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Hello Work Celebrates First Birthday With Open House

Hello Work, the workplace platform, based at the Old Granada Studios Manchester opened its doors for a birthday party last week. Over 200 guests joined in with the celebrations which included talks on prevalent start-up issues including funding and workspace, drinks, live art and music.

Alex Hill from Hello Work introduced the day to members and guests, explaining that it was as much about providing a platform for members to show off the great work they were doing as it was about introducing newcomers and guests to the space.

Key speakers included Vikas Shah, President and Board member of TiE UK North, Andrew Barker, Early Stage Investor, Ian Dixon, Access to Finance Team Leader at the Business Growth Hub, Jamil Khalil, founder of Manchester start-up ‘Wakelet’ and Paul Delemere, founder of Shindigger Brewing Co. These bright Manchester business brains shared their experiences, advice and top tips for young businesses and start-ups securing funding during the early stages of their growth phase.

Alex Hill from Hello Work said, “The funding debate was lively with lots of strong opinions and views on how start-ups should pitch and access investment. Interestingly, most investors agreed they went on gut feel about the individual rather than the business plan - which certainly shocked a few in the room. We concluded that start-up finance is available and accessible in Manchester, but more education is needed around how to find it. We’d like to think that here at Hello, we have the treasure map!”

A second talk was chaired Tom Cheesewright, Book Of The Future. He was joined by Tim Gee, Property guru from Allied London, Alistair Weir, CEO at PRP who is one of the architects behind the Sharp Project, Will Lewis of OBI and Raj Mair from Telefonica to talk about the new workplace culture and how it suits the needs of start-ups and SMEs and is the office dead?

Tim Gee from Allied London said: “This new style of workplace (Hello Work) is about giving someone the benefits of working for a big company, without them having to” with Tom Cheesewright sharing supporting evidence: “There is evidence that by co-working with others, start-up projects move 30% faster”.

Alistair Weir, CEO of PRP commented that workplace design is led by the occupier and Will Lewis of OBI added that big businesses located alongside smaller businesses make for more interesting workspace environments.

The talks were followed by guided tours which provided member businesses with the opportunity to open their doors and show off what they have been working on. This included a drop-in polling booth for local businesses to promote their thoughts on who the next Government should be and how they should support small businesses.

The event concluded in the new members bar. a delicious feast provided by BBC2’s Great British Menu Chef, Mary-Ellen Tague, with entertainment from Blues band ‘Noon’ and live artwork from Global Street Art and a few words about Hello’s journey so far from Hello Work Founder, Michael Ingall.

Michael Ingall said, “After making our move into the Old Granada Studios in October last year, Hello Work and its start-up community have gone from strength to strength. Our second expansion into Leeds this Spring saw us partnering with Google UK’s new venture ‘The Digital Garage’ and with more plans on the horizon for further sites in Manchester and London, it really is a case of watch this space!”

For more information on Hello Work please visit http://hellowork.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jayne Russell .