Angels - November 2009 Edition

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angelsNovember 2009The leading magazine for Business Angel investment

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This monthManaging Editor

Richard Alvin - [email protected]

Editor

Simon Clarke - [email protected]

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Paul Jones - [email protected]

Contributors: - [email protected]

Jim Moore, Felicity Cousins, Gavin Porritt,

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Derek Bedlow, Andrew Price, Sophie Goodale

Production Manager

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Tel: 020 7148 3861

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www.angelsmagazine.co.uk

Copyright: (C) 2009 Investor Media Ltd / Capital

Business Media Ltd.

ISSN 1754-3096

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted

in any form or by any means without the prior consent

of the publishers. The views expressed in Angels Maga-

zine are not necessarily the views of the publishers

or Investor Media Ltd. Whilst Capital Business Media

Ltd. has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the

information contained in this publication, neither they

nor any contributing author can accept any legal

responsibility for any consequences that may arise from

errors or omissions contained in this publication or from

acting on any opinions or advice given. In particular,

this publication is general and not a substitute for

professional advice and you should consult your own

professional advisors where appropriate.

Published by:Capital Business Media Ltd

Ensign House, Canary Wharf, London E14

9XQ

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31

in the news

Google your way to 192

With petrol prices hitting new

heights, more and more people are

turning to pedal power to get to work,

and get fitter – research suggests cy-

clists could live two years longer.

According to Europe’s leading office

and workplace equipment supplier,

Welco, orders for company cycle

sheds and ramps have never been

healthier- they have seen a 100% in-

crease in sales the last two months. It

has never been a better time to ditch

the car and start cycling to work.

In fact, under the 1999 Finance Act,

if employers sign up to the cycle-to-

work scheme, it is a win –win situa-

tion – companies can provide

bicycles and accessories as a tax free

benefit, while gaining national insur-

ance savings.

Under the Government’s Green

Transport Plan, which promotes

healthier ways of getting to work

while reducing environmental pollu-

tion, employees taking advantage of

the scheme receive savings of up to

50% on the retail price of bikes and

accessories.

Birmingham-based Welco, has to

date seen a significant increase in or-

ders from local authorities, health de-

partments, the police and companies

large and small – all looking to pro-

vide new or increased cycle facilities

for their staff.

As Welco’s chief executive, Adrian

Reeve maintains “Cycling to work

benefits everyone. Its helps relieve

traffic congestion; helps cut pollution;

helps people save money they would

have spent on petrol; helps reduce

global warning; and often reduces

their travel time. And with the Tax in-

centives, people should take up the

challenge.

“Cycling is no longer the reserve of

lycra-man. It is now being regarded

as a viable means of transport. With

the prospect of the $200 barrel of oil,

the bike should be viewed as a pri-

mary form or transformation – a free,

calorie-burning, mobile gym.”

Live Longer:on your bike

192.com, the UK’s leading directory enquiries

site, has launched a unique Google Gadget that

allows users to search for people and busi-

nesses directly from their iGoogle homepage.

The new gadget gives users fast and free ac-

cess to the site’s 13 million residential listings

and 4.5 million business listings. Users can also

search 192.com’s award winning maps and

aerial photography directly from the gadget. In

addition, the new tool will search the site’s pre-

mium records including Electoral Rolls and

Company and Director Reports.

iGoogle home pages allow you to person-

alise your Google search page giving you fast

access to key information and tools across the

web. It’s estimated that 20% of Google users

have adopted a personalised iGoogle home

page.

Dominic Blackburn, New Technology Direc-

tor, 192.com said of the launch, “Adding

192.com’s directory enquiry search tool next to

your news and weather updates ideally rounds

out your iGoogle home page. We first devel-

oped this gadget to allow our existing users to

access search results faster but we now see it

has great potential to attract new users as well”.

To try the 192.com iGoogle Gadget for

yourself, visit: www.192.com/gadget

UK Women don’t let your US

cousins take the leadResearch recently undertaken in the USA

found out that women are twice as likely to

start a business in the US compared to women

in the UK.

With this figure in mind and the research that

suggests that more women would start their

own business if they didn’t fear failure, Women

Unlimited has a mission to support women

across all aspects of their lives and build inner

confidence. It will support business women,

who are starting up or wanting to increase their

profit, by sharing success strategies and stories

as well as the challenges and solutions. The

content is created by other women that are al-

ready successfully managing their own busi-

nesses. They are supporting the community

through their own experiences and engaging

with the audience on topics that are meaningful

and relevant.

Julie Hall, Founder of Women Unlimited ex-

plained further, ‘I want to be a catalyst for help-

ing women and turn their ideas into a profitable

venture while managing to maintain their work /

life balance. Women have a variety of motiva-

tions for starting their own business, but the

ones I hear most often are family commitments

and independence. It can be challenging start-

ing and running your own business, but through

sharing real stories as well as the facts, we can

help women find solutions and ideas to support

them in their journey. ’

The new online community will be available

to all registered users. Content will include arti-

cles, videos, news, book reviews, a discussion

forum on controversial themes inviting opinions

and views as well as details of the launch event

with future events in the pipeline. The website

will feature real stories and interviews with

women who running their own businesses. All

content will be written by business women who

have juggled with their personal and business

life and have key experiences to impart.

Women Unlimited is a new supportive platform

for women starting in business or women who

are keen to build their business to new levels. It

acknowledges the issues of the everyday mod-

ern women and helps women bring about a

balance in their lives.

www.women-unlimited.co.uk.

4 • www.angelsmagazine.co.uk www.angelsmagazine.co.uk • 5

in the news

Post firm bucks trend with 100% sales increaseIn the current economic down-

turn Bristol based ONEPOST has

seen a boom in postal activity

handling over 16m items over

the past year.

Born out of the postal deregu-

lation, onepost, is the leading in-

dependent postal advice

organisation providing cost-sav-

ing solutions to mailers, utilising

an increasing number of opera-

tors as well as innovative col-

lecting, sorting and distribution

techniques for mail in the UK.

Research from Bellwether

shows that marketers are severely

cutting back their budgets as the

economic downturn deepens and

the FT has launched its ad cam-

paign last month urging compa-

nies to continue advertising.

However a recent report from

marketing agency, Epsilon, found

that “Direct Marketing is playing

a key role during the economic

downturn with spend signifi-

cantly increasing.”

Graham Cooper, ONEPOST

Managing Director, comments

“During this time it is even more

important for companies to use

channels that provide account-

ability and measurable results. In

addition our aim is to provide

postal strategies that will help

businesses save costs, maximis-

ing the benefits of their budgets.

He adds “Some companies

are still unaware that there are

choices in the postal market

where significant savings can be

made and improvements gained

in the quality of service.”

Skimpy skirts & open tops head fashion flops

MEN who undo one button too many on their

shirts or women who don see through blouses

are guilty of the biggest office fashion crimes,

according to a new survey.

61 per cent of 584 UK financial professionals

surveyed in the office fashion report conducted

by North West financial recruitment specialist,

AFR Consulting, find revealing clothing the

biggest office fashion faux pas.

The survey also revealed that ‘dress down Fri-

days’ and similar casual initiatives could be ‘so

yesterday’ with 58 per cent of respondents pre-

ferring more traditional office wear at work,

such as suits, shirts, blouses and ties.

This was despite a massive 81 per cent of or-

ganisations revealing they had now introduced

a dress down day or similar policy at work,

suggesting bosses are themselves following a

social trend.

Adventurous wardrobe

The report by AFR Consulting questioned com-

pany directors, financial directors, managers

and other finance professionals in a range of

organisations from the accountancy,

law, finance, manufacturing and re-

tail sectors.

AFR Consulting director

Simon Speak said: “Some

people have a slightly

more adventurous dress

sense than others but re-

spondents to our survey

delivered an overwhelming

no to wearing revealing clothes

at work.

“In the professional office envi-

ronment it seems directors and

managers still like to dress

smart, preferring business suits

and ties, even over the slightly

more casual look of trousers

and unbuttoned shirts. Despite

this 81 per cent of respondents

said their company now had a

dress down policy.

“Judging from the results of the

survey, office fashion continues to

be a hotly-debated topic in offices throughout

the UK.”

Cliff Bashforth, a Master of the Federation of

Image Consultants (MFIC) and leading image

consultant for Colour Me Beautiful, said:

“Your image at work can have an amazing

impact on your job prospects and it can

make or break your career.

“One of the deadly sins is showing too

much flesh. Whether male or female, young

or old; covering up, even in the summer-

time, is of prime importance. Your profes-

sionalism and the respect you’ve gained

over a period of time can be damaged

should you succumb to dressing down

and baring all. If you’re female, the guys

don’t know where to look. Well, actually,

they do – but it’s not at their computer key-

board. For the guys, let’s keep any hairy bits

out of sight – apart from those on your head

and forearms of course.”

As well as revealing clothes, other office fash-

ion pet hates, according to the survey, included

jeans, sportswear and tank tops.


in the news

SMEs in London and South East

failing to take up government fundingAn independent research poll conducted on

behalf of Ixion has revealed that a staggering

85% of SMEs across London and the South

East have lost-out on government funding

available for their business to invest in

training.

The shocking results of the poll could partly

be put down to a need for more positive action

from the SME business base in response to con-

tact from government funded brokerage ser-

vices.

The poll, conducted among businesses with

fewer than 250 employees, found that 81% of

respondents said that their business had carried

out some form of staff training in the past, yet a

worrying 71% had not taken any positive steps

to capitalise on a minimum of £1,500 in gov-

ernment funding available to them for training.

Graham Baker, CEO of Ixion, commented:

“In an increasingly challenging business envi-

ronment, investment in training is critical.

These are worrying statistics, with over half a

million* SMEs in London and the South East of

England, businesses must realise that they can

benefit from government funding available and

have access to appropriate training to enhance

their business, and in turn increase their com-

petitive advantage.

“The Government has committed itself to

the UK’s long term skills needs to achieve a

world class skills profile by 2020. This research

highlights that SMEs need to take some respon-

sibility for making contact with organisations

such as Ixion, which provides a gateway for

businesses and individuals to access public

funds, ensuring that they get signposted to, and

benefit from, appropriate business support spe-

cialists and training that they are entitled to.”

Graham Baker concluded: “Businesses

should understand that government-funded ser-

vices such as the Business Link service, Train to

Gain or Ixion run Advantage East are in exis-

tence to help and advise them on business

growth and workforce development training.

This support is particularly important given the

current economic climate, where a trained

workforce can give a competitive edge.”

