Navigating scale: The challenges and opportunities of growing a business

Join us for an engaging discussion, where our expert panel shares insights into the challenges and opportunities that entrepreneurs face when growing successful businesses. We'll be examining key topics such as the growing imperative to balance purpose and profit, how to choose the right investors and the changing role of the founder.

Our expert panel:

Nick Sturge MBE - Nick co-founded and IPO'd Motion Media Technology, co-founded Engine Shed in 2013, and grew the SETsquared Bristol Centre to be ranked the world's top university incubator. Nick now has a strong portfolio of non-executive director and chair roles to several companies in the city of Bristol.

Caroline Clark - Co-Founder, Entrepreneurship & Innovation Facilitator of Streams Learning Hub - creating a community space for flexible online & in-person learning for teens in Bristol. Caroline is also the COO Advisor in residence at SETsquared Bristol and Director of Zebera - engaging young innovators through design thinking and idea generation workshops, product development and planning.

Nick Hounsfield - Founder & Chief Vision Officer of The Wave, a High Performance Surf Centre to help coach future surfing stars and a safe environment for beginners to learn, whatever age or ability. Following a long career in healthcare, Nick's vision is to revolutionise surfing, and bring the health and lifestyle benefits to millions of people across the world.

Rosie Bennett - Startup founder and previous entrepreneur-in-residence at the University of Bath. Rosie co-founded Neighbuddy, who created peer to peer and hyperlocal digital platforms including Storenextdoor and The Savvy Earner. Rosie was also the Investment Manager at SETsquared Partnership up until 2022 when she became COO of Mystic AI, a venture backed scale up making AI deployment fast, simple, scalable, and secure.

Topics of discussion will include:

• The pivotal role founders play in scaling businesses, the qualities that make them effective, and the common pitfalls to avoid.
• The challenges founders face in balancing profit and purpose alongside the continued rise of movements such as BCorp and Tech For Good.
• The effect of raising venture capital and how it can impact the pursuit of long-term, sustainable business models.
• Choosing the right investors for your business.

Please note:

• Location - Engine Shed, Station Approach, Bristol
  The Engine Shed if fully accessible to everyone, with wide doors, lifts and accessible toilets. If you have any questions on accessibility or specific requirements, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
• Doors will open at 6pm and the event starts at 6.30pm. We will allow plenty of time for food, drinks and networking.
• We reserve a proportion of free tickets for anyone who would like to attend but isn’t able to afford a ticket. If you think you might qualify please get in touch.
• Places are limited so grab your tickets now!