Doug Richard's School for Startups » starting a business

Claire Young Founder of TeenBiz, an Entrepreneur Development Program for those Under 18

Nancy Fulton Mazur — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:03:43 +0000

Claire Young, an apprentice finalist and youth enterprise trail blazer, is launching TeenBiz in November.

TeenBiz is the UK’s first business start up scheme aimed at teens 13-18. It will launch 1st November, to coincide with Global Entrepreneurship Month.

From the 1st January every month one student will receive up to £500 funding (they must match what we give them), a mentor and a start up pack. TeenBiz calls it’Business in a Box’ because it equips students with the items they need to do business for real; for example Companies House set up, business cards, a website, a stationary voucher, office space, USB sticks, logo design, legal advice and virtual PA service.

We interviewed Claire Young to find out why she started the program and how she plans to grow it over time.

Why did you found TeenBiz?

Since leaving the Apprentice 3 years ago I’ve worked across a number of enterprise initiatives which go into schools to encourage students into the world of business which are brilliant. However, the main feedback from teachers and students is that campaigns come and go; we are guilty of gearing up students to be enterprising and start their own business yet don’t provide them with a real way forward in doing this.

TeenBiz is a scheme where any teen 13-18 can apply for business support. It is the UK’s first business start up scheme for under 18s. Currently, you can be company director at 16 but cannot get funding or a business bank account until you are 18 – it’s crazy and doesn’t make sense!

Was there something you saw or experienced that made this the most natural programme to start?

I had a brilliant 14 year old work experience student in the office, Todd, and he is like the next Alan Sugar. A great business idea and he needed support to get his sandwich business off the ground. After 2 days of research trying to find funding, it was a big fat “No!” until he was 18 years old. I think that’s wrong. He’s capable now so why should he have to wait for 4 years?

A day doesn’t go by when you pick up a newspaper to read about youth unemployment and record numbers not wanting to go to college and university. We’ve reached crisis point and need to provide young people with alternative pathways – starting your own business and therefore TeenBiz is very much needed.

Is this a for profit business? A social enterprise? A charity? Do you accept donations?

TeenBiz is not for profit. It’s structurally set up limited by guarantee and clearly states in the company set up documents that it is not for profit. I hope people will donate as much as they can to the program. People, and businesses, can sponsor a student for just £500.

What’s the format of your support for teen-based businesses?

Over the next 3 years TeenBiz’s aim is to start 100 young entrepreneurs in business. Each winner will receive up to £500 funding, a business mentor and a ‘Business in a Box’ start up kit! There will be key events throughout the year from winners to attend. To celebrate the first year of the scheme there will be a private dinner held with Peter Jones for example.

How can schools, churches and other youth-targeted organizations work with you to bring your programme to their teens?

My aim is to let every teacher in the UK know about TeenBiz. They are essentially the sales force who will let students know about this great opportunity.

Do your classes cost anything to attend? Is there a suggested donation you ask from kids or their parents?

The scheme is not for profit, free to attend. We would never ask students to pay, but we gladly receive donations. In fact we depend on them.

How can people help you bring this program to more teens?

Please spread the word about TeenBiz, if you send people to teenbiz.org.uk, or pass details to teachers, teens and parents about the program, that would be really helpful. Education groups and corporates are essential contacts. One has the students we want to serve and the other has the CRP funding to help the students.

Do you need more business leaders as volunteers to speak, teach, mentor, etc?

Yes please! If you are interested in helping the scheme please email info@teenbiz.org.uk

Do you have any entrepreneurs you’d like to showcase?

Not yet but as from the 1st January we’ll be shouting from the rooftops about the TeenBiz young talent!

What is your business background?

Since graduating from university with a science degree I worked in the corporate world for 3 large blue chips across marketing, sales and retail before taking part in the BBC1 The Apprentice show 2008. Since then I’ve set up www.schoolspeakers.co.uk and www.girlsoutloud.org.uk & consult across a number of education groups re enterprise.

Every Startup Needs An Advantage: What’s Special About You?

Doug Richard — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 07:37:24 +0000

To be successful, your startup needs to offer a benefit to people that they need or want. In every case the benefit you want to deliver to people has been met by some other product or service before you came along.

