The first seed of an idea, the ball of energy and commitment, the desire to shout your plans from the rooftops – being a start up is easy. We had a great idea, an infectious work ethic, and a desire to change peoples lives but the pressure of scaling up is far more challenging.
You look around you and the numbers don’t add up – you need more people and you need more money.
When we decided to scale up our Shopit e-commerce platform to a national and international audience, we needed more help. Thankfully the network of contacts we had built up meant or scale up fears were lifted, as we learned about the Research & Development Tax Credit Scheme offered by the Government.
Our friends at the Business Growth Hub Manchester introduced us to Jumpstart, a. R&D Tax Scheme specialist who did all the explaining and most of the work to get us a surprise lump sum benefit we had only dreamed about. As a business driven by innovation, adding new thinking and solutions to the UK economy, the Government were happy to credit us a proportion of wages spent, in the form of either a lump sum payment, or future rebates against corporation tax – both very attractive options.
Jumpstart took control. A couple of telephone interviews, and extensive report written on our activities that we only had to proof read and the wheels were in motion.
The surprise boost to our cashflow meant we could begin scaling up – add talented staff, invest in advertising, and meet our commitments easier.
Our challenges are now very different. Accelerating our growth feels great, as we clamber up to those rooftops to shout about Shopit. We have some breathing space to plan and grow, and the best thing – we can apply again next year!
