Build a Better Startup Interviews

Maintaining a healthy cash flow is absolutely essential for a small business to survive. It sounds so strange to have to say that, but if it’s so obvious, why do so many of us get into trouble when it comes to cash flow? Why aren’t we more aware of where we stand financially? What are the issues that are affecting our cash flow?

Cash flow can be a problematic area for businesses of any size, but it can be a particularly difficult for small business owners, especially during their first couple of years. We can often get distracted by finding the clients and doing the work. This means that invoicing, accounts and so on take a back seat. We’ll get the money for that next month, we tell ourselves. And, because we’re just starting out, we justify dipping into our personal accounts as we say that’s just what entrepreneurs do in the early days. The buzz of completing a project successfully and looking for the next big client might mean we don’t start invoicing right away. We may accept a client’s longer payment terms without any negotiation just to ensure we get their business.

These are all understandable reasons why accounting gets neglected sometimes but we can quickly find ourselves in trouble if we don’t keep an eye on our finances. And, there are always going to be other issues that will crop up. Clients may take their time to pay your invoices and it can feel rude to keep chasing them up. You may have some emergency personal expenses that can’t be delayed or a larger than usual tax bill. Before you know it, you’ve got nothing to show for the many hours of hard work you’ve put in and the wolf is at the door. How can we avoid some of these issues and help our businesses thrive?

With us on this episode of your favourite small business podcast is Gary Turner, the managing director of small business cloud-based accountancy service, Xero. Gary’s been working on accountancy software for more than twenty years, so he has a wealth of experience and knowledge about what companies do well and not so well when it comes to maintaining a healthy cash flow.

As ever, our guest is going to be giving you some actionable tips that can be implemented in any small business and help you better avoid the stresses and strains that come with dwindling cash reserves.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I stay on top of my cash flow and grow my business?

About Gary:

Gary Turner is the managing director of Xero, an innovative and beautifully designed cloud-based accounting software for small businesses. With Xero, small business owners can connect with their accounting data anytime, anywhere and on any device. In only a few short years, the company has grown to become the market leading cloud accountancy product in the UK, New Zealand and Australia.

Prior to joining Xero, Gary gained over 20 years’ experience in the accountancy software field. He’s here on this episode of your favourite small business podcast to share his expertise and tips for keeping on top of your finances as well as some of the pitfalls to avoid. 

Gary’s Actionable Tips:

* Keep on top of your accounts. Staying on top of your books and making sure they are as accurate as possible is the most important aspect of maintaining cash flow. Updating your records as frequently as possible will help you know where you stand.

* Be fair and direct with your customers. There’s no need to be too lenient or a pushover. Just be clear about your terms in the beginning. Although it can feel nerve-wracking, there’s nothing wrong with asking to be paid within a reasonable amount of time for quality work. Your customers know that for you to continue working, you need to be paid.

* Keep your accounting as simple as possible. We often use our own systems to keep track of data and financial information...

All small businesses start with an idea. We all have new ones constantly; it’s just part of the entrepreneur’s DNA. If we come across a problem, we want to be able to solve it for ourselves and anyone else out there that might be facing the same issue. But ideas are ten a penny, it’s the implementation and delivery of those ideas that grow businesses. How can we make sure an idea is worth pursuing? And how can we get it to market? These are issues that we’re going to dig into on this episode of Excellence Expected.

Before you can get your product or service to market, you need to validate the idea and the potential market. Using segmentation to identify market segments is a great way to narrow down who your ideal clients are going to be. Only after identifying the type of clients that you’re looking for can you start working out how you’re going to reach them and if doing so is going to be profitable. Let’s say you’ve identified a market segment, but you find through your research that it’s going to cost almost as much to reach clients in this segment as you would earn from them. If the margins are too slender, it may not be an idea that’s going to grow your business. Finding the right client segment is great, but you need to be able to reach them profitably.

