Introduction to business information

Editor's Notes

• #4: This workshop is part of a series of free workshops known as innovating for growth: start-ups and it's designed to give those who are in the early idea stage of their business information on the different aspects of starting a business. There is another programme called Innovating for Growth Scale-ups. That's designed for businesses that have been trading for a year or have the potential to grow. And that is tailored advice for you from our partners who will specialise in different areas of business. It's funded in part by the European Union regional development fund and you get $10000 worth in expertise from our partner over three months.
• #6: The BIPC hosts the largest free collection of business and patent information in the UK, with access to over 40 high value online databases, 50 million patents, market research reports,7,500 hard copy alone. Access to the British Library’s collection of over 150 million items including the Sound Archive, Newspaper library and Images Online Free advice and guidance from Information Specialists In-depth priced research by Research Experts To inspire you and help you make best use of the Centre, we offer a range of workshops and events. To use the Business and IP Centre resources you will need a Library Reader Pass. Bring along 2 original forms of ID - 1 showing your signature (i.e. bank/credit card/driving licence or passport) and another showing your home address (i.e. Utility bill, bank statement or driving licence) Go to Reader Registration Office (Upper Ground Floor), fill in a form and get your reader pass. Start using the Business & IP Centre Fire alarms, Toilets, Reader Pass, Pencils
• #11: We also over 35 workshops which will look at the different aspects of starting and running a business. From writing a business plan to pitching your business, making sense of cash flow to networking, from prototyping and commercialising an invention to running a food business. These are available to book via our website and most of the workshops run monthly... so don't worry if you can't make that initial date.
• #12: We offer one to one advice sessions - delivered by members of the BIPC team and our partners, depending on what you need or how advanced you are with your business. Again these can be booked via our website and if you are not sure which option is appropriate for you, do contact us – our contact details will be at the end of the presentation.
• #13: And finally talks and seminars We invite established entrepreneurs to give an insight into their journey to getting their business where it is today. It gives you an opportunity to hear from them, how they got to where they are and some of the pitfalls they faced along the way as well as giving you an opportunity to ask them questions as well as network with like-minded people. Past guests have included sir Alan sugar, members of Dragons Den, Stelios, and Levi roots to name a few.
• #14: Before that, let’s start by getting to know a little about you. We’re going to go around the meeting and if you would tell us your name, your business idea and stage you are at. You don’t need to share anything that you do not want to – especially if it is sensitive information – and what you hope to get from the session. Are there any questions at this point? Then let’s move on to the different types of business information that’s out there. But why bother even looking at business information? Let’s start with this rather ominous statement…
• #15: To be fair, that's not to say that businesses cannot become successful by finding their way through trial and error. They can. However, the success rate for businesses is not as high as many would think. According to Bloomberg, 8 out of 10 entrepreneurs fail within the first 18 months And those that manage to make a success of it beyond those months are not guaranteed to stay that way. You only need to look at the state of the high street these days to tell you that. But by doing your research, you can shorten your learning curve and save time, trouble, customers and money. If you are starting, it can give you an indication on whether your idea has a good chance of becoming a successful business If you are up and running, it can help you to grow faster, and better equip you to adapt to any changes that may affect you sector. Make better informed decisions.
• #18: So we're going to look in more detail at the different types of business information that's out there, what is available in the centre and how it could be useful to you.
• #19: Let’s start with resources relating to the practical aspects of starting up.
• #20: These are common questions that you’ll find with regards to starting up: • How do you register your business and what are the options that I have? • What regulations so I need to be aware of? • If you are going to need help with your business, what do you need to know when hiring staff? • Funding - where can I get help financially? A good place to start would be a workshop such as the second day of this event (Centa). s relating to the practical aspects of starting up
• #21: We do offer a workshop on all the essentials you need to know to set up and launch your business
• #22: Next, let’s look at how you can confirm a demand for your product or service. Now as well as knowing what you need to do to start a business, you want to be confident that you do have a viable business - that is, that there is enough demand out there to make enough of a profit to justify the time, energy and money that you will spend in building this business. We find that sometimes there is confusion when it comes confirming a demand. Sometimes an entrepreneur’s confidence that their venture will be successful stems from the fact that… they don’t have the whole picture – are still missing some puzzle pieces. There is no blind spots.
