Capital and culture

If your com­pa­ny has an inno­v­a­tive prod­uct, an entre­pre­neur­ial team and a sol­id plan for growth, then why does organ­i­sa­tion­al cul­ture mat­ter? It’s a ques­tion increas­ing­ly being asked by busi­ness­es of all sizes, and an approach that the lead­ing growth cap­i­tal and work­ing cap­i­tal provider BOOST&Co built into its strat­e­gy from the start.

“In new, expand­ing busi­ness­es, you’re forced to make a large num­ber of deci­sions every day, from hir­ing new peo­ple and deal­ing with clients to pur­su­ing new oppor­tu­ni­ties for growth,” says Lance Mysy­row­icz, part­ner at BOOST&Co, which offers loans of £2 mil­lion to £10 mil­lion to fast-grow­ing small and medi­um-sized enter­pris­es (SMEs) in the UK. “Tak­ing these deci­sions with­out an over­ar­ch­ing set of prin­ci­ples is dif­fi­cult; you are like­ly to take the wrong deci­sions or just get lost along the way.”

BOOST&Co’s solu­tion was to embed a strong organ­i­sa­tion­al cul­ture ear­ly in its devel­op­ment. The busi­ness worked with an organ­i­sa­tion­al psy­chol­o­gist – a rare com­mod­i­ty in any firm – to iden­ti­fy, syn­the­sise and struc­ture its cul­tur­al tenets. These beliefs and atti­tudes were shared by the part­ners, who felt strong­ly that these should be reflect­ed in all the company’s day-to-day activ­i­ties and peo­ple process­es.

We are able to pro­vide more mon­ey, ear­li­er in the life cycle of fast-grow­ing busi­ness­es. This means SMEs can achieve mile­stones much more quick­ly

The part­ners set­tled on sev­en tenets: authen­tic, brave, curi­ous, self-moti­vat­ed, smart, inter­est­ed and inter­est­ing. Such guid­ing traits are unique to each busi­ness, but the most impor­tant fac­tor in defin­ing a company’s cul­ture is ensur­ing that they are a true rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the val­ues of the busi­ness.

Once these have been defined, con­stant rein­force­ment is cru­cial to keep­ing a business’s cul­ture at the heart of every­thing it does. Embed­ding these attrib­ut­es in peo­ple process­es is a first step, from recruit­ing employ­ees with the desired cul­tur­al tenets to eval­u­at­ing their per­for­mance along these lines.

Estab­lish­ing a strong cul­ture is just one of the nec­es­sary ele­ments of a fast-grow­ing busi­ness. Promis­ing SMEs often strug­gle to find the fund­ing that will enable them to grow. A num­ber of fund­ing meth­ods are avail­able, the most fre­quent­ly used being debt. Lend­ing from tra­di­tion­al finan­cial insti­tu­tions often fails to meet the unique needs of these com­pa­nies, but growth cap­i­tal providers, such as BOOST&Co, can offer inno­v­a­tive prod­ucts that are tai­lored to each client.

“We are able to pro­vide more mon­ey, ear­li­er in the life cycle of fast-grow­ing busi­ness­es. This means SMEs can achieve mile­stones much more quick­ly than if they opt­ed for tra­di­tion­al lend­ing,” says Mr Mysy­row­icz. “Our prod­ucts also mean that SMEs can access cap­i­tal with­out equi­ty dilu­tion, some­thing we know is impor­tant to most busi­ness own­ers.”

The swift deci­sion-mak­ing process that sets BOOST&Co apart from the banks enables fast-grow­ing SMEs to seize oppor­tu­ni­ties for growth. They can invest in inter­na­tion­al expan­sion, extend their cash run­way, fund larg­er con­tracts and car­ry out merg­ers and acqui­si­tions.

BOOST&Co’s region­al pres­ence across the UK accel­er­ates this process. Its deal-mak­ers, who are based in Lon­don, Man­ches­ter, Bris­tol and Cam­bridge, have strong net­works in the local busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty. Their exper­tise ben­e­fits the local econ­o­my in their respec­tive regions through the invest­ment they pro­vide to the most promis­ing local SMEs.

“We are dif­fer­ent because we are inde­pen­dent,” says Mr Mysy­row­icz. “We look at SMEs on a case-by-case basis and make our own deci­sions with­out regard for rigid, tra­di­tion­al lend­ing mod­els. We use our col­lec­tive expe­ri­ence to devel­op a deep under­stand­ing of the busi­ness mod­els we assess and the oppor­tu­ni­ties for growth that they would like us to fund. A core part of this assess­ment is our view of the company’s man­age­ment team and the cul­ture they have devel­oped in their firm.”

Ulti­mate­ly, then, it comes back to organ­i­sa­tion­al cul­ture, and the undoubt­ed ben­e­fits of estab­lish­ing shared val­ues and objec­tives in a tal­ent­ed team. Cap­i­tal may be impor­tant, but only when it is allied to a strong cul­ture do the ingre­di­ents com­bine to pro­duce suc­cess.

For more infor­ma­tion please vis­it boostandco.com 

If your company has an innovative product, an entrepreneurial team and a solid plan for growth, then why does organisational culture matter? It’s a question increasingly being asked by businesses of all sizes, and an approach that the leading growth capital and working capital provider BOOST&Co built into its strategy from the start.

“In new, expanding businesses, you’re forced to make a large number of decisions every day, from hiring new people and dealing with clients to pursuing new opportunities for growth,” says Lance Mysyrowicz, partner at BOOST&Co, which offers loans of £2 million to £10 million to fast-growing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK. “Taking these decisions without an overarching set of principles is difficult; you are likely to take the wrong decisions or just get lost along the way.”

BOOST&Co’s solution was to embed a strong organisational culture early in its development. The business worked with an organisational psychologist – a rare commodity in any firm – to identify, synthesise and structure its cultural tenets. These beliefs and attitudes were shared by the partners, who felt strongly that these should be reflected in all the company’s day-to-day activities and people processes.

We are able to provide more money, earlier in the life cycle of fast-growing businesses. This means SMEs can achieve milestones much more quickly