What we offer

Startup in Residence.

Rising demand, increasing need and continued financial pressure has been the reality in local government for over a decade. Finding innovative solutions to complex societal challenges within this context is tough. The UK is experiencing an unprecedented boom in the number of startups created each year; over half a million were created in 2019. Many of these organisations have dedicated themselves to addressing societal challenges.

We think local authorities have the potential to tap into and harness the creative thinking and capacity for innovation within the local startup community to come up with new ideas to solve messy challenges within the community.

The question is how?

Our programme connects startups with local authorities to solve challenges that matter most to your community. Through our partnership with World Startup we provide access to mentoring and finance to help incubate great ideas and make them happen.

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Here’s how the process works

The circle of

Startup in Residence

1. Scope

Thorough selection of societal challenges with significant business opportunities

2. Ownership

Dedicated challenge owners with budgets and commitment of senior management

3. Call to Action

Appealing Call to Action that activates the startup community

4. Application

Well-prepared applications by startups on both their solution and company vision

5. Selection

Transparent selection with multidisciplinary jury

6. Support

Condensed, agile programme to facilitate and foster co-creation

7. Culture

Create a prototyping culture: build, measure, learn

8. Space

Ignite co-creation between stakeholders by intentionally stepping out of the office

9. Access

Offer startups easy access to the workfloor of “the residence”

10. Training

Flexible training modules with focus on co-creation and learning by doing

11. Scale

Successful innovations require widespread adoption in the market(s)

12. Go/ No Go

Set clear milestones (like a Demo Day) to share achievements and mark new phases

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Our credentials

We’re not starting from scratch – we’ve partnered with World Startup who are running a similar programmes in The Netherlands. This programme builds on their learning and success to date working with companies across continental Europe.

Partnering with World Startup means we can support startups with the potential to succeed to access investment through their existing funding partnerships.

We have developed a tried and tested approach (the Impact Sprint) for helping teams to quickly develop testable solutions to complex problems in as little as five days. The approach is grounded in academic research and has been honed on real-world challenges.

We have improved outcomes and helped save millions of pounds in a wide range of services including Children’s and Adults’ Social Care, Homelessness, Planning, Customer Services and Mental Health. We have been voted by our clients and peers as one of the Financial Times top consultancies working in the public and social sector two years running.

We’ve developed and tested a training programme to equip startups with the skills they need to quickly test their ideas and grow their business.

We incubated and secured funding for ME Passport, a social impact business aimed at solving the national recruitment crisis in health and social care.

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“Basis delivered an insightful start-up bootcamp, with creative approaches to business planning and pitching introduced. An overview of key actions required in order to make your business a success from the outset, engaging participants of varying professions through interactive group sessions and activities – in and outside! Matt and team were knowledgeable, versatile and fun in their approaches to ensuring participants needs were met, amending the agenda to best meet individuals wants. I now feel more enthused with new ideas to approach certain start-up tasks and have an increased local network as a result of the bootcamp.”

Ryan Johnson

Matt, Rebecca and Bethan’s skills and approaches complemented each other perfectly; as a participant, I really felt that they were truly invested in helping us embark on our business journey. Personally, I got a real confidence boost out of attending the Entrepreneur Bootcamp. I had so much fun and met a whole bunch of really interesting people that I hope to stay in touch with and about a million different ideas of where to take my business. I will wholeheartedly recommend their training to anyone who’ll listen!

Thank you, Matt, Rebecca and Bethan at Basis.

Aimee Stevens