The Shott Scale Up Accelerator is a twelve-month programme that develops, nurtures and strengthens the leadership capabilities of senior decision-makers in high-growth engineering and tech SMEs to scale their business to the next level.
We know the leap from technical expert to business leader is as difficult as the growth hurdles a company faces. The Shott Scale Up Accelerator places the personal development of leaders at the heart of its activities, with opportunities for peer learning in cohorts dedicated to deep tech SMEs.
The Shott Scale Up Accelerator is funded by DSIT and Ian Shott CBE FREng, a highly successful entrepreneur, who has played a pivotal role in establishing and growing the Enterprise Hub since its inception in 2013. Ian believes “supporting the growth of a dynamic, home-grown SME sector is vital to UK economic recovery and is delighted to be able to support a new generation of entrepreneurial engineers to scale their businesses and succeed.”
We believe connections should be built to last, so participants can expect a lifetime of support through connection to an exceptional community of engineers and innovators, mentors, coaches and over 350 Enterprise Hub Members and Academy Fellows
All support is at no cost to you or your company, we do not take equity or charge fees.
Our promise to you
We support leaders with a unique package of funding and training over twelve months:
- 35-hour growth training programme with your cohort of tech leaders
- 1:1 leadership coaching and mentoring from our unrivalled network of the UK’s leading engineers in industry, who have founded, scaled and sold successful enterprises many times over
- £10,000 training grant to pay for leadership courses anywhere in the world
- Access to our 100+ investor network
- Five touchpoints with your individual relationship manager to make connections to investors, corporates, experts and to guide you through the programme.
- Subsidised access to Culture +, our equality, diversity and inclusion platform designed to help SMEs develop and sustain an inclusive culture as they scale.
- Lifetime access to our co-working spaces in London and Belfast.
- Lifetime membership of the Enterprise Hub to share co-working spaces, connections and mentoring opportunities.
Key growth areas
The focus of our growth training programme will be on the following six key areas:
- People and culture
- Good governance
- Customer acquisition
- Product and service development
- Securing growth capital
- Access to new markets
These modules reflect fundamental growth barriers facing leaders today, each module is led by subject experts and seasoned entrepreneurs.
Our impact
We believe in the value of the individual for the success of high growth businesses, and because of this, we invest our time and energy into transforming the personal development of decision-makers of engineering and tech SMEs from across the UK. Together, we've supported tech leaders to initiate real business growth, including the creation of more than 3000 jobs, as well as:
leaders of high growth SMEs
in grants received
increase in business valuations
equity investment raised
Who is the programme for?
We are looking for:
- senior leaders (e.g., CEO, CTO, CPO, head of department)
- in a UK-based engineering or technology SME
- in a high-growth company that has raised at least £1m in equity investment, or turnover in the last financial year (or a combination of both). If operating in MedTech, grants will also count towards total investment raised.
For more details, please see our full eligibility.
Your journey
Up to 35 hours of scaling fundamentals with your cohort of tech leaders
One-to-one sessions with a leadership coach for 1.5 hours every month, over six months
One-to-one monthly mentoring with a mentor drawn from our unrivalled network of the UK's leading engineers in industry
Up to £10k grant to take your choice in leadership training offered anywhere in the world
Shott Scale Up Accelerator is officially endorsed by the ScaleUp Institute. This programme is made possible by funding from Ian Shott CBE FREng and the UK Government Department for Science, Innovation and Technology:
