Why enter awards? Business validation

“It’s good for credibility, especially when you have a new business. In our case our proposition is often seen as ‘too good to be true’ so winning an award helps counter that fear. It might not reassure the customer straight away, but it reassures the press and that in turn reassures the customer, it’s a snowball effect.”

Made.com (Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2012)

“For us, because Crowdcube was not just a start-up but disrupting an existing market – we were seeking to build trust and reliability by winning awards. We did feel that we had a really strong story to tell and a story we felt should be validated and recognised by awards, maybe not in terms of what we’d achieved as a business at that point (in terms of profitability and revenue) but how we’d disrupted an incumbent industry and prompted huge change within that industry.”

Crowdcube (Funded Business of the Year 20138)

“For a brand like ours where we have to persuade people on their doorsteps to hand over previous possessions and know and trust that we’ll look after them and bring them back in one piece – it’s important that there’s some validation behind it. That’s the corporate reason for entering.
Awards really at the end of the day are about beating other people to the prize. In the ordinariness of the everyday it’s not really clear that you’re ahead of someone else so it’s great validation.”

LOVESPACE (Crowdfunded Business of the Year 2014)

“Winning a product-based award has also been very important to us. Developing over 420 products for launch had never been seen before in optics and receiving recognition from outside the business helped us firmly cement our place within the optical industry as a business with products you can entirely put your trust in.”

Eyespace (Product Business of the Year 2014)