Fast growth secrets

Join Paul Knight, a commercial partner at Mills & Reeve, as he explores the crucial role of customer experience in fast-growth tech businesses.

In this episode, Paul speaks to Thomas Rowland, head of customer at Lokulus, and Saq Hussain, founder of FinancialEducation.co.uk, People-tech and UK Care Guide.

Together they investigate how fast growth tech businesses can embed the customer experience and use it for competitive advantage, including:

• Why the customer experience becomes more challenging to maintain as fast growth businesses scale-up.
• How fast growth businesses can use technology to transform the customer experience.
• How we can ensure that the technology we use for customer experience is inclusive for all.
• If the adoption of AI can lead to more profitable partnerships with customers and enhance their experience.
  
  

Join Vicky Protano, a corporate partner at Mills & Reeve, as she delves into the dynamic world of fast-growth tech businesses in Manchester. 

In this episode, Vicky is joined by Laura Wiggins, investment director at YFM Equity Partners, and Martin Keelagher, CEO of Agile Automations. Together, they explore the vibrant opportunities and unique challenges that tech entrepreneurs face in Manchester. The discussion covers:

• The excitement and advantages of being a tech entrepreneur in Manchester
• The challenges that fast-growth tech businesses encounter in the region
• Strategies to encourage collaboration across regional tech ecosystems
• The barriers that hinder effective collaboration
• Approaches to retain home-grown talent within the region
  
  

Judith Houston, a corporate and commercial lawyer at Mills & Reeve, is joined by guests Anthony Ball, chief financial officer at Adaptive Financial Consulting Ltd, and Tony Greenham, managing director, sustainability at British Business Bank, to explore what embedding ESG into your strategy means and how it can benefit your organisation.

In this episode, they discuss some of the opportunities and challenges around:

• Strategically weaving ESG considerations into a company's core business strategy.
• Leveraging technology to achieve alignment between ESG considerations, growth and profitability.
• Tracking and reporting ESG-related data and progress to stakeholders – what metrics matter the most.

Host Surjit Deuer, senior ESG manager at Mills & Reeve, is joined by Toby Newman, chief operating officer at Enistic Energy Management Systems, and Mike Bascombe, ESG and sustainability practice lead at VantagePoint, to discuss the importance of embedding ESG into your business strategy.

In this episode, we hear their thoughts on stakeholder expectations, setting clear sustainability goals, integrating ESG into the core business operation and how to communicate performance.

Andrew Secker, partner and head of the London office at Mills & Reeve, hosts a discussion with guests Micky Khurana, VP global compliance at OneWeb, and Bertie Ivory-Peters, co-founder of Alectro, on attracting and retaining talent using your ESG strategy. In this episode, they delve deeper into what being a purpose-led business looks like, how tech businesses can demonstrate their progress towards purpose, and the risks of ignoring purpose in your ESG strategy.

Host Alison Ross Eckford, a partner in the commercial team at Mills & Reeve, and guests Matthew Fell, Director of Competitiveness at BusinessLDN and Dr Johannes Lenhard, Co-Founder and Co-Director of VentureESG and an affiliate lecturer and researcher at the University of Cambridge, discuss how fast growth tech businesses are in an ideal position to embed ESG into their culture and practices right from the start. What are the key drivers and benefits for businesses prioritising ESG? And what are some of the challenges business can face?

We hosted a discussion on the experiences, similarities and differences of setting up tech businesses in Cambridge and Oxford. Join the conversation with guests Alistair Lomax and John Blackwood as they share their expertise on:

• What more can academia, the advisory community and local government do to nurture tech entrepreneurs and the businesses they build
• What Oxford and Cambridge have in common in terms of challenges and opportunities
• The differences in the two eco-system; eg how much more sophisticated the Cambridge eco-system is in recycling capital and expertise
• Is Oxford “fighting back” and the importance of the role of the universities to the eco-systems

We discussed some of the challenges and opportunities around:

• The Oxford and Cambridge experience
• The national picture
• How to inspire the next generation of science and technology entrepreneurs

Jemima King, Partner at chartered accountants and business advisers Richardsons, is joined by George Neville-Jones, Co-Founder and CFO of Cambridge Future Tech, Jens Tholstrup, Executive Chairman of OION and Sebastian Johnson, Head of Innovation and Inward Investment, Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership.