Today is an exciting day at the Evening Standard. As a campaigning newspaper that has served our city since 1827, we knew that, when the coronavirus began taking its toll, we needed to help.
We began by focusing on the city’s most vulnerable with our Food For London Now campaign, which has raised £5.5million to help our partner The Felix Project feed those whose lives have been turned upside down by the virus.
Then, we launched Spirit of London to champion the enterprises and community groups that have recognised people’s needs have changed and are adapting to serve them. They will create the services, employment and wealth the city needs to get us all through this crisis.
Today, we are offering what so many smart start-up entrepreneurs need most — money. With venture capital fund Triple Point, we have launched the Spirit of London Kickstart Fund, which will invest £100,000 to £150,000 of seed capital to the best business ideas in town.
But how do you know if your idea is a winner? The trick is not just to have a brilliant idea, but one that will help a large number of customers
Venture capitalists take huge risks on very young firms. Most will not survive, so investors will only part with their cash if the venture has the potential to be massive.
As serial start-up guru Steve Blank says: “Start-ups don’t fail because they lack a product; they fail because they lack customers.
”So, once you’ve spotted the need you think you can address (the “pain point”, in the jargon) research it as widely as you can.
"Get as much data as you can on how many potential clients are out there. Speak to them and see if they like the idea. Ask how much the problem you’re solving costs them, and how much they’d pay you to solve it.
If the numbers stack up, create a cheap and dirty version — known as a “minimum viable product” — to road-test on your customers. If enough like it, you may be onto a winner. All successful businesses solve a big problem on a large scale.
If your idea does that, why are you still reading this? Get that application in now to standard.co.uk/kickstart.
