Cloud Accounting Support Services (CASS) had the privilege of attending the Festival of Entrepreneurs at the NEC Birmingham. It was billed to be the UK’s most ambitious gathering for growing businesses, here’s our round up of if it was! Over two days, more than 5,000 entrepreneurs, investors, and business leaders came together to share strategies, tools, and connections to take growth to the next level.
From 150+ leading speakers to 100+ solution providers and 70 sessions across 4 stages, the festival was brimming with fresh insights, real-life success stories, and powerful opportunities to connect.
Our Moment on the Scale-Up Stage
One of the highlights for us was seeing our founder, Paul Barnes, take to the Scale-Up Stage on Wednesday 8th October. His session, “Smart Finance for Fast Growth: What Every Founder Needs Beyond the Basics”, was designed to give ambitious entrepreneurs practical tools to:
- Understand the financial drivers of scale-up success
- Harness cloud technology to improve cash flow and visibility
- Move beyond bookkeeping basics and start thinking strategically
- Build financial resilience while seizing growth opportunities
The session sparked brilliant conversations with founders, scale-up leaders, and investors who recognised the importance of getting their financial foundations right while planning for expansion.
What We Took Away
The festival reinforced what we already know at CASS: growth isn’t just about ambition, it’s about building the right systems, teams, and partnerships to make that growth sustainable.
Some of our biggest takeaways included:
- Funding is within reach but investors want to see strong financial clarity.
- Culture and cash go hand-in-hand high-performing teams are supported by transparent financial practices.
- Tech is a growth enabler from cloud accounting to AI-driven analytics, efficiency tools are now non-negotiable.
Looking Ahead
We’re proud to have played our part in such a dynamic event, and we’re excited to keep the conversations going with the brilliant business owners we met.
If you attended Paul’s talk and would like to continue the discussion – or if you couldn’t make it but want to learn how smart finance can help you scale faster we’d love to hear from you.
Book a meeting with Paul today to see how CASS can support your growth journey.
👉 https://calendly.com/cass-online/mtd-itsa-discovery-call?month=2025-08