Call: 0207 679 4598
Email: info@capitalenterprise.org
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:
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:
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.

Capital Enterprise has won a bid from the Greater London Authority (GLA) to work on a project called ‘LIVE’ (London Innovation Voucher Exchange) to provide scalable and growing enterprises in London with vouchers, worth between £5-10K, to use on purchasing Research and Development support services ( such as Rapid Prototyping, User Experience Design, Beta testing, and Innovation Coaching) from London’s leading universities and specialist innovation experts. The LIVE project is part-financed by the EU’s European Regional Development Fund. As LIVE project manager, you will ensure the successful delivery of LIVE’s outputs as agreed with the GLA. You will report back on the progress of the project to the Project Steering Board ( members include UCL, Technology Strategy Board, NESTA, British Computer Society) and the GLA EPMU team. Your main day-to-day responsibility will be to coordinate LIVE activities across Capital Enterprise’s network. You will be responsible for all communications with the businesses the project supports, gathering information on their progress and the reporting of feedback to the CEO of Capital Enterprise.
Capital Enterprise was formed in 1993 as the membership body for deliverers of enterprise support services in London. Its mission is to facilitate and support entrepreneurship in London via its 50+ (current) member organisations and through the development of new and innovative pan-London programmes. Our members provide support services to both pre-start and trading entrepreneurs and small business in all 33 London Boroughs and include universities, incubators, enterprise agencies, business libraries and specialist support providers.
Person Specification
We are seeking someone who will have
The post is on a fixed term contract until 31st March 2014.
Salary for this role is £33,646.50 p.a. (plus travel card)
Where specific UK qualifications are required we will take into account overseas equivalents.
A job description can be accessed at the bottom of this page.
To apply for the vacancy please click on the ‘Application form’ link below complete and return back to Carly Lloyd: carly@capitalenterprise.org
For further information please contact Carly Lloyd on 020 7679 4598
The closing date for applications is 15th August 2012
Capital Enterprise member, the University of East London is also recruiting for a project manager for an ERDF funded enterprise programme called “Make It Global”. The closing date is the 12th August and details can be found at http://jobs.uel.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=071S2012
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 30th 2012 and March 31st 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:
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:
Providing all criteria are met, priority will be given to Capital Enterprise members, however all applicants must:
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
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.
PROGRAM DETAILS
POST PROGRAM
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 24th 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.
This blog is written by John Spindler, the CEO of Capital Enterprise. John is a skilled regeneration and business development professional with experience from both the public and private sectors. He has successfully developed and initiated a large number of projects and has worked across all areas of enterprise support. John is the director of two other companies he has started and he has an MBA from Leeds University.
John welcomes comments via email.
The views in this blog are John Spindler's own and do not represent the directors or members of Capital Enterprise.