PLATFORM - Newcastle - March 2025
Insights Briefing
Paul Lancaster - PLATFORM & UK Startup Week
It was Paul's birthday last week and had a birthday breakfast and went on a leadership walk and talk with Jane Fisher. Platform started January last year and started in Sunderland in June and recently in Middlesbrough and will be in Edinburgh next month. This event creates a literal platform for ambitious businesses and leaders to help people grow a successful business.
There is an event every week in Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesborough and Edinburgh the April event in Newcastle will be at Opencast at Hoult's Yard where Charlie Hoult has been a champion of businesses in the North East and continues to be so. The Sunderland event is held a the Beacon of Light. Platform is supported by British Business Bank, BlueSky, CircleCloud, HR2Day, Mira, NEL, Precursor, Ward Hadaway and Wubbleyou.
UK Startup & Scaleup Week is a five-day multi-venue event to help educate on starting, growing and funding your business in the region. Aiming to have 500-600 people there and tickets are still available with Early Bird pricing until Tuesday. Sara Davies will be one of the keynote speakers and there will be talks and fireside chats and can sign up at ukstartupweek.com.
Nicky Jolley - Managing Director - HR2Day
Nicky said that HR2Day has been going fifteen years this month and have just done their best financial year since starting. It is exciting at the moment in HR as handbooks are being updated and the government is proposing a few things but also backtracking. They have a solution that helps with requirements and businesses pay per month and get everything drafted for businesses and write things to the point of print.
They do help mitigate issues and work with businesses to get the help they need and options they want, and they will audit everything for employees including anyone who is late or has any issues. They look after clients all over the UK and the longest serving client is thirteen years and are there to give the help that businesses need and also do consultancy for one-off support. They also do handbooks as a one-off product for employee handbooks and ensure compliance and are constantly adapting to market.
They are always happy to give a quick audit and give advice to businesses and are always learning and their team are fully qualified to give the right qualified advice. There is a proposal for day one rights which means when you advertise a job you are exposing yourself to a claim as if it is not advertised correctly, you can potentially have an issue so need to document why someone didn't get a job and why someone did get a job you have to justify why you chose a person. When someone starts with day one rights they are open to unfair dismissal there is also a look at strengthening probation from the government which would be a nine-month probation and within this if you want to get rid of someone it has to be more formal and more structured but any compensation will be reduced but it isn't clear what this looks like yet.
None of their HR clients has gone to a tribunal as they have looked at everything, they can that is best for your business. You don't have to overthink anything but look at things such as what are the requirements for the job such as what is essential for a role or what can be worked around. May have employees who aren't as productive as you would want them to be, going forward have six months to take someone to a tribunal with a six month backlog so can take up to a year so the best practice is to have a ten minute meeting with team every month and can have questions and can record what has been discussed and the bottom question is, is there anything else I should know about you which can have a variety of answers but this can protect you as the problem with new legislation if could be a year later so you will need to say what did you say or do to help that employee so can take a five or ten minute timeout and if there is an issue you can help or support them, it isn't a box ticking exercise but an opportunity to open up and help where needed and if you have those meetings you could use that if a tribunal happened.
New legislation will come into effect in October 2025 and April 2026 for any changes so things will be okay at the moment. Having conversations and witness present can help with two-way engagement with employees and can help get ahead of any issues and witness helps that something said will be adhered to and can be someone they trust and choose but is important to have someone else in meetings.
Qasim Asghar - Founder & Tech Recruiter - Qudos
Qasim is a tech recruiter specialising in Microsoft .NET with his business Qudos. You can have the job you want as a founder there is a lot of things you need to do but if you keep on top of your mental health your business will improve.
Qasim has been in recruitment for 11 years and started at Nigel Frank in Newcastle and worked there for a year but then worked for a company nearer to Teesside in Hartlepool and working for a smaller company exposed them to business. Qasim went into a business as a 50:50 partner in 2017 but four months in they didn't have a deal but managed to get a placement and got their confidence up and built upon this and grew to a team of six but both weren't happy with the business and he sold his share but had generated 10 times what he put into the business. When Qasim founded Qudos had 18 months of runway and had a solid base to take it forward from.
Qasim has worked with over 100 companies in the North East such as Greggs, DXC Technology, NCFE Newcastle Building Society. Coming to events you never know you may meet, and those connections can help get into a business as a recruiter. .NET Meetup in Newcastle was an event they set up with fifty people signed up for the first event in January 2018 which was attended by myself.
Meeting people face to face really helped build relationships with candidates and at the events people speak about .NET and technology along with networking and people have approached them and have won work with Scott Logic after speaking to them at an event. Have to wear multiple hats as a founder including sales, marketing, finance, account management and growth. Qasim has started a podcast where he talks to tech leaders and have fourteen episodes which he has recorded at Flok which is a coworking space where he works.
