioned above. Considering the huge development in the tech industry of Sheffield city an idea to start a blog consulting organization can be worth (Business Advice. 2020). Starting up as a blog consultant could be gainful in Sheffield. This business would also enable the consultants to support all other types of businesses running in the city along with the bloggers.

Opportunities and Potential success: These kinds of jobs require a calm environment and as the chosen city is away from crowded business hubs this could be beneficial for the business. The city offers peer learning events that could help such aspiring ideas. Utilizing the resources like official meet ups with known business experts, recruiters, founders entrepreneurs can pitch their ideas and also receive ideas and advice. From an online source Welcometosheffield.co.uk (2020) it has been found that Sheffield Digital conducts innovative events that could definitely ensure fast-paced development of the concerned start-up. Moreover, the Sheffield technology parks also offer flexible office space along with residency programs for six months to encourage start-ups. Funding would also not be a challenge because of the availability of many start-up providers coupled with free mentoring.

Probable risks associated with the business: Being a quieter place also away from the capital city the business may not gain desirable attention initially (Rupo et al. 2019). The growth in the tech industry has also escalated competition in the business market which could be a threat to such a small venture.

Conclusion

Sheffield being one of the topmost regions for entrepreneurs has been expanding with the ongoing changes in modern technologies. The different aspects like the political and economic platforms, the demographics of the region contribute to the success or failure of any startups. Detailed analysis of the supporting opportunities have been stated that showed the roles of government support, venture capitalists, crowd funding campaigns, firm incubators and many others. The vocational importance behind the success of the ventures with regards to the customers’ requirements has also been stated. The issues found along with the analysis of risk and opportunities of ventures in the given location have been explained in details.

References

Adler, P., Florida, R., King, K. and Mellander, C., 2019. The city and high-tech startups: The spatial organization of Schumpeterian entrepreneurship. Cities, 87, pp.121-130.

Dessyana, A. and Riyanti, B.P.D., 2017. The influence of innovation and entrepreneurial self-efficacy to digital startup success. International Research Journal of Business Studies, 10(1), pp.57-68.

Dickel, P., Hörisch, J. and Ritter, T., 2018. Networking for the environment: The impact of environmental orientation on start-ups’ networking frequency and network size. Journal of cleaner production, 179, pp.308-316.

Rupo, D., Accordino, P., La Rocca, E.T. and Abbate, T., 2019. Intellectual Capital and Enabling Factors for Startups in a Business Ecosystem. In The Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives of Management: Challenges and Opportunities. Emerald Publishing Limited.

Wright, M., Siegel, D.S. and Mustar, P., 2017. An emerging ecosystem for student start-ups. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 42(4), pp.909-922.