On contact, the Ixion research uncovered

that an incredible 96% of respondents said

they would like to learn more about regional

government funded schemes such as Ixion’s

Train to Gain and Business Link services.

*According to Business Link, in 2006, there

were 202,580 companies in the East of Eng-

land and 304,090 companies in London with

fewer than 250 employees.

www.ixion.com

London offers opportunities for Korean businessesThink London has begun offering a new free & confidential service for

Korean businesses looking to globalise.

Think London, the foreign direct investment agency for London, is

showcasing opportunities for Korean businesses looking to expand and

grow in London as the UK capital prepares to host the Olympic and Para-

lympic Games in 2012. London’s economy is forecast to grow by $80

billion by 2012 and will offer huge opportunities for Korean companies

looking to invest in the capital.

Michael Charlton, Chief Executive, Think London is visiting Korea in

early April to meet with Korean businesses and to co-host a session with

KOTRA (the Korean Trade Investment Promotion Agency) to advise com-

panies on how they can benefit from investing in London.

Speaking ahead of the visit, Michael Charlton, Chief Executive, Think

London commented, “We believe that many Korean businesses are well

placed to benefit from the investment opportunities presented by Lon-

don’s predicted economic growth of $80 billion by 2012 as well as

those relating to the 2012 Games. We are ready to support Korean com-

panies looking to take advantage of these opportunities and globalise

their business by using London as a springboard into Europe.

“London is the perfect springboard for businesses looking to go

global, with fast access to a range of customers, markets, ideas and fi-

nance –all aimed at helping businesses operate on a global scale.”

Outward foreign direct investment from South Korea increased from

$4.3 billion to $7.1billion in 2006, with London attracting 25 percent of

all Korean projects into Europe.

Think London provides free, confidential and comprehensive advice

to help international businesses set up and grow in London. The FDI

agency for London is able to assist companies who are interested in ap-

plying for any one of the 2,000 main contracts and the further estimated

50,000 supply chain contracts available in relation to 2012. Think Lon-

don has a well established track record of helping businesses establish

themselves in the capital and has helped more than 1,000 companies

from 43 countries since 1994. Over the past seven years, Think London

has assisted 30 Korean companies to set up or expand in the capital

including Samsung Design Europe, Hyundai Logistics, Hanjin and

Industrial Bank of Korea.

6 • www.angelsmagazine.co.uk

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When you are evaluating the business potential of new markets, you need to test intuition against arecognised independentauthority that knows these markets inside out.


like to tell it as it is; over these

coming months I will unfold to you

the details from the grass roots end

of my businesses, and why as a social

entrepreneur I want to pass on my

skills so more people like many of you

can take a similar option.

Since my experience on Secret Million-

aire the whole environment around me has

changed: I am loving it. I learnt that I should

have even more of a social conscience in my

daily business; and so my whole business

ethos has changed, whereby I focus much

more on customer needs. We are now work-

ing with The Wallich, a housing charity in

Llanelli town who help homeless and depen-

dant people get re-housed. The identifiable

need is that there is a shortage of secondary

residential rental housing to accommodate

the less fortunate individuals; therefore we

have refurbished two houses to licensed

shared housing status and have been ap-

proved by the environmental health office to

let as such. One of the buildings is dedicated

for male occupancy and the other female.

The Wallich supply a case officer for each

tenant to help them back onto the housing

ladder and we let on a room-by-room basis

with living allowance paid by the rent office.

There is a very big demand for this type of

housing in the UK, and I urge landlords to

look into this option. In most cases, rents are

paid directly from the local council to my

bank account. The upshot is that my social

conscious is already, in a small way, satisfied

and it’s financially lucrative to boot.

My businesses

As you can probably tell, residential

rentals form the main long term hub of my

business; and are one of seven major

businesses that I own. We have had to

become innovative in the market; obtaining

finance has become tighter and rents drop-

ping by 18% on average across my portfolio.

Margins however, i.e. cash flow remains

strong as interest rates have dropped pro-

rata. I make money when I buy property

and every house has to cash flow from day

one of rental. I welcome the tightening up of

the law as a result of the housing act 2004

except for one: direct ‘living allowance‘ pay-

ments to tenants as opposed to paying rents

directly to landlords. Government expected

this change to teach tenants how to handle

money; it’s not working. The tenant has to

be in 8 weeks of arrears before the council

will start paying landlord directly; so what is

actually happening is its encouraging tenants

to turn more to alcohol and drugs as they

spiral even more into debt and difficulty,

therefore its making the situation much

worse not better. Ultimately it will cost the

government more money as private sector

landlords are in some cases refusing to ac-

cept income supported tenants or have gone

bust because of resulting rental shortfalls.

Top-down lessons

The government needs to wake up!! Our

business lost £23k in non payments last year

alone. Teach us finance and how to run a

home in school if you wish to be productive.

Our house is probably the biggest asset we

have in our lives; I find myself consistently

sitting down with consumers teaching them

how to draw up a simple asset and liabilities

cash flow plan as they have never been

taught what I believe is the most fundamen-

tal business planning.

See www.propertytrain.biz

In his new column, developer &

social entrepreneur Kevin gives

us his unique take on social

conscience in business

TheKevinGreenColumn

I

www.angelsmagazine.co.uk • 9

n many companies, marketing has

traditionally been seen as merely

a cost to the business.

While the sales department was responsi-

ble for bringing in the revenue, the market-

ing department, it seemed, was constantly

asking for further investment in a variety of

campaigns, whose impact was hard to ascer-

tain.

While the common view was that market-

ing was necessary, in many businesses mar-

keting was tolerated, rather than embraced.

This is especially true in a world where a

product or service was created, and only

after its conception, was it handed over to

the marketing department. They would then

decide how best to take it to the customer base.

This approach worked for two reasons.

Firstly; we lived in a world of limited choice.

Consumers, for many purchases, were lim-

ited by geographical boundaries. Whole mar-

ket sectors such as telecoms, utilities, air

travel and financial services had not been

deregulated in the way that they are today. In

this market, simply shouting that you ex-

isted, would often lead to some business.

The bigger the budget, the more you could

shout; by way of advertising, direct mailing,

cold calling etc., and the more business you

would often acquire.

Secondly; consumers were prepared to

listen to the shouting. Before the World Wide

Web and specifically Google, who made

sense of all the information that it contained,

it was quite difficult for consumers to find

out about new products and services and be

able to compare them. Traditionally, shout-

ing about your product or service was often

the only way consumers were made aware of

new developments in the market. Therefore,

while companies engaged in this activity to

sell their wares, consumers got some value

by learning about new products and services

that were available.

Today, this model simply does not work.

Consumers now have an abundance of

choice, which, in many cases, is no longer

limited by geographical boundaries. They

also have access to information regarding

that choice. Customers no longer want to lis-

ten to companies shouting, because there is

no longer any value in it for them. They

know that when they want to find out what’s

available, they will have access to all the in-

formation they require on the internet.

In today’s world, where the choice of

products and services is abundant, con-

sumers no longer take the same notice of

companies who make fantastic claims about

what they can provide.

Today, consumers make sense of all the

choice available by listening to each other.

Through social networks, blogs, messaging,

emails and forums, consumers disseminate

information and experiences about compa-

nies. It is this information that has such a

large influence on other purchasers.

Therefore, no longer is marketing just

about clever strap lines and imagery.

No longer is marketing about bombarding

the customer with messages, in the hope that

it will lead to some action further on down

the line.

With information regarding a product

or service readily available and easily

disseminated by consumers, they too

are now involved in shaping brands.

Marketing is now about ‘being part of

that conversation’.

Marketing is about helping to shape that

process. It is more about facilitation, than it

is about directing. If you want consumers to

talk about your product or service then the

marketing must be built into that product or

service. For example; anyone can post a

video on YouTube for free, but every time

you do, by directing people to your video,

you are also marketing YouTube.

Marketing is no longer something that

should be thought about after the product or

service is conceptualised. It must be built

into the very essence of the product or

service. It is integral. In other words;

marketing today, more than ever before, has

to be at the heart of the business strategy.

Marketing must be in the boardroom and

failing to do that is like a rudderless ship.

I

Why Marketing mustbe in the boardroomBusiness marketing expert Grant Leboff looks at why marketing plans need to be front and centre

Grant Leboff is Principal of The Intelligent Sales Club

working with companies on effective sales and

marketing strategies and lead generation; creating a

steady stream of sales opportunities for businesses.

For more information email

[email protected] or call 0844 478 0044

‘Marketing is no longersomething that should be

thought about after the productor service is conceptualised’



hat do Bill Gates, Warren

Buffet, Sir Tom Hunter and

Duncan Bannatyne all have in

common?

The answer, apart from considerable

success, is that they're all committed

philanthropists, who have pledged to

give away the bulk of their fortunes to

good causes. And they're not alone as

with every month that passes, more and

more of the world's wealthy announce

their intention to devote their time and

their money to making the world a bet-

ter place.

So, what's driving them? Though there

are many reasons for giving, the most

often cited is that it's an enjoyable and

rewarding experience. Victor Hugo once

said that "as the purse is emptied, so the

heart is filled", and for many, philan-

thropy does just that. It gives people

pleasure and life enrichment by know-

ing that they're making a difference. It

also allows them to achieve a

spend/give balance. For instance, while

he has had no problem in amassing his

fortune, the hedge fund manager Arpad

Busson said in a recent Guardian inter-

view that his decision to embrace phi-

lanthropy was because he found it

impossible to enjoy his wealth, knowing

there are people out there who were

much less fortunate than himself.

For others, philanthropy can be the

ideal way of instilling family values and

educating their children, as showing the

next generation what a difference

wealth can make to others can help pre-

pare them for the responsibilities of in-

heritance. When asked what he would

leave his children, Warren Buffet fa-

mously remarked: "A very rich person

would leave his kids enough to do any-

thing, but not enough to do nothing."

Worried about stifling their offsprings'

ambitions by giving them everything on

a plate, entrepreneurs in particular are

increasingly leaving the majority of their

wealth to good causes or charitable

foundations that they have created.

Dragon's Den star Peter Jones has estab-

lished a trust fund to reward his children

for the good they do, their yearly al-

lowance dictated by their choice of fu-

ture career. He hopes it will encourage

them to consider professions that make

a difference to others, such as nursing or

teaching, rather than focusing purely on

those jobs with the best salaries. Like-

wise, his co-star, Duncan Bannatyne in-

tends to leave his entire fortune to his

Bannatyne Foundation. He fears that

leaving his children hundreds of mil-

lions of pounds would rob their lives of

any purpose.

