100 Stories of Growth - Insights from Entrepreneurs

69 68 INSIGHTS FROM ENTREPRENEURS DESTINATION SUCCESS? When an entrepreneur’s legacy objectives also includes many others – the people they work with and for and live with and for – the impact also scales up from a personal ambition to a much greater consideration. But we know from detailed conversations with founders and CEOs that including more people who are likely to benefit from a business’ success can also intensify the emotional stress that’s involved. There is a considerable responsibility and burden intrinsically wrapped up in achieving business success. When everything is going well it’s happy days. But when the challenges mount, founders and CEOs have to think the impact that poor trading results will have on their employees, investors, customers and suppliers and families. Many founders and CEOs are squarely focused on delivering success for those around them. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of them tell us that they are working to build “a company that provides long- term security for its employees and lasting benefits for other stakeholders”. Out of all of the legacy objectives that we asked our research respondent about, this one scored the highest. We know that scaling a business takes a whole team and supportive professionals to make a dream a reality. So what are company founders and CEOs doing to push the UK up the international scale-up rankings from 13th place and to offset the uncertainty that comes with the Brexit process? Well, more than half (55%) of all respondents tell us that they are working towards being “responsible for a global leading company or brand”. We know from our in-depth interviews that even company founders who have an eye on exiting their business are mindful of their team’s and stakeholders’ future outcomes. While the end-game can be very different, the emotional investment that goes into achieving these outcomes can be priceless. We asked company founders and CEOs to tell us why they set up their business and continue to focus on scaling it. With so much emotional capital at stake – and as we know considerable impact to many people’s wellbeing and mental health along the way – what would they like to achieve? Almost of half (49%) of all respondents in our research say that their key legacy objective is to achieve “a sense of personal achievement and dream fulfilment”. This sentiment speaks to the much- discussed theme that entrepreneurs very often – but not always – embark on journeys that are fuelled by passions and personal quests in life. Wrapped into those personal goals and ambitions, family matters play a central role. We know from multiple in-depth interviews with founders and CEOs that they would not be able to do what they do without great support to achieve a work- life balance. So, it makes perfect sense that they want to include their families in their success. Slightly less than half (45%) of all respondents say they want to achieve “long-term financial security for my family”. We’ve heard from scores of founders and CEOs who’ve taken part in the campaign that their intense belief in or commitment to their business idea has continued to motivate them when others may have called it a day. While personal achievement and success are truly admirable, we have identified that many scale-up entrepreneurs have much broader objectives beyond their family’s future. of entrepreneurs’ key legacy objective is to achieve a “sense of personal achievement and dream fullfilment” 49% of entrepreneurs want to achieve long-term security for their families 45% Is it all worth the effort? When the stakes become higher