7 tips for start-ups & entrepreneurs from King’s College London

The Entrepreneurship Institute at King’s College London has helped thousands of students, entrepreneurs and start-ups develop their skills, ideas and products over the past decade.

Beyond its incubators and educational resources, the Institute runs the Women Entrepreneurs Network, one part of a broader nationwide effort to redress the gender gap among founders. It remains the case that just 1 in 3 UK entrepreneurs are women, a gap equivalent to 1.1 million missing businesses.

At the 7th annual Incubator and Accelerator Network conference, a flagship gathering of incubator managers from across the UK, Holly Knower (Head of Ventures at the Entrepreneurship Institute) and Rachel Stockey (Head of Entrepreneurial Skills) shared 7 tips for intrapreneurs, early-stage entrepreneurs and start-ups.

1. Think lean

‘Thinking lean’ means dedicating oneself to rapid continual learning and adapting oneself via minimal resources.

This is fundamental, as many early-stage founders lack the necessary capital to, for example, pay an app designer £50,000 to develop a basic working prototype. As a result, founders need to find ways to test out their product and customer journey in the leanest way possible. Using no-code apps is a good start, as these allow entrepreneurs to build an app’s interface, and then test it on customers, on a shoestring budget.

“At the Institute, one of our key narratives is around building a minimal viable product (MVP) that every entrepreneur should be painfully embarrassed by. If they’re proud of it, it has taken too long to get it out to market,” says Knower. “The purpose is to get it out for people to test. Most likely, during the testing phases it will break in some capacity. But that’s the whole point of this journey. The scrappier, the better.”

2. Validate

This means proving that an idea is viable enough to gain traction by eradicating any bias and assumption.

“Our big ethos at the Entrepreneurship Institute is to become wedded to your problem, not your solution,” explains Knower. “A solution around an early-stage business idea should be in flux. But, more importantly, if you’re completely passionate about solving a problem, then you should first be finding the evidence that the problem is big enough and that there is enough market-need for a potential solution.”

In other words: are people interested in solving that problem or need through your product or service? Some problems out there are quite granular. They might not be worth your time.

3. Disrupt

Be willing to question the way things are done and be bold in proposing unusual and imaginative ways of thinking, doing, or solving the world’s most pressing problems.

“Innovation is challenging because in many respects there probably isn’t a huge amount that hasn’t already been done,” explains Knower. “As such, question how things are currently done and propose new solutions to enhance them. You don’t always have to invent the wheel and introduce a brand-new service that hasn’t yet come to market. Challenging the status quo and suggesting improvements has a lot of value too.”

4. Commit to growth

There is no such thing as a ‘final product’. Remember that every experience is an opportunity to grow and develop yourself and your ideas.

“This is very much about rapid continual learning. Don’t be afraid to pivot your business ideas when the market is changing, follow new opportunities as they arise. Entrepreneurs need to be stretched, and by that, I mean, put outside of their comfort zone.”

5. Get it done

Prioritise execution. “When it comes to small to medium-sized businesses, they often have limited resources and it’s sometimes quite easy to procrastinate around a task, especially if you’re a Chief Everything Officer,” says Knower.

Focus on one task at a time, and get it done. “I want to encourage entrepreneurs to think about how they maintain their motivation, because that can be really hard. Hold yourself accountable to the healthy habits that minimise procrastination and boost your productivity. We know what they are, you just have to be strict with yourself,” adds Knower.

6. Build the right team

Founders must develop effective, diverse and inclusive teams to see the best solutions. In the early stages, a lot of solo founders are on the hunt for a co-founder, as it tends to be easier to go into business with someone else.

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“But actually finding a person to co-found a company with you is really difficult,” says Knower. “It’s a process that tests how you work with people from different sectors, or with different values or skills. Do you have the same goals?”.

Finding the right match might take time, but it will pay off massively.

7. Compel

Storytelling and compelling communication are crucial, not just for pitching to an investor or a potential donor, but also in terms of communicating with customers and your internal team.

This means evaluating different types of leadership styles and consciously developing credible leadership figures. “Your messaging needs to be powerful and irresistible, thereby provoking behavioural change and increasing credibility and loyalty,” says Knower.