What We Learnt Scaling Up Seedball
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
― Anaïs Nin
It’s been a crazy 8 years since we started Seedball. Emily and I had just done the National Environment Research Councils Environmental Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (NERC EnvYES for short). It was a course/competition for PhD students and young researchers to learn the skills you need to start in business. Over the time of the training you came up with a business that solved a problem and basically did an MA in a weekend!! At the end of this time you present your findings to a panel of Angel Investors and then a winner is decided. We didn’t win, our idea was related to sustainable energy, but we did find out we LOVED business and we worked together incredibly well as a team. Shortly after we came up with the concept of Seedball - a simpler way to grow wildflowers from seed to help save bees! Over time we have grown Seedball without funding to a business that has a team of 14, a manufacturing unit, an assembly unit and being stocked in over 600 shops and garden centres across Europe. Seedball is a not for profit Community Interest Company that has already made a huge impact for wildlife (but thats another blog!).
So, here is what we’ve learnt about scaling our company…
1. HAVE A GREAT PRODUCT
It should go without saying but have a product that you love and you are proud of and you’re enthusiastic to watch the business grow and better able to handle the difficult times. yOur product has to solve a problem (and solve it well) and have a clear Unique Selling Point.
2. KISS (KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID)
Being successful in any entreprise is about simplifying things. We’ve consistently gone through everything about Seedball and made it simpler, creating easy to follow procedures and systems and keeping our message clear and concise. Everyone needs to understand your message, from your customers understanding what the product is and how it can help them, to your team understanding expectations and workflow.
The smaller we were the easier it was for everyone to understand each part of the business, as we’ve grown we’ve worked hard to simplify each persons role and how that links to the bigger picture. We found that this simplicity has kept customers and our invaluable team engaged in the business and our aims.
3. LOVE YOUR CUSTOMERS
Getting new customers is hard work. So we focus a lot on how to keep our customers happy, to be a part of our Seedball family and engaged in the information, advice and value that we provide them with. As a result we have a solid base of returning customers plus lots of word of mouth sales. This has been a natural fit for us, after all the aim of our business is to fill gardens easily with wildflowers to save bees. The happier our customers are, the more wildflowers there are in the world!
Ideas for new products have come from our customers, and we’ve responded to feedback as soon as possible. We initially started with very slow to grow perennial wildflowers which tend to improve in display year on year, over time have added in more annuals to ensure customers see a better display as soon as possible after planting. Expectations of customers for fast results is something we have to keep managing and so we take customer service and informing customers very seriously. And have always ensured the information we share is about helping customers also feel part of our larger vision to help wildlife in the garden.
4. HAPPY TEAM
As a business, we would be nothing without customers, we are also nothing without our team! One thing we’ve always done well (and this may be a result of doing PhDs) is to seek out people who know more than us, or are better than us. We’ve certainly done that with our team, who are amazing!
As we have never had investment, we have never really been able to pay a premium. But, we have always given as much as possible in pay and support. In our early days this meant making lunch for everyone. We’ve done things such as cover costs for people getting into work and have always been super flexible with team members, for example so they can come to work after dropping children at school and leave early to pick children up.
We’ve aimed for a happy atmosphere at Seedball and still continue a shared lunch break, evenings out and all to regular prosecco celebrations of each win. We aim to give everyone a chance to excel in what they do best in and to value everyone that works for us. Without them we’d be nothing!
4. STAY INVOLVED IN EVERYTHING
Now this can be a killer. As you scale it’s really tempting to sit back and let someone else take on a role and not really watch what they are doing. We have done this a few times and always to our detriment. Delegation is of course important, and empowerment of the team member to do their job. But, you still need to know whats going on, with everything!! It’s a fine line to tread, as you don’t want to disempower your team either… checking in regularly helps you be better at anticipating when things need to change and by planning for that eventuality. People often use the phrase "work on your business not in it"... but the time frame for this and how it evolves into this is specific to the business and context. This approach needs the right team, very careful management and precise systems - be wary of applying this phrase without careful consideration if this is the right time for both you and your business, and if you have the capacity to fully implement.
5. GET A MENTOR
We found this absolutely the most natural and comfortable thing to do. As a PhD student you have a supervisor who helps guide you through the process. Someone who has been there before and knows the ropes, potential pitfalls and steps to success. We found an amazing mentor really early on and have checked in with him regularly throughout our scale up.
We have found scaling an enjoyable experience as we’ve been able to leverage off the skills of those better than us!
6. KNOW YOUR NUMBERS
In business cash is king! You need to know real data for everything:
Cash flow
Profit/Loss
Customer acquisition
Customer retention
What messages customers engage best with
Conversion rates and causes
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats inetrnally and externally for your business
With regular solid monitoring and analysis of data (also known as Key Performance Indicators "KPI's") you can make informed decisions to help you grow… data is like your flashlight in what can otherwise become a very confusing muddle!
Have you scaled up a business? What are your learning points? I’d love to know!
Ana ♡
Want to connect? Find me on insta @dranaattlee, or why not pop along to a meet up? If you think I can accelerate your journey to your goals get in touch or book a coaching session!