How can Merging Blockchain and IoT Networks Benefit a Business?
Note: Join our B2B Community here if you like this post. With emerging technology systems, such as blockchain, IoT, and AI, becoming increasingly popular, merging technologies is an opportunity to improve performance. One is merging the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain. IoT is a system of interconnected and interrelated physical objects that can collect […]
Why you can’t grow your business as fast as you wish
Note: Join our B2B Community here if you like this post. Company growth is the most common starting point in discussions with CEOs and founders, and it is the right starting point, but the equation goes something like this: if I want to expand my business, I need to find new customers and help with […]
Top 5 Rules to Develop a Business Plan
Note: Join our B2B Community here if you like this post. If the question of how to start and grow your business keeps you awake at night, you are not alone. Sooner or later, you’ll come to terms with the fact that you have to devote time to developing a business plan. Developing an effective […]
How SMEs can cross new frontiers and boost revenue during this time
Note: join our B2B Community here if you like this post. Many SMEs have great stories to tell. If you have a vision, you will not stop sharing and listening. That vision grows then into a pitch. As soon as you get financing, a product launch follows, you gain traction in the market, and the business starts to […]
Help! My business partner is from another planet
Note: Join our B2B Community here if you like this post. As a business grows, pressure can bring personal differences to the surface you didn’t know existed. My experience has put me in touch with many start-ups in various capacities in strategy, operations, product, marketing and business development, to name only a few. I have worked with […]
Scaling Up Today’s FinTech Business: Obstacles and Opportunities
Note: Join our B2B Community here if you like this post. Over the past few years, the UK has become a hub of FinTech activity, producing some of the most well-known and successful fintech companies in the world. Just last year, the UK fintech sector attracted $48bn in investment, or 83% of all European FinTech funding, and […]
When you only need 48 hours in every day
Note: join our B2B Community here if you like this post. Too much to do, too little time? If that’s the story of your life right now as you run a small business, then you need to make important changes. Changes that may help your sanity, your relationships, and your business’s bottom line. Does this sound like […]
Make your pitch – but avoid a horror show
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. Cringe-making, toe-curling, awkward, confusing, arrogant, shabby, disorganised, unbelievable, deluded … all words that could be used to describe the worst business pitches. And most of us have been there, at one side of the table or another. If you want to avoid pitfalls […]
What is the key to successful innovation?
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. What’s the secret to innovation? Is it all about having work spaces peppered with chill-out zones, ping-pong tables and climbing walls? Actually, the truth is far more down to earth. There’s a myth that floats around in business circles sometimes. It goes like […]
Competing in a digital world – SMEs find their feet
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. Digital transformation is different for small and medium-sized companies. Or is it? In this article, we take a look at the current state of digital in SMEs and look ahead to see what is in store. “Changes in business operations, and in the […]
Going Digital? Five Safe Steps for Tech-Hungry SMEs
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. Purchasing the right digital technology can transform a small company’s performance – but making the wrong choice can be disastrous. It’s also easy to make the wrong choice when you’re under pressure, so tackle your big IT decisions in a planned and positive […]
AI for small businesses and how to best optimise it
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. Are you intimidated by the words “artificial intelligence”? Maybe you’re thinking of Internet algorithms spying on you — or robot overlords from movies? However, if you’re a smaller business, AI can be good news and make you a master, not a slave. Artificial […]
How can startups make sense of economic indicators in turbulent times and then make sound business decisions?
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. As long as you keep your focus on doing right by your business, you can continue to gain support while the economic storm carries on around you. When you plan to open a startup, funding is always one of the biggest concerns. Obtaining funds […]
Should Leaders Wait Until Monday Morning to Send Their Weekend Emails to Staff?
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. We’ve all been there—working outside hours, trying to get ahead or catch up. But sending emails to staff during their downtime can backfire badly. And here’s why … In 2019, the average office worker received 90 emails per day. But it’s the occasional messages […]
How small companies suddenly transform into global players
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. How can a small enterprise grow into a fast-moving global player, doing business across Europe, the Middle East, Russia and Brazil? As one family company discovered, it’s about much more than having a website in different languages. Deeper changes make all the difference. Founded […]
Company Strategy? I’ll have mine “to go”, please …
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. Do you hate boardroom brainstorms— with those over-excited colleagues, the bizarre ideas and a whiteboard covered in random words? The great news is that strategic decision-making is changing for the better at smart companies. Most of us have lost many hours of our […]
When business freedom comes back to bite you
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. Small companies often bask in the privilege of being fast on their feet — unshackled by corporate culture. However, can companies with few rules start to spiral out of control? Moreover, if so, how can this be avoided? Anyone who’s worked for large, global […]
The Blurring Boundaries between CMO/CIO/COO
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. Companies rely more than ever on IT — but CIOs are losing their seats on the board in surprising numbers. So, what’s happening? How can tech chiefs survive at the top level? Today, fewer Chief Information Officers sit in boardrooms – reducing from 71% […]
How can small businesses punch above their weight when attracting talent?
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. Are the brightest people always attracted to large enterprises? And if so, how do smaller companies stand any chance of winning and retaining their talents? If you’re a small business owner, then hiring the right people can make a huge difference to the success […]
Three fatal mistakes for fledgling entrepreneurs starting out
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. Do you ever find you’re so busy with your fledgling company? Maybe you don’t work normal hours, take holidays or even have time to attend your own birthday party? If so, it’s a symptom of a bigger problem. But it’s fixable. The launch […]
How to align your internal teams
A butterfly flaps its wings in sales, and a short time later there’s a tornado in production or customer service.
