This week, Xero published a paper as part of their Financial Confidence Taskforce, which I was delighted to chair. It argues that Britain is missing out on a generation of startups because many would-be entrepreneurs lack financial literacy. The paper is intended to feed directly into the Government’s Maple Review.
As was reported by the Daily Mail, nearly two in five small business owners say they do not know whether they were profitable last month, with more than half struggling with cash flow management. Younger entrepreneurs were most doubtful of their financial management skills and knowledge, with 35% of 18–34 year-olds agreeing that they lack the financial skills needed to manage their business.
The report reflects the collective views of the expert Taskforce and is well worth reading in full, but I want to focus on a couple of themes close to my heart.
The first is bureaucracy. As the paper makes clear, complexity does not just impose administrative costs; it actively erodes confidence. Simplifying tax and regulation should therefore be seen not only as a deregulatory exercise, but as a confidence-building intervention for Britain’s entrepreneurs.
If I were in a position of power in a Government looking for a way to make a meaningful difference — while also winning the sizeable small business vote — I would promise to go some way to dismantling the bureaucratic state. As I’ve written before, this is possible.
That said, the paper also makes clear that there are ways to support business owners even within the current levels of bureaucracy.
Crucially, confidence is not a function of information alone; it is built through repeated practice in realistic settings. This brings us back to education. Our What Applied Learning Really Looks Like report with Young Enterprise argues that abstract teaching disengages pupils when they cannot see real-world relevance, and that confidence and capability emerge only when learning is applied in realistic contexts. There is a clear through-line from applied learning in childhood to entrepreneurial confidence in adulthood. Schools should embed financial and commercial reasoning early, before attitudes towards money, risk and work become fixed.
However, there will always be those for whom schooling does not provide these skills, which means we need to ensure that support is available later on. Xero’s Unlock Your Numbers programme is one example. But I would be keen to hear about other resources you think are essential. We will soon launch a carefully curated hub of places and people where entrepreneurs in our network can get help, and so might end up recommending your suggested resources to thousands of founders. Do drop me an email.
Every Ounce
In the latest instalment of our UK AI Fieldbook series, our Research Director Eamonn Ives spoke with Benedikt Thüngen, Co-Founder of Sanome, about how AI is helping clinicians avert medical crises before they arise.
In An Ounce of Prediction, which I recommend reading in full, the pair explore how AI could enable clinicians to identify serious health deterioration earlier — shifting healthcare from reactive treatment to preventative intervention — while also unpacking the practical, regulatory and policy challenges of scaling this kind of innovation within the NHS.
These interviews matter because they sit at the intersection of policy and entrepreneurial experience. They give founders space to explain their innovations in a level of detail rarely afforded elsewhere, while also surfacing the real-world constraints they face to help policymakers understand what is actually happening on the ground.
We are grateful to OpenAI for their support of the UK AI Fieldbook series. We are keen to expand it into other sectors and themes, so if you work for an organisation interested in supporting in-depth interviews of this kind, please get in touch.
Right Place
We believe in experimentation, which is why we are trialling two new event formats.
First, on 29 January, we will host a day of co-working for around 20 tech entrepreneurs at Fora: The Jellicoe. The day will begin with a 10am meetup, coffee and short introductions, but the intention is to allow serendipity to take the lead as participants work there for the day.
While this pilot is focused on tech entrepreneurs with employees, we plan to run similar sessions with different cohorts over the course of the year. Request a place here.
Second, on 24 February we’ll host an audience with the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP. There will be space for around 40 of our Patrons, Advisers and Supporters (join us here). Unlike a fireside chat where the chair gets to dominate, the bulk of the questions here will come directly from the great and the good in attendance.
You can submit your questions for Jeremy when you apply. Given he’s a successfully exited entrepreneur, I expect a few to cover business as well as politics. Request a place here.