They say “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” – everything comes with a cost – but that’s not true here and now in Scotland’s entrepreneurial tech scene.

This autumn at Venturefest in Glasgow I got a free lunch and attended a session called, £1 billion in funding and how to get it.

(If you’re keeping track, that’s a free lunch and free money.)

And to show how progressive the thinking is here, the open plenary ended with Highland & Island Enterprise’s Ailsa Gray reminding attendees of this country’s role in the Enlightenment and how it must continue to strive for economic success and positive social impact.

And – bonus! – there was a vegan option for the bagged lunch.

This is a special time and place. Scotland is rich intellectually and financially and the infrastructure is in place. The government has laid the tracks and greased the rails for people with a seed of an idea to set a plan, validate the market need and solution, prove the concept, launch, grow, and scale.

And, no wonder – it’s the heritage. “We, as Scots, have a great legacy of people who invent things. It’s in our DNA,” says Jane Richardson of Entrepreneurial Scotland. “We can transform society. It’s possible. It’s about much more than money.”

Bursting With Opportunity

This place is bursting with opportunity and the discipline to turn seeds into flourishing life. As an American living in London who attended DIGIT’s Digital Transformation conference in February, I could feel the buzz. Much of the day was the frank sharing of experiences (fails, wins, lessons), the admission that there’s too few women in tech here (a work that’s in progress) and, my favourite, tech company vet George Elliott’s pep talk to get digital and tech leaders to think beyond the tartan borders.

It reminds me of the early 1990s, when I got entranced by a new world seen through the Netscape browser, and then America Online. I learned about the stock market by investing in NSCP. If only I’d held on to it a bit longer!

Even though UI had a long way to go, those were exciting times. Tales of Silicon Valley founders getting wild investments with little more than a flash idea, a Powerpoint, and a silly start-up name. Over-valuations for IPOs that were pursued in trendiness over fiscal responsibility and promise. That bubble burst a long time ago, and investing in tech start-ups has matured. (Though one need only to view Twitter’s performance to see that hype can outwit reason.)

Entrepreneurs have many options today along the continuum of start-up to scale-up: bootstrapping, friends and family, crowdfunding, angels, VCs, institutional investors, university commercialisation efforts, contests, and grant funding.

Help on Offer

There’s a long list of free and subsidized programmes in Scotland – from training by Business Gateway and Entrepreneurial Spark, to fellowships by Royal Society of Edinburgh and Entrepreneurial Scotland, and bridges to and from academic efforts by Interface and Bright Red Triangle, to simply skim the surface of resources.

“The global landscape has changed over the last few years, but for us in Scotland has increased opportunities for raising capital,” says Leah Hutcheon, founder and CEO of Appointedd. She says Edinburgh’s “fairly nascent” start-up scene has been buoyed by Skyscanner and FanDuel. “There’s a lot of support and an entrepreneurial network in Scotland’s unique microcosm. – it’s a good time to be an entrepreneur.”

Like Mallzee, the shopping app company that has raised more than £5 million and surpassed 1 million downloads, Appointedd received a boost by accelerator Entrepreneurial Spark.

On the trail to raising nearly £800,000 from local investors, Hutcheon says she found different perspectives here compared to down south. “They want to understand finances first – the business model. When is the break-even point, what’s the lifetime value of customers, the vision, the market, the pain points…it felt like the investors (in Scotland) were in it for the long-term gain and not just about how much money they will make.”

Politics has creeped its way into investor considerations over the last couple of years, too, Hutcheon says. “‘From the point of view of Scottish independence and Brexit, investors don’t like uncertainty – and there’s enough uncertainty with a start-up.”

While politics, the economy and investor preferences may vary, seasoned tech business leader Elliott distilled decades of experience into three neat points for entrepreneurs at a Startup Grind Edinburgh event recently: “Concentrate on your market, stick to your business plan” (which is more wavy path than straight line) and “reverse into the future.” He explained the latter point as projecting what the company looks like in two or three years as a success, then working your way back from that.

Have a plan – then be flexible. It’s a lesson Hutcheon has learned.

“Startups take on a life of their own. Where we started is different to where we are now. It’s great to have the investors we have that support our ambition to build a company that will last,” says Hutcheon, who was named in November as the SME Entrepreneur of the Year in the Scotland and Northern Ireland round of the Royal Bank of Scotland Great British Entrepreneur Awards. “It’s been quite a journey so far and it’s just beginning.”

Going into 2018, Scotland is one of the best places to be an entrepreneur. Resources and opportunities abound, yet the burden to demonstrate a venture’s worthiness of the investment is steadfast. Scots heritage lies in both innovation and discipline.

TRIED AND TRUE TIPS

Confidence, not desperation

“There were some that we just weren’t the right fit for or we were too early-stage (for them),” says Mallzee founder Cally Russell, who rejected a £75,000 offer on Dragons’ Den. For the successful bids, he credits the company’s whole package — “the team, the product and the scale of the opportunity (B2B and B2C)” – for attracting the right match.

Know your financials

You get nailed on numbers so know your financials, then you can sell the big dream,” Hutcheon says.

Investors offer more than £

Hutcheon says she did a lot of listening to feedback during the initial pitching stage, learning a great deal, Hutcheon says, noting that Appointedd was initially focused on serving small business but moved into enterprise based on investor guidance. “investors come along with more than money they bring their expertise and their connections and that is invaluable.”

Be visible

“Network, network, network,” advises Russell. “The more people who have heard of your business the more chance you have of getting introductions to people who can help in the future.” He admits that investor interest was piqued when Forbes named him one of their ‘30 under 30‘ in Europe last year.

Be braw

“We, as Scots, have a legacy of this pioneering entrepreneurship. It’s in our DNA. And we can do it because of the network in Scotland. You’re only ever two steps from getting things done – not six,” says Entrepreneurial Scotland’s Jane Richardson, who adds that there’s every reason to think big and beyond borders. “Why are we not so confident? Scots tend to be less salesman-like: We’re great at engaging, just not pushing it over the line…(yet) Scotland has got a great network around the world.”