Author: Martin Port

Let’s be optimistic about our new “pro business” Prime Minister

Things have been tough recently for business leaders. So many challenges to contend with: rising energy bills; the cost of living crisis; pandemic loans to be repaid; and worrying rises in inflation. But you know me, I look for the silver lining in every cloud.

We finally have clarity on one thing: we have a new Prime Minister. Liz Truss’ selection puts an end to weeks of prevarication and delay. So much political energy has been wasted on trying to curry favour and now Truss can focus instead on carrying out her campaign promises.

Our incoming Prime Minister has pledged to cancel planned corporation tax and national insurance hikes, cap energy bills for small firms, and possibly reduce VAT and business rates. She has declared her intention to focus on growth and productivity, which is music to my ears. I don’t like to second guess politicians, but she seems to have a pro-business stance, and a willingness to take decisive action, which is what this country needs.

I’m not alone in my optimism. Jonathan Geldart, Director General of the Institute of Directors, writes: “We warmly welcome the appointment of a new Prime Minister and hope that we can now move on from the recent political uncertainty that has had a real impact on business confidence.”  

Stephen Phipson, CEO of Make UK, the manufacturers’ organisation says: “We congratulate Liz Truss on her appointment and look forward to discussing the critical importance of manufacturing, a sector that delivers millions of well-paid, highly skilled jobs across the whole of the UK.” It feels like the whole business community is willing her appointment to be a beneficial one, hoping against hope that she sees the value we bring to Britain and its economy. 

Entrepreneurs are optimists by their very nature, always sure they can find solutions to problems, that they can create value, help people, create jobs, and provide for their families. When others cut budgets, entrepreneurs invest. When some downsize their marketing departments in response to recession, entrepreneurs double down to increase market share. At BigChange, we have seen our entrepreneurial customers grow during challenging times. They never gave up, kept innovating, and always looked for the silver linings.

I spend as much time as I can with our BigChange customers. Recently, I visited super growth customer Vital Power Limited, which is one of the fastest-growing generator service solutions companies in the UK. Their vision is to become the most trusted critical power provider within the sector and I am delighted that BigChange is proving to be instrumental in realising these ambitious growth plans. Steve Morris from Legionella & Fire Safe has been using BigChange since his first year in business. “It’s been a godsend, driving efficiencies across the company,” he says. “Running a business that’s growing 75% a year is like trying to hold onto a kite on a windy day. BigChange removes all the noise and hassle so we can focus on the growth.” When I went to see Ivan Smyth, who founded outstanding high-growth BigChange customer Quest Waste Management in 2015, he told me he has grown the organisation to 50 people in a few short years, expanding headcount by 30% a year; that’s a lot of job creation. Another great BigChange customer, Steven Lannon from Precision Utility Mapping in Scotland, uses our technology to service clients across the UK and Ireland – it’s another example of how hi-tech firms can support one another’s growth and success in parallel. 

Business leaders have been through such a torrid time, running the commercial equivalent of the Grand National over the past few years. They have jumped fence after fence. Some fell at Becher’s Brook. Let’s hope this is the final furlong and that we can all emerge as winners.

In a fast-growing, international business, communication is vital. You need to talk to your teams, your teams need to check in with each other, and you need to keep communicating with customers. This gets harder and harder as the headcount rises.

Over the years, I’ve experimented with different ways of creating these conversations. There are lots of digital communication platforms out there, and some have their merits. Meetings have their place too but I have posted before about my meeting fatigue when I accidentally found myself trying to sit in on each and every catch-up.

I believe that the most powerful tool that any leader can use when they need to keep prioritising communication is the huddle.

Huddles are typically weekly team meetings, which involve the whole company. Some people call them “all hands”. These meetings have a very important purpose: they are opportunities to share company news, introduce new members of the team, share wins and figure out solutions for problems. 

At BigChange, we all get so much out of these huddles. At 11am every Friday, the whole team comes together to talk sales, marketing and product. It ensures that we are all on the same page and totally up to date with everything going on within the business. I don’t know how we would survive without them.

Here are five reasons you should introduce a huddle (if you don’t love them already)

1.)  Fewer meetings

It might sound like a weekly huddle is adding just one more meeting to your already overstuffed calendar, especially as they can involve quite a bit of work (preparing presentations etc) but the huddle can end up doing away with several meetings in one fell swoop. You are telling everyone vital information at the same time, and giving them the opportunity to ask questions, which potentially eliminates the need for meetings afterward. I know that too many meetings can be draining, so we aim to have fewer meetings with more people, so that we can maximise their effectiveness.

2.)  Motivating the team

Bringing the whole team together in this way to celebrate business wins is incredibly motivating for everyone. They get to see the contributions of teams besides their own and see how their efforts fit into the company as a whole. Huddles help leaders take their whole team on a journey. It’s incredibly powerful.

3.)  Transparency

By being up front and honest about company performance, you’re ensuring a culture of transparency. New starters get to hear sales figures on their first week – there are no secrets here. Open conversations are always useful, especially as a company grows – with huddles, there’s less chance of misunderstandings. We even invite customers along to our huddles so that they can understand the inner workings of BigChange. A study by Label Insight found that 94% of consumers would be more likely to be loyal to a brand that offers transparency, while 73% said they were willing to pay more for a product that offers complete transparency.