Before the cell phone there was the land line, before the land line there was the telegraph, before the telegraph there were letters. If you develop a new brand of laundry detergent you are competing with every existing brand on the market, plus all the laundry services in the region, and to some degree every shop that sells new clothes.

Every business delivering any benefit to customers has competitors.

That means that in order for your business to stay in business, it must offer your customers some advantage over their current solution.

Sometimes Advantages Are Hard to Perceive

Sometimes the advantage one business has over another is very difficult to find. I remember going to Bali, walking through customs and seeing thirty money changing stalls, all apparently identical. I was stunned. How on earth could all these identical businesses survive? What could the advantage of the fourth stall on the third row be?

Then I saw a plane load of people land and watched its passengers disgorge into this collection of stalls.

Suddenly the advantage one stall had over another was clear. Each stall could handle only one customer at a time, so a stall that didn’t have a customer had every advantage over one that did.

Sometimes the Advantage You Think You Have is Merely a Distraction

I once ran a business that sought to connect startups to investors. My team created a database of more than 15,000 startups that we updated every 24 hours. While we were building this business we ran events where carefully selected startups were allowed to pitch their businesses to groups of investors in real time. I thought the events were a stop-gap measure until the database was online and investors could just search for the kind of opportunity they wanted. But, as it turned out, when I started talking to investors…the database mattered less to them than the events. That made no sense initially, and then upon further questioning, the investors revealed that they liked meeting with their peers.

You Must Determine Your Startup’s Advantage if You Want To Thrive

Finding out what advantage you offer customers, or potential customers, always requires talking to them. There is no other way to get the data you need. If you have a business, its easy to ask your best customers why they work with you. In some cases the answer may be quite upsetting. One company I mentored in the US thought they had an exceptionally good solution for customers, but talking to their customers revealed that their key advantage was they were listed almost first in a directory.

Initially they fought that finding, but finally embraced it and changed their business name so they were always listed first.

If you do not have customers who can tell you what advantage you offer them, then you must tell people about your business and ask them what advantages they perceive in what you describe.

You have to know what your advantage is, and in fact you almost always have to bundle many advantages together, in order to get your startup off to a good start.

Where Are Advantages Found?

Advantages may be found in your product design, your pricing model, how your product is delivered, the channels through which it is sold, the partners you work with to market it, and even the customers you elect to serve. For example, if you run a trendy night club, much of your value is derived from the customers you draw to the club.

Strong startups offer a bundle of advantages to customers. Although startups must strive to keep their offering simple, straight forward, tightly targeted and clearly defined…that offering may well deliver many advantages to their customers.

Twitter is a very simple product. It provides group-based opt-in text messaging delivered online and via cell phones. But using the tool delivers many advantages. People can add and subtract themselves from twitter feeds, they can reply and retweet messages, they can find new twitterers, and use the tool to network. A simple product product that delivers many advantages.

You can never tilt the playing field enough…

One of the best things you can do for your business, whether it is an enterprise you are just starting or one you have been running for years, is to determine what benefit customers perceive in your offering and what advantages you offer over the competition.

Acquiring this information will help you invest your time, money and resources efficiently. You will end up with lower costs, higher profits and happier customers.

Jill Barker of Make it Cheaper: What are Chris Huhne, The Big 6 and Ofgem up to?

Nancy Fulton Mazur — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:31:53 +0000

“The international price for gas, I am afraid, is going up”. Not the words we wanted to hear from Phil Bentley, Managing Director of British Gas this week, but they do reflect the reality of the situation.

Phil Bentley’s comments set the tone for a meeting of the big 6 energy suppliers, Ofgem and government Energy Secretary Chris Huhne to discuss the state of the domestic energy market in the UK.

As a result of this meeting and the drive to make energy tariffs less complex, Ofgem has proposed a new, simpler way of structuring domestic energy tariffs.

UK Gas Prices Going Up

How does this affect business energy?

If Ogem’s proposals for simpler energy tariffs were to spread down to the business energy market, it could be damaging to small businesses.

It’s true that business energy tariffs can be complex – but in turn they’re also more adaptable. Let’s take some examples of different businesses:

A sea-front arcade
A small accountancy firm
A nightclub

The energy requirements of these small businesses are going to be vastly different. So would Ofgem’s new ‘one size fits all’ tariff scheme work for this range of businesses?

