“Founding a business is easy, but how do you scale in an industry of giants? 

Five billion parcels are delivered across the UK every year – but it’s only recently that an industry dominated by large legacy players has begun to adapt to the changing landscape.

My co-founder, Mathias Krieger, and I started HIVED off the back of another business selling advertising on the side of delivery vans. Looking at the data from the delivery vans, we were blown away by how inefficient the parcel delivery industry was. Taken together with the remarkably poor consumer satisfaction scores for many of the businesses in this space, we realised a new kind of delivery company was needed.

Now we have over a hundred employees, two London depots, and plans to expand across the UK. But in an industry dominated by large incumbents, we have learned important lessons about how founders can scale when competing with major incumbents in their sector. Most importantly:

 Prioritise sustainable growth. It might sound counterintuitive, but be choosy with your customers when looking to scale. Building revenue is important, but if you really want to grow your business, finding the right customers who make commercial sense for your business beyond the short-term is imperative. A number of startups in the delivery sector have failed because they have struggled to diversify their client base and bring big, game-changing enterprise businesses on board. You have to survive to thrive. Prioritising the partners who will drive long-term growth gives you the footing to compete with incumbents. 

 Bring in industry expertise. A key element of being a successful entrepreneur is thinking differently, but as you scale you need to supplement that startup spirit with hires who have deeper knowledge of the industry you are working in. Startups can rapidly develop a solution to a problem, but you can hit a brick wall if you don’t know where to take it or how to sell it to the market. Having industry experts on-board helps refine your strengths and identify where the weak spots are for the bigger players you are competing with. 

Solve tomorrow’s problems today. Legacy industries face legacy issues. Trying to fix these is like turning a tanker – it takes ages. For example, legacy players in logistics can’t just electrify overnight to fit with the net zero economy. This can give a startup that has built a sustainable business from the ground up an initial advantage, but it doesn’t last forever. You have to be constantly looking ahead to find the next problem to solve before your competitors do – whether that’s finding new use cases like collecting reusable packaging and waste or developing new markets for delivery. Having the agility to quickly spot new commercial opportunities and pivots is key to outpacing incumbents as you scale.”

Murvah Iqbal and Mathias Krieger, founders of logistics firm HIVED