High-growth businesses remain a powerful engine for the UK economy, but building one takes more than hard work. It takes a high-growth mindset. According to the ScaleUp Institute’s most recent scaleup review, published in 2024, the UK is home to around 34,000 scaleups, defined as firms achieving at least 20% annual growth in turnover or employment over three consecutive years. These businesses punch above their weight on job creation, innovation and exports. Yet women remain underrepresented: women-led scaleups account for only around 8.8% of the total scaleup population, and all-female founder teams receive less than 2% of UK venture capital, according to the British Business Bank’s 2024 Small Business Finance Markets report.
The economic case for change is strong. The Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship estimates that if women started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men, it could add up to £250 billion to the UK economy. Women-led businesses now make up around one in five UK enterprises, yet they are still less likely than male-led firms to seek external finance, apply for grants or plan for international expansion. Closing these gaps could unlock significant economic value and create more role models for the next generation of women founders. For the latest UK statistics, see our Women in Business: Key UK Facts page.
Government-backed support has shifted since the original Growth Accelerator and Help to Grow: Management schemes closed. Help to Grow: Management closed to new registrations in 2025. Today, founders can tap into programmes such as Innovate UK grants and loans, the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans, the Growth Guarantee Scheme and regional funds, Made Smarter for manufacturing and digital adoption, and local Growth Hubs. Many scaleup networks, peer groups and business schools also offer practical support for women who want to grow. For more on funding options, read our guide to Business Grants For Women in UK.
The good news is that women-led businesses which do pursue growth often succeed strongly. The gap is not capability; it is often about ambition, access and mindset. A high-growth mindset is not simply about working harder. It involves seeing constraints as problems to solve, seeking external expertise and capital, building scalable systems, and being willing to step back from day-to-day operations so the business can grow beyond the founder.
Your attitude to growth
Use the questions below to reflect on your own growth orientation. They are based on long-standing research into how women entrepreneurs approach business growth. There are no right answers. Both high-growth and moderate-growth paths can be successful, but recognising your natural orientation can help you make deliberate choices.
- Do you desire significant wealth, a big challenge, personal satisfaction and substantially higher profits?
- Do you see running a business primarily as a route to financial security for you and your family, while accommodating other life priorities?
- Do you tend to avoid external funding, only taking on debt when absolutely necessary?
- Do you believe the main obstacles to growth are competitors, your own managerial skills, hiring qualified employees and access to established networks?
- Is your main motivation to generate a sustainable income and provide family and personal security?
- Would you describe being an entrepreneur as a central part of your identity?
- Do you see debt or equity finance as a tool that can be used to achieve ambitious goals?
- Do you feel your personal background, training, family responsibilities and access to bank finance are the key barriers to your goals?
If you answered yes to questions 1, 4, 6 and 7, you are more likely to be oriented towards high growth. If you answered yes to questions 2, 3, 5 and 8, you may be more focused on moderate, sustainable growth. These themes are supported by the Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship and work by the Enterprise Research Centre, which highlight growth ambition, willingness to use external finance and network access as continuing differentiators for women entrepreneurs.
The high-growth mindset in practice
Mindset is one of the biggest differentiators between founders who build high-growth ventures and those who stay small. High growth is not inherently better, but it does require a willingness to trade off:
- short-term comfort against long-term value
- intense work periods against work-life balance
- immediate income against the longer-term impact you want to make
One of the hardest trade-offs is ownership. Many women founders are reluctant to give away equity, yet external investment is often essential for rapid scaling. Anne Boden, founder of Starling Bank, is a striking example. She built one of the UK’s leading digital banks by raising hundreds of millions in equity and accepting that her personal stake would be diluted. The principle is simple: owning a small percentage of a large, successful business can be far more valuable than owning all of a business that never reaches its potential. For more on this, see our article on the Female Founder VC Funding Gap.
Work-life balance is another area where high-growth founders must be intentional. The early years of scaling often demand long hours and high energy. However, sustainable high growth usually depends on building a team, delegating and creating boundaries. Founders who try to do everything themselves eventually become the bottleneck.
As you weigh up whether high growth is right for you, the 10-10-10 decision-making tool popularised by Suzy Welch can be useful. Ask yourself: what difference will this decision make in 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years? Considering the short, medium and long-term implications of a major business move can clarify whether you are prepared to make the commitments that high growth requires.
Action steps for women founders
- Score your growth orientation using the eight questions above.
- Identify one current constraint that external finance, hiring or automation could remove.
- Check your local Growth Hub and Innovate UK funding finder for relevant support.
- Speak to two founders who have scaled beyond £1 million turnover to understand the trade-offs.
- Decide whether you are willing to dilute ownership in exchange for faster growth.
Ultimately, a high-growth mindset is about choosing ambition and impact on your own terms. Whether you decide to scale rapidly or grow steadily, the important thing is to make the decision consciously and to use the support available to UK women entrepreneurs today.