If you’ve done your homework and determined that it is possible to reach your desired clientele in a cost effective way, you can then focus on your routes to market and how you’re going to raise awareness of your business among these potential clients. At this point, a lot of us get caught up in thinking about how our businesses are going to look. We get wrapped up in the design of websites, apps, e-mail marketing material and so on. However, as mentioned in this episode, design is just one aspect of marketing and your message has a far greater impact than the design of your marketing materials. Focus on getting the message right and you will see your marketing budget stretch a great deal further. It’s all about appealing to your desired market segment’s needs. If you can communicate why they need your product and how it may help them, they are sure to take notice!

Joining us on this episode of Excellence Expected is the co-founder and Marketing Director of inniAccounts, James Poyser. James is a digital marketing expert and he’s here on the number one small business podcast to share some insight and actionable tips that will help your business to attract more of the right kind of clients.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I get my business to market?

About James:

James Poyser is the Sales and Marketing Director of inniAccounts. He previously worked in the IT sector and has also worked in China as a digital marketing consultant. The inniAccounts team aim to take the hassle out of accountancy for contractors, consultants and small business owners by blending an expert accountancy team with intuitive online software. The company was born in response to the some of the frustrations faced by the founders and they have created an easier way for their clients to organise their finances.

James’ Actionable Tips:

* Validate that you can reach your potential clients and do so profitably. Use segmentation to identify the right markets and ask yourself if you can actually find them and reach them in a cost effective way. Research, head to trade shows, read trade magazines, engage on social media and use AdWords to make sure that this perfect market is reachable while at the same time keeping a close eye on the costs associated with reaching them.

* Deliver a razor sharp experience. Find the segment you want to focus on and be absolutely single-minded about delivering a brilliant experience to them. You can’t be everything to everyone. Even when thinking about pricing and marketing,

We’ve all had those lightbulb moments when we think we’ve come up with the next big thing. Whether it be an app, service or product, every small business owner has, at some point, convinced themselves that their next idea is an absolute gem. Often these ideas start to fall apart as soon as you try to get something down on paper, but every once in a while, we all get that one idea that just won’t go away.

If we get an idea that doesn’t lose its early promise the more you think about it, how can you take the idea and make it into the reality of a startup? Well, on this episode of the number one small business podcast, we’re joined by Al Bentley who has taken his initial idea and created Simply Wall Street, a service aimed at making us all better investors by provided financial data in a new way.

Leaving square one can sometimes be the most difficult stage on a journey as there is so much to think about we can suffer from paralysis by analysis. Validating your idea is the obvious starting point, and Al recommends breaking down different parts of your idea and validating them in a modular way. This can help with focus and it can also tell you where your idea isn’t working so you can pivot or adapt a single feature as opposed to scrapping the whole idea.

Don’t let your great idea get bogged down in this way. Get out there and tell people about it. Make sure that the problem that you are hoping to solve is widespread enough and that there is a big enough market out there. Once you’ve done so, you can start preparing to help your idea grow in earnest.

Al is going to tell us all about his, and Simply Wall Street’s, journey from idea to startup. He will also be providing three actionable tips that can help guide you on your path.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast Episode:

How can I turn my idea into a startup?

About Al:

Al Bentley is the CEO and co-founder of an innovative new startup, Simply Wall Street. The company aims to help people become better investors through the use of detailed infographics which can be understood more easily than the typical, dry financial data that they consult before investing.

Investing in stocks can be a minefield and the amount of information out there can be overwhelming, which often leads to poor choices. Simply Wall Street provides over 10,000 infographics every day for companies listed on stock exchanges in the US, the UK and Australia.

Al’s Actionable Tips:

* Validate your idea. You have to be confident that you’ve found a genuine problem with a big potential market. Don’t worry about the solution at the beginning. You can break things down into small projects.

* Prepare your life. It’s worth making preparations to make the move to operating your own startup easier. Often startups fail because the founders haven’t adequately prepared their lives.

