PLATFORM - Sunderland - May 2025
Insights Briefing
Paul Lancaster - PLATFORM | UK Startup & Scaleup Week, Stellar Business Events
Every month since last January there has been a Platform event in North East and Scotland with a thousand people attending the events so far. Most people are business owners, leaders and those who help those starting a business including investors with a relaxed informal network for people to tap into and see what's going on in. You can't just do things on your own and there's a lot you can do but there's people out there who can help you. There are many upcoming Platform events but in June there is going to be UK Startup & Scaleup Week including Middlesborough and Edinburgh. Platform sponsors include Blu Sky, Circle Cloud, HR2Day, Mira, NEL, Precursor, Sweeney Miller Law, True Potential and Wubbleyou.
UK Startup & Scaleup week is coming to Sunderland with between 500 to 600 people expected to come along. Speakers include Sara Davies, Daniel Priestley and Paul Mort along with around sixty other speakers including inspirational speakers, fireside chats and more. Each day is packed with information and help for startups and scale ups including how to measure success and so much more plus you can go to any or more of the five days. Two thirds of the tickets have sold out already so don't leave it to the last minute so for tickets, and there is a new headline sponsor of Xero, there's people coming from all over the country and from other countries too and you can sign up for UK Startup & Scaleup Week at ukstartupweek.com.
Jess Fenwick - Partner & Head of Corporate and Commercial, Sweeney Miller Law
Sweeney Miller Law has grown over the years, and they joined in 2013 and became a partner in 2018, they are North East based in Sunderland. Sweeney Miller Law was founded in 2002 and from the two partners of Peter Sweeney and Paul Miller it has grown including opening a Newcastle office and they recently relocated their Sunderland office with a purpose-built office and have found more people come in now they have moved.
Their business service is around SMEs and business owners including corporate, commercial and more along with residential property where they submit more land registry details than anyone else in the North East, they also do dispute resolution and more. They work with any kind of business from architects to opticians, restaurants and florists. They have also been involved in Sheepfolds Stables which has changed landscape for daytime and evening entertainment in Sunderland.
How they can help businesses at each stage of the lifecycle? Some people think at startup stage you don't need legal advice, but it is a very important part of your business and help includes limited company formation, shareholder agreements, service contracts, leases and director agreements. Knowing what you are signing up for is important. At growth stage they can help with funding, getting investor ready, refinancing, leases, granting new shares and more along with at maturity stage with getting sale ready and selling your business. What stage of the business life cycle are you at? Are you at exit stage and are you thinking about getting out of your business.
Wine on the Wear is a networking event at Sweeney Miller Law, there's no speakers and they have done three with around one hundred bookings and is a nice event to relax and build relationships in the Newcastle and they are thinking of doing a Wine on the Tyne in the future at their Newcastle office, the events have been a good mix of people and business owners.
Naomi Allen Seales - Investment Manager, North Star Ventures
Naomi is an investment manager at North Star Ventures and has been there for four years and wanted to use their skills in a people facing more impactful way, they originally managed North Star Ventures social investment fund but now their Venture Capital Fund. North Star Ventures launched in 2004 and was launched by One North East, the regional development organisation in the North East at the time. They are deeply embedded in the region to bring venture capital to the region and have national and international reach and are returns and impact focused and leverage unique in-region investment opportunity to drive growth and prosperity in the North East.
North Star Ventures work closely with universities with spun out companies from academic research. For every pound invested a further two pounds eighty has been invested from outside and for them they want to have a really positive impact on the region with jobs being created here and maybe help build the next Sage. It is an exciting time for the city of Sunderland, it costs half as much to found a business here in the North East than in the south and the people are a real attraction and with their portfolio companies it is becoming easier to attract talent and keep them in the region.
Venture Capital is the fuel for regeneration, growth and prosperity and connect ambitious founders with Venture Sunderland. The key impact venture capital has is that some of the largest companies in the world have had venture capital and venture capitalists are thinking if a company will change the world. Venture Sunderland is for Sunderland-based companies with potential to scale and has £15 million and it needs to stay and grow in Sunderland. There is an initial cheque size of £200,000-£300,000 with possibility of follow on. It can invest across stages with a product with customers and clear plan for growth and be scalable and with a high exit potential along with producing high quality jobs in Sunderland, work with local partners to turn Sunderland into a “Living Lab” to accelerate start-ups and scale-ups and promote Sunderland as a leading innovation hub.
Venture Sunderland is focusing on building on existing sector strengths such as creative and digital, advanced manufacturing, health and aging along with low carbon businesses. North Start Ventures with Venture Sunderland also often invest in the intersection of these areas. They have made two investments including OneClickComply which is a really early-stage company where compliance is really huge at the moment, and they help speed up compliance process and the fund committed £350,000 as part of a £625,000 funding round. Another investment has been with a Teesside University Spinout with Lithium Salvage (UK) Ltd which initially recycles household batteries with the fund committing £400,000 of a £1.7 million fund.
Process from having an idea to getting venture capital depends on the stage you are at, which needs to be a scalable solution and then will do a financial due diligence but their key thing is to be really happy that founders know what they are doing and can deliver on this and have a clear confidence that the business will grow which starts with a conversation and then work to help build a team up including technology support or bringing people in with sales experience and then once ready will then proceed from there and even after investment will take observer positions on a board to assist. It is not just about financial returns want to see good quality jobs in Sunderland.
Show & Tell
Issy Howell - Head of Production & Senior Video Editor, Howell Media
Video isn't the answer, unless you commit to it! Issy is from Howell Media, she is head of production and is senior video editor, livestream operator, business owner, video marketing expert, creative coach and more. She started at a TV channel of Made in Tyne and Wear which was a vibrant local TV channel and has done livestreams at events such as Atomicon and has seen people do different things with video content and help them and they like to help businesses stand out.
98% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, 95% of businesses think video is essential, 78% of brands want to increase their video output and 99% of businesses say demo videos improve their customer's product understanding - so why don't we use it all the time? We should be using video on social media and presentations, people say it is a lack of confidence or don't feel ready technically or put themselves in front of the camera. It is not quick enough as it takes up too much time, there is the perception that it is too expensive a project was sent out to hundreds of companies and ranged from $600 to $250,000. Where do you start? It feels like you can't find the moment to choose a direction, sometimes you don't know where to begin with video content.
Forget the elevator pitch! Content has developed, you can't just stand in front of a camera as people won't want. But can use content in a different way and stand out and content people will want to watch. Audiences won't stick around for long, being on video isn't just about speaking on camera, it is not about massive budgets, but it is about knowing your audience and giving them consistent value wherever they are in the funnel. It is about having video that hits different points where you need it to, you can make a video that helps people do something or provide a demo video to give that consistent value to customers and keep them coming back.
So how to you do it? Think of ways to explain what your business does without saying a word - instead of doing a video where you speak and say what you do, show what you do and explain what you do without telling what you do. What problem does your product or service solve but you can use AI to help give you content ideas if you don't know what to talk about so what does your audience need to know or do to solve the problem that your product or service solves, this is the kind of content to create and something your audience can take away.
Issy was at the Cluarantonn Podcast Paddock event and Kennedy talked about things that can help with marketing and talking about what you do more effectively. What does your audience recognise about you, try to incorporate this when you can and don't just do it once, don't ever do it once, use your list of solutions and make sure you get that video content out there. Howell Media can help with video production, live events and promote these and really get the energy and they coach people to show how they can do it and make sure that local people are trained on the amazing digital landscape that is in Sunderland. They will also a thirty-minute mastermind to find out what you want to do with video and where you need to go and diagnose video marketing and can do it with Howell Media or by yourself.
To get a video it is about planning ahead and mapping out the premise of a video and know to get different shots and know what to get and when to get it like a shot list and a plan and if end up with lots of footage you need to edit tightly and be quite brutal where hours of footage can end up in minutes of video, give time for each bit you want to capture and keep it about a minute or two for social media. Whatever that gives you that confidence to create content and try what works, can use CapCut or Davinci Resolve and if there is a cost make sure you use a trial first but don't go too advanced too soon. Show not tell, get other people's voices and get as much as you can from the environment as possible and there will be a two-hour workshop at UK Startup and Scale Up Week from Issy on how to get started with video and how to combine brand awareness and grow your image.
