This month last year was the most popular month for applying for a Start Up Loan, according to the British Business Bank. And Virgin StartUp says it too saw a 19% uplift in Start Up Loan applications during January 2025.
Having just passed the milestone of handing out £100 million in Start Up Loans to more than 7,000 UK founders since 2013, Virgin has branded this coming Friday as “Founder Friday” – the day that people interested in starting a business decide that this is going to be the year they make their dreams happen.
If you’re looking for inspiration before taking the plunge, one year ago the founders behind businesses including Hotel Splittera website that combines travellers’ city break itineraries to cut costs and Brick Bagzwhich makes Lego kit storage bags, were also deciding whether to press ahead. Fast forward 12 months, both businesses have been backed by Start Up Loans and are forging ahead.
You’re certainly in the right place for bucket-loads of entrepreneurial inspiration and advice every fortnight with ScaleUp Standard and the ScaleUp Institute. This week we hear from logistics entrepreneur Tevin Tobun, who scaled GV Group into a £100 million business which employs more than 1,000 people, on how he’s used ‘speedboat mentality’ to scale with agility and precision.
And Venetia Archer, founder of internationally-scaling beauty app Ruuby, discusses frustration at the out-dated questions hurled at female entrepreneurs.
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“Don’t ask women entrepreneurs how we ‘do it all’,” says buoyant beauty business Ruuby’s founder
Venetia Archer, founder of beauty-booking app Ruuby, has raised £6 million and runs a multi-million business in six countries: “but the one question that everyone asks me is, ‘how do you do it all?’, says the entrepreneur and mother of two.
Last year, Archer was nine-months pregnant and closing Ruuby’s first institutional fundraise when her father died suddenly, days before she gave birth. “He was my north star in all areas of life, including business,” she explains. “And as any founder can imagine, raising when you’re not quite on fighting form is incredibly hard.”
Archer still managed to close a £2 million round led by the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II – but it changed how she viewed business narratives.
“We see the thrilling storylines in the press, and the shiny LinkedIn posts, but not the months of graft, hard work and emotional battles that go into raising capital for a business that you love. You also tend to be raising when you’re running out of money, and that draining bank balance is pure terror. But I’m still here, and the experience taught me more about my capabilities than anything ever could.”
London-based Ruuby has delivered half a million hair, nails, and beauty services in homes since launching in 2016. After a 500% surge in sales after the pandemic, it used its funding to expand across the UK, and into Switzerland and the UAE. The business now has 250,000 users, including celebrities Victoria Beckham and Abbey Clancy, but Archer admits the pitching of “the female founder” is challenging.
“The traits of an entrepreneur are universal – man or woman. It takes grit, determination, obsession and a certain kind of crazy,” she says. “But it is so much harder to raise institutional capital as a woman – still only 2% of VC funding goes to female-founded teams – despite female traits lending themselves incredibly well to entrepreneurship. We’re dynamic, we’re multitaskers, we have an empathy and understanding that helps build powerful teams. We focus on the task at hand, and build profitably and sustainably.”
Which is why Archer dislikes being grilled about ‘how do you do it all?’
“Let’s shift the conversation to what we are doing,” she says. “What does it take to scale a global beauty services marketplace? What are the lessons learned building a global team of 3000? This is what I love to talk about – not what it is like to raise a family – which is, ‘hard, as it is for any working parent’, or whether or not the female founder should be the face of their brand – to which the answer is: ‘they should if they want to.’”
It is, Archer adds, “absolutely possible to run a business and build a family, and in fact it is the most wonderful career path. Yes you need your village, but so does everyone in whatever way they work.”
Speedboat dynamics: how to scale without losing the nimble startup mentality
Tevin Tobun scaled GV Group, a food logistics and technology firm that employs more than 1,000 people, to a £100 million business. He is now building last-mile logistics platform Routd, which has launched in the US with a global contract from Amazon, aiming to hit £10 million revenues this year. Here, the logistics entrepreneur discusses how he’s used ‘speedboat mentality’ to scale with agility and precision.
Tevin Tobun
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“I realised that companies that thrive are the ones that can turn quickly, experiment freely while staying focused on momentum,” Tobun says. “Think of your business as a speedboat rather than a cruise ship. Cruise ships are powerful but slow to change direction – they require layers of approval, coordination, and caution. A speedboat is nimble, able to adjust course instantly when the waters shift.”
But how do you stick with that ‘speedboat mindset’ while scaling?
“Keep your decision-making close to the action and empower small, autonomous teams that can test, learn, and move without waiting for sign-off from every layer of the business,” is Tobun’s advice. “Move fast, but with focus. Define clear priorities, set short feedback loops, and use data to steer every turn. The faster you test, the faster you learn and find a product or service–market fit in new areas.”
Tech is “what lets speedboats outperform ships,” he adds. “Automate, integrate, and use digital tools to eliminate friction. Technology should give your team visibility, efficiency, and the confidence to move quickly without losing control.
“Partner with giants without becoming one. Many large companies struggle with internal inertia. The speedboat mentality gives smaller players the edge, to adapt faster, and solve problems big organisations can’t pivot to address quickly enough.
“It’s about refusing to be weighed down by size or complexity. Opportunities are there for those who can pivot, not necessarily those who simply power forward.”