Newcastle Scaleup Summit inspires action

The one-day event explored how to take your business to the next level

Newcastle Scaleup Summit gathered more than 160 attendees to a packed Live Theatre and covered a range of topics including funding, adopting a growth mindset, finding talent and skills and innovation.

The first Newcastle Startup Week took place in May with the aim of supporting more people to start or grow a business in the North East of England. It was during this city-wide event that organisers Paul Lancaster and Sarah Crimmens noticed the demand from attendees for more support in growing and scaling their business – and so the idea for Newcastle Scaleup Summit ignited.

The event successfully brought together a diverse list of speakers to explore scale-up success, challenges and financial and business support available.

Colin Bell, business growth director at the North East LEP, opened the event and spoke passionately about the importance of scale-up business to the growth of the economy and the necessity to remove barriers to growth by improving entrepreneurial and leadership skills and bridging the gap to funding.

Other highlights included Professor Roy Sandbach who discussed the need to innovate with tenacity, advising attendees to consider what they are really good at.

An on-stage Q&A with Darren Jobling, CEO of Zerolight, and Alasdair Greig, director at Northstar Ventures, sparked discussion about the highs and lows and lessons learnt when scaling up, including the importance of local funding. They also spoke about the other crucial ingredient – especially when scaling a business at pace – acquiring the right team of people around you.

This latter point was discussed in more depth during the panel discussion ‘How to find the skills and talent to grow your business’ with Peter Neal, head of strategic talent at UNW LLP, Michaela Reaney, managing director of Gradvert, and Neil Stephenson, director of Tetrad Recruitment Group, who spoke openly about their experience of recruiting and personal development.

This were only a few of the incredible speakers and panels, with so many other lessons and talking points from the speaker line-up. The atmosphere buzzed with collaboration during the break-out sessions, so I am sure that many conversations will result in new business connections.

To see the full schedule from the event visit: www.newcastlestartupweek.com/scaleup-summit

Hats off to Paul and Sarah for another incredible event. Here’s to the next one!