Strathclyde Inspire

The digital infrastructure for an entrepreneurial campus

Strathclyde Inspire (opens in a new tab) is the University of Strathclyde (opens in a new tab)'s institution-wide entrepreneurship strategy, launched in November 2020 to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem in which entrepreneurial people and ventures can thrive. Its team needed a system that could bring together the many teams and departments contributing to the service. Startium OS now connects those teams and their data in one place, creating a single source of truth for engagement and impact reporting across programmes, stakeholders, regions, initiatives and partnerships nationwide, and one digital access point for its entrepreneurial community.

A university-wide access point for entrepreneurship support

Universities that take entrepreneurship seriously tend to spread it across the institution. Startup advice, events, funding, commercialisation and partnerships often sit with different teams, each keeping its own records in the tools it knows best. The support itself can be excellent, but the picture of who is being helped, by whom and with what result ends up scattered.

That was the position at Strathclyde Inspire. Before Startium, each team used its own Excel files, and interactions and introductions were recorded across Word documents, spreadsheets and team sites. Pulling all of that into a single report took a great deal of time. Even within one team, matching information between spreadsheets meant, as one advisor put it, doing the same thing three times.

Personalised support for every type of entrepreneur

The entrepreneurial community at Strathclyde is made up of students, staff, alumni and researchers, and alumni can come back for help at any point after graduation. Each member has different needs and sits at a different stage of their entrepreneurial journey, which made it very difficult to give everyone the tailored support they needed to achieve their ambitions.

The team had already tried a range of tools, including custom-built CRMs, standard databases and numerous spreadsheets. None of them brought every contributing team and department into one place, so records stayed split between systems.

Community members already had to use several different apps and platforms to reach university services, so easy access was a priority from the start. Any new system had to reduce that load, not add to it.

One platform for the team, one front door for founders

Strathclyde Inspire came to Startium looking for one system its staff members and its entrepreneurial community could share.

Startium OS brought the team's client records and the resources for their entrepreneurial community together in one branded portal. Meeting notes, appointments, introductions and shared work now sit against each entrepreneur's profile, while the member portal gives every member a digital access point for all Strathclyde Inspire services and a gateway to the Glasgow startup ecosystem.

It is very clear that Startium OS has been built by business advisors for business advisors. Ever since our first interactions with the Startium team they have been incredibly accommodating and responsive to all our needs and suggestions for further development, enabling us to tailor a software solution to meet our unique needs at Strathclyde Inspire.

Advisors, founders and reporting now share one record

Startium OS works differently for each group involved in Strathclyde Inspire, but they all draw on the same information.

For entrepreneurs: a personal dashboard matched to their stage

Each member of the community has their own dashboard of relevant local, regional and national events, opportunities, funding calls and competitions, based on venture stage, sector and identified support needs. Early-stage founders exploring an idea see the events and opportunities meant for them, while those further along see only what relates to their stage. From the same place, members browse suggested guides and videos, book one-to-ones and events, connect with other members and share files with their advisors.

For advisors: client history that anyone can pick up

Meeting notes, bookings and introductions sit in one place, so if an advisor is out when someone walks in, a colleague can pick up the meeting and see what was last said and where the idea stands. Work is shared through the platform rather than by email, so advisors can track who has received what. Noticeboards and learning pathways set stage-by-stage exercises, from a business model canvas and lean canvas through pitching to investment, which founders complete and send back for feedback.

For the university: one source of truth for impact

Because every team records its work in the same system, Strathclyde Inspire reports on engagement and impact across programmes, stakeholders, regions, initiatives and partnerships nationwide without stitching spreadsheets together. Introductions to supporters show on each entrepreneur's activity timeline, with who made them and what was discussed, so the contribution of every team to Strathclyde's entrepreneurial campus (opens in a new tab) is recorded as it happens.

Built for institutions taking entrepreneurship seriously

This model suits universities and colleges delivering in house entrepreneurship support or those who prioritise connecting their community with the local business support ecosystem. If your team reconciles spreadsheets before every report, or your founders juggle several apps to reach you, you will recognise the problem Strathclyde Inspire set out to solve.

Strathclyde Inspire runs Startium OS in Operator Mode, which is built for support delivered from one organisation, whether that is programmes, property, advice or technical support. If you are a funder or lead body overseeing delivery across several programmes, partners or properties, Governance Mode is the closer match, and if you are a city, region or network that wants one access point and shared tools across multiple stakeholders, Ecosystem Mode fits better. If you are not sure which applies to you, our advisors are happy to help.

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