I argue that it wouldn’t work at all. Business tariffs are available with separate unit rates for different times of the day, different types of meter (according to the business type), different standing charges and different peak hours, meaning that every business can get a tariff that best suits their needs.

We understand that business energy tariffs can appear complex and intimidating – but that’s why we’re here. Our advisors are experts on business gas and electricity and will explain exactly how you could save up to 30% on your business energy bills.

Will Ofgem look into business energy?

Ofgem are going to launch a consultation in November this year, to look at a range of business energy issues such as:

Roll-over/auto-renewing contract rules
Cooling off periods
Tariff complexity
Increased protection for small businesses

However, it could be argued that first and foremost, Ofgem’s role as the industry regulator should be looking into why levels of business switching are currently so low and taking effective action to improve this. There is a huge job to be done around making businesses aware of the benefits of switching provider on a regular basis – most businesses are not taking advantage of the cheaper rates available and are paying over the odds as a result.

So while business energy reforms tick on slowly in the background, what can business owners do now? It’s vital to:

Keep an eye on your energy contract end dates
Avoid the roll-over trap which can lock your business into very high rates for months
Visit www.makeitcheaper.com and use Business Fit to make sure your business isn’t spending too much on energy, insurance and phones.
Call Make it Cheaper on 0800 158 5296 and we’ll compare business energy tariffs for your business

Energy prices may go up every year, but you can ease the strain on your business simply by comparing prices at the right time.

*Did you know . . . Make it Cheaper is a School for Startups sponsor? That means they help our social enterprise deliver support and training to thousands of UK businesses every year. Make it Cheaper is also an exceptional service. Most UK startups and small businesses are paying very high rates for energy, cell phone services and business insurance. Make it Cheaper works with, and negotiates on behalf of, entrepreneurs to bring those high costs down and to keep them down over time. If you haven’t given Make it Cheaper the chance to assess your rates, you don’t know how much you could be saving. It could easily be thousands of pounds this year. It doesn’t cost anything to have them check your rates. Give them a call, or visit their site, now.

Lower Your Energy Bills This Winter: 5 Steps to Take Now

Nancy Fulton Mazur — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 03:55:46 +0000

As recently reported in the Guardian, the UK’s addiction to gadgets is translating into higher emissions and higher energy bills. While the Guardian was addressing costs in the home, the truth is that businesses the UK are falling prey to the same higher costs.

More computer screens, more tablets, more phones…every device you plug in comes with a cost that goes beyond the purchase price. Use the following checklist to make sure you’re doing your part to conserve energy and to keep your own costs low.

By this time all your lighting fixtures should be CFL or LED. LED lights are more expensive than CFL lights, but they last longer and they use far less energy and they last, on average, five times longer. They cost less electricity to run, they don’t use mercury which means they have a smaller impact on the environment over time and they have less sensitively to low temperatures and high humidity. Want to learn more? Check this out.
Always turn off unnecessary lights when you leave the office, and use daylight illumination as often as possible through out the day.
Use task lighting, rather than room illumination, whenever possible. Don’t light an entire floor when you work late, light your cubicle or a conference room instead.
Turn off computers and monitors at the end of each workday, and actually unplug equipment when you can. Turn off and/or unplug your photocopiers, printers and other standby devices at night when they are not being used. Unplug power cables used for charging phones and tablets when they are not in use. These items waste a great deal of electricity day in and day out.
Contact Make it Cheaper to confirm you are getting the best rate possible and that your current electricity contract isn’t locking you into the highest possible rates. Failure to do this as soon as possible could mean you see your costs double within the next couple of months.

Taking these steps now will save your business money, conserve scarce resources and help keep the planet greener.

Etsy Invites School for Startups Visitors to Hello Etsy Small Business and Sustainability Summit in Berlin

Nancy Fulton Mazur — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 17:55:29 +0000

Etsy.com is the leading sales solution for independent designers and craft-based businesses in the world. Setting up a Etsy shop takes just a few minutes, but the storefront application is sophisiticated enough to support a custom user interface hundreds of products, and several payment methods.

Designers can even connect their domain name to an Etsy store. Just buy a domain on GoDaddy.com or any other domain name provider, then “forward” that domain to the Etsy store. The process takes just a few minutes.

