Start Up Britain was launched yesterday surrounded by a lot of hype and even some politicians.

I was intrigued as this project is aimed squarely at me. If I’m going to be totally honest: I was excited to see what all the commotion on Twitter was really about, as I follow a number of people who are active in the SME world providing support or news in one area or another and they were all rabbiting on about it.

I done a quick search and came across a live stream on the internet of David Cameron talking at a podium but soon gave up as it was hard to make out what he was saying and the camera angle was crap.

Anyway I ended up on the website of this venture which I found hugely disappointing as it was a little boring and the content seemed to be the same as what I have seen a million times before.

…Ok there was the addition of some logos of major companies and claims of their support. But it is still disappointing.

Is it too much to ask for something new? How many times does a person interested in starting a business need to go to a website that says the exact same things?

“You’ve have got an idea for a business? …you need to write a business plan and here are some links to websites (with endless text that you either won’t understand or won’t really have enough actual information to be of any use).”

Do we really need another website that says this? …really? …an uninspiring site at that? (to be fair some people have said that the designers only had two weeks to design and build it, which is just unfair). Moreover, a site that in reality is just a chance for blue chip companies to sell you their products, which, most start ups don’t really need anyway?

What appeared to be on offer…

Microsoft stuff. Microsoft, in most cases are an enemy of small business. If you are starting out you want something free and stable, try and get what you can from the open source market. Need to write a business plan? you don’t need to do it on Word or Excel, Get OpenOffice or Google Docs.

“10 percent off a printer”?! One of your mates must have a printer? No? Use the one at work, uni, college…

Why use Get Clicky when you can use Google Analytics for free (and you can link it to your Pay Per Click advertising campaign)?

“One month free on your line rental”?!!!??? on a 12- 24 month contract? Hahahhahh ahahahahahh

Take the Google AdWords voucher, even if you haven’t got a website. Take it.

Don’t pay for those “web conferencing tools”, use Skype or iChat. Unless you really need it. No offense to the suppliers but I can’t think of a situation where someone make multi-person calls that can’t be done on Skype.

Personally, I avoid these calls at all costs anyway, do all you can to meet in person and you really want to avoid this route if it involves asking a potential client to download the software onto a computer, because a large number of companies would have to wait for the IT department to authorise it and then install the software which can take a lot of time.

Fujitsu Cloud Service? You do not need this.

If you need to save anything on The Could use Google Apps. If you need to share more than text documents and Google wont do, use Dropbox free up to 2GB, which is a hell of a lot of space for most people. If 2GB really isn’t enough for you click here to find out about alternative services that offer free space.

I have used Moo cards in the past and know people who have too, they are great, seriously. Ask around you’ll only get get reviews but you don’t always need business cards, (especially if they have got someone else’s branding on them, that just looks odd).

You will still be in a good position if you meet someone who you might be able to do business with and holla at them on Twitter (tell them first). If they are between the ages of 16 – 35 they will think you’re cool. If Twitter doesn’t feel right or they aren’t on Twitter say: “I’ve actually run out of business cards, whats your email address? I will send you my details.” This allows you to contact the person when you are ready. Allowing you to do a bit of research on them, you can make sure you know what you want to say the next time you are on the phone to them. You can send the email with a description of your product or service to jog their memory (avoiding that awkward moment on the phone where you mention your company and they can’t remember a thing about it). Sending an email also works better than giving them a chance to lose your card or forget about you.

Any chance to save money must be taken unless you are well off or have a backer/ funding then its a slightly different game, and I am sure you understand purchasing something that you don’t need, purely because it is on sale now, is not saving money.

In fact I would argue that taking up these offers could even be detrimental to some businesses in the early days, because they will just soak up time not just money which should actually be put into your product or marketing.

My point is…

We need to look at what we are actually dealing with here: people who have ideas that could possibly become businesses.

I would agree that you should start with a business plan so you can think through the important aspects of the business; What are the actual benefits of the idea? How will customers really benefit from your product or service? What will make you stand out in the market? How will you scale it up? How much is it going to cost to get up and running? and most importantly, how are you going to generate revenue?

