Got a business idea? Get on with it
IF there was a simple message from the headline speakers to budding entrepreneurs at ACCELERATE 2013, it was – get on with it.
The conference at Liverpool’s Arena and Convention Centre was a precursor to next year’s International Festival for Business and part of the city’s plan to strengthen its commercial base by increasing the number of start-ups.
Delegates heard from a range of high profile speakers who told of their own experiences and passed on their wisdom.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales spoke engagingly of his success at failure. By doing so he touched on a big cultural difference between the UK and the US where there is less stigma attached to failure which is often seen as a badge of honour in business circles.
Lastminute.com co-founder Martha Lane-Fox, now Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho, told delegates it was an “awesome time” to be an entrepreneur despite the state of the economy.
She reflected on how the internet had developed since the 1998 launch of Lastminute.com and stressed how it has to be central to all business ideas. “You have to think internet first. When you’re making decisions start with the web. We’re in 2013 not 1813.”
Lord Young of Graffham, David Cameron’s enterprise adviser, described himself as, “an OAP doing voluntary work from a rather smart address”. He stressed that the UK has the best small business environment in Europe and said he has been encouraged by the increasing numbers of people who want to work for themselves.
He said the government was helping start-ups with loans and has taken steps to make the £250bn it spends on procurement every year more easily accessible to small and medium-sized businesses.
He added: “I do not believe I’ve done a day’s work since 1961 [when he started his own business]. I define work as being told to do things but if you work for yourself you’ve the freedom to do what you wish.”
There was a star turn from former Dragons’ Den investor Doug Richard who recounted a colourful tale of his first business selling computers from a down at heel part of Hollywood.
He stressed that entrepreneurship was not about aspiring to appear on magazine covers, or buying yachts, or wanting to be the next Google. He said: “You say ‘yes’, opportunities come, they go places not necessarily where you intended. Most large companies did not get venture capital funding or were forged in Silicon Valley somewhere – someone stumbled their way forward without a business plan.
“To be a great entrepreneur is to take your time – you’ve nothing better to do. If you keep going about your business you will largely meet with success.”
The event, which drew 2,000 people, also featured General Sir Michael Jackson, former chief of the general staff; Lord Bilimoria, chairman of Cobra Beer; Ed Wray, founder of Betfair; Sean Fitzpatrick, former All Blacks Captain; Thea Green, founder of Nails Inc, Doug Richard; and Charles Morgan, chairman of the Morgan Motor Company.
