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Introduction

Morgan Killick

Ex UoS Postgraduate with 20+yrs experience of founding & running multiple businesses, whole journey from startup through to exit.

morgan@levelupsolutions.co.uk

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Common

Local Business Support Channels

Space/Incubators

    • Cooper Project @ Sheffield Tech Parks
    • Barclays Eagle Labs @ Kollider
    • Landing Pad at Olympic Legacy Park
    • Electric Works/Wizu/Acero/Cubo/Union St

Mentoring & Advice

    • Business Sheffield Tech ScaleUp Advisors
    • Sheffield Digital - Mentors
    • ‘Entrepreneurs In Residence’ within Incubation & Uni’s

Acceleration & Support Programmes

    • AWRC Health & Wellbeing Accelerator (Sheffield Hallam University Led)
    • TwinklHive for EdTech
    • Royal Academy of Engineering Regional Talent Engine & Other Programmes
    • Innovate UK EDGE

Money

    • Business Sheffield Grants (4 different schemes from £1k-£12.5k)
    • RA Eng Regional Talent Engine (£20k Grant)
    • Innovate UK Grants (via EDGE Support Programme)
    • Startup Loans Company
    • Angel & Early Stage VC Equity Investors
    • Grantify (bid-writing service)

Networking/Ecosystem

    • Sheffield Digital Events Calendar
    • Monthly ‘Startup Meetups’ at Sheffield Technology Parks
    • GeekBrekky (Friday Mornings at HowSt Café)
    • Business Sheffield Workshops

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Business Sheffield (SCC) Grants

    • Up to £2k towards startup costs
    • Only ~80 grants to give out, so focused on the most in need
    • Will need Business Plan & Application Form

1. Launchpad Grant

    • Up to £10k Grant for a Technology Business to ‘move in’ to paid business premises in South Yorkshire
    • Must be relocating/creating jobs at the premises
    • Grant covers premises and relocation expenses

2. TechWelcome Grant

    • Up to £12.5k Grant (50% of a Project up to £25k value)
    • Eligibility: costs of making productivity improvements in a business already trading as an Ltd Company for 12 months or more

3. Productivity Grant

    • Up to £5k Grant (50% of a Project up to £10k value)
    • Eligibility: costs of ‘digital’ projects to improve productivity/turnover.
    • Needs to be an Ltd Company but trading <12 months is OK

4. Digitalisation Grant

https://www.welcometosheffield.co.uk/business/help-for-local-businesses/grants/

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How to...Understand Market Sizing and Analyse Competitors

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“ Ideas are meant to be attacked, torn apart, and put back together again. You may well want to shield your idea from the harsh sunlight at first.. ��but by the time it’s ready to meet the world, it should be ready for rain or shine.. ��

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Market Sizing & Competitor Analysis: What’s the Point?

Produce evidence to convince you or others (e.g. investors) that the business is viable

Discover nature and quantity of customers

Discover nature and quantity of competitors

Discover tolerable pricing levels

Fine tune your marketing/positioning and Value Prop.

Make changes to the product/service or business model

Helps focus on relevant customers, pains & gains

Establish your longer term growth potential or strategy

Avoid Wasting Time/Resources on a ‘dud’ business concept

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What Type of Business Will You Be?

Risk, Reward & Investment Requirement Goes Up

Intensity of Market Research & Competitor Analysis Goes Up

Side Hustle

Earning extra money / experimenting with business idea

Lifestyle Business

Commercialising the skills you have on a full time basis.

Growth Business

A business with sufficient value-add and growth prospects that it will need a workforce.

Scalable�Inventing/creating a new product or service with scale potential.

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Competitor Analysis & Market Sizing Process

Value Proposition

    • What value do we bring?
    • To whom?

Customer Segments

    • B2B/B2C/B2X
    • Sectors
    • Size of Customer
    • Demographics

Find Competitors

    • Get Googling!
    • Ask around
    • Networks & Associations

Analyse Competing Offers

    • Price & Service Level
    • Business Model
    • Route to Market
    • Positioning

Refine Your Offer

    • Refine customers
    • Refine features/benefit
    • Refine business model
    • Refine pricing
    • Refine positioning

Collect Evidence

    • Market Research Exercises (Surveys/Focus Groups)
    • MVPs/Pilots
    • Primary empirical research

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Activity: 5 Statements to Discuss

  1. “We should start talking to customers as soon as we have something to show them.”
  2. “There isn’t really any competition”.
  3. “We don’t know exactly who we might sell to, so it’s not worth starting to work out market sizes.”
  4. “We are going to be better and cheaper than the competition.”
  5. “My product is so new, the market for it isn’t known yet.”

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Doing a Competitor Analysis

  • Identify List of Competitors to Analyse
  • Identify Criteria to Analyse
  • Conduct the analysis, capturing this in a document
  • Use Product/Service First Hand if Possible (avoids Marketing ‘Mask’)
  • Consider your findings
  • Write-up Findings
    • Produce a typology, matrix or feature/benefit grid
    • Conclude with short statement expressing your competitive advantage
    • Remember that ‘only’ does not = ‘good’

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A Competitor Analysis

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Feature/Benefit Grid

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Comparison Matrix

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Typology

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Market Sizing Using TAM/SAM/SOM

TAM = £5.8bn

SAM = £43m

SOM (2026) = £860,000

Total Addressable aka ‘Available’ Market

Serviceable Addressable Market

Serviceable Obtainable Market

https://www.antler.co/academy/tam-sam-som

https://www.thebusinessplanshop.com/blog/en/entry/tam_sam_som

Theoretical maximum possible sales in the market.

e.g. total volume of sales in Café & Coffee Shops in the UK

A proportion of the TAM representing the part of the market that your business (with its target customer or operational restrictions) is likely to serve.

e.g. estimated volume of sales in Café & Coffee Shops in Sheffield (which is 0.75% of total UK population.)

A proportion or subset of the SAM which you can realistically obtain - often expressed as a time-limited target.

e.g. if there are 100 coffee shops/cafes in Sheffield, average turnover would be £430,000. We aim to open two by 2026.)

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Market Sizing

  • Can be ‘Top-Down’ or ‘Bottom-Up’
  • Top down is based on industry aggregate data (as per example)
  • If using Top-Down, beware generalisations! You must be specific.
  • Bottom up is based on pricing of your product (e.g. avg SPH * projected footfall)
  • If using Bottom up, beware capacity constraints!
  • Go to https://bipcsouthyorkshire.co.uk/grow-your-business/business-information-databases/ for primary sources

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Concluding Thoughts

  1. Its not just about what you do, it’s about what everybody else does�
  2. Failure to engage with customers = guaranteed failure of the business�
  3. Never Underrate Force of Customer/User Inertia �
  4. Experience the Competition at First-Hand�
  5. Building a business is not an academic exercise – get out into the ‘harsh sunlight’ – it’ll do you good!

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Resource – The Business Model Canvas

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