On that issue we agree, but once you are at that stage I would argue that you need to speak to as many people as possible who can provide you with honest and/or knowledgeable advice on what issues may come up or how to get the ball rolling, now! Don’t waste time and money purchasing these services because of an offer.

People with ideas don’t need adverts for get a discount on a virtual office, why waste money on that? You need to get the url for your company and set up an email account so you can have “yourfullname@yourcompany.com” (hook it up to Google Apps so you have got email account that you can hook up to all smartphones and computers, you can easily add email addresses for others to use and use other useful stuff like calendars, try and get a “website coming soon” page if you can. Too long to explain here). Once you have a professional looking email account and your mobile number, I would say you are good to go. I don’t understand why you need to pay for an additional line and a person, who will let you know if someone has called that’s like having an answer machine for £50 a week.

If you can’t check your own voicemail or answer calls you shouldn’t be running a business.

Oh, you work full time? …answer the call in the hall way, pretend its a work related call, tell people to email you or if its an important call you are expecting on a specific day, call in sick.

If you want to be honest most people will understand if you tell them you have a full time job because you are just getting started.

Personally, I feel like the only people benefiting from project are:

1. The blue chip’s as they get to expose their product/ service to potential customers.
2. and of course the campaign organisers get to say look at all the contacts we have, we got >insert huge company here< to put their badge on our website. Put that in your article/ blog and smoke/tweet it! *Adds contact from >insert huge company here< to their phone book and attaches note to CV*

Anyone else still laughing at one month off line rental? Seriously though, before you take up any of these offers, make sure that your business will really benefit from the product or service, if the product or service will be of use, then shop around for alternatives first. Google is your friend.

What I would have liked to have seen:

Bright Ideas Trust Model

I would have liked to seen an organisation that has an innovative model like the Bright Ideas Trust – “You’ve got a good idea? nice. Tell us what it is, we will help you put a plan together, introduce you to some people and help you get funding via one of our backers… for some shares in your business.” Which is more useful and more than reasonable.

Ways Ordinary People Can Support Projects

This was about jump starting enterprise right? I would like to see a portal that allows normal people who might be interested in getting involved but who don’t have ideas or may not be interested in starting a business themselves, to be given a portal where they might be able to invest in a new project, kind of like the Kickstarter model, as this would work for inventors as well.

Along with this portal I would have liked to see some information on how people can invest their money into projects; not just where to find potential companies, but what can be invested (money, time, knowledge…). And information on the possible implications (“You might lose your money!”).

We need to get away from “Oh, you want to start a business, get a loan from the bank” and move to “Here is how to attract, secure and maintain long term investment”.

A Physical Space

…for people to work that would inspire ideas and encourage networking.

I would like to have see a physical space where people with ideas can go to work on them, kind of like a coffee shop but with people who have ideas that they are working to get off the ground, it could also be a space for VC’s and other useful people to visit to share knowledge/ ideas/ contacts or just be around other people with similar goals/ aspirations.

This would have to be vetted to some extent and FREE! (…for the entrepreneurs, with companies that have less than a million pound turnover) VC’s, Bankers and successful entrepreneurs would have to pay …in blood.

A Sprout model

…of people posting questions to experts.

Instead of getting one out of a thousand hours with one of these experienced/ successful entrepreneurs I would like to have a website where questions could have been posted to them and they would answer ones they feel knowledgeable on like on Sprout. A nice clean layout where you can focus on the question and multiple people can benefit from the answer.

Not necessarily a forum as they can be somewhat overwhelming (like this one).

Of course these are just my opinions, which aren’t worth much because I don’t have the contacts that the people behind StartUp Britain have (It’s not a government initiative its run by entrepreneurs). Don’t get me wrong, I’m not totally against this, it’s not a bad idea. It’s just I would have liked a new level of thinking. The same level of thinking that they brought to their businesses and their marketing. A focus on “How can we help the person who has NOTHING but debt and a good idea that might rescue them”.

I wish them and everyone with a good idea that is willing to work their ass off, the world. I sincerely do.

In fact let me know if I can help, I’d be happy to.