Stage 1
Business assessment
We get to know your business idea, who your customers will be, the market you are entering and what you want to achieve.
Start your business
Start Your Business
From business idea to registered business. We help you test the idea, get the numbers right, set the business up properly and prepare for funding.
Start-up services
Everything you need to go from an idea to a properly registered business. Choose the services you need; each is scoped and quoted in writing.
Business idea assessment and viability analysis
An honest look at your idea: who your customers are, the market, what it will cost to start and the main risks, so you know whether the numbers can work.
Business plans and financial forecasting
A business plan that matches your figures, with pricing, sales assumptions, running costs, a twelve-month cash-flow forecast and break-even analysis.
Companies House company formation and registration assistance
We guide you through setting up a limited company with Companies House, or prepare and submit the application for you once we have completed the identity and anti-money-laundering checks we are required to carry out. Companies House charges its own fee, which you pay.
HMRC registration and tax setup
We help you register with HMRC for the taxes that apply to you, such as Self Assessment or Corporation Tax, set up your online accounts and explain which deadlines apply to your business.
VAT registration assistance
We explain whether you need to register for VAT, or whether registering voluntarily could make sense, and help you complete the registration with HMRC.
Sole trader versus limited company guidance
A plain-English comparison of the two, based on your circumstances: tax, paperwork, personal liability and how lenders and customers see each. Where you need specialist legal advice, we will tell you.
Start-up strategy and funding preparation
A practical launch plan, an assessment of possible funding routes and the documents lenders ask for. See our funding process below.
Planning and funding
From business idea to funding-ready
We work through your business with you in six stages, so that your plan and your figures tell the same story.
Stage 2
Start-up costs
We work out what you need to buy, how much it will cost, and how much money you need to keep the business running before sales build up.
Stage 3
The financials
We prepare realistic prices, sales assumptions, running costs, profit calculations and a cash-flow forecast.
Stage 4
Business plan
We write or improve your business plan so that your strategy and your figures are consistent with each other.
Stage 5
Funding preparation
We look at funding routes that may suit you, check their published eligibility criteria and help you prepare the documents they ask for.
Stage 6
Lender selection and application support
For limited companies, we research suitable lenders, recommend where to apply, help you prepare and submit your application, act as your agent with the lender and help you respond to their questions.
For sole traders and partnerships borrowing up to £25,000, this stage is regulated and will be available once our FCA arrangements are in place. Until then, we prepare everything so you can apply yourself.
We research suitable lenders, recommend where to apply, help you prepare and submit your application, act as your agent with the lender and help you respond to their questions.
Coming soon. Until our regulatory arrangements are in place, we prepare your plan, figures and documents so that you can apply yourself.
Approval is never guaranteed. The lender makes the final decision on any application. Our job is to help you present a realistic, well-prepared case, and to tell you honestly if the figures do not work.
What the service includes
- The stages and deliverables set out in your written quotation
- Meetings and reviews agreed in your scope
- An agreed number of revisions to your plan and forecasts
- Plain-English explanations of your figures
- Honest feedback on risks and weaknesses
What falls outside the scope
- Lending money, or deciding whether you get a loan
- Regulated investment advice
- Work not listed in your agreed scope (we quote for it separately first)
- Unlimited revisions or open-ended support
Bookkeeping, accounts and tax returns are available as separate services.
Let's talk about your business
Tell us where you are and what you need. We will reply to arrange an initial conversation, with no obligation to go ahead.