4.)  Introduce important topics

Huddles are a great opportunity to talk about our purpose and values that are outside company performance, such as diversity and inclusion. We like to take a few minutes to share our strategies and goals around building an inclusive company and ensuring that we have a truly neurodiverse team.

5.)  Maintain the personal touch

As a company grows, it can be hard for leaders to meet every new colleague – or even to know everyone’s name. This can lead to a massive gulf forming between the leader and the people on the “shop floor”. Huddles ensure that the leader is visible and also give people from all across the company the chance to ask questions and offer their input. I know of organisations where the CEO sends out a weekly email instead of offering face-to-face contact. That’s just not the BigChange way.

Serial entrepreneur and angel investor Martin Port has completed a six-figure investment into analytics solution Panintelligence.

Leeds-based embedded analytics provider Panintelligence helps companies capture and analyse data in real-time to help them make informed business decisions. 

Martin Port joins Panintelligence as a board observer and strategic adviser as the business prepares for the next phase of growth. 

Panintelligence’s platform, pi, delivers a seamlessly embedded analytics solution for SaaS companies combining interactive reporting, predictive analytics capabilities, and self-service dashboards. 

The company has customers across three continents and its pi platform boasts more than half a million users worldwide.

Martin’s investment will be used to help Panintelligence grow market share and increase its sales and marketing activities.

Going from strength to strength

Leeds-based Panintelligence was founded by Ken Miller and CEO Zandra Moore in 2014. The company is backed by investor YFM Equity Partners, which specialises in helping fast-growth small businesses to scale. 

Panintelligence raised £3.5m in a Series A round from YFM Equity Partners in 2019. This latest funding from Martin, who joins the business as a minority investor, will help Ken and Zandra to build on the success of the past three years. 

“I met Zandra 10 years ago and was immediately impressed by her dynamism and drive,” said Martin. “We kept in touch over the years, and I have seen the business go from strength to strength. I’m looking forward to sharing all my experience building fast-growth technology businesses as part of my new role.”

“Panintelligence is on a journey to pioneer the rapidly growing self-serve embedded analytics space,” said Zandra. “Martin shares the same values and the same commitment to innovation and customer service, so I know his expertise will help us reach our business goals.”

Martin is the founder of telematics pioneer Masternaut and mobile workforce management platform BigChange.

He holds his Panintelligence adviser position alongside his chairman role at BigChange. 

He is also an adviser and shareholder in online tradesperson marketplace Rated People.

“I am a huge believer in the power of data to revolutionise business, so I am passionate about everything that Panintelligence can achieve over the coming years,” he said.

I often talk about how technology can help supercharge growth for businesses of all sizes. Once you find the right software or platform for you, the results can be dramatic.

Two years ago, plumber Luke Taylor was working for an insurance firm. He had been at the company six years and had itchy feet. “I had always wanted to run my own company,” he tells me. “I decided it was time to have a go.”

He and a colleague took the plunge and fitted their first bathroom as independent tradespeople in February 2020. “Perfect timing,” he jokes. The pandemic soon struck, leaving Luke and his partner high and dry. Later that year, his partner moved away, so Luke decided to start his own company, Leeds-based Cloud Plumbing & Heating.

Anyone in the trades knows that it can be hard to get going as a new company. You have no track record, no word-of-mouth recommendations, and no money to invest in marketing. Luke’s solution was to use Rated People, the trades platform, to drum up new business and make a name for himself.

“You sign up and pay a small monthly subscription and then you pay per lead,” he explains. “We were winning 70% of all the bathrooms we pitched for, and in that first year we landed around £100,000-worth of work.”

Of course, a platform like RatedPeople.com can only help accelerate growth if you do a great job. “We have 38 reviews on RatedPeople.com – and all are five stars,” Luke says. “That’s been a major factor in our success.” Customers soon started recommending Cloud Plumbing to their friends, and the business began receiving lots of inbound enquiries.

“I was really fortunate that there was a massive trades boom last year,” he says. “People couldn’t go on holiday, so they had some money to spare. And they were spending a lot more time at home, which made them want to invest in new kitchen and bathrooms.”

I met Luke after he did some work for my father-in-law. The quality of the craftsmanship was second to none, so I asked to meet him, and we got chatting. To help expedite growth further, Luke decided to use BigChange to automate his processes.

“I was spending at least two hours per job on creating invoices, attaching them to emails, and chasing payments manually. It was so inefficient,” Luke says. “I was creating each document in Microsoft Word!”

Luke’s business is going from strength to strength. “In October 2020, when I started the company, there were just two of us, working out of a van I borrowed from my dad. And now we are a team of six with three vans between us,” he explains. “We started using BigChange in January, which has been a game changer for us, helping to streamline our operations. I used to spend hours on paperwork and now it’s all automated, which leaves me free to focus on growing the business.”

Luke has recommended BigChange to other companies in his network, and has brought his subcontractors onto the platform. “We use one plumber for our maintenance work. We used to send details of jobs over via Whatsapp and we’d go back and forth. We got him a BigChange licence and he’s loving it!”

These two technology platforms have helped to revolutionise this start-up, and allow Luke to grow faster than he ever anticipated. “I’m aiming to get to 10 people and 10 vans,” he says. “We’ll get there pretty soon and BigChange will be integral to that growth.”