As 2026 approaches, the landscape for entrepreneurs is shifting fast, defined by AI disruption, rising costs, cautious investors and more demanding customers.
Yet for British entrepreneur and investor Matt Haycox, the fundamentals of building a strong business remain the same: clarity, cash flow and character.
‘Trends change every year,’ he says. ‘Principles don’t. If you can manage money, manage people and keep promises, you’ll still win, whether it’s 2006 or 2026.’
Haycox, best known for his straight-talking investment advice and hands-on mentoring, has spent more than two decades building, backing and turning around businesses across the UK. Through his finance lending platform Funding Guru and portfolio ventures within The Matt Haycox Group, he has helped raise and arrange over £1 billion for small and medium-sized companies.
He’s also one of the few investors who openly admits that failure, not hustle, taught him the most. ‘I learned more from losing my first business than from all the ones that worked afterwards,’ he says. ‘You get perspective once you’ve had to start again.’
A More Selective Market
Entrepreneurs heading into 2026 face a funding market defined by selectivity rather than scarcity. According to Crunchbase’s Global Venture Funding Report (Q3 2025), global VC investment reached $97 billion, up 15% year-on-year, but the number of deals dropped by nearly 30%. The money is still there, Haycox says, it’s just harder to earn.
‘Investors haven’t vanished. They’re just doing more homework,’ he explains. ‘If you can show real traction, cash discipline and a credible plan, capital will still find you.’
That aligns with data from the British Business Bank’s Small Business Equity Tracker (2025), which reported that UK deal volumes fell for the second consecutive year even as average investment sizes increased. ‘It’s survival of the focused,’ Haycox adds. ‘Businesses that know their numbers and can prove them will keep growing while everyone else blames the economy.’
AI, Automation and The Human Advantage
Artificial intelligence has become the defining force of modern entrepreneurship. A recent report by PwC UK (October 2025) estimated that AI integration could boost UK GDP by £230 billion by 2030, but Haycox warns that technology alone won’t make or break a business.
‘AI is a tool, not a strategy,’ he says. ‘It can speed you up, but if you’re heading in the wrong direction, you’ll just get lost faster.’
He believes the winners of the next decade will be entrepreneurs who pair automation with emotional intelligence. ‘Your edge is human,’ he says. ‘Empathy, negotiation and leadership can’t be outsourced, at least not yet.’
According to LinkedIn’s Global Future of Work Report (2025), 74% of employers say soft skills such as adaptability, communication and leadership are now more important than technical expertise. That insight aligns closely with Haycox’s business coaching philosophy: technology should serve people, not replace them.
Cash Flow Over Headlines
Haycox’s own lending business, Funding Guru, is built around one principle: liquidity. ‘Cash is oxygen,’ he says. ‘You don’t die from bad ideas; you die from running out of cash before the good ones pay off.’
The Bibby Financial Services SME Confidence Tracker (Q3 2025) supports this view: 47% of UK SMEs named cash flow and profitability as their biggest challenge heading into 2026, the highest figure in four years. Haycox believes many founders still underestimate how quickly growth consumes cash. ‘Everyone’s chasing scale,’ he says. ‘But if you don’t understand your burn rate, growth becomes your biggest risk.’
His advice to new founders is simple: track daily cash movement and never assume tomorrow’s revenue will solve today’s debt. ‘Confidence doesn’t pay bills,’ he says. ‘Collections do.’
Beyond The Pitch Deck
Another emerging trend Haycox highlights is the rise of ‘founder transparency.’ Investors, he says, are prioritising authenticity over theatrics. ‘We’ve had 10 years of perfect LinkedIn stories,’ he says. ‘Now people want to know who you really are, especially the people funding you.’
That shift is reflected in LinkedIn and Edelman’s 2025 Global B2B Thought Leadership Report, which found that content featuring genuine lessons and vulnerability from business leaders received 47% higher engagement than polished promotional posts. ‘If you can talk honestly about what went wrong and how you fixed it, you’ll attract more trust than any glossy pitch deck ever will,’ Haycox says.
The Rise of ‘Conscious Commercialism’
Looking ahead, Haycox predicts that 2026 will see more founders focusing on long-term value creation rather than hype. ‘We’re entering an age of conscious commercialism,’ he says. ‘Entrepreneurs are starting to care about profit and principles, because customers do.’
According to Deloitte’s Global Consumer Pulse Survey (Q4 2025), 57 percent of UK consumers now prefer brands that demonstrate social responsibility and transparency over those simply offering low prices. For Haycox, that’s both a challenge and an opportunity. ‘Good values aren’t marketing,’ he says. ‘They’re an operating system.’
His own investments reflect that mindset, backing SMEs that mix profit with purpose, from regional hospitality ventures that prioritise local sourcing to fintech firms building fair-credit products for underserved communities.
Timeless Principles For A New Era
For all the changes swirling around modern entrepreneurship: AI, shifting markets, new funding models, Haycox insists that the core principles of business haven’t changed. ‘Money still follows trust. Teams still follow leaders. And success still follows execution,’ he says.
He encourages entrepreneurs to focus less on trends and more on timeless habits: know your numbers, build strong relationships, communicate clearly and treat setbacks as data, not disasters. ‘If you can do those four things consistently, you’ll always be relevant,’ he says.
On Matt Haycox’s official website and through his lending platform Funding Guru, he continues to share practical funding guidance, mentoring advice and case studies from across his portfolio.
As 2026 begins, his message to founders is simple but hard-earned: ‘Forget the noise. The future doesn’t belong to whoever moves fastest; it belongs to whoever moves best.’
