New approach to supporting scale-ups proving popular in UK

A US based growth platform for ambitious founder led companies is proving popular with scale-ups in the UK looking to exit. 

Next Stage Trajectory (NST) was set up by Texas based Bill Weathersby and a cohort of other investors and business leaders, with the aim of offering ambitious UK companies a new approach to realising their growth ambitions. 

Businesses that join agree a growth and exit plan called ‘Your Life Changing Target’ which could be to go from £2m revenue to £40m over a certain period, typically 48 months. Bill and his team then provide support with raising funding, international expansion and support with overcoming pain-points as they scale. 

Twenty-six business – including some UK based – have already joined and the total combined revenue from the companies already stands at $103m. 

Bill, who is an eight times founder himself, says that businesses also benefit from cross pollination with other members and access to tech stacks and online portals that would otherwise cost them thousands of pounds. 

He explains more: “What we’re offering is completely different to the current funding and accelerator models in the UK and sits between traditional debt and equity approaches and is different to membership organisations and accelerators.

“This is a process that doesn’t exist now. A seminar lasts a day. A coach will see you once a month and you’ll leave an accelerator after a typical 12-week programme. We meet with you every two weeks and keep you on track and we all work towards the exit plan.”

On the funding that is available to scale-up leaders, Bill comments: “Alongside the support we will give with international expansion, helping to scale and our customer portals we also felt it was important to have a fund where we can deploy capital.

“What you tend to find is that scaling companies who are getting traction often need funding between 200k GBP and 600k GBP, but this is no-man’s land as it is too small for a VC or family office and too expensive for an individual, typically.

“So, we can provide funding that suits the lifecycle of a modern business. We receive 10 per cent of the exit value of a business, so our work is rewarded at the end of the process, and we don’t take equity or classify the lending as debt.”

Several companies in the UK have already joined Next Stage Trajectory, including agentic AI business Kritmatta. 

Manjit Johal from the business says he is already seeing the benefits as they look to scale quickly and tap into expert knowledge that isn’t easily available. 

Daniella Goodwin is a UK partner for Next Stage Trajectory and comments: “I have joined as a partner in the UK because it is clear to me that this is the missing piece for many UK entrepreneurs who are looking to achieve serious scale. It is fast, responsive, ambitious and backed by serious people who understand the brutality and wonder of business and know the ingredients needed to create a company that can sell for multi millions of pounds.”