About

The Start Up Donut gives you all the advice, support and access to the essentials you need to:

• start a new business
• get it running and
• make it grow.

And all this comes for free.

We've teamed up with NFEA - the national enterprise network. This gives you direct access to the wide range of enterprise support organisations across the country and the independent advice and support they offer on starting or developing a business. So at the top of the page you'll see either the NFEA logo or the logo of your local enterprise agency (if you've registered on one of the Donut websites and if your local enterprise agency has signed up to this collaborative project). By clicking on the logo you'll either go through to the website of your local enterprise agency or to an interactive map where you can find details for your nearest one. (Note: On 1 January 2010, 28 Enterprise Agencies had already signed up. We expect this number to double by the summer.)

All the advice and guidance contained on the site is written in plain English, jargon free. And you can be sure of what you read on the Donut – everything we do is checked and validated by independent experts in their fields and bang up-to-date.

The Start Up Donut will help you at every stage of your exciting journey to create a new business. You’ll find briefings, articles, FAQs, checklists and tools – all designed to get you going in the best way possible.

We work with sponsors and experts, who use the Donut to show you how they may be able to help you. You’re under no obligation to deal with any of them, and there’s no advertising on the site. That’s a promise.

But we work with the best in the business, so if you’re interested and want to know more about our sponsors and experts ­– and what they can do to help you – feel free to click through.

Registration

To get the most out of the Start Up Donut, please take a few short moments to register for free.

If you register with the Start Up Donut, you can:

• get a free monthly e-newsletter with hints and tips about getting your business off the ground
• post in our forums, asking questions or helping other firms like yours
• use the tools and calculators across the site

Privacy

We take your privacy extremely seriously. Unless you ask us to, we will not pass your contact details or any other personal information to anyone else. You’ll find full details in our privacy policy.

Who’s behind the Start Up Donut?

We’re BHP Information Solutions. We’ve been providing no-nonsense, practical advice for small firms like yours for nearly 20 years. You can find out more about us on our website