Christina Lord - Founder, Authentic Action Coaching
Be Here Now.. If you could shift into any of these states more often which would it be? Energised and focused, calm and grounded, clear and intentional or creative and playful. Christina helps people feel more powerful to create their own sustainable rocket fuel from the inside out. We are amazing human beings with untapped potential but the lot of the tools we have we don't fully use or take them for granted so use tools to help create success in the North East and beyond. Priming potential and minimising burnout so make sure look after ourselves fundamentally.
Change starts with insight and awareness, there can be no change without it. What is one thing you can't do without in your life and work? Technology, sleep etc but fundamentally it is energy, as you are made of energy as without it we can't think clearly, feel deeply or take any meaningful action. If energy drives everything including how we show up, how we lead and how we perform we need to learn how to harness it in more powerful ways. You want to do things but how to you get there.
Demands of work have never been greater, stress and overwork mean more absenteeism, burnout and staff turnover. We're in an always on culture with people on their phones most of the time with employees checking emails out of work hours or working beyond scheduled hours, there's digital burnout with being overloaded with emails, chat or social media and there's skyrocketing stress with 91% of adults facing frequent stress and 20% of workers took sick leave for stress or burnout last year.
On one side there is a lot of excitement and potential to create but on the other side are we stuck in this constant doing side. Often feel sense of being drained or demotivated and feel disengaged from stuff. Irritability can be a sign of being overwhelmed. Tired but wired, can you do without your phone at bedtime and the impact on ability to switch off.
Where do we want to be? Want to feel more energised and ready and have more fuel in the tank and feel more balanced and focused into a place where can concentrate and flow and think about now not the past or future and give 100% of attention to what we are doing. Imagine being able to switch off and be calm and relaxed, you can train your central nervous system so you are naturally ready to rest.
Need to come out of the way of being busy all the time, need to be less hustle and more flow, you've got the power. Sometimes we need to be in hustle mode but the thing we can't optimally do is to slow down and take time to switch off, play, be creative, breathe or go for a walk so we can go into this mode and bridge the two. Need to understand stress isn't all bad, when under stressed we can feel under challenged and lethargic but over stressed can feel overwhelmed and exhausted but need to aim for optimal stress where are engaged, motivated and creative.
Need to create a foundation of rounded ease where you can ramp up when needed and back down when done, need to be equipped with tools to understand where you are and understand your energetic sweet spot and know where you are and if you should just keep going but then this can result in being totally unproductive. You need to master your vehicle, when pressing the accelerator, you are speeding yourself up, you need to see things that you can work with to be curious and compassionate, be hopeful and enthusiastic but can you stay there all the time? Of course, not you need to know when to take foot of the pedal and even just stop and park, so need to understand emotions are a signalling system so if something is worrying you it is trying to get your attention and how full is your fuel tank.
Before start any meeting ask or say are you red, amber or greed, what capacity to you have and people often pretend they have more capacity than they have, if people are more honest and open can work more effectively together so if you're red then someone on amber or green can pick up the slack which can make a real difference with other people's energy levels to move forwards with projects. Stress tolerance vs capacity so when in fight or flight that can be needed but if it goes on too long and feel stuck in this mode then can burn out, so need to know when you are accelerating your action and when to you take your foot off to regulate your system better.
Re-introducing your to the most powerful tool you forgot you had, your breath and the way you breath is a remote control to your central nervous system, breath work practice can help energise your system, everyone has the equipment but are you using it effectively. You can help yourself with your breath for free, help understand your energy levels and know when you can push more or not. Two approaches include bottom-up approach where using body to calm the brain as when feel stressed you disconnect from your body and is fast-acting by using breathwork, it can feel unfamiliar or awkward initially. Top down approach is thinking your way out of stress and is familiar and easy-to-access and works for long-term stress reforming, but it is slow and limited and can be ineffective in acute stress.
