Short, sharp posts on startup tax, funding and finance — R&D relief, SEIS, hiring and the numbers that keep founders up at night.
The founder's test for UK R&D tax relief under the merged scheme and ERIS: what qualifies, the 20% and 26.97p numbers worked through in pounds, the PAYE cap, and the two deadlines that lose claims.
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The founder's version of SEIS and EIS: the investor maths that makes angels say yes, the limits that doubled on 6 April 2026, advance assurance, the exact compliance sequence, and the mistakes that void relief.
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Everything a UK startup must do before its first employee's payday: PAYE registration, right-to-work checks, auto-enrolment, employers' liability insurance, and the loaded cost of a hire at 2026/27 rates.
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UK startups can deduct revenue costs from up to 7 years before trading began and reclaim VAT on goods bought up to 4 years back. What counts, what is capital, and the traps on kit you already owned.
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Why we point founders to Mettle by NatWest: no monthly fee, FreeAgent included, FSCS-protected to £120,000. Plus the eligibility rules and the deposit-protection trap that catches funded startups.
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How to set FreeAgent up as a live founder's dashboard: the five numbers to read weekly, a worked runway calculation, a worked corporation tax accrual with marginal relief, and what it costs.
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The real 2026/27 numbers UK startups should build into a forecast: £12.71 minimum wage, 15% employer NI above £5,000, the £10,500 Employment Allowance, the new business rates multipliers, and the tax lumps that break a monthly average.
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Banks aren't the only — or best — source of startup capital. Grants, crowdfunding, revenue-based finance, asset finance and angel investment, compared with what each really costs.
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The lean-marketing question is not which channel — it is what a customer costs, what one is worth, and what the taxman gives back. Payback maths, the after-tax cost of a marketing pound, and three tax traps that make cheap marketing expensive.
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If one client is most of your revenue, your startup is more fragile than it looks. What customer concentration risk is, why investors and lenders flag it, and how to reduce it.
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A practical guide to writing a startup business plan investors and lenders take seriously — the sections that matter, the four numbers they check first, what a hire really costs once NI and pension are in, and the mistakes that get plans binned.
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A practical template for a founder's monthly investor update — the metrics that matter, how to calculate net burn and runway honestly, and why a one-off receipt can make your runway look twice as long as it is.
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The EMI limits changed on 6 April 2026 — £6m of options, £120m gross assets, 500 employees and a 15-year exercise window. What it means for a UK startup, with a worked tax comparison against unapproved options and the two deadlines that quietly destroy the relief.
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Why a convertible loan note is not SEIS or EIS eligible, the five HMRC conditions an advance subscription agreement has to meet, and what the difference is worth to an angel in pounds — with a worked example on a £150,000 bridge.
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Place of supply, the reverse charge, and why a UK startup owes EU VAT on its first euro of consumer revenue with no threshold to hide behind — plus the non-Union OSS, the evidence rules, and a worked example on £4,800 of EU sales.
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Reverse vesting turns founder shares into restricted securities, and the section 431 election that fixes it expires 14 days after the shares are issued — with a worked example where the same exit is £463,687 apart depending on one signature.
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Setting up a separate company for the new product line divides the £50,000 and £250,000 corporation tax limits between them — with a worked example where three companies on £171,000 of combined profit pay £5,135 more than the founder expected.
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Every director and PSC must now verify their identity with Companies House. At the end of June 2026 nearly half of all appointments still had not. What founders, co-founders and SEIS investors each have to do, and when.
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