Why staff reviews are essential to growing your business
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. Many see staff reviews as an outdated method of measurement, but they are essential to keep on top of business growth and see where your employees are excelling. The key to useful staff reviews is not to make it entirely target oriented but to […]
How important is education for business owners and entrepreneurs?
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. Sometimes entrepreneurs consider further study in the hope it can prepare them for the future. Here’s what you need to know when it comes to education for business owners. An engineer by education, and a product manager by role, I had built up […]
The secret to successful staff reviews
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. As a business owner, tracking and keeping on top of company growth is a number one priority, especially in the early years of the business. However, it’s important to focus on how those results come to be as opposed to focusing solely on what […]
Business culture wars: Who wins?
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. If you’re a CEO or senior executive, here’s a big question for you: Are your employees frozen by a fear of failing to meet specific goals? And if so, is there an alternative to the performance-based culture that’s so common across the corporate […]
Is the B2B newsletter dead?
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. Are you discovering that B2B email newsletters are generating fewer leads than you’d hoped — or maybe none at all? If so, then it’s time to change tactics if you want to breathe life into your marketing. B2B marketing has its fashions — […]
Autonomous vehicles’ after-shocks will open doors for business
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. The arrival of autonomous vehicles will disrupt the world in more ways than we realise — but it’s the after-shocks that ambitious companies should be thinking about and urgently. Over the next decade, we’ll increasingly start to view car ownership as quaint and […]
Do you want famine or feast?
Note: Join our B2B Community here if you like this post. Imagine you’re ravenous — and someone brings you plates of your two favourite dishes. You like them equally and both are the same distance away on the table. Which do you choose — or is there a very real risk you’ll starve because you just […]
Expanding abroad? What you need to know first.
Note: Join our B2B Community here if you like this post. Are you thinking of selling globally — and hoping to win new customers and secure big profits? If so, then you need to tread carefully. But don’t be put off. There’s a point in the entrepreneurial journey when expanding abroad seems the right thing to […]
Should you focus on growth or profit?
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. Extra funding can be a huge boost for any small business with a burning desire to expand. But how should you spend an influx of cash? Should you go for growth or profit? Scaling up can be a make-or-break moment. Perhaps your launch went […]
Big versus Small: Which is better?
Note: Join our B2B Community here if you like this post. Towards the end of last year, I was invited to FT Innovate, a flagship event organised by FT Live, the global events arm of the Financial Times. It was an intense two days of presentations, meetings and discussions. I met many interesting people and attended a […]
The entrepreneurial vision: built to last
Note: Join our B2B Community here if you like this post. “You don’t always need an exit plan – especially with small companies, where life and business are really interwoven,” says Stefano Maifreni, founder of business-expansion consultancy Eggcelerate. “It all depends on what you want to do: do you want to conquer the world, or do you […]
Why Marketing can be your best friend or your worst enemy
Note: sign up to our B2B Community here if you like this post. Giving birth to a new product can feel awesome. You’re full of pride as your idea comes to life, passes important tests and gets ready for the big wide world. But your product needs a partner, someone who will help your product to blossom. […]
“Loyalty as you go”: Capitalising on a new business phenomenon
Note: sign up to our newsletter here if you like this post. According to studies, traditional brand fidelity is declining. This is bad news for large, established players. But it’s a golden opportunity for SMEs to capitalise on a new phenomenon… “loyalty as you go”. “Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM”. This well-known axiom from decades […]
Connected cars: Five signs the market is finally taking off
Note: sign up to our newsletter here if you like this post. When will the connected cars industry move into top gear? And when should small businesses enter this lucrative marketplace? Look closely and you may see the lights change from red … to green. The connected cars marketplace has been around for a few years. But, […]
Why falling in love with your product can be fatal
Note: sign up to our newsletter here if you like this post. As Director of Eggcelerate, I’ve met companies at different stages of product development. These businesses have ranged from early-stage start-ups to SMEs, mid-sized companies to corporate enterprises. They’ve been in different vertical markets: telecommunications, IT, fin-tech, energy and manufacturing. Yet, they’ve had one thing […]
High-flyers: loose cannons or your greatest asset?
Note: join our B2B Community here if you like this post. Stefano Maifreni, founder of business expansion consultancy Eggcelerate, found himself wondering what to do with something of a high-flyer when he appointed a new expert in operations and enterprise resource planning (ERP). “It was a pretty rare skill set in our arena,” says Maifreni, “and […]
Winter 2016-17 Survey: the results
Note: Join our B2B Community here if you like this post. A Survey on 200+ European Business shows 20%+ of UK-based have been impacted by the vote to leave the EU DATA 202 EU-based SMEs Of which, 126 UK-based Of which, 30 (23.8%) had at least one project impacted by the vote These companies said at least one […]
How to beat the crowdfunding blues
Note: Join our B2B Community here if you like this post. How can you put the ‘fun’ back into crowdfunding or, more to the point, the millions of missing micro investors needed to make it work? Recent problems have dampened this fledgling financial marketplace. But small firms needing cash shouldn’t despair. A few years […]
Product Marketing: what is it?
Note: sign up to our newsletter here if you like this post. “When you go to a new company always ask what product management and product marketing do. In my experience the role may be ‘sliced and diced’ across several functions.” Please read the full article on the Product Management Journal (October 2016). Note: sign up to […]