There are so many tools where your costs can stack up so remember to look after this and make sure keep clients happy and keep in touch with them regularly and must also do things like networking, but it is important to be more visible and meet people and be always self-developing with courses online and even YouTube. You can't afford to stay still you need to keep on top of trends.
During Covid software wasn't one of the industries affected so there was a boom but in 2023 vacancies have plummeted and by 2024 there has been a big shift, there had been a lot of over hiring along with cost-of-living increases and offshoring has reduced opportunities. In 2025 there are signs of recovery, but companies are cautious, and hiring may stay slow but at the moment it is a company-led marketplace.
Companies can look at budget and opportunities and where you need the resources bring the developers in, it is challenging to get business as a recruiter as companies are recruiting directly and there is a squeeze on budgets. Qasim is searching for opportunities every day, companies have a better chance of hiring direct than ever before but see these cycles, so it is just about forecasting where you see your projects and where you see things going.
Things developers that can do to help, but there is a lot of demand in cyber security for example, but you see on LinkedIn some of the salaries in the public sector is not as high as the private sector. Best thing developers can do is come to events like Platform and try to speak to as many companies and recruiters as possible, if doing deeper development can you demonstrate things such as a GitHub or portfolio
Show & Tell
Michael Povey - Co-founder & Commercial Director - CircleCloud
CircleCloud started in 2013, and they specialise in complete IT and cyber security management for small and medium businesses. They offer professional and comprehensive IT management service that specific to the needs of SMEs with one to 150 users, they don't go less than one but aren't looking at enterprise size businesses.
Cybersecurity is backups, mobile device management, Microsoft 365 Security, patch management, third-party app management and antivirus management and adhere to the National Cyber Security Centre guidelines and can show a Cyber Essentials. Phishing is an email that seems to be something legitimate such as your password has expired and you click on the link but you shouldn't, it will ask for the information, a phishing email impersonates someone else.
Mobile device management registers devices so only those devices can access information in your business but if someone logs in from a different device, they won't be able to access anything. Circle Cloud fit in with a typical journey in an SME where they handle their IT internally, then outsource to a local contractor then go for a more “reputable” organisation but then get stuck with a “reputable” supplier. When you're a small business you might not know everything and may not have the security behind this, and that small scale support might help but as you have issues you will get reactive support when something has failed but there may not be any security in place.
You just want secure IT support but might not feel you are well looked after with larger organisations. When you are a small business, they prices are per user basis so are never too small and will get that security from day one with full support. Circle Cloud put information security at the heart of everything you do, and they are ISO27001 certified and hold Cyber Essentials accreditation and take their duty as information handlers seriously. They are offering a few Microsoft 365 Security Audit which will show gaps or security issues with a 126-point security gap analysis report along with detailed remediation guidance and solve three of those issues for free.
They have a thirty-day onboarding where all devices will be managed and security in place and will get things robust enough to go through Cyber Essentials accreditation which will help clients know that you are secure. If you don't have IT security then you're not secure, may not have MFA or secure passwords and anyone can be caught out by phishing emails so people can make mistakes and can have phishing texts and calls. You won't get in trouble for not clicking
Alan Green - Specialist Branding Photographer - Alan Green Photography
“People in business deserve to be shot”. Alan shoots people as a brand photographer and showcases people in business, who they are and how their businesses can benefit other people. Alan worked as a commercial insurance broker for thirty-four years although liked working with people but it wasn't for them, but they always loved photography and was fascinated about how cameras capture a moment in time, and it is still a hobby for them and still enjoy taking photos themselves.
Their journey into photography as a business was they lost their job in 2015 which was a shock and they got another job but two years later they left that role and then in 2019 they got themselves ready for working as a photographer but then it was the pandemic. They knew nothing about building a business but knew about taking photos, a mentor found them which helped them learn from them who was a marketing guru for photography businesses and then they realised they need to get out there and learn from others including networking face-to-face and online along with LinkedIn and it is all about building that trust and credibility.
They went through NatWest Accelerator where they met Paul Lancaster who helped them although when building a business they lacked confidence but that has improved, and it is a mindset thing about overcoming doubt although there are financial concerns when you're working for yourself and there is loneliness when working as a sole trader there's no one to bounce things off but they are celebrating each achievement, recalling and sharing testimonials. Just getting things done no matter what and actually act and do things and not procrastinate too much and practice gratitude to celebrate what you have got makes a difference.