School for Startups recommends Etsy because it allows creative professionals to concentrate on producing and marketing what they sell, not on the mechanics of launching a website or setting up ecommerce. Setting up a store on Etsy is as easy as creating a blog entry or sending an email with attachments.

Etsy also proactively works to support startups and small businesses, and to foster professional collaborative relationships between members. Hello Etsy is a Summit on Small Business and Sustainability, a hands-on gathering for small business owners who want to connect with their peers, learn the skills to find success and independence, and be part of the movement to build human-scale economies.

Etsy.com has offered School for Startups visitors a discount code (School4Startups_HelloEtsy) that they can use to register for the Hello Etsy Conference in Germany at a 15€ discount.

Doug Richard Seeks a New Director of Marketing

Nancy Fulton Mazur — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:59:01 +0000

Whether I like to or not, change is afoot at School for Startups, the social enterprise I founded 4 years ago to help people start new businesses in the UK and around the world. Triona, my trusted and loved Marketing Director, is heading back to Australia and she is leaving a very large hole in our business. So we are looking for a new director of Marketing.

If you don’t know much about us, we have trained well over 10,000 people in the UK. We are currently running a year-long programme in Romania, which is expanding next year to cover 4 countries (www.schoolforstartups.ro). We are running a programme in Wales (Schoolforstartups.co.uk/Wales) and we have just started a year-long programme in London focussing on the creative industries called the School for Creative Startups (www.schoolforstartups.co.uk/creative). With very little research you can see what we are up to at either the S4S website (www.schoolforstartups.co.uk) or my site (www.dougrichard.net)

The role includes taking full responsibility for the digital marketing strategy and the creation of fully integrated, direct marketing, social media, PR and event-focussed communication campaigns.

The ideal candidate is self-managed, passionate, entrepreneurially-minded and ambitious about small business. You should have creative flair, be commercially sharp and enjoy managing various stakeholders including creative designers, PR agencies, development agencies, sponsors and various partners.

Key to the role is the ability to create marketing and brand strategies that drive revenue, customer satisfaction and support the small business industry. You will be responsible for the writing and execution of campaigns and copy to the highest of standards, masterminding the creation of creative collateral, including film for our events, sponsorship and economic development programmes.

I underline the above because we are a small group and whoever takes on this job has to understand that they are a “doer” not just a manager. It is the nature of small business…

Equally, the role also requires management of a small team, event partners, budget management, and campaign analysis and as a team leader; you will also help in prioritising their learning and development. You should have a real desire to help people in the UK and the world enjoy better, more prosperous, lives, and a firm intent to make change happen.

This position offers little opportunity for traditional advancement because you’re starting at the top. Your role will grow if the business grows. It doesn’t pay what working for a large corporate does, but you will have a bonus opportunity that is significant and which ties to your own achievement but primarily the business’s achievements.

This isn’t a nine to five office job. We are based in London and we will have a new office shortly, but we are also very flexible about office time versus working at home. Until recently we didn’t even have offices and we have a company culture that is based on skype and self-managing.

Several times a year you’ll get to go to places like Romania, Africa, London or even Wales.

If all that doesn’t sound like fun, this is probably not a good job for you.

To quote my Events Director, Alex Webb, “So if you know anyone who is lovely with no ego attached then please pass the job description on and we are all happy to answer any questions that you may have.”

To be considered for this position, email your resume to nancy@dougrichard.net. Include a cover letter that talks about why you think creating new entrepreneurs is the best way to foster innovation and economic development worldwide, or just talk about why you want to work for School for Startups.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Naked Business: A Startup & A Small Business are Two Different Things

Nancy Fulton Mazur — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:18:34 +0000

When you work for School for Startups, you learn something new every day. It’s one of the best parts of the gig. Sometimes we’re running events here in the UK, sometimes we’re off to other countries to help aid economic development, sometimes we’re working with sponsors, and sometimes we’re developing curricula. That kind of task diversity results in new insights all the time.

Well, this week…

Doug Richard has said a thing to me about thirty times in the last few months and it’s gone over my head every single time.

We’re all going to overlook the fact that I’m apparently a little stupid (our Naked Business column is where we here at S4S make these confessions) and we’re going to focus on the fact that what Doug keeps saying is both profound and revolutionary.

