If you are thinking about starting a business in Southampton or would like to grow your existing business, we would love to help you.
Start Your Own Business in Southampton contains resources and the information that will help give your venture the best chance of success. It also highlights organisations who offer friendly advice and the services that you are likely to need as a new startup or local business owner.
Grants | Networking groups | Business advice | Mentoring | Co-working spaces
There is plenty of help for startups in Southampton but where can it be found?
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This website was born in Southampton over 15 years ago! Not only that, we have been working with local start-ups for almost two decades now - our first newspaper was called 'Start Your Own Business in Hampshire' and was sponsored by Business Link Wessex when they were the leading business support organisation in the area. As a result, we do think that we are perfectly placed to point you in the right direction!
Hopefully, you will be pleased to hear that the area has a good track record when it comes to start-up survival and up to 10,000 new businesses are formed each year in the SO postcode area alone. If you are planning to join them, can we humbly suggest that you make the most of the advice and guidance that is available and immerse yourself in the local business community.
Within the city itself there is a thriving business community and plenty of business support, much of which is free.
As well as being located in the relatively affluent south east, Southampton has excellent communication links via train, plane, boat and road. The motorway links provided by the M27 and the M3 give easy access to Bournemouth Portsmouth and London is a little over an hour away.
Southampton City Council are extremely keen to support local businesses and their Economic Development department have funded start-up courses, business support and own Solent Business Centre, which is perfect for new businesses who do not want to be tied to long term leases. They have also funded The Network Eagle Lab which forms part of the Marlands Development. You may also like to have a look at Invest in Southampton
If you want to meet other business owners, there is a healthy selection of networking groups. The Hampshire Chamber of Commerce has a strong presence and has special packages for small businesses and new starts. National organisations such as 4Networking and BNI have local groups and these are complemented by local groups such as Solent Networking and Poddi.
If so, your logo, company details and link to your site could be here!
If you are based in in Southampton or offer a product or service which could help existing local businesses and start-ups, we would love you to help you reach them. Our aim is to increase the chances of every new business's success by highlighting the help that is available in the area.
You are able to add a free listing or act as our recommended local partner for only £10 per year!
We are happy to promote anyone who is prepared to offer friendly support to local start-ups.
Our local partners have been kind enough to help us and are keen to help you too.
Getting it right from the start can help to prevent problems later.
To help you with this we have created a vast selection of resources and they are all completely free!
If you are thinking about starting a business, our FREE three-hour ONLINE workshop is definitely for you!
Open to everyone, our sole aim is to increase your chances of success. We do that by explaining:
The reality of running a business; the most common pitfalls and how to avoid them; which legal status is likely to be most suitable; funding, grants and managing your money; business planning and cashflow forecasting; finding and keeping customers.
You don't know what you don't know!
The prospect of starting a new business can be incredibly exciting but should be approached with care. You have probably heard scary stories about how many start-ups fail in the early stages. You can make sure that you are not one of them by learning as much as possible before you launch. Over the years, we have collected lots of articles which will show you what has worked well for other start-ups and the putfalls to avoid.
Download the 2024 edition of our Free Start Your Own Business guide
An interactive step-by-step guide which also includes all of the most important subjects covered in an easy-to-read way with links to useful online articles and relevant contacts.
The idea of starting your own business can be incredibly exciting and who can blame you for being tempted?
However, the sad truth is that far too many new enterprises fail in the early stages. Our aim is to make sure that you don't become one of them.
This guide explains the key start-up subjects in simple English.
There is also plenty of help available in the area and much of it is free - please do make the most of it.
'You don't know what you don't know' is a phrase that is so applicable to starting a new business.
Southampton is a great place for start-ups but your chances of success are dramatically improved if you make the most of the support that is available locally. Click on logos to visit their websites.
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100's of free startup articles
We have created a collection of 100s of startup articles to help anyone with whatever stage they are on with their business journey. Hundreds of thousands of people have gone before you and we can learn from what they got right and avoid the things that have been proved not to work so well.
You can see the full list of 'articles' at: How to start a business