Technology, Market and Company Journeys: How Can We Help Them Succeed? - Technopolis: Best Practices for Science and Technology Cities - page 205

• Taking an active role in promoting and supporting companies as they link into
Knowledge Transfer Networks or their equivalent.
• Creating connections that bring into the network international equity finance
helps to widen the exposure of the ideas with commercial potential to an
international market.
• Using their connections to promote companies through international trade
support channels such as trade missions, commercial attachés, and other science
parks with which they have contact.
• Connecting companies and government services that help to provide market
intelligence. In the UK a number of programmes are available that can be used
to provide this information.

4.4 Company Journey

One of the most common patterns for a company journeys is characterised in
Fig. 8 . This usually starts with 1 or 2 individuals and numbers of employees are
added as new dimensions to the business need to be explored and developed. In the
case of spinout companies these individuals are often technology entrepreneurs. As
the company develops, the team needs to be supplemented with a wider range of
skills. Most commonly the initial increase in skills comes from the investors.
Recruitment of the right people on which to base a team is one of the most
critical aspects of building companies. Although this does have element of chance
it is possible to reduce the risks by using the networks created by science parks to
help to identify potential employees.
In terms of the value of high growth coaching this has particular value when
staff levels have reached more than ten in number. Some examples of the kinds of
programmes that have been put together in high growth coaching include:

• Finance for Growth—this provides advice on the basics that every business
leader should know in managing a growing business effectively and includes
details on raising finance.
• Market intelligence—how to increase or better organise company awareness of
current and potential markets by developing a marketing intelligence strategy.
• eMarketing and eCommerce—to facilitate the widest possible use of the tools
and techniques made available by the e-revolution to open up new sales and
marketing opportunities.

Fig. 8 Characterisation of the company journey in business development