Are you an ambitious Biotech company with a turnover of over 50k? Have you been trading for over 6 months? Do you need assistance with marketing, product development, finding more customers and expanding your business? If the answer to these questions is “Yes please!” then we have the perfect mentor for you!

Email heike@capitalenterprise.org or phone 0207 679 4551 today for more details.

Are you an ambitious company with a turnover of over 250k based in the Acton/Ealing area? Do you need assistance with raising finance and expanding your business? If the answer to these questions is “Yes please!” then we have the perfect mentor for you!

Email heike@capitalenterprise.org or phone 0207 679 4551 today for more details.

Even the London Start-up scene slows down in August ( especially when it coincides with Olympics). Meet-ups grind to halt, new product launches get put back until September and quiet new businesses start to panic about whether anyone will ever buy from them again. So I thought I would list 25 cool things (Money, Interns, Space, Programmes) available for start-ups in London this summer. Do check them out below:

Cool Accelerators (7)

I love them (perhaps a little too much) but I sincerely believe that they are the best way of enabling innovative and potentially scalable early stage business to generate early market validation and potentially investment. Of course you could follow the lead of London Start-ups Role Point and Pop -set and get yourself on one of the USA version listed here but if you stay in London then these are the ones I would check-out:

• Seed Camp- You must have some early market validation but if you check out their latest portfolio you will find quiet an eclectic mix. Antavo is my favourite recent graduate.

• Springboard- The nearest we have this side of the Atlantic to Y-Combinator and probably the best accelerator in London for digital B2C start-ups.

• Accelerator Academy- Very impressed with the latest graduates especially Pikslme.  They are getting a reputation as the best accelerator in London for B2B SaaS businesses.

There are also accelerators that are focus exclusively on a sector like the recently launch Med Tech Accelerator Health Box or Telefonica’s Mobile focused Wayra. We encourage and help start-ups to apply. If you are not sure which one is right for you then get in contact.

Finally, although technically not an accelerator, the Start-Up Leadership programme (presently open for applications) is (by using the collective wisdom peer-to-peer mentoring sessions) a fantastic new way of helping new entrepreneurs succeed.

Cool Space (8)

My favourites are as follows:

1. Bathtub 2 Boardroom- The epitome of cool. (Of course if you are over 30 you will quite rightly never get in)

1. Trampery- Just knocked of the top spot but still the best space in Tech City. Recently expanding to 5 (FIVE) new sites.

1. Cock Pit Arts- If you are a designer-maker then it is the only place to be (unless you are a jeweller – then you should check out Centa’s space in Hatton Garden)

1. Innovation warehouse-  You may want to hang out at Google Campus or Mozilla but IoW is where serious, going-to-be-big tech entrepreneurs are based.

1. Hub Westminster- Who says all cool things happen in East London. It is also a great place for meeting and collaborating with social entrepreneurs.

1. London Youth Support Trust- If you are young and want very affordable space and excellent hands on support then LYST 5 centres dotted across inner London are the best place to be.

In fact the coolest (or at least most attractive space for a start-ups to reside in in London is RCA’s Incubator space in Battersea. Only one problem you have to be a graduate of the RCA to get in.

Summer Internships. (3)

There are some fantastic offers of internships presently available. For students I would look at Red Orchre’s offer to spend thirteen weeks learning about green energy in Seville, one of the world’s outstanding centres of green development.

Alternatively you may want to check out the new partnership between CE members Enternships and the British Computer Society. Lot’s off lots of well-paid internship opportunities at http://www.enternships.com/bcs

Finally for SME’s in London looking for a fully paid intern this summer then there are still a few places left on http://www.ucl.ac.uk/advances/support/internship-progamme

Cool ways to raise money. (7)

There is nothing cool about raising finance for a new business. Unlike the Millwall Football Chant no one may like you but you do care. That was before the emergence of crowdfunding. The first and best investment crowdfunding platform for start-ups is Crowdcube. Riding high after raising 600K seed funding for Escape the City, the co-founders Luke and Darren are keen to get more businesses to register there “investment ready “ businesses on the site in time for big promotional push in the Autumn.

Not to get left out in the cool stakes, is East London Small Business Centre, who with the Arts Council, have recently launched a new loan of up to £25k for creative businesses. East London Small Business Centre is still one of the few places left in London that offers free professional business advice and training to start-ups and with its new loans and new programmes continues to go from strength to strength.

