LiteBulb Group’s Simon McGivern and James Phillips talk Mary Berry, cashpoint encounters and woodwork January 18, 2015 It's not every day that you bump into an old friend at a cash machine in Fulham and end up hatching a business – but then Simon McGivern and James Phillips, the founders of LiteBulb Group, are not your average pair. They went to school together (although they didn’t know each other very well) and [...]
There’s hard evidence that soft skills are key to success in business January 18, 2015 I’m regularly asked how to get ahead at work and what lessons there are from my own success in business. The answer often surprises people. It’s not just about qualifications. It’s not about my education or background. I’d actually put my success down to something called soft skills – the vital abilities in areas such [...]
Gimme 5: Websites for hot desking in London January 18, 2015 Deskcamping Deskcamping likens itself to a campfire – you can sit, meet new people and share things. List a spare desk or find one to use. As the service is new, it’s currently free to list, with desk owners naming their price. www.deskcamping.com Hotdesking Hotdesking offers four office spaces in central London for entrepreneurs [...]
The fast food revolutionary: EatFirst co-founder Rahul Parekh talks long hours, calories, mopeds and Mayfair hotels January 11, 2015 If you're after a startup story with a good luck streak, then that of Rahul Parekh, co-founder of EatFirst, might be the one for you. One evening, late last April, Parekh was holed up in a Mayfair hotel. He got chatting to some friends of a friend who, it transpired, worked for Rocket Internet – [...]
Gimme 5: Entrepreneurial reads for January January 11, 2015 Playing to Win by A G Lafley The chief executive of Proctor & Gamble shares how he restored the fortunes of the consumer goods giant. Lafley cleverly demonstrates the key connections between daily action and realising a long-term vision. £14.39 (Harvard Business Review Press) The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg The award-winning author [...]
The billionaire philanthropist: Chemical magnate Jon Huntsman talks egg boxes and saving lives January 4, 2015 Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” That is what Jon Huntsman Senior, the self-made billionaire who has given away over 80 per cent of his wealth, said to me when I asked him what message he would like to send to today’s wealthy. [...]
How Tech City’s Future Fifty programme helped to supercharge my company’s growth January 4, 2015 My company, as one of a class of 12 firms, graduated from the Future Fifty at the end of last year, making room for a new class of 12. Future Fifty, a programme run by Tech City that aims to accelerate the development of growth-stage digital companies, has by now assisted many businesses well known [...]
Gimme 5: New Year events for entrepreneurs January 4, 2015 Grow Your Business in Europe A two-hour workshop on taking your business into Europe with limited resources, run by UCL in partnership with the British Library. 27 January, 2-5pm, British Library Free www.ucl.ac.uk/advances Digital Marketing Masterclass Grow, the small business marketing experts, host a masterclass covering the nine areas of digital marketing you must [...]
Gimme 5 December 21, 2014 …APPS FOR CUTTING DOWN ON STRESS Schedule Planner Free Staying on top of your daily routine and tasks is surely one of the best ways of making your working day less “mindless”, or stressful. And Schedule Planner is one of the most-loved planning apps out there. It’s designed with busy users in mind, and the [...]
Going places: The Source founder James Crabb talks risk-taking and velour sofas December 14, 2014 It was just time to do something completely different,” James Crabb tells me. He’s talking about going from managing director of global technology and operations at Deutsche Bank to founding The Source, a digital lifestyle business that satisfies the emerging affluents’ every need – from food, wine, travel and childcare to art, home interiors and [...]