Activate your state to build up your energy and energise by with circular breathing to increase oxygen delivery to the brain and stimulate sympathetic nervous system. Balance your state with box breathing to find your centre which balances the sympathetic (active) and parasympathetic (calm) responses to feel more present, you breath in for four counts and hold for four and exhale for four counts and hold for four counts but more you practice you are training your system to go back to centre and here. Calm your state to slow down or easy anxiety which activates the parasympathetic nervous system which lowers stress and promotes vagal tone where inhale for four counts, hold for seven counts and exhale for eight counts to intentionally let out your energy.
In Conversation With...
Jon Dudgeon - Co-founder & CEO, Blu Sky Chartered Accountants
Blu Sky are one of the sponsors of Platform. Jon started out as an audit manager for Deloitte and then founded BluSky in 2008. Their career has been as an accountant, but they have always been entrepreneurial in spirit. They spent time researching and talking to people and attended events like Platform although there weren't many but realised they were good at accountancy and talking to people and the time they started their accountancy practise was when there were queues outside Northern Rock. They started their business with a co-founder which really helped who shared the same values and had different skills and experiences, but their co-founder has now exited the business but worked well together for sixteen years.
It was a big decision to leave their job and start on their own but they weren't engaged with the environment they were working in, they spent months talking to their co-founder Dave and the company they worked for was going through a restructure so were able to navigate themselves to starting their own business, which was a difficult decision but was the best decision they ever made. They were married at the time but during the early stages of the business they went through a bumpy patch but do have a new partner and things are much better now.
It was described like a roller coaster ride when planning to start a business with ups and downs going on from there and at the start it was the two founders and they brought in their first employee quite quickly who was reliable and helpful and could be available when they weren't there, this was an easy decision to make but when is the right time when you have too much work or building to get work was a challenge to get balance right on when to add more people but there are twenty nine people working at Blu Sky.
Back in 2008 their clients were a short distance from the office but they were early into cloud accounting with products from Sage but they realised they couldn't scale trying to service multiple platforms and when Xero came to the UK and their need to resolve this meant these two things came together so they could build their processes around it and their clients were onboard with this which happened around 2011. Xero were looking for partners at the time and they have around 300 clients so aren't looking to sale to thousands of subscriptions, but it is about the way they work and the teamwork.
Blu Sky can forecast for clients, don't want to be a historian but anticipate bumps in the road and with Xero it gives the tools to use data and financials to make decisions. From day one they focused on people and values rather than on spreadsheets and accountancy systems, you can be there during the bad times to lift people up. The advisory role of an accountant is key for them, and they can be the most trusted advisor for a business owner. One of the things they coach their teams on is about the kind of things they will have conversations about, this can include asking clients when the best time is to contact them and how and what works best for them.
Challenges over the years with their growth stage, there can be the messy middle, you want to overcome challenges but you create them yourself and wonder why didn't you do something differently and one of the highlights was the worst and best day, they went out of the region and brought in a mentor to challenge them and had an amazing day talking about revenue and where they wanted to get to. While they were there their new apprentice was locking up the office and managed to get themselves locked in but there was a long serving employee was nearby who could help.
Jon's co-founder, Dave, has exited but is involved as chairman but had been planned for years and they have someone who wanted to be a partner in the business where there could be a succession opportunity there, who bought into the business so there was three of them for a period of time and then bought out Dave, the original co-founder to then move forward with Steve.
What's next for Blu Sky? Their vision is to remain independent as there is a lot of consolidation in the market and they want to create a legacy and want to be in the top fifty accountancy practices in the country. They are looking at various ways of doing it but one thing that remains the same is to have fun, be productive and be engaged and these values remain today along with being professional and doing great things and going outside and going that extra mile and keeping these at the heart of where they go next.
As a small business you are looking at ways to structure a strategy around which included becoming a Certified B Corporation which when they first started looking into this felt they were like that already, but it took twelve months to go through the process and have been certified for twelve months so far. It is always about moving the business forward and progressing which is something you need to be doing anyway.
R&D Tax Credits were an obvious fit for many of their clients and they have done them and always done them the right way and some of the rigour that is required has been welcomed but some of this has gone too far but they do an R&D claim on a regular basis. Credit Control is about being a persistent nuisance when it comes to getting paid and treat every invoice the same and have a system for this to help and use things like Direct Debit, Stripe and other payment methods to give your clients as many opportunities as possible to pay you.