What It Really Takes to Succeed in the UK!

Goodwille had the absolute pleasure of hosting an event in Helsinki as part of the mighty Slush week. The event focused on helping Nordic businesses understand how to successfully set up and scale in the UK, and was co-hosted by PR geniuses Nara Communications, with valuable contributions from speakers representing EAS Project and PT1.

As always when we co-host events, I don’t only get the chance to talk about the important steps when setting up in the UK, and the type of support that Goodwille can provide, but I also get the opportunity to gain new insights into the motivations, challenges and strategies that help businesses thrive in the UK and beyond.

Listening to my co-speakers, panellists, and the questions and experiences shared by the businesses and stakeholders in the room, a few key themes kept coming up; topics that can genuinely make or break an international scaling strategy.

The first one is regularly mentioned but still worth repeating: in the UK, it’s all about connections. Building on that, both the panel and the audience highlighted the difference in the importance of in-person meetings when building a network in the UK compared to the Nordics. In the Nordics, virtual connections can often be as valuable as those made face-to-face. According to the discussions, that’s not quite the case in the UK, where an in-person introduction beats a virtual outreach any day of the week. And how do you increase your chances of meeting people face-to-face? Simple, you have to be there.

Which leads perfectly to my second takeaway: a UK presence is crucial, not only to support those in-person introductions but also to increase your visibility among overseas investors. Bryony Cooper, Director of IR & Comms at PT1, has extensive experience on both sides of the fundraising table; first as a founder and now as an investor, and she made a strong case for the importance of being physically present in the market you want to target. UK presence not only increases the likelihood of UK-based investors favouring your business, but it also opens doors to investors elsewhere, including the US. The bridge between the UK and US investor ecosystems is strong and well-established, making US investors feel that backing a company with UK presence is far easier, and safer, than investing in a business operating solely from the Nordics.

And if fundraising isn’t your focus? Then my third takeaway is for you. My brilliant co-speaker Alicia Baines, Head of Client Services at Nara Communications, emphasised that most businesses already have something they can use to get traction when entering a new market, the challenge is usually a lack of creativity. This point was perfectly illustrated by panellist Teemu Konttinen, COO of EAS Project, who shared the remarkable journey of how they built a brand, secured clients in 60 markets, and scaled into the UK – all without funding and with only a few hundred pounds spent on marketing. Their secret? Creativity. In order to promote EAS Project’s tax advisory services, Teemu and the team developed a reputation by showing up in the digital spaces where businesses were actively looking for tax advice. As demand grew and trust developed, they built an impressive client portfolio simply by proving they were the right people for the job. The key takeaway? No marketing budget – no problem! You just need a creative approach.

To summarise: for any business looking to scale, it’s all about presence. For EAS Project, that meant being present in the online spaces where potential clients were looking for help. But as mentioned earlier, in-person presence beats virtual presence any day of the week. If you want to increase your chances of succeeding in the UK, you need to be there; for those unplanned, unexpected in-person meetings and to attract international investors. At Goodwille, this is advice we regularly give to businesses looking for guidance on how to scale successfully into the UK. It’s also why we see it as our mission to support overseas businesses entering and growing in the UK market.

If you want to learn more about our best advice for entering the UK, easily and successfully, reach out to our experienced team. We’ll give you all the reasons why you should be here, and guide you through every step of your UK setup journey.