The UK Initial Public Offering (IPO) market has been stagnant for a while now, experiencing a seven year low. Not so in the US.

Up steps Snapchat, the millennial-focused photo/messaging app, going large with its public offering, expected to be the largest IPO in some years, at over $25bn. Could the pre-Trump tech market be ripe for the picking again and if so, will the UK tech scene benefit?

The UK tech psyche might still be reeling from the Brexit result, but perhaps light is at the end of the tunnel. After all, Google, another controversial US firm, re-confirmed its commitment to the UK. The beam of light from our search engine deity is in the form of a £1bn investment, which involves building a new HQ at 6 Pancras Square. Indeed, this may not surprise many as this was initially announced in 2013. Good PR or the sort of move which gives PR a bad name?

Not only is Google investing in the UK but SoftBank and Saudi Arabia has partnered to create one of the largest tech investments funds in the world culminating in a $100bn pot of gold for UK for startups and techies to salivate over. From a UK tech perspective, after the Brexit doom and gloom, these indicators are a welcome change of pace which, as usual, ever-optimistic UK tech entrepreneurs believe will usher in a new dawn. But while British techpreneurs are rightly excited, there are some things the UK still needs to get right. So far, the UK has struggled to create home-grown Category Kings.
What are Category Kings? This question was answered at a recent Positive event, in partnership with Play Bigger, the Silicon Valley consultants who coined this phrase, to describe a new game-changing concept for tech. Category Design.

The Play Bigger launch, #PlayBiggerLDN, was attended by industry leaders, VCs and top tier journalists and featured a world-class panel, which discussed the inner workings of Category Design. Startups, scale-ups and tech giants were in attendance to lend us their ears and thoughts on how they see category design. So how will Category Design advance the “slowly-slowly” progress of UK businesses?

From our perspective, the idea around Category Creation is a no-brainer. It just took some really smart people to realise that framing a real-world problem and building your Category around it, positions you for success as a Category King, which Play Bigger research proves takes up to 80% of the available market.
Understanding the faults in the current eco-system, articulating your own clear Point of View and clear category thinking is the way tech businesses in the UK, will win in these uncertain times. Positioning products and companies is what Positive Marketing does daily. With a little help from our friends at Play Bigger, we will now be helping the UK’s startups, scale-ups and budding Category Kings to Play Bigger.