It's taken me days to build up to this, but AIBU to ask for your thoughts on limited info?

[ShutUpOverSharer]

Ok so this is a question about business so I'm not sure if I'm posting it in the right place but I guess it's partly for traffic. I'm going to start with an apology because I am in the same position that most people are in when they write on here: they do not want to offer too much information because it is outing but at the same time I'm fully aware of how annoying it is for the other members of the group who are effectively being asked for help and advice but are having pieces of information held back from them. I am not new to Mumsnet; I have been a lurker for quite a long time and have posted under other usernames. The reason I am worried about giving too much information is not just because it is outing but because the actual nature of my question is partly connected to worry that other people in business who are in the same area that I am in may get information which helps them. So basically the situation is this: I have received a considerable amount of funding from a well-known UK funder in order to develop a venture that I have established. The business is a social enterprise and it is on those grounds that I received the funding. The amount I received is more than I could have imagined but amazingly I was told it was the first step towards receiving an even bigger amount over a longer period if I basically do it right with this first amount. The type of venture that it is is fairly niche but the field that it is in is beginning to grow and relative to what it was two years ago, it has grown considerably. In some ways I am very lucky because although there are competitors, my particular take on this venture is fairly unique and also the thing that happened to me that led to the setup of this venture is extremely unique and the story behind it has been part of the reason that I received the funding. It has also had demonstrable sucess in the short time it has been going (again, hence the funding!) The reason that I am writing in and also what my central problem is, is that I can see so many amazing aspects of this particular venture that could be developed but there is only one of me. When I say one of me, I mean there are other people involved in the venture but I am really the ideas person and I feel quite lonely sometimes because whilst the other people involved are very good with the knots and bolts aspect of the service delivery, they are not so great with the ideas of expansion etc. I'm also in a very good position in that I got in there first with other stakeholders ....those stakeholders include local councils, social services etc etc. so at the moment that puts me in a prime position. What frustrates me is that I am always hearing from other stakeholders what an amazing venture this is and how much potential it has - both commercially & in relation to its social enterprise goals, and I have those words in writing. But at the same time I feel there is a limit to what I can manage to do as the main sole person and I'm scared that if I don't do those things, other people who are beginning to realize the potential of this venture I'm going to overtake me. It is the type of thing that I have considered approaching Dragons Den about but what puts me on pause is that DD seems very very focused on the commercial value of ventures whereas the thing that I have created has huge commercial potential and it could be developed by ignoring the social enterprise side altogether, but that is not what I want to do & I don't want to pressured to do that. I don't actually need investment either, especially since I received the funding. One of the great things about this is how low the outgoings are in relation to what it can do commercially & socially. What I almost need are dragons who give commitment and advice and involvement but not money. I guess some of the business mentoring organizations might be the people to approach and my first question is if any of you have had any experience with business mentoring in Scotland? I think in my heart of hearts what I'm really looking for is a person or people who have established businesses behind them, have time on their hands, huge social consciences, and feel an interest in what it is we are trying to do! The other thing I'd like to do is try to get a book ghost-written about the story behind it. It really is an interesting story & has never failed to get a gob-smacked reaction....somewhere between the guy who got his hand stuck behind a rock (not as amazing as that) & the woman who went walking along some part of America. I had a journalist do an article a few years ago but things were "smaller" then & now I feel there is much more to say. The book idea is largely for publicity but given that the core of this venture is based on recovering from the thing that happened to me, I would like to use it to maybe do talks about the possibility of recovery from extreme events. So my second question is, oes anyone have experience of submitting an idea to a publisher to be writtenI'm in Scotland if this helps.....does anyone have any thoughts? I'm on a bedtime routine now so it may be a while til I can come back!! Thanks in advance & for reading :-)

Ok so this is a question about business so I'm not sure if I'm posting it in the right place but I guess it's partly for traffic.

I'm going to start with an apology because I am in the same position that most people are in when they write on here: they do not want to offer too much information because it is outing but at the same time I'm fully aware of how annoying it is for the other members of the group who are effectively being asked for help and advice but are having pieces of information held back from them.

I am not new to Mumsnet; I have been a lurker for quite a long time and have posted under other usernames. The reason I am worried about giving too much information is not just because it is outing but because the actual nature of my question is partly connected to worry that other people in business who are in the same area that I am in may get information which helps them.

So basically the situation is this: I have received a considerable amount of funding from a well-known UK funder in order to develop a venture that I have established.

The business is a social enterprise and it is on those grounds that I received the funding. The amount I received is more than I could have imagined but amazingly I was told it was the first step towards receiving an even bigger amount over a longer period if I basically do it right with this first amount.

