Free to do what we want ... Succeed!

UK entrepreneurs are driving the adoption of new technology and leading new ways of working, according to new research released at Entrepreneur Country Forum today.

The study showed – 94 per cent of entrepreneurial companies say they are using free or low-cost technology and services, and 85 percent say they have adopted new ways of working, to help grow during this difficult economic climate.

According to the research, based on over 500 fast-growth organisations with fewer than 100 employees, sales and marketing, IT and customer services have benefited most from new free and low cost technologies.

The most popular technologies and services being adopted are:

• LinkedIn (78 per cent)
• Skype and other voice over IP solutions (65 per cent)
• Freeware (61 per cent)
• Twitter (52 per cent)
• Software as a service applications (47 per cent)

Julie Meyer, founder and CEO of Ariadne Capital and Entrepreneur Country, and a regular speaker at Business Startup said: “Necessity is the mother invention, and entrepreneurs are inventive people. Although we live in straightened times, those building businesses in this environment are adopting new technologies, services and ways of working as a way to survive and thrive.”

Only just over half of entrepreneurial businesses take the traditional approach of renting their own office premises, with one in five now operating without an office and happy for staff to work from home or on the move.
Hotel foyers, coffee shops and private membership clubs tend to operate as meeting and working locations when required. A further 12 per cent are based at an office wholly owned by the company founder and 10 per cent opt for a branded serviced office such as Avanta.

The Entrepreneur Country Forum is an event specifically for entrepreneurial companies.

Born into "a world with no money," the event theme, these companies will be some of the brightest, leanest and most efficient ever created. They will maximise a technology and social revolution, enabling them to work in more effective ways, to keep costs at a minimum whilst creating a new generation of products and services.

The banking crisis and the subsequent reluctance of most banks to lend to entrepreneurs has driven a back-to-basics approach when it comes to finance.

Almost half of the companies founded in the last two years have their principal funding from the company founder, with a further 24 per cent bank-rolled by the founder’s family or friends. Companies principally backed by an individual investor (an ‘angel investor’), make up another 12 percent, with seed capital or venture capital firms funding a further 11 per cent.

“Far from looking to traditional organisations like banks and institutional investors like 3i to back our new generation of wealth creators, it’s clear that in a world with no money entrepreneurs will be looking instead to the `3fs` – friends, families and founders for the capital they need to succeed,” added Meyer.