* Ask yourself if you really need to build it. Do you really need to build an app or a website? Or could you frame your solution in another way?

Top Quotes:

* “We believe that self-directed investing doesn’t have to be that difficult.”

* “What we aim to do is to turn people into better investors.”

* “Validation is the single most important thing you need to do. Until you’ve validated an idea you’re potentially wasting your own time.”

* “Nobody uses an app just for the user experience. You need to focus on a problem and make sure that you are providing a solution to that problem.”

* “It’s important to not be scared to share your ideas. Don’t try and keep it shrouded in secrecy and you’ll get far further by telling people about it than by trying to hide it.”

* “If you’re jumping right to the solution, you probably haven’t understood the problem.”

Putting your heart and soul into a new product or service can be one of the most exciting aspects of being an entrepreneur. Seeing your idea flourish before your eyes can be fantastic and we can all get carried away at times. It can be hard to know when to stop making improvements and endless tweaks and let it out into the world.

After the fun of getting the idea together, doing the market research, validating your potential customer base and crunching the numbers, releasing your product or service into the marketplace can feel terrifying. Not only have you spent a great deal of time, effort and money on preparing, but there will no doubt be some of your ego wrapped up in it too. What if the market research wasn’t thorough enough? What if there’s a whole load of criticism? Have I completely missed the mark? Take about stressful!

With all those questions in mind, we all want to make sure that what we take to market is perfect in every way. This can cause delays, friction with partners and wasted money and time. At some point, you are going to just have to get it out there! Only by releasing it can you gain valuable feedback from people who are using your product or service the way that it should be used. The feedback that they can provide can be invaluable to any new product as it will allow you to make constructive tweaks, not for the sake of your ego, but that will genuinely improve the product or experience for future customers.

They say you can only launch something once, and perhaps that was true in the past, but in the world of startups that we live in now, the public are used to seeing products being changed after launch to better serve the customer base. And launching once, perhaps with tweaks afterwards, is a lot better than never launching at all because something is not quite right!

With us on this episode of your favourite small business podcast is Jaime Jay. Jaime is going to take us through his experiences of launching Podcast Professors and share his tips for anyone stuck at this particular bottleneck at the moment.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

When do you know when your product is ready to launch?

About Jaime:

Jaime Jay is a podcaster, entrepreneur and WordPress marketing expert. When he’s not discussing the latest in online entrepreneurship on his show, Stop Riding the Pine, Jaime is hard at work sharing his experiences and expertise with the world at Podcast Professors. The site provides action plans, tutorials and advice for those new to the world of podcasting. The site also has a vibrant community of likeminded podcasters willing to help one another with their podcasting issues.

Jaime also runs Slap Shot Studios, a WordPress marketing company that provides total solutions to those in need of high quality WordPress designs, tailored content and promotion.

Actionable Tips:

* Understand that your project will need tweaks and adjustments. You can’t ignore feedback that could help the product and you need to address bugs and issues as they arise.

* Avoid paralysis by analysis. Don’t wait for your product to be perfect or you might never launch it and receive the valuable feedback that could help the product evolve.

* Get feedback from your friends and family. They will be the most honest with you and they will help you learn how to clearly explain your product to people outside your business or industry.

Top Quotes:

* “Making a change to an existing solution can be challenging because it depends on how big of a change it is. It could extend the timeline of when we want to finish something, so we do take into consideration all the enquiries and questions but we don’t act on every single one of them or else we would never be able to release a product.”

We all get those lightbulb moments from time to time. Brilliant ideas that we think could have a real impact and really go somewhere. But as we start thinking more critically, the steps needed to make that idea a reality seem daunting. We find that someone has already brought a similar idea to market, or that there are technical hurdles that we may not have the know-how to overcome. The more we think, the less promising the idea becomes. This paralysis by analysis can stop many of us capitalising on great ideas.

