The START programme

Free support for pre-start businesses

Are you ready to turn your big idea into reality, but want to get your ducks in a row first? Or are you about to graduate and want to start your freelance career on the right foot?

Our START package is designed to give you everything you need to hit the ground running, and dodge the potholes along the way.

What's Involved

Start-up Day

Over the course of a full day, you’ll tackle 4 of the biggest parts of starting your own business:

• • Be The Boss: Develop the skills and mindset to keep up the pace
• • Product, Place, Price, Promotion: Knowing and reaching your customers
• • Sell Me This Pen: Getting your point across in an elevator ride
• • Bean Counting: How to measure and track your profitability

Wondering what it's really like on our Start-up Course? In this video, our business coach Richard Gray tells you who the Start-up Course is for and exactly how it can help you to start your own business, and change your life! Watch the video here.

What's Involved

Business Planning

This 3 hour workshop will introduce you to the Business Model Canvas, an invaluable planning tool, to help you sketch out the shape of your business.

We will guide you through a rigid planning process to help you map your...

• key partners • key activities
• key resources • value propositions
• customer relationships • customer segments
• channels • cost structure • revenue streams.

What's Involved

Business Registration

This 3 hour workshop will help you decide how to structure your business to meet legal requirements and allow for maximum growth.

It can be hard to know the nuances between sole traders, limited companies, partnerships and everything in between. We’ll examine business types, formations and models to help you choose the right one for your circumstances. We’ll also talk you through the how and the why, along with advising on financial and tax requirements.