Good news (at last) SME Business leaders are optimistic about the future with 4 out of 5 UK SMEs confident that they will grow in 2022*. We are one of them.

How? New business building mainly. Business executives expect that by 2026, half of their companies’ revenues will be generated by products, services, or businesses that don’t exist yet**.

 Simply put, this growth strategy will:

• Increase revenue sources

• Enhance sustainability

• Breed agility

This last one is more important than ever. Almost 1 in 3 underperforming new businesses cite unexpected market disruptions as the biggest reason for their failure to meet growth projections. The inability to adapt to unforeseen circumstances and hurdles. I won’t mention the C word that has woken the world up to this priority!

As a scale-up, complacency is not an option. Only 1 in 5 new businesses are able to scale successfully. There are many reasons why new businesses fail to land on their feet, but two pitfalls are more common than others. 

• Lack of adaptability

• Faulty scaling strategy

It is usually a long list, but to keep it short and sweet, here are three great ones: 

• Make sure stakeholders are clear, bought in and realistic about the potential of the new business. We talk a lot about Collective Clarity here at Geeks because if it is overlooked, then failure looms.

• Consider relatively high amounts of autonomy. Viewing the new business as a kind of independent start-up could be a good way to make sure it can thrive quickly

• Diversity matters (McKinsey says so!). Even though the number of new businesses led by women is far smaller, they have a higher chance of success than those headed by men - apparently! #girlpower, am I right?

SMEs seem to have understood the urgency of building new businesses but the risks involved are rampant. It is imperative to lead with open eyes and a clear strategy, which,  let’s face it, needs to have a heavy dose of tech in there. DiGence® by Geeks is our way to navigate any fellow scale-up attempting this high growth approach. Our clients get overwhelmed, stuck, confused and frustrated. DiGence brings clarity and enables you to confidently act on fact.

Happy new business building everyone! Get in touch if we can help.

*Geared for Growth 2022, Boost&Co

**McKinsey 2021 global report: The state of new business building