• #23: There can be some confusion with regards to conducting market research. We have people come in so convinced and invested in their idea that they just want to get started. and when asked have they looked into how viable this business idea is they reply they're confident because...
• #24: Their family or friends told them it was a good idea. Sometimes it’s "I've spoken to 7 or 8 people and they thought it was a good idea that they would buy”. I'm sure you can see the danger with having a "build it and they will come" mentality. There could be a number of factors such as these that mum and dad may not have taken into account. Things like this affect whether something is successful or not.
• #25: The Mom Test Book by Rob Fitzpatrick – It’s not their responsibility to tell you the truth. It is your responsibility to find it!
• #26: We are big fans of the Lean approach to start-up in the Business & IP Centre. Especially the core idea that you need to test our your assumptions as early and cheaply as possible. And be prepared to change the nature of the business based on feedback.
• #27: You don’t always know – it is not obvious. Problems and solutions. Innovations and developments. Fall in love with the problem and it sits at the heart of your value proposition for your customers.
• #32: Book by Eric Ries on The Lean Start-up An approach to business development in cycles of learning, collecting data and evidence and building from what is understood. The process is ongoing e.g. pandemic issues and innovations, Brexit, digital transformation etc.
• #33: Book by Eric Ries on The Lean Start-up An approach to business development in cycles of learning, collecting data and evidence and building from what is understood. The process is ongoing e.g. pandemic issues and innovations, Brexit, digital transformation etc.
• #35: Customer Discovery – You are testing your assumptions at this point by doing research. Can you sell it at a price that would attract people to buy while still making a profit - how much would they pay for it? Are people currently happy with what’s already on offer that they may not be interested in anything else? Will enough people potentially buy it - especially if its niche or targeted at a small group - what will happen once they all buy it? Is it the right time to launch - is the environment, right?
• #36: We are going to Understand your market by Desk Research and Field Research.
• #37: You also have desk research, which is getting information from secondary resources to establish a demand for your idea. Usually offering wider context by analysts and published by recognised and knowledgeable industry experts.
• #38: It looks at your customers: Who are they? Where are they? where do they shop? how much do they spend? what are their attitudes to what is out there. It looks at your competition: Who are they? how many of them are there? how are they performing? It looks at the market: How big is it? is it growing or is it in decline? and what are the trends or forecast that could have an affected on that industry.
• #39: Well researched over long period of time, looking at trends and forecasts. Offering data and infographics, insights and sources you can use for evidence in your funding and business bids.
• #40: Reading Room – Reader’s Pass, Access only in Reading Room. Help and support from staff. £50+ million worth of information for free with your readers pass, but you have to be in the Business and IP Centre to use them and Terms and conditions apply.
• #41: £50+ million worth of information for free with your readers pass, but you have to be in the Business and IP Centre to use them and Terms and conditions apply.
• #42: You are not going to find an individual report for every niche. Reports will tend to be general but will often have information on the niches that are having an affect on that particular industry. If you can't find anything, broaden your search as you may find relevant information that way. Also it helps to think outside the box. and the founder of this product right here is a good example. The founder of Pomegrate, Adam Pritchard, he came up with the idea after coming across pomegranates on his travels. So he came into the library, before my time, and said I hear you have a collection of market research reports - I'm looking for a report on the pomegranate juice industry in the UK. I should add this was at the time when most people had not even heard of a pomegranate So you can imagine no report. Undeterred he decided to broaden his search.
• #43: The founder of Pomegrate, Adam Pritchard, he came up with the idea after coming across pomegranates on his travels. So he came into the library, before my time, and said I hear you have a collection of market research reports - I'm looking for a report on the pomegranate juice industry in the UK. I should add this was at the time when most people had not even heard of a pomegranate So you can imagine no report. Undeterred he decided to broaden his search.
• #44: The founder of Pomegrate, Adam Pritchard, he came up with the idea after coming across pomegranates on his travels. So he came into the library, before my time, and said I hear you have a collection of market research reports - I'm looking for a report on the pomegranate juice industry in the UK. I should add this was at the time when most people had not even heard of a pomegranate So you can imagine no report. Undeterred he decided to broaden his search.
