There can be no escaping the economic climate; for all but a rare few, its impact is being felt daily and affects our quality of life, employment, trading and confidence. We are adjusting to this slowly but surely – cutting our cloth accordingly. The basic steps are survive, thrive and exceed expectation and for many the survival …

Professional investors in early stage companies will talk about scale and scalability as much as, if not more than, other important considerations such as management and valuation. Lack of scalability is a deal breaker and you will often hear these businesses described as “life style” companies as if that is a bad thing. It might …

In 1986 I was working in Dallas, Texas. I was a rookie salesman (but didn’t realise how rookie at the time). One day I went to the loo, and when I came back my boss was waiting for me. That man taught me a lot, and on that day he taught me that time isn’t …

Like a Barclays Premier League football club, RIM have sacked the manager in a desperate attempt to avoid relegation. In fact they sacked two Chief Executives (so called co-CEOs – which sounds like your problem right there). They both remain on the board however. I am of the opinion that the board is responsible for …

After “will you work for free?” the most common question I get asked is “what is my business worth?”. Neither question is framed in those exact words of course, but when someone asks for help on valuation they are asking about the value of their shares, the value of the business and the least equity …

Every working day I receive business plans and summaries – not one a day, more than that, some days 3 or 4. Most of them are companies seeking funding. Most of them are technology companies of one sort or another. I am careful not to narrow down my definition of technology, because innovation appears in …

  The Accelerator Academy is a new training, mentoring and investment programme for innovative start-ups and early stage, high growth businesses in the Tech, Media/ Marketing and Telecoms/Mobile (TMT) space. The course is a 12 week part time (Monday evening syllabus, plus Mentor time and group sessions) programme for 30 of London’s highest growth potential …

Why is it that the earliest investors are penalised the most? After all, they are the ones that enable a business to get off the ground, the ones prepared to take the risk and often to provide support to the management. Later investors are happy to pick up the opportunity yet would not have invested …

If you travel on London Underground, you have probably noticed Poems on the Underground. On several occassions I have taken note of a poem and looked it up later online. Today it was Futility by Wilfred Owen (see here). Apart from being a sad & poignant elegy for a fallen soldier in World War 1 …

I had the dubious pleasure of seeing Rt Hon Vince Cable present at Innovate11 today, here are my top tips for him: Being late is not fashionable, it’s disrespectful and you should apologise for it. With over a 1,000 people waiting for 30 minutes to hear you that’s over 500 man hours wasted. Get your …