A Startup is Not a Small Business

Now, I know you are going to say…Yes it is.

After all, a startup might only have one or two people working for it at the beginning. A business doesn’t get much smaller.

But that misses the point.

Every successful business created by an entrepreneur (as opposed to franchised from a bigger company) begins life as a startup. It is a stage of development.

Some successful startups choose to turn into small businesses and some decide to become global enterprises like Google.

Startups have to do several things, and they have to do them without incurring so much debt, or so many bad alliances, that they end up going out of business from the burdensome weight of it all.

Businesses in the startup stage must decide:

What they are selling
Who they are selling it to
How to find those people
How to explain what they have to those people
What price they will charge those folks
Where people will buy what they sell
How they will receive what they sell
How to deal with the competition
What strategic relationships to build
How to get bootstrap capital if required

Can you see that a successful small business, like the corner car mechanic or the little bakery near the tube station, has already made those choices?

Why is this such earth shattering news?

Because I have a degree in economics, have started many successful small businesses over the last two decades, and have read a few thousand books on business modeling, business development and startups.

I’ve never heard anyone make that specific distinction before and I’ve never read a book that made it clear that there is this laundry list of things that every young business has to do in order to become successful.

Furthermore, I’ve never heard anyone say that the advice one gives a “small business” may be yield absolute disaster if followed by a startup.

A young business may well need a credit line to ride out a cash flow problem caused by a seasonal drop in custom. If the corner grocer has been in business for a few years, and they know the ebb and flow of their commerce, a credit line may be the ideal facility to smooth things out if their summers and springs are chock full of tourist business but their winters and falls run a little light. It may even make sense to borrow some money to finance some growth.

Almost nothing is more toxic to a startup than liberal credit.

Because what a startup needs to do is get a product or service to some customers. It needs to get them the cleanest, simplest, easiest to explain product it can just as quickly as possible.

If a startup owner has no money, he’ll make the decision to do this sooner than if he has a few hundred thousand pounds of someone else’s money to spend.

The financial burden of past mistakes, carrying interest no less, kills most companies built on borrowed money. Taking money from investors too early can be just as disastrous. The vast majority of investors, as Doug has pointed out, know nothing at all about running your business but they will be quite forceful with their advice.

Startups need to get their money from customers and money from anywhere else can be very problematical.

Which brings us back to School for Startups…

We teach people how to start businesses. Our Build Your Business Now Toolkit, our events, our bootcamps and our 1-year courses are designed to help people get through the startup process so they can decide if they are having a successful small business or a successful large one.

I know there are going to be people who read this and think “Wow, I’ve always known the difference between a startup and a small business”.

I bet most of those people own successful enterprises…

Founder2Be: A Matchmaking Service for Entrepreneurs

Nancy Fulton Mazur — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 05:14:12 +0000

Founder2Be is a unique web-based enterprise dedicated to helping people who want to start new enterprises find compatible co-founders. We recently interviewed Founder2Be to learn more about how their service works and how it got it’s start.

Question: Who founded your business and what are their backgrounds?

Founder2be was co-founded by Oliver Bremer and Frank Haubenschild from Germany. Oliver has M.Sc. in Computer Science and has worked for Nokia until 2007 and for Strands until the end of 2010. He then quit his job specifically to focus on Founder2be. Frank studied Computer Science as well, and has been working as a Software Developer mostly in the automotive industry.

Question: Was there a specific event or experience that made them decide to launch Founder2Be? When did you first go live?

After 10 years in corporate life, Oliver came up with a great idea to start his own business. He doesn’t remember what the idea was now because it was never started as he failed to find a co-founder. Thinking that he cannot be the only person who wants to launch a start-up and fails to find a co-founder, he decided to focus on the co-founder finding problem instead, and as a result Founder2be was born. The official date of launching Founder2be is Januray 1st 2011. It was launched to the public one month later – in February 2011.

Question: How does the match making system work?

Very often Founder2be is compared to online dating. Users are able to search potential co-founders based on location (country or even city) or role (from advisers to developers). Moreover, users are offered a list of matching to them profiles which may assist in finding a right person. All registered users are able to send direct messages to each other.

