HOW TO BUILD A STARTUP SUPPORT PROGRAMME IN 2025
The amount and quality of startup support has exploded over the last decade. There are more ways for entrepreneurs to learn and they have more access to experts, capital and the tools they need than ever before.
What does that mean for building, running and marketing startup programmes in 2025?
This article draws on our work with organisations like Innovate UK and Be the Business, and running The Pitch to make sense of the trends and look at what the future holds.
UNDERSTANDING THE LAST DECADE
Before we look at the next 12 months, it’s important to consider what’s changed.
Entrepreneurship is now part of the zeitgeist. From prime time TV to TikTok, young people are more exposed to the potential of building a business than ever before.
And, it shows in the numbers. There were 890,684 company incorporations in 2023-2024 tax year, 67% more than the same period a decade earlier.
The tools used to build businesses have been revolutionised too. From banking, shipping and accounting to marketing and sales, AI is set to supercharge these developments.
Startup support has flourished at the same time. The number of incubators, communities and events continues to increase – and that means you need to work harder than ever to stand out.
DEVELOPING A USP THAT’S FIT FOR PURPOSE
Responding to that starts with strengthening your USP. We often see support that’s geared to help “small businesses”, or providers building programmes for startups and scaleups in parallel.
That’s too broad and makes it difficult to create impactful content and get traction. There’s a gulf between the needs of founders with five and 15 employees, let alone five and 249.
You need to have a keen sense of who you’re supporting and how to communicate with them.
Take care to develop a tone of voice and visual identity, which brings your USP to life; the founders you support should immediately identify with your content and feel confident that you understand their challenges.
We developed a The Pitch sub-brand for our Pop-up with Tide partnership, for example, which used visual assets to stand out. The campaign achieved 105% of its organic video view goal and beat Tide’s target CPA for account openings (read the case study here).
REACHING UNDERREPRESENTED FOUNDERS
An increasing amount of startup support is working to address the gap in opportunities founders face. But there’s still a huge amount of work to be done.
Every programme should be looking at what they can do, which could include:
Anonymising applicant data to reduce unconscious bias
Adapting support to meet the practical needs of your community, e.g. evening events for side hustlers
Using scoring systems in place of judging huddles
Picking role models that represent your community
Championing community members from different backgrounds
Making sure your marketing reflects the people you support – don’t use stock photography!
And, most importantly, speak to the people you’re trying to help. What support do they need? What blockers do they face?
I recommend reading our guide to increasing diversity in startup programmes if you’re interested in the topic. We also have a case study on the work we did with Innvoate UK.
ADAPTING TO AI’S ROLE IN FOUNDERS’ LEARNING
You need to consider the role of AI and how that’s likely to evolve as we build support and create content.
Just after ChatGPT launched, a founder opened the app during a mentoring session and showed me its ideas for monetising a roller skating community.
The advice was specific to his situation and some of the ideas were decent. But he still needed help understanding what makes sense and how to execute.
Things have moved quickly since then, particularly with the development of high-quality, specialised AI agents. For example, Inkwell client AI Simulator offers an AI-powered mentor called Angelica that advises startups on raising funding.
“What makes AI truly transformative is its ability to help us dynamically understand and tailor resources, learning content and tools to each founder’s specific needs.”
Talking to community members will allow you to better understand the role AI is playing in their learning process and what that might mean for the future of support provision.
VIDEO. VIDEO. VIDEO.
Entrepreneurs increasingly turn to video to learn, whether that’s short-form content on platforms like TikTok or YouTube tutorials.
Building a channel requires a long-term, iterative effort, so it’s important to develop a format you can deliver on consistently.
Inkwell’s Senior Videographer, Tim Shapcott, on an Innovate UK video shoot
Finding someone who can be the face of this content also makes a massive difference. That could be someone from your team or a long-term relationship with a content creator.
LEAVERAGING THE GOLD YOU ALREADY HAVE
The demand for content can be overwhelming. There’s pressure to be on multiple platforms – in some cases, posting daily – and it’s increasingly difficult for organisations to compete with individuals.
The key is to unlock the value in the mentoring sessions, events and other support you’re already running. Creating a process for this takes time, but you can start by giving your marketing team access to experts:
What challenges keep coming up?
What gems of advice have founders got really excited about recently?
How do they like to learn?
You then need to build a process to turn it into entertaining content. That might mean repurposing a single webinar into 10 short social videos, two long-read articles, three LinkedIn posts and an Instagram Carousel.
SIX QUESTIONS TO ASK IF YOU’RE DEVELOPING STARTUP SUPPORT
With all that in mind, here’s a list of questions to get you thinking about how your offering can evolve this year:
How specific are your marketing personas? Have you properly identified individuals learning needs?
Is the challenge you’re solving for programme participants urgent? Does your support offer them something unique?
How scalable and repeatable are your marketing processes? Is your team equipped to turn the insights you have into content?
Is your tone of voice and visual identity strong enough to stand out on social media?
How has your programme evolved to meet the changing ways that people are learning?
What practical steps can you take to reduce unconscious bias in your application and selection processes?
TAKING YOUR NEXT STEPS
We specialise in creating educational content for entrepreneurs and marketing startup support programmes, and also run The Pitch. We’re proud to have played a small part in the revolution in startup support.
We love entrepreneurs, and can help you achieve your marketing and impact goals. If this post has inspired you or you think we could support your work in some way, please email me at Chris@inkwellagency.co.uk.