The type of venture that it is is fairly niche but the field that it is in is beginning to grow and relative to what it was two years ago, it has grown considerably.

In some ways I am very lucky because although there are competitors, my particular take on this venture is fairly unique, and also the thing that happened to me that led to the setup of this venture is extremely unique, and the story behind it has been part of the reason that I received the funding. It has also had demonstrable sucess in the short time it has been going (again, hence the funding!)

The reason that I am writing in and also what my central problem is, is that I can see so many amazing aspects of this particular venture that could be developed but there is only one of me.

When I say one of me, I mean there are other people involved in the venture, but I am really the ideas person, and I feel quite lonely sometimes, because whilst the other people involved are very good with the knots and bolts aspect of the service delivery, they are not so great with the ideas of expansion etc.

I'm also in a very good position in that I got in there first with other stakeholders ....those stakeholders include local councils, social services etc etc. so at the moment that puts me in a prime position.

What frustrates me is that I am always hearing from other stakeholders what an amazing venture this is and how much potential it has - both commercially & in relation to its social enterprise goals, and I have those words in writing. But at the same time I feel there is a limit to what I can manage to do as the main sole person and I'm scared that if I don't do those things, other people who are beginning to realize the potential of this venture I'm going to overtake me.

It is the type of thing that I have considered approaching Dragons Den about but what puts me on pause is that DD seems very very focused on the commercial value of ventures whereas the thing that I have created has huge commercial potential and it could be developed by ignoring the social enterprise side altogether, but that is not what I want to do & I don't want to pressured to do that. I don't actually need investment either, especially since I received the funding.

One of the great things about this is how low the outgoings are in relation to what it can do commercially & socially. What I almost need are dragons who give commitment and advice and involvement but not money. I guess some of the business mentoring organizations might be the people to approach and my first question is if any of you have had any experience with business mentoring in Scotland?

I think in my heart of hearts what I'm really looking for is a person or people who have established businesses behind them, have time on their hands, huge social consciences, and feel an interest in what it is we are trying to do!

The other thing I'd like to do is try to get a book ghost-written about the story behind it. It really is an interesting story & has never failed to get a gob-smacked reaction....somewhere between the guy who got his hand stuck behind a rock (not as amazing as that) & the woman who went walking along some part of America.

I had a journalist do an article a few years ago but things were "smaller" then & now I feel there is much more to say.

The book idea is largely for publicity but given that the core of this venture is based on recovering from the thing that happened to me, I would like to use it to maybe do talks about the possibility of recovery from extreme events.

So my second question is, does anyone have experience of submitting an idea to a publisher to be written, I'm in Scotland if this helps.....does anyone have any thoughts? I'm on a bedtime routine now so it may be a while til I can come back!! Thanks in advance & for reading :-)

Not much help from me op, but I sorted the paragraphs and bolded the questions out so other people can maybe help out.

The site can be a nightmare for the paragraph thing.

I'm. Or in Scotland OP. But I wondered whether your finder might help you to connect with a business mentor?

Or perhaps your local CVS?

With regard to a publisher, could you try networking and see if you can connect with someone in that field.

Do you use LinkedIn? It strikes me that you could make some great connections who'd be very interested in your venture, background and ambitions.

Yes - getting started on Linkedin is brilliant advice & people I've spoken to in person have suggested it too. I am going to start using it, but the thing that has prevented me so far is just unfamiliarity with it, & how best to use it. I've just spent the last 2 months remaking the website from scratch as I was really unhappy with the previous one, & once we got the funding I wanted something better. I have to say the process of teaching myself Wix has been a huge learning curve but I'm really proud of what I made & can't wait for it to go live. So I think I'll research HOW to use Linkedin & then get started with it! Thank you :-)

Wow - thank you so much :-) That is really kind! I'm on a chrome book balanced on the bed watching child 1 try to sleep, so it was a mess. What a lovely thing to do - thank you :-)

Are you a credible and sustained success yet? If not, put your energy into that first to really prove your business model works. Gather data, build the financial models to demonstrate your value. Much easier to scale then.

Are there any strings attached to how you use the funding? If not, hire people to do things that will free you up for expansion / scaling activities.

Get a mentor. Find someone who has done whatever it is you need to do but in a different industry and approach them, appeal to their charitable nature. But be aware you’ll only get a couple of hours input, anything more and you’ll probably need to pay.

It’s lonely at the top, there’s no one else to make decisions with you. This is where start ups can fail, when you loose faith in your ability to make the right decisions. If you decisions are data driven you are more likely to be successful. You can also read a lot on decision making models. There won’t be a saviour who is going to give you all their spare time to make this a success for you.

