5 tips for when your business is seeking funding for growth

Funding is critical for businesses that want to grow.

TheBusinessDesk.com brought together an expert panel to share their experiences and valuable insights with an audience of Yorkshire companies and advisers.

Here are their top five things to consider when going for funding for growth:

Understand what you want and what your options are

Oliver Reece

“Be really clear what your options are, be clear what you want to achieve,” said Oliver Reece, managing director at Fresh Thinking Advisory.

“Don’t just assume that your bank will provide that, actually understand what the options are for achieving what you want to do.

“Have the conversation about why the right option might be slightly more expensive, it might be a slightly different structure, but it makes a lot of sense for the business.”

Get good advice to get over the first hurdle

Nick Salmons

“The number one thing that people get wrong is not getting a decent advisor,” said Nick Salmons, director at specialist lender Shawbrook.

“Get really solid, good advisors who you can trust are going to support you through the transaction.”

“The amount of times we have a funding request come to us where they don’t see the value of a good advisor to help them through that process is quite concerning. They might not even get through that first stage, never mind me getting a report into credit.

Pick a partner for the whole journey

Hannah Kirkup

“Pick your partner wisely, said Hannah Kirkup, investment manager at Key Capital Partners.

“The biggest amount of money being offered isn’t always the best option.

“You need to make sure you partner with someone who can take bad news as well as good news, and they’re not going to throw the toys out the pram because it will be tough at some points.”

Get the foundations in place

Jonathan Pollard

“Don’t underestimate the underlying framework that is so important as you grow as a business,” said Jonathan Pollard, partner at Ward Hadaway.

“Whilst the growth is great, ultimately when you come to do an event – an exit or anything like that – it is the framework and the fundamentals that are going to be crawled over and you need to get that right from the start.”

Don’t be put off if your business isn’t perfect (because no business is)

Sven Massey

“Don’t let a fear that your business isn’t perfect stop you accessing funding, in the sense of no business is perfect,” said Sven Massey, finance director at Distinction Doors.

“You don’t have to be presenting something that is this perfect projection. There are faults in every business. Actually we went ‘there are the warts, here are the good bits, what do you think?’ and that changed the course of our business forever.”