We love a good business origin story: the lightbulb moment, the gap in the market, the leap of faith. But ask business owners what got them through their toughest times, and the idea barely gets a mention. Recent insights from the shortlist of The Allica Bank Great British Entrepreneur Awards shows what they say instead.
Half of the business owners described their biggest challenges using the language of resilience. More than eight in ten spoke about learning, four in ten talked about adapting or pivoting, and almost half mentioned failure, setbacks or mistakes.
The message is clear: ideas may start businesses, but they rarely keep them going.
Resilience isn't just refusing to give up
It’s easy to picture resilience as taking endless knocks, working longer hours and never backing down. The business owners we heard from describe something different. For them, it’s about staying in motion while being willing to change direction.
The perfect plan, they say, is a bit of a fiction.
Every business starts with assumptions about customers, pricing and growth, and the market laughs back at them. Then the real test begins: whether you take that feedback as a final verdict or a stepping stone. As one business owner put it: “success is not about avoiding failure.” It’s about how quickly you learn and adapt.
That suggests resilience isn’t a trait only a lucky few are born with. It’s a skill built through experience, including learning to tell a difficult patch from a failing business.
It doesn't get easier with size
Resilience isn’t the reserve of plucky, scrappy startups. Over half of business owners running companies with a turnover between £1 million and £10 million cited the need for resilience.
The bigger the business, the more customers, people and resources are in play. There's also more riding on every decision. A lost contract or a sudden jump in costs can reach far beyond the owner.
Gareth Anderson, Head of Business Management at Allica Bank, says:
“We often hear this from the founders we work with: the pressure doesn’t ease once a business is established, it just changes shape. Founders turning over £5 million tell me it feels just as intense as year one, just different – with more people depending on them and more at stake in every decision.”
In the early days, resilience might mean finding a new route to market. Later, it might mean protecting your team or managing cash through a downturn. And it certainly doesn’t mean pretending everything is fine.
For entrepreneurs, resilience means carrying on, adapting, and making the next decision even when things feel uncertain.
That’s exactly the kind of business owner we’re proud to back. The businesses that keep going long enough to test, refine and sometimes reinvent themselves deserve all the backing we can offer.
Note: This blog brings together insights from the Great British Entrepreneur Awards’ 2026 shortlist survey. At Allica, we’re proud to be the awards’ headline sponsor for the fourth year running, celebrating the people, ideas and ambition behind Britain’s brilliant businesses.