Often, taking the first step is all that's needed as each subsequent step feels a little easier and the realization that the idea could become reality sets in. How can we take that first step with some confidence?

Someone who knows about this from recent personal experience is Hugo Sykes. Hugo was studying towards his Master's degree in Engineering at Oxford when he came up with the Community Call Blocker, an innovative solution to the annoying, and potential dangerous, problem of nuisance callers. His lightbulb moment came after his grandparents almost became the victims of fraud through nuisance phone calls. On this episode of your favourite small business podcast, he's going to share his experience of taking the first steps after having had his initial idea.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast

When we have a great idea, how do we take the first step towards making it a reality?

About Hugo

Hugo Sykes is the inventor behind the Community Call Blocker which is a revolutionary solution to the problem of nuisance phone calls. Hugo hopes to put an end to nuisance and fraudulent phone calls once and for all.

He came up with the idea while studying towards a Master's degree in Engineering at Oxford University. His grandparents came very close to losing a great deal of money in an intricate phone scam. This lightbulb moment set Hugo on the path of entrepreneurship and his product is the most advanced of its kind on the market. The network approach used by the Community Call Blocker allows people to protect each other.

Here's here with us on this episode to share his experience of proving his concept, securing funding and bringing his product to market.

Actionable Tips

* Do your homework. Know your market and know your customers. Initial research can save time and money further down the line.

* Talk it out with trusted allies. It's easy to get wrapped up in your own enthusiasm so it's important to ask those you trust to challenge your ideas so you can work out if it they’re viable.

* Consider funding options. Don't rush into the first funding option that's presented to you. Always go into investment meetings with choice.

 Top Quotes

* "Your friends and family are the first ports of call when validating an idea."

* "You need to do some level of research. Are there similar products on the market? What do the competitors do differently?"

* "The step between prototype and finished product is where you need to go and find investment."

* "After making the prototype, the technical side of the work is over. It then becomes a case of taking it to experts in the industry, asking for feedback and searching for suitable investment."

* "Some people say you should join a company in the industry in which you want to start your own business, learn all of the information and then start your own company. We didn't do that, we jumped straight in. Our window of opportunity was limited."

* "If someone has a similar idea to you, it just proves that you can make money doing it. Competition can stop us, but it shows that there is a market."

* "You can have the best technology in the world, but if you haven’t got the distribution channels, marketing and financing behind it you aren’t going to...

It seems that almost every day we hear of the next killer app, a system or service that will revolutionise our lives and businesses. But for every Uber or Evernote, there are hundreds of others that fell by the wayside and failed to make the desired impact. If we have an idea that we think can improve how we live and do business, how can we pursue that idea without falling victim to the same pitfalls as so many others?

Our guest in this episode is Rawnet’s Adam Smith, someone who knows a great deal about creating successful products in the digital realm. With a track record for building innovative businesses, Adam knows how to make a success of those lightbulb ideas. Perhaps more importantly, he knows what to avoid.

During a product’s development we often hear of scope creep, when the primary goals of the products are expanded and expanded until the final product bears little resemblance to the original idea. In a similar vein, software and mobile apps can fall into development hell, where too many stakeholders with too many competing ideas can end up delaying or sinking a very promising concept.

The more that a product suffers from delays or a lack of focus, the more expensive its development will be and the most costly its potential failure.

When then, as small business owners, should we take the steps to create our own digital products? And what parameters should be set before embarking on such a project? How should we decide which are the essential features?

Listen to this episode of your favourite small business podcast to gain some powerful insights on this topic from a renowned expert in the field.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast Episode:

How do we know which digital products are right for our businesses? And how can we stop spending too much on the wrong ones?

About Adam:

Adam Smith is the founder and Managing Director of Rawnet, a multi-award winning digital web agency that specialises in mobile development, web app development and conversion optimization. The company also works on behalf of clients to handle all other aspects of their digital strategies.

