Tom Leathes

The UK has created 163 unicorn companies to date. Each one had a strategy that matched their vision. If you're aiming to build a billion-pound business, your strategy must reflect that level of thinking. Far too often, founders stop at the surface-level decisions. They don’t align the mission, vision, and actions that drive long-term growth. That's why this infographic is really helpful. It breaks down strategy into three simple but powerful layers: ✅ Purpose ↳ Why do we exist? What matters to us? This is where your mission, values, and vision come to life and keep your team aligned. ✅ Strategy ↳ How will we get there? This is the bridge between aspiration and execution, covering plans, focus areas, and enabling tools. ✅ Execution ↳ What will we do next, and how will we track it? This is where actions, targets, and KPIs create real results. I’ve seen too many businesses stall because they ignore this process. But every billion-pound business I've backed or built has done the opposite. They've had a crystal-clear mission, a strong strategy, and consistent execution. And more importantly, they believed it was possible to build something big. That belief needs to show up in every step of the funnel.  If you’re building a business with serious potential, My book How to Make a Billion in 9 Steps will help refine your strategy. You can order the book here 👇 https://lnkd.in/eRYDKXdT What’s one part of your strategy that you’re currently refining? I’d like to hear how you’re approaching growth. ⬇️ ♻️ Repost if you believe Britain needs more billion-pound businesses. And for more on scaling with purpose, Follow me Richard Harpin.

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“The UK has the best talent in the world, but we sometimes lack ambition”   Grateful for Neil Buchanan @ Lodestar Space (‘bodyguards for satellites’) inspiring and educating our emerging founders spinning out from UK Atomic Energy Authority (thank you) > If you’re pre-idea and pre-cofounder you’ll benefit from doing the Entrepreneurs First programme (if you can get on). The speed of learning and environment truly accelerate founders > Unlocking early adopter demand: LinkedIn outreach, speak to people with common interests, build networks, keep the cadence of outreach, running a customer discovery process (‘mom test’ - Rob Fitzpatrick ) > Sizing the opportunity: top down look for $10BNs to $100BNs market problems and then look bottom up with an eye to the future. Bottom up is always the sobering one and should be your north star - never lie to your team, investors and worst of all: yourself.  > Engaging VCs often: reduce the risk as much as possible (team, market, tech) show how you’re hiring to fit a few key gaps can be fine > Founders need to be confident to be selective with the investors they partner with. Being mindful if you’re taking investment from a key player in an industry (is it for their ultimate M&A activity, is it going to impact your sales). Ideally you’re ambitious and don’t want an early exit but also investment from a defence prime if you’re dual use can unlock channels > Building for dual use or defence? Prioritise USA GTM in the short term. > Finding non-dilutive sources of cash: run a process to identify relevant organisations, keep an open mind / keep it wide to keep options open. Keeping burn low you can achieve a lot prior to dilutive capital > Don’t get distracted by the shiny numbers of a big raise - it's needed for strong talent acquisition & credibility boosting but the best talent will resonate with the high impact mission & tech dev to get there - the rest of your time for focus on where it needs to be: customers and sales > Geopolitics impacting decisions on which markets to target, hiring decisions, who to have on the cap table ▪️If you’re an investor / founder and you’d like to do a lunchtime Q&A to educate and inspire our emerging founders please DM

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The numbers tell a story, and it's not a pretty one for Rachel Reeves. UK 30-year gilt yields have hit 5.69% - the highest they've been since May 1998. That's a 27-year high. For those wondering what this actually means: gilt yields are the amount the UK govt is having to offer to borrow money. And the 30-year gilt is basically a 30-year loan so the principal is repayable in 30 years' time with interest in the meantime. Think of it like this: if you had a poor credit score, lenders would demand higher interest rates from you. The same logic applies to countries. The markets are essentially saying: "UK, we're not entirely confident in your future financial position." With the autumn budget looming, this adds serious pressure to the Chancellor's plans. Higher borrowing costs mean either less money for public services or higher taxes to balance the books. And it gets more interesting: because inflation is also going up whilst interest rates are going down (normally these would move in the same direction). What are the root causes of all this? Persistent inflation and rising public debt have spooked investors. They're demanding higher returns to compensate for what they see as increased risk. But the Bank of England is conscious that keeping interest rates where they are or raising them will weaken an already weak economy. For investors, this creates an interesting dynamic. Higher yields mean better returns on government debt - but only if you believe the UK can actually service these obligations long-term. It's a reminder that in finance, as in life, confidence is everything. And right now, the markets aren't feeling particularly confident about Britain's fiscal trajectory. The question for Reeves: how do you restore that confidence without choking off economic growth? That's the £1 trillion question. #UKEconomy #Gilts #PublicFinances #Investment

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