The week in entrepreneurship


Your weekly summary of entrepreneurship news, comment, and features. Sent by the Centre for Entrepreneurs (home of StartUp Britain). Sign up here.

StartUp Britain bus tours Scotland

After six weeks touring England and Wales, the StartUp Britain bus has ventured to Scotland for its final leg! This week the bus will visit:

  • Monday: St Andrew Square, Edinburgh
  • Tuesday: Buchanan Street, Glasgow
  • Wednesday: City Square, Dundee
  • Thursday: St Nicholas Street, Aberdeen
  • Friday: Inverness Shopping Park, Inverness

If you’re thinking of starting a business, or wanting advice to help you grow an existing business, come along!

Tour website: www.startupbritain.org/bus-tour
Hashtag: #StartUpTour
To request a marketing pack for your city and/or offer your support on-board email: tour@startupbritain.org

News

The best place for tech start-ups: still Silicon Valley…for now
Tech company benchmarking firm Compass Startup Genome has released it’s latest ranking of start-up eco-systems, with Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and New York topping the index. Read more. Read the ranking.

UK start-ups secured £163m SEIS funding in 2014
Government initiative saw a 90% increase in uptake last year while the amount raised through EIS hit £1.4bn. Read more.

Small businesses in London expected to grow at almost twice the UK average
Research from Everline and Cebr suggests the government’s Northern Powerhouse could be a long way off yet as a lack of investment leaves the UK’s regions trailing in London’s wake. Read more.

IPO market to be disrupted by Crowdcube’s new offering
Crowdfunding platform Crowdcube has raised £6m, which will enable it to continue expanding its team and develop a new offering for retailers to invest in IPOs. Read more.

Start-ups fall out of love with London
Rising rents to blame for number of early-stage businesses wanting to move out of capital after 12 month “honeymoon” phase. Read more.

Opinion

The sharing economy could end capitalism – but that’s not all
Chris Martin (research fellow, Open University) maps out four possible paths for the sharing economy. Read more.

How teenage markets are revitalising UK towns
A simple idea of setting up local markets for teenage traders has become a huge hit with young entrepreneurs, writes Kitty Dan (The Guardian). Read more.

Start-up culture is corrupting our youth and killing real entrepreneurship
A whole generation is being trained to sell their companies as quickly as possible – rather than doing any actual work to nurture them, writes Lukas Mikelionis (freelance writer). Read more.

Reports of the death of the high street may have been greatly exaggerated
Thanks to a little entrepreneurial spirit and some help from government, the much beleaguered high street is showing signs of resilience and recovery, writes Charlie Mullins (founder, Pimlico Plumbers). Read more.

Features

The non-business classics that inspire (FT)
If you really want to climb the ladder you’d do well to look beyond self-help texts. The FT sources recommendations from entrepreneurs. Read more.

Best boss in the world? Turkish tech CEO gives employees £150,000 each after sale of company
The CEO of a tech firm in Turkey has laid claim to being the best boss in the world after giving his employees £17m in bonuses following the sale of his company. Read more.

Dubai: The unexpected start-up hub
At first glance Dubai may not look like a start-up friendly city, but if you scratch away at the surface you’ll find a city with the potential to dominate the MENA region as a start-up hub, writes Natalie Clarkson (Virgin.com). Read more.

How a rugby star swapped shorts for coffee shops
The BBC profiles Australia’s rugby union international George Gregan and his move from sport to business. Read more.