Adam has been innovating in the digital space since the late ‘90s and prior to the founding Rawnet, he also created the world’s most successful white label online dating application, whitelabeldating.com.

Adam Actionable Tips:

* Work out feature ROIs. Each feature has a development cost and each feature that’s added can dilute the original concept. Therefore, every feature needs to pay for itself. Is this going to get any more sign ups? And is this a feature something that the end user needs or is it a merely a ‘nice-to-have’?

* Keep the proposition simple. Can you explain the product in one sentence? What’s the one thing that is does very well? If it takes you more than 30 seconds to explain, the idea is too broad and you won’t be able to market it. A nice, simple message is needed to get the attention of clients. Consumers are pulled in so many directions. If something is too complicated, they won’t spend the time looking into it.

* Be prepared to pivot. You need to be prepared to pivot, but also wary of not becoming like a headless chicken, darting in different directions at high speeds. Don’t be afraid to change tack, but learn from the user feedback and move in a direction that will help grow the business. Letting go of the original idea can be tough, but sometimes tough love is needed for success in business.

Top Quotes:

* “We couldn’t afford to think big picture. It was our own money so we needed to be lean.”

* “We’ve seen stuff that hasn’t worked so well, we’ve seen stuff flop and we’ve seen stuff explode in terms of success way beyond what any of us could have imagined.”

* “If you try and be all things to all men,

The face of customer service is changing, and customer relationships are vital. The recent boom in transparency of information, social media, and use of "big" data have created high service levels from companies. So much so, that proactive customer service is now expected, not the exception. 

Digital = customer first – without compromise!

Programmed empathy and virtual assistants can be human-like and may take over. If we are just average as humans, then computers will beat us.

Companies are investing tons of money into digital technology when it comes to customer service. Human contact will continue to decrease, which means human contact will increase in value. Therefore, businesses need to invest in both human and digital factors.

What is the differentiating point between humans and machines (says Arnold)? Make sure you are good at things that computers are not good at yet. Also, the three things that will make a difference are empathy, passion, and creativity.

Think in a different way when it comes to customer service.

* Put customers first

* Express sincere interest in customers

* The customer is always right!

* Improve your customer service rating? Impact where customers see the difference.

* Don’t just consider what the competitors are doing - don’t be just average.

* Be authentically friendly - even if you are having a bad day.

Someday, you may not recognise the difference between humans and computers when it comes to customer service. So make sure you don’t become extinct!

About Steven:

Steven is a thought leader on the transformation of customer relationships and the future of marketing. He is an expert in inspiring companies to become true customer-centric organizations in this high speed digital world.

His talks inspire companies about the smart usage of technology in the customer relationship without forgetting the human side of business. His keynotes are mind stretchers for business leaders. A very energetic and pragmatic keynote speaker, Steven shares his vision in speeches and workshops around the world.

Challenged Issue:

In this podcast, we challenge the issue of how you can become a customer relationship specialist in a digital world.

Steven’s Actionable Tips:

* Invest in human skills – that will make a significant difference in the digital world.

* Install faster and real-time customer service.

* Computers can personalise, and people make it personal.

Top Quotes:

* “The increase of technology has made it possible for companies to deliver more high-level customer service than we used to have.”

* “The challenge is to look beyond your industry and to check out what the best examples in the world are and let them be your benchmark.”

* “Everything in a customer relationship can be automated – I think we are close to that point.”

* “Do we motivate people to be good in human skills or do we hold people back to be good at them? How serious are we about those human skills?”

* “No one likes authentic unfriendliness.”

* “We will all prefer programmed empathy above real unfriendliness.”

* “Empathy, passion, creativity – but it does make a difference.”

* “A lot of companies think, ok – digital part, that’s a hard one, and the human part – that’s an easy one…but I think that’s a big misunderstanding.”

