The number of professionals who have changed their job title to Founder/Co-Founder in the past year has increased by +13%, Small Business Owners have risen by +8%, and those formally adopting the title of Entrepreneur (+4%) or Owner (+1) has also increased during the pandemic.

In total this signals a +26% increase in the past year of people who want to be recognised as business or start-up owners in the past year, according to professional services recruiter Robert Walters.

In a year of job uncertainty and furlough, the number of professionals leaving employment to start up a business by themselves has hit record levels – with the ONS reporting new business creations was +28% higher in Quarter 2 (April to June) of 2021 than in Quarter 2 in 2020. Industries that showed significant increases in business creations included business administration and support, and construction industries.

The pandemic has bought about widespread uncertainty for professionals, with almost 10% concerned that their current skillset will be completely redundant within five years. As result 84% of professionals stated that they would be willing to retrain or learn a completely new skill to secure their future earning potential.

Lucy Bisset, Director of Robert Walters comments:

“In a year of remote working, digital upskilling, furlough, reduced hours, and lockdown, professionals have had ample time to think about their career path and what they want to do with their future.

“Added to the economic uncertainty; the removal of office structure, and the lack of facetime with management has had a negative impact on progression rate – which in turn has sparked a culture of ‘will it be better to work for myself?’

“The increase in people starting businesses is not concerning at all, and in fact in times of economic upheaval we do typically see a spike in creative and entrepreneurial thinking – resulting in some of the most successful businesses we have today.”

Success Rate of Start-ups

With funding in 2021 for start-ups currently sitting at $89bn, the country is firmly on track to surpass the $98bn raised for start-ups in 2020 – a sign that the UK is birthing more start-ups with ‘high growth’ potential than ever before.

Lucy adds: “With growth comes the need for exceptional people to lead the way, and one of the biggest mistakes a high growth start-up can make at this stage is to hire the wrong people.

“In fact, the cost of a bad hire for a start-up in the UK is estimated somewhere between £25-50k, not counting the time wasted during the hiring process, or the opportunity cost of the growth and forward momentum you could have been gaining.

“Your first ‘head of’ hires will also have an enormous impact on the development of your company culture — a non-negotiable for attracting and retaining top talent.”

According to the Robert Walters research, 20% of new businesses will close their doors within just 12 months and 60% will go-under within three years. Whilst product and market fit are the leading factors for start-up success, third in the list is the team and people you hire around you.

The Robert Walters Guide for UK Start-Ups lists best practice advice when approaching those all-important executive hires – starting with the most in-demand roles advertised by UK start-ups across Product, Engineering, Go-To-market, Design, Information Security, Finance, People/Talent, and Legal.