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The down round nobody warned us about

Raising at a lower price than last time is survivable. What it does to the cap table, and to the people holding options, depends almost entirely on a clause signed two years earlier.

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An owner looking at a wall planner in a quiet office

The four-day week we tried for six months

Two people signing paperwork across a table

The cross-option agreement we signed two years too late

Two people talking across a table at a business event

The trade show we spent the whole marketing budget on

An interview taking place across a desk

The recruitment fee, and the candidate who left in week six

A member of staff at a takeaway counter with cups and bags ready for collection

The delivery app commission that ate the kitchen's margin

A person in a suit about to sign a document at a desk

The lender who pulled out two weeks before completion

A small commercial shop unit on a British high street

The personal guarantee on the lease nobody mentioned

A laptop on a desk showing a website design in progress

The website rebuild that cost us half our enquiries

Building materials stacked on a site ready for work to start

The job we priced before the materials went up

A business owner working late at a desk surrounded by paperwork

The month we nearly missed payroll

A shop counter and interior of a small retail unit

The franchise we nearly bought

A business owner working at a desk with paperwork

The second company that quietly put up our tax bill

A laptop open on a desk in a small office

What AI actually replaced in our business, and what it didn't

Staff working behind the counter of a busy cafe

The trial shift we didn't pay for

A small team talking around a meeting room table

The year we stopped doing what we were known for

A printed contract and a pen on a table

The quote we won because we were the most expensive

A founder sitting at a boardroom table looking at documents

The earn-out that kept us working for three more years

A contract on a desk with a pen resting on the signature page

The indemnity clause I signed without reading

A laptop showing a software dashboard on a cluttered office desk

The software we couldn't get our data out of

A shop counter with a card machine and a paper order book

The deposit we spent before we'd done the work

A tradesperson working with a drill in a workshop

The retention we never got back

A cluttered desk late at night with paperwork and a calculator

The dividend the profits didn't cover

Staff working in a quiet café

The four months of the year we made no money

An adviser's desk with paperwork and a laptop

The accountant we changed halfway through the year

A desk lit by a lamp in the evening

The pension I didn't start until I was forty-one

Three business partners talking in an office

The partnership we never wrote down, and the Act that wrote it for us

Three founders talking around a table

The bridge round that cost more than the money

A carpenter working on a job

The cancellation right our customers had, and we didn't know about

Staff working behind a busy cafe counter

The equipment lease that quietly renewed itself for another three years

A small team working together at a shared desk

The training we paid for, and the clawback clause that didn't hold

A cluttered desk lit late at night

The Bounce Back Loan we're still paying off

Two people in a difficult meeting across a table

The sick note that arrived the day after the performance meeting

Someone typing at a cluttered desk in the evening

The invoice we paid into the wrong bank account

Glass office buildings viewed from street level

The public sector contract we won and wished we hadn't

Three business owners talking around a table

The employee ownership trust we looked at instead of selling

Staff working behind a busy cafe counter

The tips we thought were ours to divide

Staff working behind a busy cafe counter

The one-star review that arrived on a Saturday night

Someone typing at a desk in the evening

The client who wanted one quick thing every week

A phone and paperwork on an office desk

The HMRC compliance check that started with one question

An empty boardroom table and chairs

The co-founder buyout we funded out of the business

A small team working around a shared desk

The marketing agency we paid for six months before anyone asked what it was doing

Glass office buildings seen from below

The investor who went quiet three weeks into due diligence

A shop owner turning the open sign on the door

The import order we paid for four months before we sold any of it

A meeting room with an empty table and chairs

The hire who brought their old clients with them, and the letter that followed

Glass office buildings in a city

The business we nearly bought, and the week of due diligence that killed it

Someone working on a laptop at home

The side hustle HMRC already knew about before I told them

A small agency team working together at a shared desk

The client who quietly became 60% of our revenue

A tradesperson loading tools ready for a job

The van that was off the road for three weeks

A market trader's stall stocked up for the day

The supplier who moved us to pro forma overnight

A small team working together at a shared desk

The week's notice that was all we were owed

A shopkeeper opening up the premises

The five-year lease we outgrew in eighteen months

An empty boardroom table

The loan we lost because of how we filed our accounts

A shop owner turning the sign to open

The trade mark letter that arrived five years in

A cluttered desk with paperwork late at night

The money I put in and never took back out

A cluttered desk with receipts and a laptop late at night

The VAT quarter that had already been spent

Someone typing at a desk in the evening

The subject access request that arrives a week after the tribunal claim

Bank towers lit up at night in a city financial district

The bank that closed the business account, and the 90 days that now come with it

A shop owner turning the open sign in the window

The second shop that nearly sank the first

A shop owner behind the counter

The chargeback that arrived three months after the sale

Two people working together at a desk

The company car that cost more than the pay rise it replaced

An empty boardroom table and chairs

The customer who went into administration owing us three months' work

Someone typing at a desk in the evening

The loan we repaid early, and the exit fee nobody mentioned

A desk lit by a lamp at night

The overdraft that quietly became permanent

A shopkeeper opening up for the day

The insurance claim that was only half paid

A shop owner turning the open sign in the window

The rent review that nearly closed the shop

A cluttered desk lit late at night

The R&D tax claim a cold caller talked us into

A small team working around a desk

Raising money before you agree a valuation: what an investor expects from an ASA

Glass office buildings seen from below

The Companies House letter directors keep ignoring, and the offence at the end of it