Guest Links:

* Steven Van Belleghem (http://stevenvanbelleghem.com/)

* Embracelet (http://www.embracelet.be/en/)

* InSites Consulting (http://www.insites-consulting.com)

Customer service isn't hard - it's about being genuine; a person; a human who understands the needs of other people and has a willingness to help.

The trouble is, we're all busy - right?

Well, so what.

There's no excuse for poor customer service and I'd even challenge that we should be delighting our customers every single day. Without fail

Let's dig in...

Challenged Issue:

In this podcast, we challenge the issue of customer service – how you can delight your customers every single day.

Mark’s Actionable Tips:

* Give people your time. Talk to them personally, but set respectful parameters with your time and efforts. Try not to delegate unless absolutely necessary.

* Be honest when you make a mistake. You don’t have to be the person who is infallible and never messes up. It happens. So apologize and rectify the mistake – even if the mistake is not yours.

* Involve your customers. Don’t turn people off. Instead, listen to them. Let them challenge you to make your business better!

Top Quotes:

* “People expect quality response.”

* “Things really, really get a little bit hairy if you let things get on top of you.”

* “People always will demand your attention.”

* “People are genuinely just people.”

* “That’s what it is all about – is creating friends.”

* “We all make mistakes. It is human nature.”

* “You have to shoulder that responsibility. You have to be honest.”

* “Involve your customers, treat them as friends, and even if they challenge you, acknowledge that involvement.”

Guest Links:

* Podcast Websites (https://podcastwebsites.com/)

* DMSQD (http://dmsqd.com/)

Resources:

* John Lee Dumas (http://www.entrepreneuronfire.com/)

* Business Buff Podcast (https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/business-buff-entrepreneurs/id979670013?mt=2)

* Podcast Movement (http://podcastmovement.com/)

* Excellence Expected Stitcher (http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/excellence-expected)

* Excellence Expected iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/excellence-expected-inspirational/id924421463&ls=1)

Key Timestamps:

* 0:32 Podcast Websites

* 1:28 Challenged issue

* 3:05 Initial set up and chaos

* 3:43 Maintaining service

* 5:15 Dealing with customers

* 5:29 Actionable tips

Don’t forget, the more you expect from yourself the more you WILL excel!

You know, startups aren't all about ping pong and foosball - in fact it's a pressure cooker!

We have all heard about the rapidly growing "unicorn" businesses that generate billion dollar status overnight, Über et al.

But that's just the swan on top of the water...

In fact, there are lots of ups and downs, and it takes 7-9 years to reach unicorn success. Work/life/integration – you are always working, so you need to learn how to integrate work and life.

However, it is an inspiring time for entrepreneurialism and startups, which are changing economics and the business world as we know it. Successful startups cause a disruption in the business world. They have an understanding of what’s going on in a specific domain and develop solutions to customers’ problems.

Characteristics of successful businesses and those with the potential to become billion dollar businesses:

* Idea: Focused on something that will alternate customers’ future in a major way. Look to future trends to be more successful.

* Team: Should be diverse - different skill sets, experiences, etc. Do you have people who are coachable and can work together on a team?

* Accessibility of market: Don’t focus on markets that are too small.

Characteristics of successful entrepreneurs:

* Identify a problem that they are passionate about changing

* Vision/delusion for how they want to change it

* Bold and audacious about selling their vision

If you want to do a startup business, just keep doing it until it gets done. Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and push the envelope to be different.

About Michael:

Michael Baum is the Founder and CEO of FOUNDER.org, a foundation working with leading colleges, universities and research institutes around the world to advance student entrepreneurship. His entrepreneurial journey has spanned 25 years, six start-ups, five acquisitions and the IPO of Splunk (SPLK).

Michael's projects have created more than 3,000 jobs, over 150 millionaires and more than $10B in shareholder value. He is a Computer Science graduate from Drexel University and earned an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael is also an inventor of several patents in big data, machine learning and financial transaction management. He is still chasing big ideas with student entrepreneurs around the world.

