What are scale ups and am I ready?
‘Scaling up’ is a term we hear thrown about quite a lot in business, but what does it actually mean?
Simply put, ‘scaling’ a business means significantly increasing revenue without increasing resources, unlike growing a business, which involves increasing overheads in line with growing profit.
Scaling a business can be difficult, and not every growing business is ready or suitable to level up in this way. Increased efficiency and productivity means existing processes need to be streamlined and unshakeable, with any weaknesses addressed before scaling begins, as these issues cannot always be rectified after the fact.
Scale ups are incredibly agile, with the ability to solve problems as they present themselves. This means that, as a business owner, you need to be able to cope with these challenges, and have plenty of self-belief in your vision for how you want your business to look long-term.
So: if your business is profitable with strong systems in place, you have a great team around you to support this next step, and you have a strong company ethos, then you could be ready to scale.
Why the Liverpool City Region?
Fortunately, the Liverpool City Region is a great place to scale a business.
Scaling businesses need to be linked with a variety of expertise in order to flourish: the Liverpool City Region benefits from a strong local ecosystem, comprising of expert business support and other entrepreneurs who have successfully scaled their own businesses.
This wealth of expertise is invaluable to the scaling business owner, as they start to step back from the day-to-day inner workings of their business and begin working on the wider strategy. While undeniably experts in their own field, it is unreasonable to expect business owners to also be experts in marketing, finance, IT, and so on. This is why seeking advice and guidance from external experts, such as Growth Platform, is paramount on the scale up journey.
Why do scale ups matter?
Scale ups are the engine room of UK economic growth. They provide high-quality, reliable jobs, drive productivity and boost investment and innovation, as well as being twice as likely as other businesses to expand overseas. Successful scale ups also create spinoff activity as they continue to grow, stimulating supplier trade while also supporting their customers.
The marked increase in the number of scale ups in our City Region over the past few years demonstrates this perfectly: in 2021, 550 scale ups called Liverpool home, generating a whopping £6bn and employing over 53,000 people between them.
As we recover from the fallout of the pandemic locally, nationally and globally, scale ups are more important than ever for our City Region, creating a more prosperous, stronger, and cleaner place to live and work
If you feel your business is ready to take the next step, Growth Platform have a range of measures to support ambitious businesses in the Liverpool City Region.