Park the book right now, focus on media coverage only. This is a distraction from your first objective which is scale the business. Your book will be more powerful the more successful you are.

If you do get competitors muscling in, the consider if it’s worth going in together, especially if their operations are more established. 50% of something is better than nothing, and you’ll learn from them.

Hopefully you are onto a good thing. Good luck.

You need a proper plan. You don't seem to have a particular focus for this funding?

The book could take a lot of energy and time and take you away from developing the core business.

The website - great you did it but that is something that could have been outsourced to a web designer to allow you to focus on other things?

You can't do everything op. You need to sit down properly and plan it out.

In some ways I am very lucky because although there are competitors, my particular take on this venture is fairly unique and also the thing that happened to me that led to the setup of this venture is extremely unique and the story behind it has been part of the reason that I received the funding.

I’d set the story aside for just now and focus on how you’re going to use the funding to full effect. What did you put in your funding application in terms of what you needed the money for and your immediate priorities. Write a plan for that first, because if you don’t meet the terms of the funding you could find yourself in trouble.

It’s very easy to get carried away with the potential of what could be, but you first need to start from a solid base. Get the business on a solid footing and focus on the fundamentals. Once you have that, then look at a 3-5 year plan to build on that success, again focus on one area you can get established before looking at what comes next.

A book might be part of that but decide why you’d be writing, many books don’t make much money - they add to a body of knowledge and can be worthwhile but get your business established first.

It sounds like a very exciting time, but many businesses fail because they try to do too much too quickly and don’t have a solid footing to build from.

Thanks guys - I appreciate you taking the time to read, & advise. I've definitely taken on board what you said about parking the book. The main point of that was for publicity but I agree on reflection with what you all said.

I know it may not sound like I have as much of a coherent plan as I do, but that is partly because I'm holding so much back in the telling. The funding was definitely given on the basis of a very specific plan, with regards to the social beneficiary stream of the business and that plan must - and will - be adhered to systematically.

But I think what I was feeling yesterday was frustration at how much stuff could be developed on the commercial side of things, and how I wish there were 5 of me to do it! I know other SEs & they seem to be fairly heavily focussed on obtaining grant funding for a sizeable proportion of their revenue, whereas that was never really the intention I had.

This is actually the first funding I've applied for since I started this three years ago, the reason being that my approach to social enterprise was to enact the social enterprise goals with profits from the commercial side of things.

I am proud to say that we have been largely able to do that so far, hence not applying for grant funding until now. To be honest, the way that other SE owners I spoke to seemed to think that it was the opposite way around really surprised me.... but then I try to bear in mind that I've not canvassed the opinions of a broad, diverse sample & it could well just be a reflection of their surprise that I seemed to be veering so much in the opposite direction that made the ones I spoke to emphasize grants so heavily. Well, in the end, I did apply, and I won't lie & say I'm not delighted to have got it!! But after reflecting on a few things yesterday WRT commercial pathways going forward, I have put some feelers out to one of our other directors, who previously wanted a more of a figurehead role, as she was in a different place with her own career 3 years ago.

It was great to find out that she is in a different place now, and we discussed a few things we could plan more comprehensively when we meet next week.

Thanks again for your time & advice!

I am not in Scotland but I am a Business Mentor and have extensive experience of startups. I am also a NED for a couple of companies, advising on startups and scale ups.
I would be happy to give some free advice if you want to message me

Get in touch with Business Gateway. What area in Scotland are you? Remember though a SE is meant to make money not just rely on funding so it does need to be a commercial enterprise. Maybe not your area but I’m sure these people will have contacts in your area https://www.clacksregen.org.uk/ I’m very excited for you!

I’m not familiar with Scotland but I would definitely:

1: look at any free advice, mentoring or business development programmes might be available. There may be things specific to social enterprises.

2: consider getting some non-exec directors on board. This is an alternative way to access the kind of advisors you are looking for rather than an investor. Are there are founders or business people you admire? People in SE or voluntary sector? You could approach them

3: the possible other Director sounds good too. It is lonely leading an organisation and having at least one other person to help drive things and bounce ideas and decisions off will be useful

it sounds like a great venture . I like that you are focussing on the commercial side. Relying on grant funding can be a nightmare.

Hi,
I've just been made redundant which means I have some time, and I'm happy to help with all things LinkedIn. I'm looking to set up a thought leadership business and I'm pretty networked in startups (in London though, sorry!).

Send me a message if you'd like more info or a chat :)