RSI LONDON Group | Russian Specialist Recruitment Consultancy
You’ve done it: You’ve come up with your revolutionary idea and launched your own business. But to ensure the quality of your product and be able to grow your startup, you’re going to need funding. Let’s take a look at three ways to get startup funding in the UK.
Launched in 2012 to encourage entrepreneurship, theStart Up Loan scheme is a government-backed personal loan of between £500 and £25,000 available to anyone looking to launch or expand a small business. The interest rate is fixed at 6 percent per annum, and the loan can be repaid over one to five years. You’ll need to submit a detailed business plan and cash-flow forecast to prove that your startup can afford the monthly repayments—there are plenty of helpful guides on the startuploans.co.uk to help you—and if you’re accepted, you’ll be paired with a business mentor for 12 months.
There are a few startup-business grants available to new UK companies specializing in innovation across a number of fields, from technology to the arts.
This is one of the most popular ways to attract startup funding in the UK, with a range of platforms offering different models of investment. Crowdfunding gives startups an opportunity to not only simultaneously raise money and generate publicity, but also to gauge interest in a product and develop it as the business grows. Crowdfunding comes in two different types.
If your business is product-based, crowdfunding through platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo offers a way to ensure a healthy number of guaranteed sales before you even begin manufacturing. Not only does this give you the capital needed to get your startup off the ground, but when the investor’s reward is the product itself, you won’t have to give up shares in your company. Just make sure your pricing structure accounts for all of the hidden costs of producing and distributing your backers’ rewards.
Platforms such as Crowdcube and Seedrs allow you to raise cash by turning your supporters into shareholders. This is great for startups with a business that isn’t product-based, or for small companies that need to raise larger amounts of funding to expand. Investors on these platforms are given equity in your company, and so will likely invest more than a typical customer would.
source.wework.com
For a small company, IT recruiting can be carried out with the help of external specialists and this can be actually more profitable than having your own recruiter in the company. Having your own HR manager sometimes may not solve the problem of hiring either as you need expertise in IT recruitment, and actually it could increase the workload so much that one won’t be able to handle daily responsibilities.
Let’s say you start a new project and you must find a few new developers in a short period of time. Developers are one of the most difficult positions in the market to place: against the background of a shortage of qualified Tech & IT personnel, the demand for them is growing every day. It is super rare when a well qualified and experienced software developer is looking for a job. Most of the time they work on different projects and don’t even look through advertisements on job boards, or being headhunted. Therefore, the employer faces a very challenging situation, the goal is not just to find the right candidate, but also to interest them with a competitive offer and fascinating project.
Some pros of external recruiters:
– External recruiters already have a large database of candidates, they know who is looking for a new project right now and who can be perfectly fit for your position. They can advise you on a candidate with already good references who have worked on similar tasks. This greatly speeds up the research of the right candidate.
– They know all the variety of recruiting channels such as tech forums, Telegram, chats, and successfully use them. By the way, do you know that often tech guys don’t like phone calls and prefer texting when communicating with a recruiter?
– There is no need to pay for advertisements for job boards or buy access to databases, as it is a recruiter’s job to advertise and find the right candidate for you.
Some of the companies try to hire developers using their own resources. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes not. The main question that companies should ask themselves is if they are willing to pay the price with time and money in case of failure.
So why are external recruiters more cost-effective? Let’s make some calculations. Time is money, count the salary per hour of the employee who is going to make a research of the candidates and count for the hours of work: advertisement, sourcing, analysis of applications for the vacancy, interviews. Then you add the cost of the job advertisement and use of databases. Additionally, add the risk of hiring a wrong candidate – bugs in codes, lack of communication and clarity, replacement of the new hire, training, and onboarding time. And of course, the money that you lose when the position is open and not bringing you to result and profit for the company.
So, you have to decide for yourself, which way works better for you. Nowadays in the Tech field, the developers dictate the rules of the game. There is a competition of job offers, not between candidates. If you are searching for a software developer, try different ways of achieving it, ask assistance from professionals in the field. And remember, the winner is the one who always tries new ways, instead of using the same one!
Email ae@redsquareinternational.co.uk to receive our checklist on how to hire a software developer with more practical tips or if you require further assistance with the search.
Anna Erfurt, Tech Recruiter at RSI London
You might have heard about this news in the recruitment world! Not long ago we joined forces with IT recruitment agency Lucky Hunter to accommodate our clients’ needs in the field of IT and Technology. Our collaboration with Lucky hunter is a new format of a recruitment approach. The main factor for this successful cooperation is understanding of the current market, highlighting adequate requirements, as well as the willingness to work with clients as partners, rather than having a one-off vacancy to fill in.
Two successful agencies decided to improve the recruitment worldwide through introducing new standards for the selection as well as speed we operate on. We believe that it’s time for the recruitment to become aligned with IT dynamics. IT is indeed the most fast moving industry, and there is no time to waste. That’s why we emphasise the importance of making decisions within adequate timelines so that the top IT talent signs your contract, not someone else’s. That’s what your success depends on.
– We build partnerships with our clients. This means that we initiate an open and honest two-way communication, where we talk about the real situation on the market, using only relevant data. In addition to that, you do not just get a one-time service for IT selection, but also gain strong partners for many years.
– If we took your vacancy to work on – congratulations, you will find your ideal candidate with 100% probability!
– Your risks are on us! We invoice upon the result and don’t request any pre-payments. Also, if a candidate fails a probationary period, or changes his mind, we are there to help you to sort it out with one time free replacement. Our partnership is built on the best conditions for the client: we guarantee the replacement of an employee who has not passed the trial period and we do not take pre-payment, so you do not risk anything if you decide to stop searching.
In addition, our talent pool consists of top-notch technical and creative minds from Eastern and Western Europe who are eager to succeed and available for a variety of jobs with relocation, remote, temporary/fixed/permanent contracts options. Therefore, if you are currently seeking for IT personnel – check our website and get in touch with us
For IT and Tech recruitment services call us on + 44 (0)203 829 3480 (London, UK) or email to: ks@redsquareinternational.co.uk
For enquiries in Russian: tatiana@luckyhunter.io
IT recruitment agency Lucky Hunter specialises in supplying highly qualified IT personnel for companies from all over the world for over 10 years. They are the ones who can find rare Rust or .Net developers in under 16 days!
RSI London is International London Based Recruitment and Executive Search Consultancy operating for over 12 years. We cover a range of roles from C-level and Top Management in Tech, Finance and Energy Industries to Sales and Support, while promoting Eastern European talent in Europe and the UK.
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