Charity’s partnership with Twine is showcase for high quality software developed in the city
Manchester Tech Trust (MTT), the non-profit organisation which links investors and early stage tech businesses, is partnering with Manchester startup Twine to provide a toolkit of essential software for startup and scale up companies.
The Startup Toolkit is made up of seven free or heavily-discounted software packages including best value solutions for web build, cloud telephony, cloud hosting and CRM tools.
And with five of the seven packages from Manchester startups, it is also a showcase for the world-class quality software coming out of Manchester and the North-west. The toolkit, which can be accessed via the Manchester Tech Trust website, has been assembled by Twine, which connects companies to creatives by making it simple to write a project brief and curating the best quality freelancers. Twine was named one of Creative England’s 2017 Top 50 Future Leaders for the way it encourages creative collaboration.
Twine MD Stuart Logan says: “The steps in starting-up are common to all companies. Getting a logo, building a proof of concept web site with explainer video, sending out your investment deck to potential funders, getting in touch with your first customers, and keeping a track of them on a CRM. The Startup Toolkit is a package of unique offers for the most appropriate services and products. These will help you present your business idea or product professionally, increase the productivity of your team, and enable you to grow faster.”
The Startup Toolkit includes software from North-west companies Twine, Cindr, CircleLoop, Capsule, FlowX, Ifarm and also US firm ZenDesk.
MTT CEO Peter Lusty says: “All startups and growing businesses require essential software packages. These are now being made available to new businesses for free or for minimal cost through our partnership with Twine. These are super-helpful basic tools for new businesses, but what’s so pleasing about this toolkit is that most are software packages developed in Manchester and the north-west, and showcase the quality of the enterprise tech sector here.
“Other similar toolkits are available but tend to offer software developed in the US. When north-west startups access the toolkit from the MTT site, they are getting best-of-breed packages, but they are also actively supporting the Manchester digital economy.
“Tech Trust aims to expand the offer over time, and as well as promoting these services in Greater Manchester, we will also seek to work with organisations like Creative England to promote these home-grown services across the UK.”
Mr Lusty adds: “Through the Manchester Tech Trust website and events, we have established ourselves as a super connector, the ‘go to’ organisation in the city to bring people, support and finance together to make things happen quickly and effectively. MTT has utilised its mentoring network to help over 60 local entrepreneurs and young companies in 2017.”
MTTs next mentoring event takes place on Thursday the 28th September at Manchester Science Partnership’s brand new Bright Building. Tech startups and local entrepreneurs can find further information and register to attend here.
Follow MTT via @MCRTechTrust