Founder2be users are also able to share new ideas and search for existing ones. Usually ideas include short descriptions as well as information on what skills would be required to implement the project thus creating another matching opportunity.

There is one more matching dimension on Founder2be. Global Alliance Program was launched to help co-founders meet each other and form start-ups within organizations that support start-ups in the real world such as business incubators, accelerators, student societies and other entrepreneurship organizations. The Global Alliance Program has partners on four continents now and looking forward to extending the network to more countries and also within the countries where we already have partners.

Question: Have you seen any new businesses formed since the site was launched?

Two companies have been established since Founder2be was launched. One of the companies is Ziliot and it connects B2B: service providers, manufacturers, suppliers, government agencies to enhance business productivity. Another company is still in stealth mode.

Question: Does it cost to become a member of your site?

It is free for everyone to join Founder2be. Yet we are planning to launch premium services in the future which will include exclusive features. Choosing premium account is going to be completely voluntary depending on users’ preferences.

Question: How do you facilitate relationships between potential founders?

Our users are rather independent when it comes to creating relationships. Feedback is very important to us therefore we are planning to conduct a survey in the nearest future on how potential co-founders contact each other, what works and what doesn’t. Another important thing what we are working on is to improve users’ profiles, making them more specific and allowing people tell more about their soft skills which is very important when creating relationships and finding a right co-founder.

Question: What questions do you ask of participants and why?

We ask participants to identify their occupation, location, skills, availability, previous projects, start-up and fund raising experience, ability to contribute seed funding and co-founder preferences in regards to skills and availability. Moreover, participants are encouraged to share their ideas and thus creating an opportunity to find someone not only with matching skills but with matching interest as well.

Question: Do you plan to do offline networking events in the future?

We definitely want to do offline networking events. Meeting people online is just the first step to finding a co-founder. You can match skills and experience yet chemistry between people is very important and meeting your potential co-founder in person is essential in order to establish trust. As a part of our offline networking events we plan to organize local meeting and “speed dating” for entrepreneurs as well encourage users in other locations to support this initiative.

Question: Where are you headquartered?

We are headquartered in Espoo, Finland right across the street of Nokia and Rovio headquarters. Working close to the companies which define Finland on global level is very inspirational. And who knows, maybe next success story will be made by co-founders who met through Founder2be!

Featured Entrepreneurs: James Layfield & Steve Pette from Central

Phil Hancox — Tue, 03 May 2011 14:26:41 +0000

James Layfield and Steve Pette are founders of a new entrepreneur support solution called Central. We decided to interview them about their new venture and the solutions it brings to business owners in the UK.

1. How did you come to start your business?

James Layfield, serial entrepreneur, says “I started out in advertising working with brands such as Absolut Vodka, Sony Playstation and Virgin. Headhunted at 23 by Virgin, within 3 years I was Virgin’s youngest ever MD. I left Virgin to set up The Lounge Group, a below the line agency with offices in London, Istanbul and Madrid. The following year I established Escape Airports Ltd, taking over an Airport Lounge at JFK and transforming it from a failing venture to a success, sealing a 30% margin in 6 months. At the same time, I set up his own management company, Never Ever Limited, to help manage new projects. I am also the EMEA Director of Membership for the Entrepreneurs Organisation – a global network of 7,500 leading entrepreneurs. I’m very glad to announce I’m CEO of Central.”

Steve Pette continues, “I have 21 years experience in customer focused environments, all of which I think have become known for customer service. For example, I set up the Virgin Business lounges, before heading up service development for all ground and air projects within the airline, and finally rolled-out the Upper Class Suite. As a Founder of Virgin America he spent some time in New York and San Francisco. Now I’m happy to say I’m working for myself at Central, taking the role of MD.”

Steve says, “Central is about delivering for the future of work and we firmly believe we have a brand, a concept, and now a physical space that delivers on the opportunities we saw.”

James adds, “We want to offer the resources, the learning, the peer collaboration and facilities to people who are passionate about business. We want to see our members’ businesses thrive. Ultimately, our vision is to create a place that encourages and supports enterprise; to help get the UK out of this rut!

2. What were your toughest challenges?

Steve replies, “We started Central in a recession and, unsurprisingly, there are pros and cons to that. Funding for instance – we saw so many people all of whom were interested or said they were, but there were a lot of empty promises. We had a timeline to achieve funding; we went past that and more. It was the two of us who were ploughing in the cash to sustain for the next month.”

