Category: Entrepreneurship

When Should Founders Hand Over to Managers?

And are they pressured to do it too soon? Founders of successful start-ups often face a critical juncture where they must decide whether to hand over responsibilities to professional managers. They will get pressure from many quarters telling them that this transition is pivotal for scaling the company beyond its initial success. Founders typically possess visionary zeal and hands-on expertise... Read More--

The Power of the Outsider Mindset

Elon Musk What do the following people have in common?  Levi Strauss, Henry Ford, Estee Lauder, Walt Disney, Elon Musk, Arianna Huffington, Sergey Brin?  They are all famous entrepreneurs who founded successful new businesses.  But also they are all immigrants or the children of immigrants. According to the Entrepreneurs Network, while just 14% of UK residents are foreign-born, 49% of the UK’s... Read More--

How to Kill Innovation Projects

Which of these is the most important skill for a leader of innovation?  Setting the vision, goals and metrics  Generation of great ideas  Selection of the best ideas  Starting exploration projects  Listening to customer feedback  Managing the portfolio and stage-gates  Gaining support and resources from other departments  Killing the weaker projects  Launching new products or services  Celebrating... Read More--

Focus on the Problem, not the Customer’s Request

Image by William Iven from Pixabay.   The best innovations solve real problems.  They provide solutions that customers are prepared to pay money for.   So it seems to make sense that we should listen carefully to customer requests.  But this can be a mistake.  In the famous words of Steve Jobs, “It isn’t the customer’s job to know what they want.”  The customer will often express... Read More--

Four Questions that every Entrepreneur must Answer

If you are planning a new product or a new business then you will probably need to get some approvals.  You might need to raise some finance.  In either case you have to convince some sceptical decision makers.  Here are four key questions that they will want you to answer: Problem.  What is the problem that your idea will solve?  If real people do not have a pain point which is worth alleviating... Read More--

Ten Tips for A Successful Pitch

Henry de Zoete and Will Hodson, co-founders of Look After My Bills, secured the best ever deal on the BBC show Dragons Den (equivalent to the US TV show Shark Tank).  They received offers from all five investors on the show.  They ended up selling just 3% of their business for £120,000 ($160,000 US). The pair met at Bristol University.  Look after my Bills, the firm they founded, will find the... Read More--

Eight Tips for Successful Intrapreneurs

Say you have a great idea for a new product or service in your field of expertise but you are reluctant to take the plunge, quit your job and start your own business. You know that launching this venture on your own would be risky, stressful and costly. There is an alternative – stay with your current employer and become an ‘intrapreneur’ – someone who acts as an entrepreneur but inside an... Read More--

Sometimes it Pays to be Unpredictable and play Games with Customers

Phil Romano Phil Romano is an Italian American who has started a series of restaurant chains.  As a serial entrepreneur he has launched some 25 different restaurants concepts which produce over $1.5B in annual revenues.  Successful ventures include Cozymel’s, Fuddruckers, Eatzi’s and Romano’s Macaroni Grill.  He has had his share of flops too including Baroni’s, an expensive... Read More--

How can we Teach Entrepreneurship?

How can we enthuse and empower a whole new generation of entrepreneurs?  How can we double or treble the rate at which startup businesses are formed?  One way is to start very young with junior entrepreneurs and provide them with the training and experience to inspire them to start their own businesses. Citrus Saturday is a programme which encourages school children to run home-made lemonade stalls... Read More--

Replace Confusion with Clarity

Stewart Butterfield Stewart Butterfield is a Canadian serial entrepreneur. He is famous for founding the photo-sharing site Flickr which he sold to Yahoo. He then developed a gaming application. Glitch, which failed. His latest venture is Slack, a platform for team communication and project management, which has been valued at over $1B. In a recent interview in the Times of India he told of some of... Read More--