Resilience for scaleups: advice from fhunded’s programme lead, Rory Southworth

Rory Southworth, Lancashire County Council’s programme lead for fhunded, was recently asked by the Two Zero business support service to share his thoughts on some of the challenges which lie ahead for scaleups.

What will be the key challenges for Lancashire scaleups over the coming months?

The current economic climate poses a significant hurdle for all businesses. With a sluggish economy, sales have become increasingly difficult to secure for many. This period of uncertainty requires businesses to be more resilient, creative and innovative in their approach to sustaining growth.

The adoption of new technology is one way to try and boost performance but can present its own set of challenges. For example, embracing advanced technologies, such as Generative AI, can help streamline processes and reduce costs, which is vital during economic downturns. However, integrating such technologies requires careful planning and management to truly maximise the benefits.

What is your advice to help scaleup businesses stay resilient through the current economic challenges?

Engaging with the wealth of business-to-business networks we have in Lancashire, and becoming part of the county’s growing scaleup community, would be my number one piece of advice. There are lots of events and fully-funded support programmes – many of which are backed by Lancashire County Council – specifically aimed at growing businesses, which can lead to new collaborative opportunities.

One thing we often hear from the successful founders who speak at fhunded events is that they went through a difficult ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’ phase before someone helped steer them in the right direction. In almost every case, the key bit of advice was a result of meeting someone at a networking session, hearing someone speak at an event, or taking part in a support programme.

Such peer-to-peer networks can also act as a true sounding board for your business, bring new thinking to the table, and help strengthen your resolve – something which is vital when times are tough.

Read the full Two Zero advice piece – which has additional contributions from Amin Kamaluddin from SK Growth, and Jane Dalton from Groundswell Innovation – here