Inventive Hedgehog aims for the heights

Mar 6 2008 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

FOR software entrepreneur Sarat Pediredla, his dream of one day heading-up a company equal in size to North East giant Sage, is very much achievable.

His Hedgehog Lab business has just received the funding he believes will help him grow it to a £20m-a-year firm within five years.
But getting his ideas off the ground haven’t been easy, as he explains:

nebusiness: What have been the major challenges in getting your business off the ground so far?

SP: The primarily challenge for us have been the task of balancing innovation and R&D (which is the core of our business) with the need to generate revenue. Although we have received some funding, a major part of our revenue comes from consultancy work for clients and it is
a challenge to take funding out of revenue generated and committing it to R&D which might not generate any return on investment for months
and years. The secondary challenge has been to hire the right kind of people. Software developers in general are very much in demand at this moment and finding the right talent in the region is difficult. We have been fortunate enough to hire some of the best in our team of 5 but I am
sure we face tough hurdles ahead during our explosive growth.

nebusiness: Do you think there is enough support available in the North East for young entrepreneurs looking to get their business off the ground?

SP: I think the support available to young entrepreneurs and businesses in the North East is on par with other regions. Both local councils and
regional agencies like TEDCO, Codeworks and ONE NorthEast offer a staggeringly large amount of support and advice for business. NStar
Finance and Business (http://www.nstarfinanceandbusiness.com/) is a great resource to find out more about both financial support and
business courses available for new businesses.

PAGE THREE: Sarat Pediredla unveils his top ten tips for entrepreneurs on how to get their ideas off the ground.