A tech start-up company called Haystack has recently raised £1 million to help scale up and expand the reach of their smart talent-matching technology for engineering, data and design recruitment. Founded in 2019, Haystack is a careers and insights marketplace that allows businesses to more efficiently hire for their tech teams by eliminating the need for tech recruiters and saving on internal resources.
But the relevance of Haystack to this article is not for the reasons you might think…
Haystack is a START UP-supported business. Co-founder and COO, Mike Davies, graduated from Newcastle University in 2017 with a BSc in Computer Science and received business coaching from the university’s START UP Advisers.
So, what exactly is START UP?
START UP provides clear, practical direction on starting or growing a business, social enterprise or freelance career, regardless of the stage you are at.
They work with students and graduates (up to 3 years after graduation) who want to work for themselves, be it full- or part-time. The START UP team’s support includes one-to-one coaching and tailored business advice, skills development, equity-free grant funding, co-working space and other valuable opportunities to help you advance your self-employed career.
Currently, there are 203 START UP-supported businesses, with a combined annual turnover of £88 million. Between them, they have raised £44 million in external investments, won numerous national and global accolades and created 947 full-time jobs.
If you have been considering alternative means after university and are thinking of setting up something for yourself, be sure to check out the timeline below!
This article only serves to introduce START UP for those who might not know about it. There are tons more resources about it available on the careers service page that I highly recommend checking out.