Having a common goal

But as well as allowing children to fol-

low their own path, we have found

amongst our clients that philanthropy

can also bring families closer together. If

you own a successful family business,

setting up a charitable foundation can

allow those relatives not involved in the

day-to-day running of the company to

work together for a common goal or

purpose.

For those that have sold their business or

are beginning to take a step back from

their profession, but are not quite ready

to sit back totally, philanthropy is an op-

portunity to apply both financial capital

and life experience in order to solve so-

cial problems. Rather than simply writ-

ing out a cheque, creating your own

dedicated fund or taking a hands-on ap-

proach to the causes you support can

ensure that your money and expertise

are having the greatest impact. This can

often become a career in itself, with

similar rewards and the same sense of

achievement. When the late Anita Rod-

dick sold The Body Shop, it wasn't so

that she could sit back and enjoy the

fruits of her labours, it was so she could

devote the rest of her life to her charity

foundation.

Leaving a lasting legacy

In addition to making an impact during

your lifetime, philanthropy is also a way

of supporting a cause for the long term

and creating a lasting legacy. Setting up

a trust that will fund organisations or

charities in perpetuity will ensure that

your work will always make a difference

and will remind others of how strongly

you felt about a particular cause. For an

example look no further than Bill Gates.

At the moment he's famous for founding

Microsoft, but he hopes that after he's

gone, he'll be remembered for his com-

mitment to eradicating disease and end-

ing social inequality in Africa through

the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

But whatever your initial motivation to

start giving, knowing how, where and

when can prove challenging. With so

many deserving causes, choosing the

right one is always going to be a tough

decision. And once that choice is made

there are further difficulties. How much

to give; whether to make a single dona-

tion or regular payments; how to gauge

a specific charity's performance before

supporting it and how to monitor the

impact your support is having. So if

you feel that philanthropy could be the

key to enriching your life, then Coutts

can help you develop your perfect giv-

ing strategy. From simple advice and re-

searching potential beneficiaries, to

setting up a charitable trust, our dedi-

cated philanthropy team will guide you

every step of the way, making it simple

for individuals, families and business

clients alike to start making a difference.

We look at the growing trend of the ubber wealthy entrepreneurs who are determined to give away their

wealth to help others instead of just handing it on to their future children and future generations

Giving it all away

W


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reen and Jack’s a custom shirt

maker claims to be able to

read human personality from

their choice of shirts.

There have been lots of studies linking

colour to personality. Especially the research

by Dr. Max Lûscher during the early 1900's is

very interesting. He studied the relationship

between choices of colour to human be-

haviour. Dr Lûscher’s study has been used by

large companies, doctors and psychologists

to analyse human personality.

Green and Jack’s a London based custom

shirt maker has applied colour research to

help their customers project the right image.

The colour and fit of the shirt that one chooses

gives an insight into one’s personality.

What does your shirt say about you?

Crimson – high energy, confident, passion-

ate, sensual and brave leader

White – honest, practical and natural..

Pink - confident, naughty and unconven-

tional.

Black – powerful, elegant and mysterious.

Blue – organised, warm, caring and intuitive

personality.

Yellow – original, happy and helpful.

Grey – a balanced and elegant thinker.

Brown – A conventional person who loves

the outdoors.

A well fitting shirt often conveys a structured

mind and an organised personality. Choose

the fit and colour that projects and compli-

ments ones personality by visiting the custom

shirt store.

Green and Jack’s custom shirt maker offer

free colour consultations. The perfect fit guar-

antee makes ordering custom made shirts risk

free to customers since alterations are free of

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G

Telling who you are bythe shirt on your back



atching up with Julie Meyer is one

thing, keeping up is quite another. The

fast-talking American is so full of ideas

and energy she reflects the equally dynamic

online and digital world she works in. During

our 45 minute meeting we cover everything

from Martin Luther to the recession and the

future of the 21st century. “Do we have enough

time?” she asks the start of the interview. I tell

her we do, I am certainly wrong.

Confidant

Meyer’s business, Ariadne Capital, is, by its

most mundane description, an advisory,

investment and networking business. Meyer

will refer to it also as a ‘marketing machine’, ‘a

revenue centre’ and place where

‘entrepreneurs back entrepreneurs’. Its clients

include some of the hottest new properties in

the digital, online and media spaces. While its

50 or so founding shareholders are drawn from

the best of the UK and European digital world.

And, in the middle there’s Meyer and her team

joining up the dots. “My strategy with

entrepreneurs is to become their confidant and

for them never to doubt that I am on their side.

Start-ups are such a hot kitchen, you have to be

the steady ship that they can lean on.”

Funding Crisis

So, in the teeth of the worst recession and

financial crisis in years, are the deals still

getting done? Apparently so, Ariadne has

completed five fundraisings since December,

sees about 100 business plans per month and is

still hiring staff. Meyer also scoffs at the no-

tion that ‘nobody is getting funded’. “When

people say nobody is getting funded, I think

they might not be getting funded by the VC

community, but there’s a lot of private capital

out there; there’s a lot of family offices and

entrepreneurs that have made money, and they

are looking for opportunities to channel into

their money and expertise.”

This is where Ariadne fits in, working with

the start-ups and emerging businesses,

helping entrepreneurs overcome their funding

problems and build managerial capital through

its network. Meyer describes business develop-

ment in five main stages: concept, product, val-

idation, scalability and sustainability and/or

exit. In order to effectively gauge a company’s

valuation, she spots where the entrepreneur is

in this cycle, looks at comparable fundraisings

and gives the owner-manager the hard truth. “A

lot of entrepreneurs have unrealistic expecta-

tions about valuations. But if you have them on

your side and they trust you, you can say ‘lets

look at the deals done for companies at your

stage of development, you’re not worth £10m

today, you’re worth £3m, so lets get a deal

done’.”

Ideas V Money

The UK is no longer home to heavy manu-

facturing and huge nationalised or state-backed

businesses. Its economic future depends on the

efforts and ideas of entrepreneurs and small

businesses. Meyer believes that on this front we

have a lot to offer and sees the next century as

a period of ‘mass entrepreneurship’. But she is

less than impressed by both statesman and in-

stitutional investors, who still don’t seem to

have grasped what this really means. “There

are lots of great entrepreneurs in this country,

but the funding of entrepreneurship has not

kept pace with it,” she says.

The venture capital community needs to re-

vise how they relate to entrepreneurs and to

want to create more world-beaters. Trust be-

tween the VCs and entrepreneurs needs to be

improved and the former need to look at

owner-managers in a more positive light. “Not

everybody is a Charles Dunstone (founder of

Carphone Warehouse), but there’s more

Charles Dunstones in the market than the VC

community admits.

“I am amazed by the amount of successful

entrepreneurs, who have made money and

want their next idea to be hit right out of the

ballpark, who say, ‘you know what I don’t want

anything to do with the VC community’.”

Ideas and innovation are essential

Backing winnersall the way

Julie Meyer the founder of Ariadne Capital, First Tuesday and latest

Dragon talks to Jon Card. As one of the foremost operators in the UK’s

digital space she tells us about the web, who’s going to beat the recession

and why being an entrepreneur is the best choice for the 21st century

C

V



and always have been, but too much emphasis

is placed on the money, she argues. This leads

to the two groups ‘fighting for control of the

bus’ there’s also many cases of companies

being over-capitalised which makes profitable

exits unrealistic: “It comes down to the philos-

ophy of the investor. Who’s the hero of the

story? When I speak to the investors about who

they think are the important ones in the equa-

tion they say that ‘we are the ones bringing the

money’. But if you look at history it shows that

capital follows ideas, it always has and always

will.”

Getting to market

So what makes a great idea or business,

Meyers draws from history to argue the

following: “It isn’t the best idea or product that

wins the day but the best idea/product with the

best distribution. Martin Luther had a radical

idea challenging the Catholic Church, but

without Gutenberg he would have been a mere

footnote of history.”

Start-ups are ‘front loaded’ needing lots of

capital, ideas and talent right at the start to take

them out to market. For new technology-based

companies this is all the harder as develop-

ment costs can be high and consumers still

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Business Matters 0209 B:UK 10/02/09 18:17 Page 1

MEYER AT A GLANCE

Born in the US, Meyer moved to Paris in

1988 and later went to the business school

Insead, which despite being in France was

’just dominated by the Brits’. In 1998, she

opted to move to London rather than Silicon

Valley, as she felt she could play ‘a greater

role’ as it seemed almost possible to get to

know everybody who was working in the

internet. She founded First Tuesday, a now

legendary global networking business, which

brought entrepreneurs, suppliers and

investors together. They wore met green,

amber and red name badges respectively to

speed up the introductory process. In July

2000, she sold First Tuesday for £50m in

cash and shares and the formation of

Ariadne Capital followed in December of that

year. She now has permanent residency in

the UK and is considering citizenship. Al-

though as an American, is not fully taken by

the idea of swearing an oath to our Queen.

have to learn about them before they will buy.

Ariadne offers to find answers to all of these

problems, as well as talking up its portfolio

companies. As a permanent resident in the UK,

Meyer knows all too well about our British re-

serve, which she admires but admits doesn’t

help to get a company’s name out there. Here

the unashamedly American ‘marketing ma-

chine’ kicks in, as she is only too happy to sing

the praises of her portfolio companies. But

businesses looking to get adopted by the corpo-

rations need more than press coverage. B2Bs

need think about the Cs too. The ‘consumerisa-

tion of technology’ was a highly significant de-

velopment of the 20th century and

entrepreneurs need to recognise that. Meyer

cites SpinVox, the voice to text company, as a

great example of a company that used con-

sumer take-up to convince the Blue Chips that

it was worth dealing with. “They got 150,000

people signed-up through a great deal with the

Carphone Warehouse, and then they went to

the big telecommunications companies.”

Meyer speaks highly of SpinVox’s founder

Christina Domecq a fellow woman in business

that she wants to succeed and believes is great

for female entrepreneurship. She is also per-

plexed about some of the recent negative press

coverage that the company has received and

asserts that the business will prove its critics

wrong. “Its revenues are growing and it has a

great IP portfolio. And when you look at her

staff they are incredibly devoted to her, she’s

create a corporate culture that I have rarely

seen. The staff believe they are creating a bil-

lion pound company.”

Another company she mentions more than

once is Monitise, the AIM-listed mobile

banking business. “I really think that Monitise

is going to go down as one of the most

impressive companies in history. Its share price

is completely bucking the trend.”

Indeed, after a rough year on the markets its

share price is growing again which validates is

decision to hold firm and stay on AIM, while

the financial world regained its composure.