• #45: He used the science reading room to research the health benefits of pomegranates, to which he found that they had more anti-oxidant benefits than cranberries. He was on to something so he then looked at an industry that would be interested in those benefits
• #46: The healthy lifestyle industry. And so he used information from various sources to identify a potential demand for this product.
• #47: Lesson of this story: broaden your search, and try and think outside of the box if you can't find a report for your specific idea.
• #48: Now part of your market research may involve looking into how many competitors you have and how they are performing. Competitors can be see as free research. They’re either doing something you should or doing something you shouldn’t. Learn from them. …However you may also want to look into companies for other reasons. So we're now going to look at how you can find information on companies.
• #50: So as well as looking at the competition, you wish to look into a company that you wish to collaborate with to make sure they are who they say they are. Companies may talk themselves up in a bid to do business but actually are in trouble financially - that could hurt you if you sign a contract with them and they suddenly go under - so you may want to investigate beforehand. Or you could be looking into suppliers or manufacturers that can help you to make your idea a reality you may wish to create a contact list B2B or B2C - Speaking of contact list, what if your potential customers are other businesses as opposed to the public? you may want to create a contact list of potential customers.
• #51: Here in the Business & IP Centre, we subscribe to various company information publishers that have information on UK companies, international companies and even a database of global manufacturers and suppliers. So what can you do here that you can't do at home? Let's take a look. Gov.uk has free UK companies but not as sophisticated as these databases.
• #52: So with companies house I previously looked up Tesco and got their filing information. but what if you didn't want to just look at Tesco, you wanted information on supermarkets in the UK? You can do that on a database called Fame. You set the criteria - in my case I just searched for Supermarkets, but you can also narrow it down to location - right down to postcodes or size if you are looking for a particular size of company. As you can see my basic search pulled up quite a few supermarkets in the UK
• #53: What if you didn't just want information on the UK? You wanted to look at supermarkets around the world? For that you have Orbis. Looks similar to Fame but you can see the country codes here and the much bigger result here.
• #54: Can you find more than just filing information. Here you can find company annual reports, financial reports from external sources, SWOT analysis, so strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and even contact details for other personnel - not just directors.
• #55: Now there are some limitations to the information you can find in any of these resources particularly if you are looking at small companies as they can be exempt from filing financial information. At best you will find contact details and the name of the director and that's it.
• #56: Now there are some limitations to the information you can find in any of these resources particularly if you are looking at small companies as they can be exempt from filing financial information. At best you will find contact details and the name of the director and that's it.
• #57: We also have hard copy industry specific directories. They are held at the back of the reading room however, just like the small business help section that I mentioned earlier you can see what we have on the online catalogue.
• #58: Next, let’s look at how to keep up to date. Now Something that really applies regardless if you are already up and running or starting out As with everything, things change in business - and much quicker thanks to technology. Tastes change, new generations want different things, circumstances change, If you do something new, the competition will catch up and innovate further, and what you want to avoid is finding out too late and playing catch up with the competition or probably worse, burying your head in the sand and pretending it won't affect you. Change isn't a bad thing if you see it coming and react first, and looking at Business news and journals can help.  
• #63: This can be found in newspapers, magazines, specialist blogs. Don't forget to check the reliability of the source. Look in Willings or Benns Press guides for title We will have quite a few trade journals and magazines on the shelf and in the library as a whole. and you can see what we have in our catalogue.s.
• #64: Business Intelligence for content on Factiva. Number of articles over times e.g. company news, topic etc. Don’t forget Google, although it has a much less powerful search engine and not many publications in full text.
• #65: Finally, let’s touch on Intellectual Property
• #67: So that's the different types of business information to take in and digest - especially if you are completely new to business So the question is where should you start? what's the next step when you leave this room today?
• #69: How-to books, One of the first things people will look to – and justly so – for information on starting a business. They cover the different aspects of starting a business and are put together by people with either expertise or first hand experience in the field as well as books dedicated to a particular industry again put together by people with expertise in that field.   These can be found in book shops – online markets such as amazon and local libraries. Here in the Idea Store you will find a selection of how to books in their business zone collection.   We have a growing collection in our reading room under our small business help banner. That's first set of shelves you see upon entering the reading room.
