There often comes a plateau for a start-up that’s been growing pleasingly. One of the most enticing elements of starting your own business is the fact that, technically speaking, the sky is the limit and, no matter how far you come, growth is always possible.

That said, scaling in almost all cases requires investment, which, if you’re young and inexperienced, is extremely hard to come by without sacrificing an exorbitant amount of equity.

Tom Cridland, the startup

I run a sustainable fashion brand with my girlfriend of almost eight years, Deborah Marx. I started it in January 2014 with a £6,000 government start-up loan and decided to call it, Tom Cridland (my name), because tomcridland.com…