Consumer finance is, in fact, an area which

Meyer believes Britain is good at and other

growing hopefuls, such as Wonga and Zopa are

also worth a look. The Meyer-powered market-

ing machine is working for its clients, al-

though not everyone she mentions is a client,

such as Thunderhead led by Glen Manchester.

Meyer just seems excited about hot new com-

panies in general.

Innovation and technology has ushered in a

new paradigm for business, and Meyer is

positive that her portfolio businesses will be

among those that replace the ailing old

industries. Local media is one likely candidate

for the cull. However, Meyer is unsentimental

about these changes. “You have dominant

newspaper groups and directory services which

aren’t particularly interested in making it work

for everybody, they just want to make it work

for them. People want to spend money locally,

but they have failed to animate local businesses

to advertise online, even in 2009.”

It’s a similar story for the record industry;

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Business Matters 0209 B:UK 10/02/09 18:17 Page 1

V

it failed to adapt and to listen to what con-

sumers were telling them. But now new com-

panies in the new media world are taking their

place and are getting funded. Look at for exam-

ple BView, an interactive review of businesses

complete with credit scoring, or Slice the Pie,

where fans can invest in musicians.

There seems to be something so much more

democratic about the companies she champi-

ons, compared to the dominant players of the

20th century. It isn’t just about them making

money, but about the consumer getting a return

too. With this in mind, you start to get a flavour

of what she is envisaging when talks about a

future of mass entrepreneurship. A future where

we are all able to get the information we need,

invest in great ideas and depend on ourselves

above all.

DRAGON MEYER

Alongside Ariadne, Meyer has been

investing in companies via the online version

of Dragons’ Den. However, it has become so

popular that it is now scheduled for TV

broadcast this month

As the latest addition to the Den, Meyer is

a change of direction for the show, as she

will not engage in the caustic put-downs

and withering looks that has helped to make

the show famous. “I am never rude to

entrepreneurs, so I told the producers

‘please don’t expect me to do that, as that’s

not who I am’.” She wants to help

entrepreneurs and to explain why she isn’t

investing without burying them. “Apparently

this was a major breakthrough. And I was

told they liked my strategic insight, I thought

I was just being nice to them and explaining

why I wasn’t investing.” At the time of

writing she has made two investments, one

survived due diligence, the other did not.


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ooking to invest in a film, a new

band or an up and coming artist?

You could do a lot worse than spend a

day in Hospital. Want to meet up and

coming entrepreneurs? Perhaps you

should head to Adam Street.

Big business deals are moving out of the

Boardroom and into a range of different

venues. From the traditional grandeur of The

Arts Club in Mayfair or The London Capital

Club in the City, to the more modern sur-

rounds of Soho and Shoreditch House and

the aforementioned Hospital Club, private

members clubs are thriving both in London

and across the country.

With the growth in the number of

entrepreneurs working from home, fed up

with looking for hotel lobbies, coffee shops

and bars for meetings, private members

clubs have enjoyed a renaissance in recent

years. While London has seen an explosion

in the popularity of such venues, the trend

hasn’t been restricted to the Capital. I’ve

enjoyed meetings with members of clubs in

Cardiff, Liverpool, Manchester and Birming-

ham among others.

A few years ago the network of which I

was Managing Director conducted an infor-

mal survey of our membership, primarily

micro and small businesses. We asked those

of our members who had also joined the In-

stitute of Directors the main reason for their

membership of the IoD. Over 85% of the

respondents joined the IoD because of the

availability of their Clubs in Pall Mall. Since

that time the IoD has developed a network

of ‘Hubs’ similar clubs with meeting space

across the UK, available to all members.

And it’s not just entrepreneurs. Business

leaders looking for a reliable, discreet venue

for business lunches, television celebrities

hammering out their latest contracts and in-

vestors looking for their next great project

can all be found enjoying the benefits of

club membership.

Many members clubs are established to

cater for particular industries or professions,

encouraging like-minded people to collabo-

rate and support each other. Others boast

affiliations with similar establishments

abroad, or elsewhere in the country.

While many of the older clubs retain the

traditional rules, requiring mobiles to be

switched off, insisting on members wearing

ties and banning talk of business in many

areas, the new breed embrace business. In

many you will find members lost in their

laptops, with the Club acting as their virtual

office, while some, such as One Alfred

Place, in Bloomsbury, offer on-site PAs and

workstations.

If you are looking to find out where to

meet new people, create and develop

alliances and discover the next great deal, it

might be time to dust off your dancing shoes

and go clubbing.

L

Going ClubbingBusiness networking specialist Andy Lopata looks some of the new crop of business clubs

Andy Lopata is one of the UK’s leading business net-

working and referrals strategists. The co-author of two

books on networking, Andy works with companies

from one-man bands to global names such as

NatWest Bank, Merrill Lynch, O2 and Capita to help

them realise the full potential from their networks.

The Pool Room & Belini Loungeat The Hospital


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1

2

3


s new businesses are being es-tablished by entrepreneursacross the country, to suit the

market looking for more individualservice, businesses must focus oncreating a brand that can leveragetheir business financially.

Branding is affecting business more and

more everyday, so much so that it is taking over

larger shares of a business' value and becoming

an increasingly important factor when it comes

to differentiating yourselves from competitors.

Brand is worth the investment – successful

brands command premium positions,

customers will pay more and economic value

will be added to your organisation. A powerful

business asset, branding can be used to

strengthen customer retention and win new

clients and, maybe more importantly for the

future of business, good brands attract the right

calibre of employee – something that is often

overlooked. It’s estimated that 50% of Coca

Cola's worth lies in its trademark and we’ve

also found this with SME clients who have

honed in on creating a brand, not just a

business.

Xiros

Let's take a look at an example. Xiros, a

Yorkshire based medical devices manufacturer,

found that potential customers weren’t seeing

the business for what it truly was, an innovative

medical design house – effectively missing out

on business they knew was right for them. After

evolving their existing brand and dissecting the

product offer, the business recorded a 700%

increase in new business generation within 12

months. This has kick-started a period of

significant growth over the last two years.

Brand plays a significant part in how the

company is perceived and how it approaches

new business.

The existing customer's relationship with a

brand

As well as attracting new business, a

re-brand lets existing customers know that you

are evolving with the times and are able to

meet their changing needs in the business

world. Selling to existing customers is the

easiest (and cheapest) way to increase revenue

and it is these customers who are most likely to

bring you new referrals.

Customers form emotional alliances with

strong brands, ultimately these brands are able

to command a higher price in the marketplace,

providing much stronger financial returns

throughout a business’ life cycle.

Attracting new customers

The current climate means that new

customers are much more cautious when

entering into new business relationships. They

will be on the lookout for a brand that they can

relate to, one that matches the needs and

values of their business.

This is where brand works most effectively.

Creating differentiation is one of the most

important attributes to a brand. A valuable

perception of quality in the mind of the

customer will guarantee you are competing

based on your credentials rather than on price.

The current climate offers great opportuni-

ties for SMEs – larger firms that sub-contract to

smaller independents are looking to cut costs.

SMEs need a good brand behind them to

leverage credibility for bigger contracts.

Interior Surfaces

Interior Surfaces, bespoke manufacturers of

solid and laminate surface products, decided to

invest in their brand as a way of attracting

larger contractors. They invested in a re-brand

because their existing image was not represen-

tative of their capabilities and they wanted to

appeal to a larger commercial customer base.

They had a 5 year plan in place to double their

turnover, but achieved this in 2 after reposition-

ing the business as a complete solutions

provider. Turnover rose from £1.2m to £2.4m.

This was put down to the new brand and

strong design ideas bringing a sense of what

they were able to achieve to the company, both

within the business and externally, and have

since gone on to successfully win contracts

with larger clients, and entered new markets.

Design with targets to meet

An effective brand strategy should deliver

results to the bottom line and therefore should

always have targets to meet and be measured

for performance. It should tie into your wider

marketing strategy and flow consistently within

an organisation's internal and external commu-

nications. This makes the brand a more power-

ful tool.

Branding affects business

Brand equity is turning into a corporate asset

that provides financial return and long term

profits, whilst also adding value to the cus-

tomer. From multinational companies to SMEs

the principles are the same - good brands will

be reflected in a stronger balance sheet with a

higher level of profitability for a given cost of

sales – a very attractive proposition to build a

business around.

But what must be remembered first and

foremost is that a brand is not just a logo, it is

paying attention to detail to every aspect of

communication within an organisation, from

stationary to staff. If that is mastered then the

reputation of your company should prevail over

the competitors', and by word of mouth, you

should find yourself with a successful

business.

A

The value of a brand


n the late 1960’s there wasn’t the

supermodels of the stature of Clau-

dia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, Kate

Moss or Naomi Campbell, but there

was a glut or normal people who were

needed to be in advertising that the

buyer could associate with.

So in 1969 Mark French founded

what was then the first character model

agency called Ugly and you could say

that he has never looked back as

steadily their roster of models grew as

did their clients.

Its name notwithstanding, Ugly does-

n’t just represent the odd and

grotesque, but real people. The agency

believes it is tapping into a shift in ad-

vertising trends, in which advertisers

seek models who look more like cus-

tomers, on the theory that the cus-

tomers can better relate to them.

The agency now gets up to 100 e-

mailed applications per day. But photos

that give a good laugh are filed in a

desk drawer.

After over thirty years running Ugly

in the UK, Mark set about expanding

the business away from the UK. There

was only really one option as the first

venue and that was America. The land

of the free, and so French hooked up

with Simon Rogers, who after working

for more than 20 years as a fashion

model knows the business inside and

out and had been friends with French

since they were teenagers.

‘Whilst it was a struggle at first as the

US is very different to the UK as there is

a different union for every aspect of the

business’ commented French the pro-

gression has gone very well and now

Ugly NY is perhaps New York City’s

only modeling agency specializing in

booking non-professionals. A quick

look at their casting book highlights

models sized zero to 30; little people of

four feet and under; and sumo

wrestlers, old ladies, drag queens and

tattooed bikers, among others.

“Other agencies avoid these kinds of

people,” said the Shadow casting direc-

tor, Renée Torrière. “Ugly has made a

home for them.”

Ugly NY, which opened its doors in

Turning ugly

I

Taking over

We talk to the British businesses who are leading the charge

Richard Alvin talks to Mark French about opening up his unique brand of

agency in the US and America’s facination with UGLY


Americanfocus

the summer of 2007 has signed on

nearly 500 models so far and the pair

hope to expand their brand to other

cities, among them Los Angeles and

Berlin.

French actually decided to launch

the New York arm of the business as a

franchise which Rogers runs as it was a

lot easier using that model he explains.