But since the most popular enquiry to Capital Enterprise is still a request for info on where they can find free money ( closely followed by a business mentor and a pop-up shop) then I thought I would end the blog on some amazing competitions you can enter over the summer.

1. Start-up Games. Held at the start of the Para-Olympics on the 29^th August at Hackney House will be a new competition for tech companies around the world. How you are supposed to compete for an unspecified prize is vague to say the least but…
2. Digital Shoreditch £1m Start-up Competition.  Open this summer and closes in the spring- apparently it will be the X- Factor for the tech sector.
3. Samsung £4M Mobile App Challenge – Worth a punt?
4. Mobile Launcher- So the prize is only a £1000 pound but it guarantees the winner an opportunity to get a basic minimum viable App in the market.
5. Shell Livewire- Another £1000 prize available for young entrepreneurs. Not much money but a great chance of success.

INVITATION TO SUBMIT TENDER

Capital Enterprise is pleased to invite your company/organisation to quote to deliver Eight “Lean Start-up business bootcamp and a minimum of 6 follow up peer-to-peer mentor sessions for entrepreneurs seeking to:

A: Start an ambitious growth orientated business.

B: Learn about the latest Lean start-up/ customer development principles ( As developed by Steve Blank and Eric Reis) .

C: Develop and test a business model- using the Business Model Canvas.

D: Use Open Innovation principles to leverage the insights of peers and fellow businesses to overcome innovation challenges.

The Bootcamps are to take place between July 30^th 2012 and March 31^st 2013.

Any income generated through ticket sales will be directly paid ( minus fee handling costs) to the organisation chosen to deliver the programme.

Capital Enterprise total budget for delivering this programme ( including marketing, materials, room hire and refreshments) is between £20,000-£25000.

Your quote should be completed in accordance with the instructions provided and returned to Carly Lloyd (carly@capitalenterprise.org) to arrive no later than 12:00 on July 24th 2012. Any quote received after this deadline will be rejected as non-compliant. If there are additional attachments for answers to the questions below, please specify the name of the attachment(s) in your response.

Any queries that arise as you are preparing your quotation should be sent to John Spindler, john@capitalenterprise.org, 0207 679 4598.

CapitalEnterpriseis not bound to accept the lowest or any quote submitted as a result of this invitation. CapitalEnterprisealso reserves the right to accept all or any part of an offer and, if necessary, to establish trading arrangements with more than one supplier

Applicants will be notified of the award decision as soon as is reasonably practicable.

Yours sincerely

John Spindler,

Chief Executive

CapitalEnterprise

Introduction

The ‘Business Bootcamp’ project is an initiative by Capital Enterprise and the Open Innovation Interreg 4 ERDF programme, to provide intensive business training programmes delivered through a flexible framework by Partner Organizations. The uniqueness of the Bootcamp model is that it provides a tailor-made, sector specific and value-added approach to delivering workshops.

Requirement

CapitalEnterpriseis looking for an organisation that would like to become a ‘Business Bootcamp’ Partner. The Partner will be responsible for providing a “lean start-up” program while adhering to the Bootcamp framework.

The Partner will be responsible for designing and delivery  of this program, including, but not limited, to the following responsibilities:

• Set-up costs  à venue, catering, facilitators/speakers, equipment, materials, promotion.
• Participants à fee, assure minimal number of participants register and attend.
• Sponsors à partners are responsible for finding sponsors for the program ensuring no conflict of interest with current parties involved.
• Program à activity outline which consists of core fundamentals, expert interaction, networking, etc
• Post-Program à feedback form, follow-up, and KPIs
• Resources à topic-specific pre-reading materials and resource access

The IP for the programs resides with Business Bootcamp and partners can utilise the programs within the geographical boundaries. The IP will be lost if the partner does not provide repeat programs

Selection

Applications to become a partner are welcome and will be chosen based on the following criteria:

• Understanding of the brief.
• Experience of delivering Lean start-up programmes
• Track record
• Substantiality – Ability to put “Bums on seats”
• Innovation –  To incorporate “open Innovation” principles into programme delivery.
• Ability to provide a credible program within the Bootcamp framework

Providing all criteria are met, priority will be given to Capital Enterprise members, however all applicants must:

• Pass due diligence
• Have experience in training/facilitation
• Be able to sustain repeat programs without Capital Enterprise Sponsorship.
• Have access to resources (knowledge, infrastructure, contacts, suppliers)
• Effectively offer value for money à derived from program set-up costs, repeat frequency and number of attendees
• Sustain a continuous relationship/partnership with CE
• Fulfil legal requirements (no conflict of interest)

PROCESS

IF YOUR ORGANIZATION WOULD LIKE TO BE A ‘BUSINESS BOOTCAMP’ PARTNER AND IS INTERESTED IN SUBMITTING A TENDER, WE WOULD REQUIRE YOU TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS IN THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS.

