Episode 72: Turning Setbacks into Success: Navigating Business Growth with FundingNav’s Stephen Sacks

Guest Bio

Stephen is passionate about helping businesses to grow and become more successful by sourcing the right funding for them. With over 30 years’ business and commerce experience, he can help you unlock the cash available to your business and assist your company to grow at an accelerated rate.

Funding Nav will help you to create more leeway and efficiency within your business, so you are able to expand and become more effective. We can then look externally to source funding including both equity and debt, help you to claim money back from the government, and ensure that you pay less tax.

Do you identify with any of these challenges within your organisation?

● Need more cash to invest in new projects but have been turned down by existing lenders​ or investors.

● Pay too much company tax and would like to pay less​

● Opportunity could revolutionise your business but you need funds now to take advantage of it.​

● Need cash to pay large VAT or corporation tax bill​

● Your business is growing quickly and you need to raise funds through selling equity however you need some cash to tide you over until the new money arrives​

By taking a holistic approach and linking efficiencies, reclaiming overpaid tax and unsecured lending we can:

● Achieve 100% success rate in getting through R&D tax claims we make.

● Take a very entrepreneurial view of businesses issues and opportunities in order to deliver cash required in the shortest possible time. ​

● Sense check businesses plans to ensure most efficient funding structure is put in place and go out to the broadest range of potential investors in a unique way.

● Work closely with great partners so together we are the largest R&D claimant in the U.K. and
have the broadest lending panel

Want to find out more?

I will be pleased to offer a 30 minute exploratory conversation where I can offer my expertise. Please do message me or call 07768 111234 or why not drop me an email to Stephen.sacks@fundingnav.com or arrange a meeting https://calendly.com/stephen-sacks/30-minute-zoom-with-stephen-sacks.

Recap & Takeaways

Key Takeaways

• • [00:00-1:39] Introducing Stephen Sacks, the founder of Funding Nav. with over 30 years of experience solving business challenges. 
  • [1:39] Sacks talks about his experience running a furniture import business that failed due to the negative impact of Brexit, and how he struggled to attract external funding for his business. 
  • [2:16] Stephen Sacks believes that seeking external funding is a failure in a business’s strategy. He advises businesses to explore other solutions before seeking funding, such as putting prices up if the business is losing money. 
  • [ 7:00] It’s important for businesses to recognize where they might be carrying ego customers or products that aren’t supporting the team to be sustainable, and to recognize failure to unlock opportunities. 
  • [13: 19] The most successful businesses are confident enough to let go of customers, while the least successful ones lack the confidence or ability to do so. Good businesses quickly replace lost customers and have better outcomes. 
  • [14: 57] The process of analyzing customers and product data sets is different from that of banks, who mainly look at financial instruments like P&Ls, LSS, balance sheets, and age debt reports. However, both approaches may be used together. 
  • [20:08] The discussion revolves around hiring talent remotely and the challenges that come with it, such as compliance with legal regulations, managing IT, and ensuring the person hired is genuine. 
  • [25:34] When evaluating a team, the character of the founder, the team itself, the customer, and the supply chain are all taken into account, with a focus on finding teams with the potential to achieve their growth plans. 
  • [28:58] The lack of financial sophistication in small to medium enterprises is a universal challenge, including deficiencies in strategic thinking, cash flow management, and accounting practices. Accounting tends to be backward-looking, focusing on meeting statutory requirements rather than anticipating future challenges and opportunities. 
  • [35:08] Stephen Sacks talks about a failed business that didn’t work despite being similar to one of the most valuable businesses in the world. It was a huge learning experience and builds community. 
  • [37:19] Dane Groeneveld quotes Machiavelli on how entrepreneurs keep trying to get out of trouble, often digging themselves into a deeper hole. Sharing stories of failures helps people learn from mistakes. 
  • [38:25] Stephen shared his own story of failure in the furnishing industry and how it inspired him to create a more empathetic and supportive funding platform. Sacks believes that it’s important for founders to remain true to their initial purpose and not lose sight of why they started their business in the first place. 
  • [39:37] Not only should we embrace the failures of others, but we should also encourage our own teams to anticipate setbacks and learn from them. 
  • [40:31] Where to find Stephen Sacks, and ending thoughts.