That said he still spends one week

every month in New York and feels that

the inside of the BA cabin is his home

from home as he sees it so often.

Ugly NY talent representative Yvette

Ulrich says that New York is the best

city for this kind of agency.

“A lot of New Yorkers, they’re not try-

ing to be anything else: this is it, they

show up as is,” she said. “It’s not like

they’re getting dressed up in the morn-

ing, that’s who they are.”

Ugly models can sometimes earn the

same rates as runway or other tradi-

tional models, though mainly it expects

to offer part-time gigs paying a few

hundred dollars a day.

“I tell them, you can make money

being you, the way that you look, be-

cause it’s beautiful,” Ulrich said.

Native New Yorker Najwa Moses

welcomes the chance to make money

from her appearance, whether or not

the looks she gets are flattering.

“My hair is unusual and I’m pretty

tall, so I’m always getting looks,” she

said. “Some are positive and some are

negative, but they’re looking.”

She was booked as an extra for the

movie version of Sex in the City be-

cause, she said, the directors liked her

different but fashionable look.

Model Betul Alganatay, featured on

Manhattan Storage ad on billboards,

says she chose Ugly NY because she

didn’t want to get lost in a bigger

agency.

“Ugly has a different attitude to-

wards the business,” she said. “They

look at it in a human way.”

Anyway, there’s really no such thing

as ugly, according to Rogers. “There’s

boring,” he said. “But not ugly.”



hile the Americans and the

British have similar language

and culture, the two nations

are still quite different when it comes

to business.

Understanding these idiosyncrasies will

ensure you are better equipped to nego-

tiate deals and develop long-term busi-

ness relationships. There are some

primary aspects to consider:

•Americans often build relationships

through business, not business through

relationships. Work out the details of

the deal first, the relationships may

come later.

• Active selling is expected, often to

a degree that may be regarded as exces-

sive in the UK.

• Time is money, so be well prepared

with samples, packaging and sales

sheets. Know your return-on investment

calculations or sales forecasts, pricing

and logistics. Deadlines are real and

short; respond quickly or risk losing the

business.

• Know your competitive advantage

over specific US suppliers, as well as

your domestic and international track

record.

• Being direct is a virtue; ask for

what you want, say what you mean and

do as you say. Being shy and

unassertive may be seen as a weakness

in the US. Americans won’t take offence

to well-phrased, direct questions be-

cause they always reserve the right to

say no.

• Be positive. British tendency to be

self-effacing or downplay achievements

can clash with Americans’ can-do

attitude and tendency to take informa-

tion at face value.

• Effective follow-up is

essential and often involves

persistent and repetitive at-

tempts to make contact.

If you have called or

emailed someone 2–3

times and have not heard

back from them, do not as-

sume they are disinterested. Instead,

remember that persistence is expected

in the US; it may take you as many as

10–12 attempts to get a response,

whether positive or negative.

• Business conduct in the US is gen-

erally conservative, polite and succinct;

it is important to clarify benefits for the

prospective customer.

The key to success is not being large

but having a strong product or service

offering and being able to clearly artic-

ulate your competitive advantage. US

buyers are time poor and bombarded

with marketing collateral and sales

pitches from hundreds of companies.

As a result, it is extremely difficult to

get their attention. Success in the

United States is often based on persis-

tence. It is not uncommon for a buyer

to need to hear your message numerous

times before they can differentiate it

from all the others.

You should increase your chances of

getting noticed by keeping the message

concise and diversifying the channels

you use to deliver it, such as email,

telephone, publications, third parties

and personal visits. Americans were the

inventors of the 30-second sales pitch.

Whether you like or loathe the idea, the

level of marketing noise bombarding

buyers and the number of competitors

makes it a necessity.

You need to be sure you can move a

US buyer from passive disinterest to

curious engagement as quickly and ef-

fectively as possible – ideally in 30 to

60 seconds.

This concise pitch should include the

following four elements:

• Articulate the problem your prod-

uct addresses, the solution it provides

and why it’s better than its competitors.

For example, “My software solves the

problem of product tracking in the retail

industry and provides a 30 per cent

higher savings rate than my two top

competitors”.

• Use American English. It sounds

like common sense, but many UK busi-

ness people speak in metric units, refer-

ence British locations and use British

slang in US pitches.

• Try to reference companies that are

already active in the US when establish-

ing your advantage or credibility.

Whether presenting testimonials or

claims against competitors, the US

buyer needs to quickly understand who

you are in context of his or her current

environment.

• Be specific about the benefits.

Avoid using generalities such as im-

proven return-on-investment, productiv-

ity or sales. Instead provide specific

numbers, data and percentage increases

W

Gaining thatcompetitiveedge

Use your britishness as

an advantage

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Gordon Brown reputedly waitedmany years to step into the top job,yet when he eventually did he madethe mistake that so many other lead-ers have made before him. Gordonforgot to leave his old job behind.

It is no accident that the only major success

of Gordon Brown’s premiership so far has been

on the world financial stage. This is a world in

which he feels at home and so can use his

strengths and experience to full effect. He has

had somewhat less success however on the

media stage, promoting himself and his govern-

ment. So many leaders move into a new role

and fail to assess and define the priorities of the

new job, trying instead to use skills of old that

have served them so well on the upward climb.

It is this transition that can prove to be the

undoing of many a talented star who has risen

through the ranks delivering targets and achiev-

ing goals. The move into a more senior leader-

ship role often brings with it new responsibili-

ties, a broader strategic focus and the need to

consider every uttered word that may be

unpicked and analysed for hidden meaning.

Exhausting as it may seem, every decision,

every smile and every handshake must be

considered. The water-coolers and corridors of

offices can spurn discussions just as toxic as

those in the corridors of power.

Define priorities

It is in this transition that an Executive

Coach can prove invaluable. A coach can help

the new leader define the priorities of the new

job and to distinguish between ‘what I like

doing, and what I should be doing’. By chal-

lenging the rationale, the coach can bring a

unique honesty to task prioritisation, helping to

clarify the needs of the new role in the broader

organisational context. As a neutral party the

coach can also help raise awareness of the

strengths and weaknesses that the leader brings

to the role. An authentic appraisal of skills will

prove invaluable to achieving results. Only

then can the leader begin to shape the new

role and appreciate which tasks they should

take on, and which should be delegated to bet-

ter suited or more charismatic lieutenants.

Ultimately coaching is about taking action.

Priorities and awareness can only yield results

if acted on. A coach can provide the support

needed by leaders to define appropriate strate-

gies to move forward. As sounding board or

confidante the coach provides a unique think-

ing space which frees the mind from the shack-

les of fear and indecision. Helping to build an

action plan to enable the leader to travel to the

edges of their comfort zone but not beyond

their realm of competence.

Carmelina Lawton Smith, a Senior Lecturer & consultant with Oxford Brookes University

Business School looks at how to manage transition of top staff

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ntrepreneurs have been elevated by the media to become

role models, a position once reserved for footballers and

film stars.

Today’s young people are as likely to aspire to become the next

Richard Branson, Peter Jones or Duncan Banatyne as they are to

follow in the footsteps of David Beckham or Jude Law.

The common factor among all these figures is one-in-a-million

talent. They are simply exceptional at what they do. And that

rubs off down the scale. Just as Fred Bloggs who plays for

Melchester Rovers Reserves reckons he must have that divine

talent too, so, it seems, does Joe Soap, who runs a business and

sees himself as an entrepreneur. And Mr Soap, at least, may have

to rethink.

Global business consultancy McKinney Rogers has just carried

out a survey of senior business executives and concluded that

Britain’s entrepreneurs should watch their backs because they’re

not as unique as they thought. There is evidence of a more

entrepreneurial generation hot on their heels, particularly from

emerging markets, which are embracing a more entrepreneurial

approach to business.

Train to be an entrepeneur

Coupled with that, a majority of respondents to the McKinney

Rogers survey believe entrepreneurship is not an innate gift and

can be developed.

The survey, which encompassed Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific and

the US, was designed to gauge awareness, perceptions and trends

surrounding entrepreneurial skills in the corporate environment.

While an encouraging two-thirds of respondents (69 per cent)

believe that in today’s business environment it is important for

large organisations to develop a core competence of

entrepreneurship, the emergence of a more entrepreneurial spirit

in the boardroom is noticeably different in the UK from how it is

in some other regions.

The younger emerging markets are ready to embrace

entrepreneurship in a large organisation (50 per cent) as opposed

to only 27 per cent in Europe including the UK, where markets

are more established. This is supported by respondents who see

regions such as Africa having a widespread belief (88 per cent)

that entrepreneurs can be developed, compared with only 38

per cent of people surveyed in UK and the rest of Europe. Less

constrained by tradition, these emerging markets are perhaps

more open to risk taking and creating a more flexible

environment and culture that can embrace entrepreneurship.

Key findings emerged when executives and business leaders

were asked to assess the defining characteristics of both CEOs

and entrepreneurs. There was a marked difference between the

E

The fame gameAs we all strive to be famous for more than our five

minutes, entrepeneurs are now joining the ranks of

David Beckham and gaining world-wide fame.

two perceptions, with executives seeing more of a blurring of

the lines between entrepreneurs and business leaders,

heralding the emergence of a more entrepreneurial approach

to business from the next generation of business leaders.

Core skill base

Executives saw both entrepreneurs and CEOs as strong

communicators, energetic, visionary, flexible, decisive,

intuitive and not independent operators. Executives also

viewed the role of a CEO as including risk taking and

flexibility, which CEOs themselves scored low in the survey as

core skills for themselves.

CEOs see entrepreneurs as passionate, energetic and highly

motivated and identified their key qualities as being visionary,

driven, persistent and decisive.

When respondents were asked which parts of the business

were important in achieving corporate entrepreneurship,

interestingly, people and behaviour-related objectives, such as

encouraging ownership (72 per cent) and developing an

entrepreneurial culture (47 per cent), featured more highly

than operational focus areas such as creating and developing

new ventures (39 per cent).

Richard Watts, UK partner at McKinney Rogers, says:

“What is interesting about this research in particular is the

openness to entrepreneurs by the less established markets and

also by newer industries such as technology, where the pace

of change necessitates a more maverick, flexible and

innovative approach to business.

“For older, more established markets to continue to

flourish, they need to keep pace and this means adopting

what is called intrapreneurship – injecting some of the core

qualities of an entrepreneur into a large business and adapting

the culture to allow this to sit comfortably.”

