Opinion

Stages of business growth

Building a business is a unique journey because the operation you run evolves through so many different stages - until you stand back from the cash flows, contracts, and strategies, you often can't recognise at what stage your venture is.

Financial Management

Company turnaround tricks

As every entrepreneur knows, growing a company is fraught with perils. Your business model, for instance, might have worked well up to a certain stage of development, but may prove woefully unsuitable at the next one. Key customers or suppliers may let you down.

Venture Capital Funding

Business Turnarounds: rising from the dead

Alchemists of old used to try to turn lead into gold, but latter-day exponents take businesses on their death-beds and nurse them back to rude health, says Elderstreet Investments boss Michael Jackson.

Entrepreneurs

Peninsula: Job Done

Having built a thriving betting shop business, Peter Done changed tack and took on employment consultancy Peninsula. He eventually turned the company’s fortunes around, but sailed close to the wind on many occasions.

Financial Management

Business comebacks and turnarounds

Bringing a business back from the brink is a black art that requires ingenuity, guile, commercial courage and nerves of steel. GrowthBusiness highlights four of the best British business fightbacks of the past year.

Entrepreneurs

Building the winning team

I've started several ventures as an entrepreneur, bought companies as the head of an international group and also invested privately. The net result of all this activity – containing as it does my own fair share of failures as well as successes – is that I've ended up with some pretty strong views on what makes a successful business.