“Raising finance for a new concept, at the height of the worst recession in generations, was an unbelievable challenge” continues James. “It’s always a challenge to let people inside your head so that they can see what you see; the market is crying out for it, but the established players don’t understand the need as they are really ‘money men’. That was a tough hurdle to get past but I think it just really reinforced our understanding that Central provides support that entrepreneurs need.”

3. What advice do you offer to fellow entrepreneurs starting a business?

James replies, “Don’t be afraid to change and adapt, Central is the third iteration of this idea. In fact as an entrepreneur you have to adapt and change. I can tell you now that your idea, no matter how fantastic, will not end up as you thought it would.”

4. What sites or resources do you recommend or swear by?

James says, I recommend Evernote, a fantastic piece of software for keeping track of notes and concepts. As an entrepreneur I have so many ideas flying around I need to have somewhere to keep ‘em. Also Dropbox it is a great way to share files with other members of your team without having to have a whole server.”

5. Which entrepreneurs do you admire most? Why?

James says, “My favourite is still Brano, partly because I’ve I’d worked with him up close and personal so I know first hand what he is like but mainly because of the breadth of the enterprises he has managed to retain under the Virgin brand.”

6. What do you want people to say about Central in years to come?

Steve says, “In five years time I would like people to talk about Central as the opportunity that transformed their business.”

“We want to offer resources, the learning, the peer collaboration and facilities to people who are passionate about business,” says James. “We want to create a place that encourages and supports enterprise by providing what entrepreneurs need.”

Central Working has just opened up a new space in London: 12 Bayley Street, Bedford Square London, WC1B 3HD, UK.
To find out more about Central or obtain more information about their memberships, head to: www.centralworking.com or follow them @centralworking

Absolutely Amazing Scholarship Program for Bright Business Stars

Nancy Fulton Mazur — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 13:55:08 +0000

Want to give your favorite entrepreneur a truly remarkable opportunity? Nominate them for the Marketing Academy’s amazing scholarship program. For 12 very lucky business professionals, a kind word from a business leader or marketing executive will deliver a full year of instruction and mentoring from C-level executives at some of the world’s largest firms.

The Marketing Academy Scholarship Program

You have until 1st March 2011 to nominate your brightest stars for one of just 28 places on this ground breaking programme which is entering its second year. After being nominated the individuals will be invited to apply for a Scholarship and will need to complete a rigorous selection process before being accepted into the Academy for this part time, 12 month, free learning experience.

Over 80 industry leaders and 28 executive coaches have agreed to give their time for free, including CEO’s, CMO’s and MDs of both agency and client companies, trade organisation and academia. The 2011 mentor line up includes Mikah Martin-Cruz CMO of Microsoft, Charmaine Eggberry SVP Marketing at Nokia, Amanda McKenzie CMO of Aviva, Moray MacLennan Worldwide CEO at M&C Saatchi, Cilla Snowball Chairman & CEO of AMV and Yasmin Diamond Director of Communications at the Home Office.

The Marketing Academy Founder, Sherilyn Shackell said:

“I’m delighted to announce that we are accepting nominations for 2011 Marketing Academy Scholarships. It’s been an amazing year for our current Scholars and we are incredibly grateful for the support we’ve received from our mentors, coaches, judges and partners. We’re very excited about the 2011 Scholarship programme which will be sponsored by our partners O2, Microsoft, Cadbury, ITV and Marketing Week and can’t wait to welcome the new Scholars at the end of the selection process in May”.

Neil Costello, one of the Academy’s 2010 Scholars said of the Scholarship “It’s a truly remarkable, once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from the very best marketers and leaders in the UK. Each part of the Marketing Academy jigsaw influences and compliments the other so well – from the coaching and mentoring, to faculties and giving back through charitable support – every up and coming marketer worth their salt should be considering applying in 2011.”

For a guide to the 2011 Scholarship and how to nominate your high potential talent, go to www.themarketingacademy.org.uk and click ‘Nominate Now!” The Academy will be accepting nominations until 1st March 2011.

This is an unprecedented opportunity for someone you know. Check it out.