Gain a real understanding

McKinney Rogers CEO Damian McKinney says: “These

results clearly highlight a real understanding across industry

that entrepreneurship has an increasingly important part to

play in driving a successful business. What business leaders

need to understand is that this isn’t about recruiting a number

of entrepreneurs and hoping that they will make changes and

expect them to mould to the current culture.

“The key is to identifying entrepreneurial qualities in

existing employees creating a culture that supports some of the

innovation, risk-taking and flexibility that is associated with

entrepreneurs empowering people to take ownership for this.”

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You have an auditorium of people, you’re administer-

ing death by PowerPoint and you know you need to

do something to engage them.

So someone in the audience has an idea and you ask them

if they could sketch it as a diagram. You take a pad over and

a peculiarly thick pen, they scrawl on the paper – and it

appears on screen, in real time, as they draw it.

This is because the pen – and the USB key you’ve put into

your computer – comprise PaperShow, a system that takes

whatever is drawn onto the special paper they provide and

puts it onto your laptop screen, and by extension wherever

your laptop display is focused. It’s straightforward to use after

a slightly fiddly set-up, in which you have to deactivate your

computer’s Bluetooth and set up the key as a Bluetooth

receiver instead; once you’re over that it’s a breeze and audi-

ences love it. One user we spoke to said it turned his presen-

tation into a conversation, which is exactly as he wanted it.

Auditorium and keynote speech settings are of course only

one possible use of this gadget. Any setting in which you

want extra participation will make this work. The interface is

a paper pad, so you can pass it around – and unlike a white-

board with multiple inputs from tablet computers, which

could also do the job, this costs £115 per unit. Mac users will

have to wait a few months for their release unless they install

Bootcamp or one of the other PC emulators and install a copy

of Windows, at which point it starts to work beautifully. You

can also use the memory/Bluetooth key for storage – for

example, storing your presentation.

TechnologyGuy Clapperton shows you what you need to create

the right impression first time when presenting

If Spring is the season of mellow fruitfulness then the Autumn is when

the exhibitions start up in earnest.

A whole new raft of kit is required to make a company’s exhibition presence fly;

this magazine is involved in Business North West and others from late October,

and locking everything down with security hardware from Kensington so it does-

n’t go walkies; meanwhile you’ll need something for a good display, equipment

to help people interact with you in seminars and keep everything charged

Papershow


Laptop & Display

Logitech has released two new presenter tools for those

auditorium moments when you’ve seen your competitor

dashing to and from the computer and prodding away to

change to the next slide, or asking a colleague to switch

to the next image.

Best for larger gatherings is the Presenter R800. This has

buttons you can operate to change slides, clearly, and also a

timer which vibrates when you’re two minute, a minute and

30 seconds away from whenever you’re due to finish, and

when it reaches zero it starts to count the minutes so you

know how long you’re overrunning. Its reception range is

100 ft, so you can do a lot of wandering around a pretty

substantial room without losing control of your slides, and

its laser pointer is equally visible at a distance. This costs

£69.99 and has a smaller sibling, the R400, which has a 50

ft range instead and fewer bells and whistles, costs £44.99

and will still control your presentation without say the tim-

ing functions.

Logitech guarantees only that these devices will be com-

patible with PCs, presumably because of warranties and

suchlike; we tried one with a Mac running Powerpoint for

the Mac and it worked perfectly without any problem at all.

Some readers might have tried the PowerPoint controllers

which you can find on (for example) the iPhone. Many of

these have positive feedback and appear to work; they are

third party applications, however, and there is no guarantee

they will work when there’s

an upgrade since

none are officially

sanctioned by Mi-

crosoft.

Logitech has also is-

sued some new mice

which are great when you

can’t predict what sort of surface

will be available. The Performance

Mouse MX (£89.99) and the compact

Anywhere Mouse MX (£69.99) both work

on smooth glass surfaces, which is usually

death to a mouse, by detecting tiny scratches

and irregularities on the surface.

The temptation, when there are laptops available for

around £300 or small netbooks for under £200, is to

go and buy one of those and take that around with

you when you’re on the road showing stuff.

The problem with that option is that the displays start to

let you down – hooked up to a projector the small sub-£200

models often distort the picture and the larger cheap models

are heavy and look distinctly non-businesslike.

Many people – your correspondent included – opt for

Apple for portability, but this is expensive and will require

an adapter (under £20 from any Apple store but another

layer of fiddling). For easy use with most peripherals like the

aforementioned pointers, mice and Papershow products it

makes sense to stick with PC for the moment, and MSi’s re-

cent X600 laptop releases are a portable weight and have

full spec for a PC. They start at £599 for a model with 320

gigabytes on the disk and no optical drive and move to

£799 if you need the CD and 500 gigs of storage as part of

the deal.

In terms of where to send the output, Apple sells excel-

lent quality large displays from its stores (try to avoid

ordering these online or

off the page, if you

can go and see one and check for dead pixels it’s better

than arranging a product return); many companies offer ex-

cellent projectors and recent offerings from Toshiba and

Optoma offer full high-definition compatibility. Optoma

also offers a pocket projector, the Pico, which fits in the

pocket and will take a feed from a portable media player.

This is useful for impromptu presentations when there are

no obvious facilities around,

other than a

wall!

Presenter


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"How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of

the world."

Cynical bloke, that Hamlet. Personally, I think 2009 has a lot of

promise. I’m rather bullish actually. My tracker mortgage has gone

down by two-thirds and with the amount of beer I drink, 2.5 per cent

off VAT makes for a significant saving.

Seriously, money is like water – it always finds its own level. Where

it flows out of one asset class and therefore deflating its price, it finds a

level in another thus inflating the price. Sounds easy, but the trick of

course is finding the new fertile pasture.

Of those assets that have been hammered, commodities have been

the most battered with the wheels properly falling off the super-cycle.

And here is my first one. Less than six months ago the price of oil was

$140 a barrel. Way too high. At the time of writing the spot price was

less than $38. Way too low and at that level the big producers will sim-

ply begin to turn off the taps and artificially inflate the price.

Thus a nice big buy on a spread bet on the oil price. Shop around

for somewhere with a decent margin. In three months, you may find it

will be back towards a more natural price of around $75.

One place where our liquid money will flow in my view is Africa.

Look for companies like Cussons, which does huge retail business in

the more predictable parts of Africa – particularly oil-rich Nigeria –

with sensible consumer goods like white goods, non-perishable foods,

soap and household cleaning products.

Graham Benson, serial chairman & executive chairman, TriNorth

Oil that comes from places other than the Gulf , US or former Soviet

territories - already slowly moving in the right direction if still a bit

volatile.

Robbie Burns, professional trader and author – The Naked Trader.

Horse weighing under 10st 10lb to win National

Buy Oil price

Buy up all non environmental 100w light bulbs left, set up internet

site to sell them later in year yielding a massive 3X profit. (20% payable

to me, please)

Jason Michelow, accountant and amateur diplomat, Essex.

2009 will show itself to be the year of the dragon.......investor. All

the bottom-of-the-cycle basement bargain prices will be achieved this

year. As a man of property my advice is "buy any high yielding stock in

the UK, USA & Germany.

Ignore claims on 'below market values. In fact, ignore values and

capital calculations completely.

Buy only on yield and rental cover (how much excess income you

have to meet your senior debt costs, expressed as a percentage. 125%

is the absolute minimum banks will consider). Enter in commercial

property at risk. Residential will be where it's at as even the unem-

ployed need somewhere to live, but clearly not an office or shop or fac-

tory for the foreseeable future.

Peter Nurse, desk editor and serial poker fish, Dow Jones, London

I’m old enough to remember Jim Slater’s investment advice for 1974

– shotgun cartridges, baked beans and Krugerrand.

But the sensible advice must be corporate bonds – still bombed out,

but that’s what I’d do with money I needed. The big play must be infla-

tion proof assets, for when the government’s strategy goes pear shaped

– probably next year. £100,000 would probably buy 2 buy-to-let prop-

erties from distressed sellers. You may have to wait a bit, but houses can

only remain below their building cost – which is what is happening

now – for so long.

Lucian Camp, advertising guru and chairman, Tangible Financial

I'd invest it in some reasonably creative and original form of pure

self-indulgence. I loved the thing that guy planned about going to eat

at every 3-star Michelin restaurant, although it was a real shame he

only got half way before something strange happened to him – chronic

gout I imagine. Anyone who can string a few words together ought to

be able to make their money back on the book of the adventure, too.

If on the other hand the rules of the game insist that I have to look

for some sort of investment-style return on the money, then no question

that I'd buy land in Iceland. It's really cheap just now - and when that

global warming kicks in, it's going to be extremely attractive real estate.

Philip Martin, self-styled horse-racing genius and founder

and partner, Nucleus Financial, Edinburgh

That was the question that Stephen McDowell, editor in chief of the UK’s number one investor website

interactive investor (www.iii.co.uk), asked some of his friends and some of the answers were interesting...

If you had £100,000 whatwould you invest it in?


ord Archer has been quietly

ploughing money into theatri-

cal productions since Lord

Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the

Opera.

He owns 35 per cent of the national

tour of Sound of Music starring Connie

Fisher who won the part of Maria, the

singing nun, in a reality television show.

The biggest fish is named after Grease.

For good reason.

"I put £150,000 into the stage

production of Grease and have got back

£1.5 million so far. It has been a fantastic

success," says Lord Archer. But he has not

always had the Midas touch. He lost

£400,000 in a US production of Hello

Dolly.

Lord Archer is working on a series of

short stories, writing in long hand with a

felt tip pen, in a study in the grounds of

the Old Vicarage at Grantchester. The

study, with its Pugin furniture, has echoes

of his time as an MP which ended in

financial ruin in 1974 and his 12 years as

a member of the House of Lords. His

second parliamentary career may yet be

brought to an end if ministers carry out

their threat to pass legislation banning

convicted criminals from the upper

house.

On his desk is a new cover for his

1979 thriller Kane and Abel which has

been reprinted 84 times, and sold more

than 33 million copies. Lord Archer has

rewritten it to mark the 30th anniversary

of its original publication.

"I thought I would have another go at

it. I gave myself three weeks to read and

correct it." Nine months and 500 hours

and it was completed. It is now 7,000

words shorter.

"It is pacier, faster, as I am now a better

craftsman," said Lord Archer. "But the plot

and the ending are the same. Kane and

Abel changed my whole life. I bought the

Old Vicarage with it. I went from nothing

to a millionaire in 24 hours."

Lord Archer knows he will never win

an award from the critics for his prose but

if there were a Nobel Prize for storytelling

he would have won it years ago. He has

sold more than 250 million books and is

in the top 10 best selling authors in the

world.