Challenged Issue:

In this podcast, we challenge the issue of if your business is not growing quickly enough or you’re wondering what you can do to the same success seen elsewhere.

Michael’s Actionable Tips:

* Who are your customers and what are their expectations for the future? Create a new future for your customers.

* Look at how you are going about this. If it does not seem delusional, then you are probably not pushing the envelope hard enough.

* Be able to sell your desire to change the status quo. It takes practice to do it right.

Top Quotes:

* “I’m working with young innovators right out of university that have ideas to build companies that are both going to have a positive impact on the world and be able to grow pretty quickly and need the input and expertise of people like me to help them along.”

* “In the valley, it has always been driven by the possibilities of technology and people’s passions to push that envelope.”

* “People are going to try something to make a life for themselves.”

* “I’m smart. I’ve got skills. I could do something on my own.”

* “If you want to create a sizeable company, you have to focus on a sizeable market.”

* “We find that customers are really great about articulating their problems.

Investment: A buzzword that is massive right now and something that brings about a lot of opportunity. However, most people do not know much about it.

As an entrepreneur, you need to secure investments to get others to buy into your vision and dream. You need to look at investment opportunities to grow your business!

Start out with your friends and family members - borrow money from them. They are a key point to starting your business!

Then look for outside investors. They want a return on their investment. So they look for certain characteristics and traits in people. They are more interested in you than your business.

Investors are willing to help if you are:

* Passionate

* Driven

* Willing to make sacrifices

* Dedicated

* Innovative

* Smart

* Energetic

Finding investors is just one thing you need to do to scale your business. But there is so much more.

* As an entrepreneur, work hard, work long hours, and get your hands dirty. Never be afraid to learn something new. All of this leads to opportunities.

* Also, visit blogs, forums, and other outlets to communicate with like-minded people and find opportunities.

* Outsource services to save money and run your business. Invest in your own company.

* Look at businesses you can partner with.

Follow what you want to do. Don’t give up. Persevere. Plus, once you succeed, maybe you can invest in other companies!

About Mark:

Mark started MyVoucherCodes for £300 in 2006 and sold it in June 2014 as part of a £55million acquisition.

Mark grew up in Liverpool, left school at 16, did an NVQ in catering and moved to London age 18 for a job in the Claridges kitchen. While working his way up the high end kitchen chain, he seized an opportunity to run three gastropubs. The business was profitable but Mark realised that a bricks and mortar business had a glass ceiling. He fell in love with ecommerce as it is scalable and started the UKs first voucher codes from his bedroom. Year over year MyVoucherCodes.co.uk has grown dramatically and it is now a multi million pound business active in 12 countries.

Mark has also invested in more than 9 tech startups to the tune of £5million in the past 3 years including Ve Interactive, Paddle and Playlists.net.

Challenged Issue:

In this episode, we challenge the issue of when a startup is looking for funding but keeps failing and does not get investments. Therefore, we discuss how to secure those investments.

Mark’s Actionable Tips:

* Do your homework. Be an expert in your sector. Know what you are talking about when asking for money. Be confident in your abilities, knowledge, and skills.

* Think big. Don’t be afraid to project your ideas. Be realistic, but blow investors’ socks off. Show them how big the opportunity can be!

* Prove your passion and commitment. Have everything in place (vision, goals, plans, etc.) when talking with investors. 

Top Quotes:

* “For the first time, I chose what I wanted to do.”

* “Actually, I am as good as other people in different areas. I’ve just got to find out what I am good at.”

* “Like any career, you’ve got to work your way up.”

* “If you are going to be an entrepreneur and going to go on this journey, it is not a 9-to-5 and it’s not easy.”

* “I always had an entrepreneurial drive inside, but didn’t really have any opportunities to fulfill them.”

* “I had grand ambitions internally of what I wanted to achieve.”

* “I was the voucher king.”

* “Some of these companies have grown to be huge.”

* “That’s what excites me about investing.