I’m an engineer-turned-entrepreneur, CEO and co-founder of Rapid Fluidics, a provider of microfluidic systems for life science and biotechnology organisations globally.

We’ve been operating for around six years and have been revenue-generating from day one.

I have raised some investment with an angel-backed round to match-fund a £330k Innovate UK grant, and more recently partnered with a San Diego-based 3D-printing business to handle manufacturing for our North American customers, which also came with some additional investment.

While every decision made so far has been a step to where we are now, there are certainly things I’d do differently with hindsight. There are also things I wouldn’t change at all.

1. Know your market

We founded the business based on technology developed to solve a genuine unmet need that I’d had.

I saw that there were wider possibilities and we went from there, carrying out some independent market research to back up the idea and finding our initial customers before we even established the business.

Having been in their shoes helps our customers relate to us.

2. Define founder’s roles and responsibilities

We all sort of fell into our individual jobs with an assumption that we’d sort the paperwork out later.

We didn’t until it was too late, and it caused all sorts of headaches with equity and day-to-day operations when things moved on.

Titles can be whatever you want, but we really should have written down exactly what we intended to do and for how long, so it’s easier to alter when the situation changes, which it will.

3. Don’t go chasing waterfalls

Investment is fantastic if you can get it.

While every investor will be looking from different angles, the one thing they have in mind is ‘revenue’.

Focus on getting and retaining customers.

When I had the option to raise an awful lot more on the North of Tyne Ignite accelerator, I realised that raising funds is a full-time job and I’d be better off building the customer base to get to break even, and profitable, before considering raising more.

But not having easy access to cash does present its challenges.

Obviously, growing up in Yorkshire has affected my approach to bootstrapping, ie extreme reluctance to spend what little money I have. Beg, borrow and steal.

If you are able to raise a chunk of cash, don’t be tempted by shiny offices and business class travel. Do whatever it takes to keep expenditure to an absolute minimum.

4. Take the right advice

Entrepreneurs seem to have endless buckets of the stuff.

They’ve been through whatever you’re going through and will have ideas to get you through to the other side. I’m now occasionally being asked for advice, which I figure is a sign of success.

If you do go for investment, don’t get hung up on your pitch deck. Every mentor you speak to will have their own ideas about what to put in it, and what order it needs to be.

Remember that a relationship with an investor is two-way. You have to like them as much as they like you, so make sure your pitch deck reflects exactly how you want your business to be understood, not from someone on the sidelines.

Of course, if it’s not getting enough positive reactions, then you need to evaluate the content more than the formatting.

Don’t be afraid to pivot

Have a long-term strategy for the business, but if other opportunities turn up, do it. Dragons’ Den businesses?

  • Rapid Fluidics specialises in transforming microfluidic systems into market-ready solutions for the life sciences and biotech sectors.