Lord Archer, by his own admission, has

had a roller coaster of a life which could

have come straight from the pages of one

of his novels. After his writing success

Margaret Thatcher made him deputy

chairman of the Conservative Party. He

stood down when he successfully sued a

newspaper which alleged he had paid for

sex with a prostitute. He bounced back

again to become a confidant of John

Major and was the overwhelming choice

of the party faithful to become the Tories’

first candidate in the 1999 London

mayoral contest. But Lord Archer, hailed

by William Hague as a "man of

outstanding integrity," crashed and burned

again when he was sentenced to four

years in jail for perjury over his liaison

with that same prostitute 15 years earlier.

Since his release Lord Archer has

turned his back on politics and dedicated

himself to writing and raising money for

charity as an auctioneer – £2.2 million

last year. "Now that politics is out of the

way I enjoy writing even more," he said.

But he is still a member of two

Conservative associations, and has regular

lunches with members of the shadow

cabinet. He hardly knows David Cameron

but is not convinced he has what it takes

to succeed. "I was shocked by the recent

opinion poll in The Daily Telegraph which

showed we have made no progress in

Scotland or the north of England. When I

was deputy chairman I could travel from

Glasgow to Edinburgh without leaving

Tory land. In a two-week period I covered

every constituency in which we had an

MP. There were 14. Now we have only

one. We appear to have given up."

Lord Archer fears that the Tories might

scrape into power by winning back

Middle England but with no mandate in

the north or Scotland. "They will hate us if

that happens. It will be terrible. It will not

be good for politics. You don’t want a

country that votes north or south you have

L


Lord Archer

to represent the whole of Great Britain."

Lord Archer believes that the Tory party

fightback – their lead is 14 compared to

Tony Blair’s 26 points at the same period

in the electoral cycle – was hampered by

Mr Cameron’s Old Etonian image. "What

have they got, six Old Etonians in his

inner circle? It does not worry me

because you should choose the best

people you can find, But the man in

Durham might think we are snooties."

Even if the Tories win, Lord Archer was

not convinced that they had the team to

turn the economy round. "My worry for

him is quite simple. With the economy in

the state it is in, the pound falling so low,

can he [Cameron] or anyone else make a

difference in this financial crisis?"

Did he expect the Conservatives to

win? "I used to think so until I saw that

poll. In the last six months the lead will

narrow in favour of the Government. We

must win but it ain’t over yet."

These days Lord Archer is only an

occasional visitor to the House of Lords.

He professes to be relaxed about moves

to change the law to strip convicted

criminals of their peerages. "It’s up to the

Government," he said. "But I like the

answer John Major gave when he was

asked if Jeffrey Archer should lose his

peerage. He said: ‘Fine, take it off him,

but you will have to give it back to him

the next day because of all the work he

has done and is doing for charity’." Some

of his most controversial charity work,

before he went to Belmarsh prison, was

his appeal for Kurdish refugees in

northern Iraq which raised £57 million.

The millionaire novelist then made a

highly publicised visit to northern Iraq in

1992 to see the conditions of the Kurds

who were fleeing from Saddam Hussein.

John Major, the Prime Minister, who was

later to back Lord Archer as the Tory

mayoral candidate, pledged £10 million

from the Government.

The Liberal Democrat peer Emma

Nicholson alleged money had gone

missing from the appeal and challenged

Scotland Yard to investigate after Lord

Archer’s conviction for perjury in the

summer of 2001. He has just received the

perfect rebuff to Lady Nicholson. It’s an

invitation to visit Iraq from President Jalai

Talabani.

The letter, which was written by the

president’s wife, Hero Ibrahim Ahmed,

says: "For many years you have been a

close friend of the Kurdish people,

bringing to light the struggles faced by

our people in our darkest days. Your

efforts on behalf of our people were a

clarion call to the world to speak up and

notice the horrors that were taking place.

"It would be a privilege if you were to

accept this invitation on behalf of my

husband and myself to visit the Kurd

region once again and to see the

phenomenal changes that have taken

place."

Lord Archer, who has just built a house

in northern Majorca where he will do

much of his writing, said "I am thrilled to

be asked back."

He refused to discuss the criticisms of

Lady Nicholson. "What I have found is

that real friends stand by you. Very few

people deserted me when I went to

prison. They stayed loyal," he said. John

Major and Lady Thatcher are still regulars

at his garden parties.

None though has been more loyal than

his wife Mary, a scientist, who is

chairman of Addenbrooke’s Hospital in

Cambridge. "Mary is the star," he said.

"We are the tortoise and the hare. She

overtook me years ago and is still moving

steadily ahead. There are two things that

matter in marriage: respect and

admiration. For us they grow each year. I

am proud of everything she does and she

is proud of my books."

Jeffrey Archer always breaks at noon from writing to feed his 100

Koi carp, in the pond at his Cambridgeshire home, which have been

named after some of the most popular plays to grace the West End

and Broadway stage, symbols of his secret investment successes.

Lord Archer, by his own

admission, has had a

roller coaster of a life

which could have come

straight from the pages

of one of his novels.


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Bags of style


What to wear to pitch for funding

t is important for your first impression to

be positive so that the potential backer

considers you and your business to be a

great investment.

How you are dressed will often show how

serious you are and Jane Dawson, founder of

Business Wardrobe provides us with some

some key points to remember when pitching

for funding:

• Ensure you dress broadly in line with the

corporate code for the organisation or take

noted of how the investor presents him or

herself.

• If you are pitching in a formal environment

to a conservative investor, a dark coloured

suit is a good starting point but if it is a more

creative product you’re pitching you can play

with fashion a little bit more – add a splash

of colour, wear a patterned skirt or a vibrant

blouse.

• Be comfortable – pitching for funding is

often a high pressure situation and it’s impor-

tant that you feel yourself and can project

the qualities and assets that you possess.

• Wear clothes which allow you to relax and

reflect you and your personality.

• Over-dressed vs Under-dressed demon-

strate that you mean business and you are

ambitious. It is better to be overdressed than

underdressed.

“Whereas the staple business outfit for

men is the suit, there is nothing similar for

women, so creating a chic, co-ordinated out-

fit for a pitch situation can throw up all kinds

of dilemmas, not least, how to put together a

smart, professional look whilst maintaining

an individual, feminine style.

“Successful women often find themselves

in a position where they are one of only a

few females within a male dominated envi-

ronment. Dressing professionally whilst as-

serting their femininity and individuality

without copying the standard male ‘suit, shirt

and tie’ look is key.

How can you maintain a feminine but

businesslike look as well as show an individ-

ual yet socially acceptable style?

“There are some key looks for a pitching

situation, although it does depend on the en-

vironment.

“A dark, well-fitted tailored suit will pro-

ject professionalism, but it doesn’t have to be

a plain fabric. Individuality could be added

with pin stripe pattern or tweed. This could

be teamed with a brighter blouse which will

reflect confidence and make you stand out.

“Keep your accessories subtle, but still

show you've got creativity and flair. A gor-

geous wide belt or an unusual pendant neck-

lace will show you've got individuality.

“Clothes can make a real difference to

your career, as your clothing should reflect

your corporate character and position within

an organisation but the right clothes will also

boost your confidence and allow you to pro-

ject your own style and personality.

“This is where colour can be an impor-

tant factor. For example, dark colours such as

black, navy and purple psychologically de-

note authority, knowledge and responsibility.

Brown shows that you are reliable, white is a

good choice for shirts as it conveys a clean,

formal look, bright colours such as red re-

flect power and control and lighter colours

suggest femininity and softness.

“Dressing the part is not what will secure

you the pitch – your presenting skills, com-

petences and experience are what clearly

matter most. However, failing to create a

good impression through dress can often

negate a good pitch and may leave investors

with some doubt.

“It is also important not to neglect your

personal grooming so that the effect of a

crisp outfit is not ruined. Minimal make-up

will work best as it will look professional

and denote that you take care of your ap-

pearance.

Women may think: All of this sounds great

but how do I find the time to buy new

clothes for an important pitch?

“Time is a key factor for women in citing

why they cannot shop for new smart clothes.

The difficulties of balancing a busy working

life with the pressures of running a family,

coupled with the lack of stylish business

clothing on the high street, has led to frustra-

tion for many women as they dress for an im-

portant pitch meeting.

“Our research suggested that a last minute

dash to the high street to purchase office

wear which lacks personality is a common

experience for many modern business-

women.

“As a busy working woman myself, I un-

derstand how difficult it is to find the time to

put together a stylish contemporary business

wardrobe. Successful women are looking for

good quality clothes which are easy to

source.

“This is where shopping online comes into

its own, as it becomes a pleasurable experi-

ence, by missing out the queues and stress

and instead gaining the benefits of boutique

shopping but browsing and buying in the

comfort of your home or the office.

“Investing in a quality business wardrobe

is an investment in your professional future

and your self confidence.

“In an ideal world, appearances shouldn’t count for everything whenpitching for funding, but the reality is that appearances do matter,and in many cases, an initial first impression is created before youhave even spoken a word.”

Dress to Impress

I


hen it comes to investing the quote

from Baron Phillipe Rothschild re-

mains as true now as it was in the

eighteenth century.

The time to invest in property, equities or

any other market is when it looks at it’s most

unappealing, however this takes a great deal

of nerve. Conversely once a “bloke down the

pub” tells you that you ought to get into a

certain market, then that is almost certainly

the time to get out.

Looking at this it’s important to consider

what happens in a bull market, it can basi-

cally be divided into three stages. The early

stage is the “Stealth” stage of the bull market,

where recriminations from the late stage of

the previous bull market still preoccupies the

general public.

Living in the past

Most people tend to live in the past, and

so does the City. The shift is not recognised,

widely regarded with skepticism, or even de-

nied outright. It is known as the “Stealth”

stage, simply because the majority of in-

vestors are not even aware the bull market is

present, the opportunity is not even on their

horizon. Instead, only a small minority of as-

tute investors realise that a profound shift in

the investment environment has occurred

and begin to accumulate assets in the new

investment class. This group of early investors

is usually known as “smart money”.

There then follows a mature stage where

the new investment trend gradually becomes

recognised by institutional investors and in-

vesting in the new investment class becomes

acceptable. Generally poor returns of the al-

ternative asset class force institutional in-

vestors to look at alternatives, however there

is still plenty of skepticism. There is also the

realisation that the past returns have been so

great, that prices cannot go much higher.

