New approach to risk-taking needed says Purdham
NORTH West entrepreneur Steve Purdham, believes there need to be a shift in attitude towards risk-taking in business if the country is to thrive.
The Cheshire-based businessman, best known for founding, floating and eventually selling Internet security business SurfControl for £201m in 2007, told a seminar on innovation, that there needs to be better funding support for early stage businesses.
Mr Purdham, who now runs www.we7.com , an advertising-funded music download business, said: “We expect failure in the UK, in California they expect success.
“There is a culture of negativity here, so that when you do succeed, some people want you to fail, and that’s more of a deterrent to innovation than any venture capitalist or government.
“We are too risk averse in this country, and that is why we don’t have the structures in place to support innovation. In the SurfControl days it took us three years to raise money, it was never a ‘no’ always a ‘maybe’.
“The role of the Government is to put up the money and get out of the way. I would say that while we don’t have the right structures, we do have the talent.”
Mr Purdham said that innovation was the responsibility of everyone in business, and can be a “tiny little thing” and it is important to create a “culture of trying”.
The event at Urbis in Manchester, called “Innovation: Are You ahead of the Pack?” was organised by accountants and business advisers Grant Thornton, and attended by more than 40 people.
Other panellists were Brother UK’s sales and marketing director Phil Jones, Dr Cathy Garner, chief executive of Manchester Knowledge Capital, Jonathan Diggines, CEO of Enterprise Ventures, and academic and author Paul Kielstra of the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Dr Garner said a major barrier to innovative new companies was the lack of private equity funding for small growing businesses. “In the US 33% of venture capital funding is for early stage businesses, in the UK it’s 4%”
Phil Jones agreed, stating that there was general confusion among businesses about access to capital, amid a myriad of Government initiatives and schemes.
“It’s almost like the balloon you can never catch.”
To support North West innovation he said: “There needs to be less metro-centricity – less of a London focus. Manchester needs City-Region status quickly as it is a vibrant, energetic city being held back.
“We need fewer quangos, one pot of money being delivered by one authority, and tax breaks for innovation.”
Mr Diggines said more should be done to encourage institutional investment in early-stage companies, and that the Government was really the only source of seed finance.
