Start-ups urged to think inside Launchbox

NEW companies are being offered a box containing everything they need to get their business off the ground.

Launchbox - the brainchild of Kirkcaldy-based entrepreneurs Gavin Sime and Lindsay Fielding - includes hour-long blocks of advice from professionals such as accountants and solicitors, along with a netbook computer and website design.

Sime, who worked in IT in South Africa before returning to Scotland in 2006, thinks the pack will appeal to public sector workers poised to lose their jobs in the looming cuts.

He said the Launchbox could also appeal to parents working from home who want to supplement their income.

Their product was launched last month at a business start-up fair at Earls Court in London. The service offers 2,300 of content for 1,000 plus VAT.

Sime said: "We see Launchbox as complementary to the work being done by agencies like Business Gateway or the local enterprise partnerships south of the Border in helping people to start their own businesses. We saw there was a gap in the market for a product that gave someone everything they need to start their own business all in one place."

Sime and Fielding previously worked with Business Gateway Fife.