An empty boardroom table

How much is your business actually worth? What a buyer or investor works out before you do

A cluttered desk late at night

The GDPR job everyone puts off, and the four hours that actually clear it

An empty boardroom table

The big contract with 90-day payment terms, and what it really costs to say yes

Someone typing at a desk in the evening

The employee handbook nobody reads, and the four pages that actually matter

A cluttered desk late at night

The forty-hour grant application, and the maths nobody does before starting one

Someone taking a phone call in an office

The two-line reference, and what everyone lost when it became standard

An empty boardroom table and chairs

Six months, not two years: the dismissal change small employers should prepare for now

Staff working behind the counter of a busy cafe

The refit that took three years to pay back

Someone typing at a desk late in the evening

Busier and poorer: how a record year can leave you with less money

Three people working together around a desk

The free pitch problem: why agencies keep giving away the thing they sell

Someone typing at a desk in the evening

The client we should have sacked two years earlier

Two staff members working behind a counter

The pay rise conversation I got wrong

A small business owner behind a shop counter

The right-to-work check I nearly skipped, and what changed my mind

A shop owner turning an open sign in a window

Merchant cash advances: the funding option nobody recommends but everyone's offered

Three founders in discussion around a table

The year I turned down an investor and took out a loan instead

A tradesperson reviewing paperwork on site

The clause I now add to every quote, after learning it the hard way

A cluttered desk lit by a single lamp late at night

Bootstrapping isn't a virtue. It's often just the only funding option you had.

A small team working around a desk together

The staff grievance I handled badly, and what it actually cost

A founder recording content at a desk with a product

What actually happens after your crowdfunding campaign ends

Someone typing on a laptop in the evening

The NDA nobody needed: when contracts protect you, and when they're just theatre

Two co-founders talking over a laptop

The co-founder agreement we never wrote — until it nearly cost us the business

Person working late at a desk with paperwork

Family and friends funding: the money that can cost you more than the bank's

Founders in conversation in a modern office

What actually happens after you say yes to an investor

Tradesperson working with wood in a workshop

Why I hired my first employee later than I should have

Person working at a laptop in the evening

Invoice finance still has a stigma it doesn't deserve

Freelancer working on a laptop at home

Going limited didn't change my life the way everyone said it would

A shopkeeper opening up their store

Trade credit and buy-now-pay-later for business: convenient or a trap?

Three founders talking together in an office

Why turning down investment is sometimes the smartest thing a founder does

People around a table in a boardroom meeting

What investors actually look for before they write a cheque

Someone working alone at a desk in the evening

The redundancy conversation nobody prepares you for

A person working on a laptop at home

The uncomfortable truth about 'passive income' for business owners

A laptop and coffee on a desk

Five business books that actually change how you run things

A market stall selling fruit and vegetables

Why 'just raise your prices' is sometimes terrible advice

A young team collaborating around a desk

The quiet death of the business plan — and what founders use instead

A business owner smiling while holding an open sign

What actually happens in the first 90 days after you sell your business

A cafe owner standing with arms crossed

Why some founders deliberately stay small forever — and why that's not a failure

A confident business owner smiling and holding an open sign

What Dragons' Den doesn't show you about the equity you give away

A studio condenser microphone against a dark background

Business Stuff is now on YouTube — here's what to expect

A confident business owner smiling and holding an open sign

What Dragons' Den gets right (and wrong) about pitching your business

Two colleagues discussing something on a phone in an office

The Apprentice teaches terrible lessons about leadership — here's what actually works

A cluttered desk lit by a lamp late at night

Why 'hustle culture' is quietly burning out UK founders

Hands typing on a laptop at a desk by a window

From side hustle to seven figures: the unglamorous middle bit nobody talks about

A creator recording a podcast with a microphone and laptop

What we can learn from Gary Vaynerchuk — and where his advice doesn't quite fit the UK

Three founders standing together in a studio office

Building in public: the pros, cons and what to actually share

Two cafe workers standing behind the counter

Busy every day and still losing money: the café margin trap

A carpenter working at a workbench

Sole trader to limited company: was it actually worth it?

A laptop and paperwork on the floor of a home workspace

Scaling an online shop without losing your evenings

A close-up of someone holding printed paperwork

Making Tax Digital: what it actually means if you're a sole trader

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