Playing with the 'Big Boys'

Recent research from the credit referencing agency, Creditsafe, outlined around nine per cent of established businesses surveyed said they do avoid trading with businesses less than a year old.

David Knowles, business development director at the firm, says: "There is a danger we could choke the fledging economic recovery if companies refuse to trade with start-ups purely on the basis that they are new companies.

"Businesses need to take sensible steps to accurately establish the financial health and creditworthiness of trading partners rather than relying on gut instinct and preconceptions.’"

Other observations showed that a further 51 per cent of respondents to Creditsafe's survey will not trade with a company that is only contactable via a mobile number, with 52 per cent refusing to do business with an enterprise if it only has a PO Box address. Of the 797 businesses surveyed, 12 per cent would not trade with a company without a website.

"People have the right to be cautious when a company gives a mobile phone number only and they should also remember that having a website in itself gives little indication of a company’s creditworthiness," adds Knowles.

According to Creditsafe, there were 364,000 startups launched last year.

As operators of the UKs largest Business Show for small businesses – Prysm would like to make it known that we don’t discriminate in this way with newer businesses. John Pearce – Show Director for Business Startup explains, "On many occasions previous visitors to our show see it as a platform to launch their business and sell services to other entrepreneurs looking to start a new business.

"We have to embrace this entrepreneurial spirit and work with all businesses whether two-weeks-old or 200-years-old."