• #70: Have some samples: We have industry guides for over 25 sectors and they are all available on the shelves just outside the door where security is as well as in the networking area. so have a look before you leave and help yourself, they're free.
• #72: Cobra – Practical Information for starting your business. In local libraries and BIPC Network. BOP, BIF, LAP, Events, Legal, Practical and Sectors. Funding, Business Planning, Marketing Questionnaires
• #76: Source: Unsplash
• #78: Field Research You want to think about how you word your questions. The way you word it can make the difference between having an accurate answer that you can use and one that's not. Our workshop How to Explore Your Market covers this topic in more detail.
• #80: You want to think about how you word your questions. The way you word it can make the difference between having an accurate answer that you can use and one that's not. Our workshop How to Explore Your Market covers this topic in more detail.
• #81: Is this example a good question to ask? No The reason for that is it won't be accurate. It's said people will tend to be more positive with questions like this: yes I'd be happy to buy this, yes I'd be very interested in a product like this.  which is great for self esteem however when you open your doors and start trading, you might find a lot of those people not buying it. The problem with that question is that it's asking for an answer with a future action.
• #82: Is this example a good question to ask? No The reason for that is it won't be accurate. It's said people will tend to be more positive with questions like this: yes I'd be happy to buy this, yes I'd be very interested in a product like this.  which is great for self esteem however when you open your doors and start trading, you might find a lot of those people not buying it. The problem with that question is that it's asking for an answer with a future action.
• #83: This however is more accurate as it asks for a past action. it asks for something that they have already done. So they can tell you what they are currently doing to solve this problem whether they are happy with it and why. If they're not happy with it and you can see that your idea addresses the issue that they are not happy about. That's an indicator that you can use. Alternatively if they're perfectly happy with what is currently out there, again that's an indicator because then you would need to think about why they would buy from you? It's better to think about that now before you invest a lot of time, energy and money than after.
• #84: Asking them how much they have spent on solving their problem gives you more accurate information. It will help you with your price point. Can you price your offering the same or, even better, cheaper. If not, are you offering that much more that people would be happy to pay a little more.
• #85: So this should be easier: is this a good question to ask? No. Again future action and it won't be accurate because you would get a whole load of numbers from £500 to 5p.
• #86: So this should be easier: is this a good question to ask? No. Again future action and it won't be accurate because you would get a whole load of numbers from £500 to 5p.
• #87: Asking them how much they have spent on solving their problem gives you more accurate information. It will help you with your price point. Can you price your offering the same or, even better, cheaper. If not, are you offering that much more that people would be happy to pay a little more
• #88: Asking them how much they have spent on solving their problem gives you more accurate information. It will help you with your price point. Can you price your offering the same or, even better, cheaper. If not, are you offering that much more that people would be happy to pay a little more
• #89: Source: Business Insider
• #90: Using the information and insights gained from desk research and field research to build your business with a sustainable business model and also robust value proposition.
• #92: Developing your Value Proposition – we have a whole workshop on this
• #95: How do I research my market? A guide to using published market research sources and field research, to find the information you need on your business sector. Every business needs to understand their market. This workshop will include market size, trends, competitors, and customer attitudes. This workshop will take you through key information sources available for free in the Business & IP Centre and elsewhere online. It will cover practical examples of finding relevant information from our databases such as Cobra, Mintel and IBIS World. As well as freely available sources on the internet. It will also cover essential field research to complement published market research. This will help find out what your customers think about your specific product or service, including how much they are prepared to pay for it. We will look at how to engage with your customers to find out what they really think, instead of the answers they think you want to hear.
• #97: Or come and speak to us. There's always a member of the Business & IP team on hand in the reading room; and we're more than happy to help Whether it be identifying resources or even navigating through the resources to find the information that you want. We're here to help.
• #98: Or come and speak to us. There's always a member of the Business & IP team on hand in the reading room; and we're more than happy to help Whether it be identifying resources or even navigating through the resources to find the information that you want. We're here to help.
• #99: Or come and speak to us. There's always a member of the Business & IP team on hand in the reading room; and we're more than happy to help Whether it be identifying resources or even navigating through the resources to find the information that you want. We're here to help.