Entrepreneurs Must Be Value-Focussed, Tech-Positive, and People-Oriented

It’s World Entrepreneurs’ Day on the 21st of August. While the UN who created the day isn’t handing out candyfloss to business owners, it intends these days to serve as a moment of reflection. The business community can review where they are, what they need, and how to make the right change to successfully serve their communities, in light of economic, social, and technological disruption.

This summer Labour underscored the point that the UK is “home to world-leading businesses” and, with stability as a core tenet, the government will develop “a plan for the long term that matches the focus and ambition of business”.

Solid plans and public sector strategies are welcome. Entrepreneurship is in a different space in 2024. The instability of markets and requirement for constant adjustment to geopolitical events is startling. Then, the advent of AI in many areas of business and consumer technologies means a creative and committed person has access to considerable leverage to turn their effort into results, faster. But it’s hard to know what tools are best, or what future regulation may mean for those who throw themselves into data-heavy or AI-led solutions as either a business user or as a service provider. Fast-moving innovators don’t always have the luxury of knowing what future legislation will regulate, with even individual US States contributing to a patchwork of data- and AI-specific requirements.

A fertile environment for business starts with planning and investment

Spending where it will make the most impact to fuel growth requires confidence and the ability to plan over the long term.

Labour’s King’s Speech set an ambitious agenda for parliament and should reassure business owners that serious attention is being paid to matters that will support confident business delivery and investment. Proposed bills included a focus on employment rights relating to contract terms, plus equality in pay and pay reporting for larger firms. A Digital Information and Smart Data Bill is designed to allow people to use digital ID for more services, which could encourage tech entrepreneurs to roll out smarter and personalised options for consumers. While there wasn’t an AI bill on the docket, the Government is still considering what to do in regard to “appropriate legislation” to regulate powerful AI models.

Entrepreneurs always have challenging decisions to make on where to focus their time and budget, but they do have clarity on what to expect the Government to focus on over the next few years. Additionally, the EU shared details of its own AI legislation many years in advance, serving to reduce business uncertainty. With the EU tending to be one of the most safety-conscious regulatory regimes, entrepreneurs using or creating AI or heavily data-centric services would be wise to build models to fit EU specifications to take steps to future-proof for future UK legislation in the same area.

The economy may not be as predictable, but there are trends to help point to areas of investment and success. The need for tight control over corporate and customer data, the ongoing demand for digital personalised services, and the success of businesses that use technology to scale widely before competitors can catch up.

Developing lifelong learning nurtures better skills and entrepreneurship

Technical expertise is going to be the bedrock of successful entrepreneurship forever, to one degree or another. There’s a range of industries desperate for skilled tech talent, and historically there’s been a talent shortage across many skill areas like cybersecurity and software development. Learning key skills before they are needed, and building a pipeline to ensure that skilled staff can be available at the right time, are critical success factors to reacting when the market is ready for a new offering.

Pipedrive’s own ‘School of Code’ offers unique learning-focused software engineering internships so we can ensure we find the right people for our junior tech roles. Just as importantly, though, it allows people at an early stage in their career to test out career paths without committing before they are ready. We recommend this process to any firm planning a long-term talent pipeline.

A commitment to growing not only personal and team skills, whether in business, technology, or other fields, is laudable, but entrepreneurs can and should go further. In an economy dominated by large firms and incumbents with well-known offerings, what differentiates successful entrepreneurs is often mindset. What I mean is that mental models, plus characteristics like adaptability, positivity, and openness to ideas, are pretty cost effective to acquire though hard to master – and can be the critical edge that drives success.

It’s easy to talk up the importance of skills and attitudes, but it’s difficult to actually work on yourself to build on these inner strengths. Human brains often have us ignoring our own weaknesses and preoccupying ourselves with those of others. That tendency is only helpful inasmuch as it can allow us to spot something a competitor is missing – but that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Strengthening our best attributes can help us become utterly unique, something worth doing in an age of AI removing low level tasks off our plates – allowing us to be more creative, empathetic, and strategic in our entrepreneurism.

A business risk-taker should be using technology but should also be drawing on what GenAI or fancy apps can’t offer: creativity, empathy, problem-solving and people-centricity – strong attributes that software can’t match. It may be smart to over-index in these areas and allow technology and systems to support everywhere else. For example, AI-assisted CRM that reminds you and your team when best to follow-up with customers or gives a first draft email ready for human polishing. Such tools allow humans to bring their qualities to bear on prospects and customers more effectively, with more energy and dedication. That means more time spent talking to, learning from, and becoming indispensable to customers.

The best entrepreneurs have the right tech for their mission

It will be a rare kind of entrepreneur that can thrive without technology as part of their business toolkit. Picking the right tools is not about throwing money at the wall, but having strategic technology integrated as the need grows, automating and smoothing processes, giving time back to focus on what matters to the business.

Smaller businesses have to be laser-focussed on their tech investments with an eye to what will help them today and tomorrow. A successful business may grow and need to scale. Facing high costs from moving from freemium to paid subscriptions, or from the need to buy more software seats, can be jarring. Mentorship and advice from peers,and getting expert consultancy can be a big help. Soliciting feedback and actively listening to the experience of customers and staff is essential.

Poor experiences turn customers away and painful working processes do the same for colleagues. Tech is also a people issue, so treat it as such.

Entrepreneurship for growth

An entrepreneur’s mindset, skills, and ability to adapt will always be valuable, but for the first time, entrepreneurs have the technology at their back, allowing them to ideate, pivot, execute, and deliver faster. This fusion of power means that the person with the best ideas and the speediest execution can be a superhero in 2024.

Dominic Allon, CEO, Pipedrive.