PRE-PROGRAM

• Start Date ?
• Who is the target audience?
• How many participants per workshop?
• What preparation/selection criteria do you want participants to come with?
• What pre-reading materials do participants need to read prior to a workshop à links online
• What are the set-up requirements? Venue? Please provide 3 main requirements:

• Can you provide the specialist “Lean Start” experts/trainers?
• What preparation would someone need to do so as to be ready for the launch event 1^st week of Feb and for Program execution in March?

Knowledge/ Experience of “Lean Start-up” principles and tools/ techniques

What experience do you have of delivering similar content to ambitiosw early stage entrepreneurs?

What is your previous experience in dealing with clients in this sector?

What are the specific issues and challenges will your bootcamp address?

FINANCIAL

Please provide the programme budget in Excel. The budget should be based on your estimate of the costs of running the programme in each of the following categories.

• Venue
• Catering
• Infrastructure
• Materials
• Equipment
• Speakers/trainers/facilitators
• Public Relations (PR)
• Recruitment
• Co-Sponsors – what will be offered at discounted or as extra’s to participants
• Please provide an estimate on how much will it cost overall to run your program as initial set up and repeat? Please explain your overhead allocation in staff time.
• What will the nominal charge per participant be? E.g., £100 for 1 day to £300 for 3 days) inc VAT?
• With the target participants you have estimated in the previous section (Pre-Program), and the above participant fee, will the program be Repeatable and Self-sustainable? If so, please give detail on the cost/income?

PROGRAM DETAILS

• How is program implemented? I.e. no Chalk and talk – experiential
• What are the anticipated costs of running such a program?
• Are there any co-sponsors? What are they offering and how do they fit in?
• Trainers and facilitation – are you skilled in experiential style training?
• How many mentors/experts will be involved?
• Are there any networking opportunities? e.g. intro to key experts in the field?

• What are the specific sessions?

• What are the specific objectives and aims for conducting these workshops?

• What are possible activities? What are the WOW factors?  What makes this different from other similar such sector workshops?

POST PROGRAM

• How will you deliver and facilitate the peer-to peer mentor sessions?
• What do you see the next steps being post workshop for participants?

• Post-program measures?  Feedback forms/follow-up?
• What are the targets and outputs that one might want to measure (re: feedback) post the workshop

• What additional benefits will the participants gain from the workshop? e.g. networking
• What are the actions that one would want the participants to take post workshops?
• What percentage of the participants will go on to start their business? Please provide your estimate.

WHAT DO WE NEED

You need to provide answers to the following: pre-programme, financial, programme details, post programme. We are not insisting on any particular format but we expect approximately 2-3 A4 pages plus the budget. The deadline is 12:00 on 24^th July 2012.

Lord Young - 10 Downing street Enterprise Supremo- has published a report Making Business Your Business that sets out the coalitions government thinking, policies and flagship programmes to encourage and enable entrepreneurship in the 21st Century UK.

Capital Enterprise gets a mention (which is more than nice) but it does not mean that we agree with everything laid out in the report but this is really beside the point. The report is really a challenge to the UK enterprise support providers to adapt to the new realities as seen by this government. Not only in this times of austerity little or no government funding for enterprise support but there is also a need to adapt to the new economic drivers that means that this government ( amongst may others) no longer think the old ways of supporting entrepreneurs are appropriate.

At the up-coming Capital Enterprise AGM on the 20th June we will debate the report’s implications and looking to the future examine how best we can:

A: Make virtual light touch enterprise advice and support work for the client and agency.

B: Build an enterprise support service built on volunteers.

C: Incubate and accelerate potential high growth entrepreneurs.

D: Offer alternatives to bank finance and embrace the growing crowdfunding/ peer-to-peer lending alternatives.

The Lord Young report points out that more people are starting a business or more accurately going self-employed than ever before. It has never been easier to start a business and yet our economy is not growing and new small business survival rates are falling and those who survive are less likely to go on to employ people.

The challenges facing enterprise support providers are big and require new approaches. Can we adapt is our big challenge.