Entrepreneurial community key to tech growth

Many tech firms will tell you they need talent and funding to grow.

It was refreshing, then, when Peter Kirby, co-founder of green neo-bank Tred, and Furqan Alamgir, chief executive of smart infrastructure firm Connexin, also identified a genuine sense of community as a key growth driver.

Speaking at TheBusinessDesk.com’s round table discussion about Yorkshire’s tech ambitions, sponsored by LDC, the pair suggested that an entrepreneurial community that pushes for beneficial action and mentoring businesses can help to elevate growth plans, at home and overseas.

Richelle Schuster, Leeds City Council’s head of innovation programmes, set the scene when she spoke of the council’s efforts to create an ecosystem where start-ups and scale-ups could thrive, nurturing ideas and attracting inward investment.

That sparked wider discussion of the benefits of collaboration and partnerships.

Alamgir added, “There’s a lot of talk and not much action. And as an entrepreneur that can be quite frustrating when you’re trying to drive for growth. You hear one thing and you see another, so I’m really pushing to build that community of like-minded people, so that we can drive that kind of change to facilitate growth.  I think we need that support more in the north than the south – the south is more aligned to that kind of thinking.”

Richard Ellis, director at digital transformation consultancy Answer Digital, said, “I came into this not really thinking about community. And I think that could be really key in terms of how we ensure that the big numbers of young people at the start of their career are able to accelerate their career in connected environments. I don’t think we’re doing enough of that as private businesses.”

Dave Sankey, chief operating officer of edutech scale-up Glean, said their chair’s contacts with Cambridge Tech Network helped Glean become a part of that community. “I’d love to see that replicated in Leeds. That maturity is one of the things I think we really need to develop within the tech ecosystem here, where you’re really able to leverage some of that more experienced talent to help you over some of those great barriers that often hit you as companies.”

Michael Jervis, head of digital at Sheffield-based e-tailer Mattress Online, which saw phenomenal growth during the pandemic, said Sheffield has in the past seen a tech brain drain to Leeds.

“There should be shared integration, shared knowledge, shared networking, and more information about what’s available to people. Sheffield Council could do a lot more about supporting, understanding what we have access to, to help growth so that there’s that visibility and networking within the region.”

Kirby, speaking of fintech trade missions overseas, said, “The thing that I have not been able to find is someone who’s done it before, as a business leader, that can almost coach us through doing the same thing. That’s the opportunity I think is lacking at the moment.”

Several attendees had taken operations internationally. Glean now derives around half its revenues from the US, Sankey said. Alamgir said Connexin has expanded internationally through acquisitions, and Kirby said Tred might try to export its carbon footprint fintech software.

“Most of what we’re doing has an international flavour, either in market or supply side,” said James Marshall, investment director at LDC. “A lot of privately owned businesses we meet, their international opportunities have started entrepreneurially, and they’ve built from there.”

“In reality,” he added, “a strategic decision to move into a new territory can be really hard.”

Dan Smith, partner and head of Yorkshire at LDC, said an investor with international experience could be a huge benefit to those thinking of expanding to overseas markets. “The US is where everyone focusses, but you can’t look at it as one market. It’s so complex. You need someone who can support you as you navigate it. It’s a huge opportunity if you get it right but it can also be a big value drag if you get it wrong.”

The availability of talent is never far away from discussions of tech growth, but here too the table took a nuanced view.

Kirby noted that organisations such as Northcoders had broadened the pool of junior tech talent, but said a shortage remained in mid and senior level recruitment.

Alamgir and Jervis said universities were struggling to supply graduates with relevant skills due to the length of time it took not only to study courses, but to plan them in the first place.

Will Schaffer, investment director at Mercia, acknowledged the issue: “If you’re forever asking them to produce certain types of students, by the time they come around with a course that meets your specs you’ve moped on.

“But universities are being encouraged to come up with courses that are more commercial. And so Leeds has put a lot more into Nexus and things like that. Those changes are happening. But they are being asked to fundamentally change how they operate, and you can see some of the stresses in that. The whole metrics system is changing.”