Season’s Greetings! I promised myself that I wouldn’t end the year harping on about the dynamism-denting Employment Rights Bill, tempting as that is. Instead, let’s discuss some highlights, ways you can get more involved, and how you can support us in 2026.
Although we’ve taken to describing ourselves as a business group and community, we remain first – and probably foremost – a think tank. Our research is the bedrock of why we’re taken seriously. And 2025 was another feast for policy-minded readers. Of everything we published, here are three reports with the broadest appeal – ideal reading with a mince pie in hand.
In Ambition Unlimited, we captured the voices of young founders across the UK, showing that ambition alone isn’t enough. Outdated tax and investment incentives, burdensome regulation, and restrictive immigration rules are still holding back the next generation of innovators.
In Full Speed Ahead, we revealed that the UK’s accelerator and incubator landscape remains fragmented and often ineffective despite significant public investment – with weak evaluation, inconsistent standards and programmes that don’t always match what founders actually need.
Then finally in Job Creators 2025, we once again showed just how central international founders are to the UK’s fastest-growing companies. This year, 54% of Britain’s top 100 high-growth firms have at least one foreign-born founder. The report set out clear recommendations to ensure the UK stays open and attractive to the entrepreneurial talent that drives jobs, innovation and economic dynamism.
Ring Out
Our biggest internal innovation this year has been launching regular surveys of our network. Each wave has generated strong media coverage, but my favourite was this City A.M. piece arguing that government simply didn’t “get entrepreneurs.” Whether they’re now taking notice is ultimately for you to judge.
We genuinely couldn’t do this work without you. We want to grow this into a major strand of what we do, so if you’re an entrepreneur, please consider joining our survey panel. No one else can reach the founders in our network.
Claus for Thought
This year we moved our newsletters to Substack. Alongside Perennial Gale, we now regularly share ideas, analysis and interviews through Network Effects. For founders wanting timely insight into what’s emerging from Westminster that may shape your business, our Policy Updates have you covered, and Eamonn also provides a sharp, impartial monthly briefing through the APPG for Entrepreneurship newsletter.
If you fancy some thoughtful holiday reading, try my conversation with John Fingleton CBE, or our interview with Station F director Roxanne Varza — both rich with insight into how to support entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Room at the Inn?
We hosted 42 public events in 2025 – along with several private ones – to bring thousands of entrepreneurs together with front-benchers, back-benchers, advisers and civil servants from across the political spectrum.
When we started, we were happy just to see that people were willing to turn up to our events. Thankfully, that’s now the least of our worries – although we’re noticing that demand regularly outstrips supply, which creates problems of its own. We will never operate as a closed membership group – the best rooms require the most relevant people – but we will continue to reserve places for Advisers and Supporters (see below on how to join).
Wrapping Up
To close, here are five golden requests. I don’t expect everyone to do all of them – but if you can manage one or two, it would genuinely help our work.
First: join us for free as a Member. We now have more than 10,000 entrepreneurs in the network, and signing up helps us to understand what matters most to you. It also lets you express interest in writing for us or joining our private WhatsApp groups.
Second: we believe the UK can and should be the best place in the world to start and grow a business. If you agree, add your name to our Mission Statement.
Third: join our WhatsApp Community. We won’t inundate you, aiming to send an average of just one update a week, including sharing journalist requests directly with founders and the wider ecosystem.
Fourth: please share this newsletter. Believe it or not, there are still people out there who aren’t subscribed to this. We don’t have a budget to appear alongside the latest John Lewis or Coca-Cola Christmas adverts. Forwarding this to one or two people genuinely helps us grow.
Finally – the big one – consider becoming a Supporter, Adviser, Patron, or Corporate Partner. We know it’s not for everyone. If you’re just starting out or watching every pound, please don’t feel any pressure. But if £120 a year is manageable, and you value being part of a community that brings founders and the wider ecosystem together – while strengthening the environment for entrepreneurs across the UK – becoming a Supporter is a meaningful way to help that work continue, with priority access to our events along the way.
While we already have big plans for 2026, many of our best ideas come from our readers, so if you have thoughts on what we should do, or what we could do together, I’d love to hear from you.
Ultimately, our work is in service of entrepreneurs. Everything we do comes back to individual founders whose contributions to society are all too often underappreciated. Politicians can talk endlessly about growth, but entrepreneurs are the hinge on which progress swings.
This will be the last Perennial Gale of the year. But true to this newsletter’s name, we’ll be back on 2 January. For those who’ll miss our policy presents, join Network Effects to hear the three biggest ideas in entrepreneurship before the year is out.