Brand photography means you can talk to people about how they got where they are and their journey and help to show off what others to and who they are is a great thing to get to know people and celebrate the success of others, so it is great when someone has some good news to share. Their specialism is working with other businesses, fresh photography and personalised visuals with headshots and people at work along with property and business premises.
They love construction projects, architecture and build environment but also like photos that focus on the subject and showing people at work which people can associate more with. Alan has also done events along with clients who want to do things different or daft in their photographs, the best thing is helping people relax when being photographed. Don't pick up the camera immediately and put yourself in the position the client will be and also suggest poses that they will do first and concentrate on the end result which is sharing something you're proud of.
Brand Photographers skill set includes working with people to get the best results from and for them, can also do high-dynamic range / panoramics or “stitchers” to take architectural photographs and capturing the right moments at corporate events and understanding light and editing which takes longer than the shoot and need to keep up with technology. When we see photos of ourselves something is “off” as we see reflections of ourselves so when people take a photograph of us, we are actually flipped compared to that. When using your phone's “selfie” camera there will be a mirror effect so any writing will be backwards so you can change the settings to turn off any mirroring.
David Gillin - Business Development Manager - Society Matters
Society Matters are the trading subsidiary of Citizens Advice Gateshead which is the biggest and busiest citizens advice in the country with over 50 staff in the office and 200 at home and answer consumer advice, housing and other questions. Society Matters is mobilising knowledge to take it out to a wider community through creating confidence.
Society Matters has taken on Suitablity which supplies suits for men for interviews initially in Gateshead and then will be rolled out across the North East. Society Matters also delivers welfare benefit training across the country including Prisoners and Welfare Benefits and Pension Credits along with current legislation which changes all the time but are keeping up to date and getting that information out there.
Society Matters works in partnership for social action including working with North of Tyne Combined Authority about financial resilience of employees and compile these results and give this back to employer and make recommendations such as putting in a kitchen to allow people to have something for lunch and safe money. They've worked with big companies such as Newcastle Building Society, Tyne and Wear Museums and The Baltic which is a free service as is fully funded by the North of Tyne Combined Authority to give companies and idea what is available for their staff with financial wellness at work.
Society Matters support employers to improve employees lives and create meaningful change in the workplace and provide bespoke fully funded wrap around support to help child poverty reduction in the North East and there is a quite a variety of work they do but what they most need help with is donating suits, jackets, ties and shoes for Suitablity.
In Conversation With...
Ivan Hollingsworth - Motivational Speaker, Leadership Coach, Mento and Workshop Facilitator - Centric Consultants
Ivan is a motivational speaker, coach, mentor and workshop facilitator with Centric Consultants Limited. Ivan and his wife set it up for individuals in teams to thrive, it is about trying to have a positive impact on people's lives and do something that is needed in the workplace right now.
Ivan's wife was in recruitment for over 12 years and Ivan was in the pharmaceutical industry for sixteen years and couldn't see themselves doing that for longer, so they looked at what they are passionate about and does the world care enough to pay them to do it. What can you do that adds value not just the inspirational stuff. The pandemic stopped them going around and made them think what is in their head that can help people and created six hundred PowerPoint slides and either had to do it or shut up about it and take the step into something with no clients and no income and prove to themselves they had enough to make that step.
What do the commercials look like that makes this work, the balance between doing what you love and is successful to be sustainable. They started to put a bit of money away when working and in pharmaceuticals can change every few years and there can be redundancies every few years, so they took an opportunity to do this to get the six months money they needed to give a financial cushion to step out and do this. It was terrifying when they were in the position of being out and having no clients, but the hardest point was making that decision and thinking what have they done but does keep you humble as things move on.
Always good to explore ideas but it is not for everyone to start their own business, but you can try and get things going while you have a steady job. What is it like when the emails dry up or you lose clients, so you need to have the right things around you to support you and navigate around this, it is amazing, but it is not for everybody.
Pharmaceutical industry was something they fell into, but they had two lives outside they were motivated but inside work it wasn't motivating them, there was a pull to stay in the job which was people which was the customers and they were paid to speak to people and that felt like a good thing for them to do but they couldn't be bothered with the sales part. The pull was things like the car, the salary or even IT support which they have to do themselves, but they weren't able to do what they wanted to do and felt it wasn't something they wanted to do, once you realise you what you want to do they wanted to do it, then if you are good enough at it you'll earn enough to be okay.
Ivan thought when they left it would be people in the NHS and pharmaceutical industry but with the NHS, they work with people at a much higher level than they thought with people who need support with their culture with companies such as ITV, it is not being an expert in business but creating an environment where people thrive and creating cool conversations. If the NHS wants to hammer cost savings, he would be one of the first things to go but have enough organisations to work with which is a more sustainable and safer way to run a business.
Key issues or challenges leaders face include what things need to look like in a post-pandemic world such as in or out of the office and what is the culture they want, not words on a wall but what does this look like and how you understand your culture is how you get the right people, everything you measure is an output, may not be able to impact sales but how you can impact a commercial offering and people can talk to them about their culture and how to bring that to life.
What's going on in workplace is a sticking point and it is impacting performance. Gallup did a state of the workplace report and do a global happiness report but links to happiness and performance is unbelievable. Their report looks to see if employees are engaged or disengaged and only 10% of employees are engaged and 79% of the workforce are disengaged who are quiet quitting who are turning up to work and doing just enough, as a UK workforce this is something we need to work on, can use the data and work on that as employers and leaders you can transform an organisation's success.
Some things need to be done in societal terms but we spend a long time at work so what we do there can have a profound impact on people and the organisation and can drive performance so if have sickness and burnout through the roof you'll never get anywhere in terms of performance. You need to understand what is going on in culture and do they have data about how employees are feeling and look at what needs to be done to get to the next level.
Businesses can be a force for good and can have good leaders where employees can have more purpose and business owners and leaders can have a part to play in this, daily loneliness and anger is rising and the impact on stress is bad and can drive poor performance. Now we have data we can align with how human beings interact and how this drives performance in the organisation can look at this, employees can see if they add value or are valued.
Ivan's son Seb is sixteen now was born with a congenital heart defect they didn't know and at sixteen weeks was rushed into emergency heart surgery at the Freeman Hospital which is world class. Ivan used to be a good runner so wanted to say thankyou and fundraise and ran a marathon a day for five days and were doing big events to thank the Children's Heart Unit Fund or CHUF charity, which was small, so they set up Seb for CHUF to raise £120,000 over seven years but raised over £500,000. This confirmed to a high-performance culture, it wasn't a well-known rich group it was a group of humble people with a shared purpose who collectively achieved something they never thought possible.
Ivan did solo challenges that pushed them to the limit so in 2012 ran 100 miles in 24 hours which was really tough, they had finished the group fund raising so wanted to do one final thing so the challenge was to cycle from Marble Arch in London for over 100 miles and then do a double marathon for 50 miles which demanded support of so many people around them, the weather wasn't great and got muscle spasms for 70 miles when cycling and it should have take 28 hours but took 32.5 hours. Ivan started to read about motivation and see what certain core things that are universal to everyone and understand what motivation is, to democratise this for every single person, what would that look like for someone's life or work and how would that feel.
High performance is one better than you but creating a banner on how you thrive is better, how are you right now, are you in a place where you can start knocking doors down and make things more real for people when doing motivational speaking and avoid disempowering people. Some companies say they are a family, but it depends on what a family like, some of the words we use aren't helpful. Have to create a culture that is meaningful rather than use words like family, there's a difference between criticism and insults as if someone doesn't know how to behave what are they going to do about it you need to tell them not to do something or tell them what good looks like.
You can't have accountability about performance, standards and behaviours if you don't know what good looks like, you need someone to walk you through what good looks like, how do you deal with someone who isn't behaving correctly, don't eyeball them in the office, take a walk and ask them how they are. You have to have clarity about the behaviours you want in an organisation.
Ivan found issues with networking, when in sales it was about getting something from someone, so their first event they went to with a book so didn't have to speak to anyone but then decided to speak to people and be brave and get out of your comfort zone but don't need to go to every single event but decide and see which ones you would get the most value from. Taking yourself out of your comfort zone isn't comfortable, hosts that care about people are more relaxed and more likely to be ones they would want to go to. Platform can help find people you need, people to work with or anything else.
Ivan has an email newsletter, they were putting out articles and trying to distil things from things like Gallup polls, so with the newsletter they cover topics like what does a thriving culture look like, they put in books that may be of interest so put in things that are useful to watch, listen to or read such as a podcast that you can listen to, they won't put in anything that doesn't work and will help people to be more resilient and think differently. They also do videos where they talk about different things.
Ivan's one regret about starting a business was not starting sooner as spent longer in a job that they weren't fulfilled by and were thinking about starting their own business for a long time but don't care for looking back and worrying but use bits from the past to inform them going forward. Now they practise mindfulness and what things can they do that they have control over, they practise self-compassion which like is finding someone who can help you and giving yourself that advice such as take a break which has helped their mental health.
Ivan got his first customers by speaking to the people who they knew who would pick up the phone to not just those who would give them good advice but to those people who had the influence to actually pay for what they were offering. So, they would have conversations about the challenges and goals and for them it was always about people and culture and how they can help deal with those challenges and achieve those goals.