Therefore everyone is “worried” that the bull

market might soon be over. Every intermedi-

ate decline is declared the end of the bull

market, during this stage the market climbs

the proverbial “Wall of Worry”. Nevertheless,

the healthy returns from the early stage con-

vince them that they should jump on board,

albeit cautiously and with a relatively small

percentage of their funds. In general, institu-

tional investors are known as “Big Money”.

They enter the markets slowly and steadily,

typically herding tightly with their peers and

trying not to deviate too far away from them.

The final stage

Finally there is the late or “Mania” stage,

the period when the masses enter the bull

market in droves. They never saw the first

stage, but they have watched the second

stage develop. They are finally convinced

that the trend is permanent and expect prices

to rise forever. Caution is thrown out of the

window and greed takes over. Use of borrow-

ing becomes the investment norm. Specula-

tion is rampant, over time greed turns into

mania, with bursts of panicked buying.

Throughout the stage, the buying conviction

of the masses drives prices exponentially

which feeds back to reinforce their convic-

tions. Asset-based lending becomes the

norm, so rising asset prices begets more lend-

ing, which further fuels the boom. This stage

is usually associated with a major bubble.

We have just seen the culmination of this

cycle which can take anything from ten to

twenty years to come to fruition. At the mo-

ment there is a tremendous amount of

“value” investments providing that you are

looking at a three to five year horizon. So the

question now becomes, where is the smart

money investing?

W

If you have any questions or comments

e-mail them through to me on:

[email protected].

Is there bloodon the streets?

Gavin Porritt looks at why now is the best and not worse

time to be investing for the future

"Buy when there's blood in the streets, even if the blood is

your own." – Baron Phillipe Rothschild.



James Spence returns to

Scotland’s most famous

golf course, the scene of

many a triumphant day, to

see if the old course has

stood the test of time.

Backto SaintAndrews

DestinationScotland

have a lifelong association with Fife, and the university

town of St Andrews. It was the location of several family

holidays. I started playing the game at age 8 at Elie dur-

ing a summer in which my family had rented a house on the

beach - the same place and age that James Braid started play-

ing golf 95 years earlier. In another summer, we were staying

at Kincaple during the hot summer of 1975, my father trav-

elled back with Jack Newton on a hovercraft after he had just

lost a playoff to Tom Watson across the bay at Carnoustie. In

1984, I was in the grandstands with my father when Balles-

teros holed a curly downhiller to win the Open. In 2001, I

made a trip from Hong Kong to play the fabulous Kingsbarns

Course near Crail, staying B&B at the house of Baron Erskine

on whose land the course was built, and who 15 years previ-

ous had been my student landlord at Cambo House.

In 1982, armed with the requisite number of Scottish Highers,

I chose the University with the highest density of golf courses

and spent four years at St. Andrews as a student, graduating

with a moderate degree in Philosophy and an immoderate

hook shot.

I

V


As a student you became quickly aware of the high and static

number of public houses and the small and shrinking number of

bookshops. Pubs went in and out of fashion with students and this

had nothing whatsoever to do with the beer, service or ambience.

In fact it was entirely whimsical. In my first year the Niblick (then

just 20 steps from the 18th Green of the Old) was the only place to

drink. In my second it was the Castle Tavern at the far end of North

Street. The Central on Market Street was popular with students of

Arabic Culture. A friend became the drinking buddy of Tip Ander-

son (Arnold Palmer’s caddie at many Opens) at The Criterion on

South Street. The Niblick by the 17th Fairway was an occasional

place to go, often after 16 and a half holes. Popular with visiting

Americans and their local caddies, I seem to remember the beer

prices were a little elevated - elevated at least to those of us that

felt that 75p a pint was a natural and immutable ceiling.

I made precisely two trips to the Old Course Hotel in my four

student years. The hotel was, and remains, the town’s brush with in-

ternational luxury and therefore a place injurious to the student al-

lowance. One the first occasion a few of us were sitting around

somebody’s room at St Salvator’s Hall when one bright spark sug-

gested we go for cocktails at the Road Hole bar at the Hotel. The

merit in this idea lay in its contrariness. Each of us ordered a cock-

tail and I remember the pianist tinking away, just as he does today.

The second visit was sponsored by the Champagne house of Lau-

rent-Perrier, motto: Ne Buvez Jamais d’Eau (Never Drink Water).

Whether it was extreme farsightedness or a strategic error, Laurent-

Perrier held a tasting evening of their full range of champagnes to a

group of undergraduates. The University Wine Society had been

chugging along on Lambrusco and Amontillado for years became a

much more popular society as a result. The Old Course Hotel pro-

vided a ballroom for the event and I can distinctly remember the

moment when the head representative from the champagne house

suggested that, having tasted each variant in turn, we might like to

approach one of the tables for a further reconnoitre. We needed no

further invitation and paced over to the Vintage table and sur-

rounded the man from L-P. One of our number asked the represen-

tative to help demonstrate the elegant pouring technique whereby

the thumb of the right hand is positioned in the indent under the

bottle. “Mais oui ! ”. Very soon each of us had a bottle in hand and

were filling each others’ glasses at will.

Diverse business

Since 2004, The Old Course Hotel and Spa has been owned by

Kohler Co., the family company whose business is plumbing but

who is best known in the golfing world for building the Whistling

Straits course on the banks of Lake Michigan. It is 26 years since

my last visit, so comparisons are hazy but clearly the Kohler’s have

made a substantial investment both in the hotel and in developing

the inland course The Duke’s, which is just outside the town.

The course is the only non-seaside course at St Andrews and was

designed by Peter Thomson and latterly modified by Tim Liddy. The

Duke’s offers a great escape from the hullabaloo surrounding the

Old and, being on a rural site above town, is serene with some

great views. The course can be long but offers a range of tees which

measures the course from 7,512 yards down to 5,216 yards. Al-

though the members generally walk it, some transitions betweens

greens and tees are lengthy so many visitors will be tempted by the

option of a golf-cart.


In the evening prior to playing the Dukes I find myself back on

the top floor in the Road Hole bar where we are offered a glass of

house champagne, which indeed turns out to be Laurent-Perrier,

closing that particular circle. This formed the start of a meal at the

Road Hole Restaurant which was simultaneously formal, modern

and delicious. Scallops two ways, lamb rump and sweetbreads, al-

mond and apricot cake for my part.

Earlier in the day we were also able to have a quick lunch in the

downstairs Sands Grill, replacing langoustines with the chicken in a

Caesar salad which was not a premeditated move but something

that the kitchen were happy to accommodate. Gary, the waiter,

asked if we were expecting “my lady”, which we were but she was

late returning from shopping in town (shopping opportunities are

much improved from the 1980s I note). The wait extended some-

what and in the intervening time Gary and I elevated my wife to

Her Ladyship. Graced finally with her presence, salads were deliv-

ered, a quick and excellent coffee then off to the course.

My breakfast the next morning was of the heroic Scottish variety

but there are also lighter options – a wide variety of fruits, breads

and cereals, jams and honeycomb and porridge in a multitude of

styles, with/without milk, honey, compote.

What you might expect of a grand hotel with a strong American

connection is excellent service, plumbing and beds, this and the lo-

cation, are its real claims. There are very few quick or easy rounds

of golf in St Andrews in the summer so recovery is the key. The Old

Course Hotel provides the key elements of recovery. The Spa is ex-

cellent and specialises in water based therapies. The rooms have

deep bath tubs, piped with by jets and chromotheraputic lighting

based on the ayurvedic belief that certain elemental lights can en-

gender or develop moods and characters. I selected the soothing

aspect of blue. The Road Hole Bar stocks over 200 whiskies, the

house champagne is Laurent-Perrier as mentioned and the wine list

is extensive and particularly strong on French and American reds.

The Sands Grill has all the best of Scotland grilled and the Road

Hole Restaurant is more formal, with the views you would expect.

The views from the sea facing rooms are peerless and there is little

better spectator sport than watching successive groups take on the

second shot at the 17th. The West Deck, which is a new outdoors

perch above the old sheds is a great addition. Finally, sleep. I don’t

know what the huge beds are stuffed with, but it works. Tired bod-

ies can recline for a welcome night’s sleep and rise to take on an-

other golfing test.

James stayed courtesy of The Old Course Hotel and Spa, rooms

from £380 per night, Fairways Suites from £680 per night.

Reservations: + 44 (0) 1334 474371 or

www.oldcoursehotel.co.uk. Reservations at the Duke’s Course can

be made via the hotel’s website or email at reservations@oldcourse-

hotel.co.uk.

Next month in Back to St Andrews – Part II, James writes about

the St Andrews Links Trust, the charitable body that looks after

seven golf courses at the Home of Golf including the Old Course

and the recently opened Castle Course.

James Spence is a Managing Partner of Cerno Capital,

an independent wealth management firm, and author of:

The Finest Golf Courses of Asia & Australasia

www.golfcoursesofasia.com.

‘What you might expect of a grand hotel with a strongAmerican connection is excellent service, plumbing and

beds, this and the location, are its real claims.’


he Lexus LS600h L is not only the

world’s first four-wheel drive

hybrid V8 but also the flagship of

the luxury brand’s range. It offers a

discreet but strong challenge to its

better known German rivals, says

Dave Sumner Smith,

How comfortable is it?The ‘basic’ models of the LS are large,

well-equipped and comfortable. Leather up-

holstery, heated rear seats, electric sun-

shades and air conditioned front seats come

as standard. The range-topper gets an extra

12cm in length, plus a specification that in-

cludes drop-down video screens, air condi-

tioned, electronically adjustable rear seats

and a cool box. There is even an optional

rear relaxation pack, which adds a massage

system to the adjustable Ottoman foot and

thigh rest.

What is it like to drive?It may be large in scale and traditional in

style, but the LS600h L is no slouch. Far from

it. The 375bhp power of the 5.0-litre V8 and

the rechargeable batteries generate 520Nm

of torque, delivered to all four wheels

through a continuously variable transmis-

sion. The net result is a seamless, smooth de-

livery of huge power: Brains and muscles

combined with seemingly effortless ease.

Will it impress?Despite its hybrid status, the Lexus is

hardly trendy. But it is quietly (and de-

servedly) winning custom from high status

European brands. The fact its hybrid status

wins exemption from London’s Congestion

Charge and gives more than 30mpg are

minor benefits. More impressive are its com-

fort, sophistication, space and silken refine-

ment.

Does it make financial sense?The LS is far from cheap. The ‘base model’

starts at £61,540 and the flagship LS600h L

cost £87,935. But that is £17k less than a

Mercedes S600L, and the Lexus retains its

value better, has a superior reputation for re-

liability and offers superior dealer service.

Quotes on contracthireandleasing.com sug-

gest leasing costs only two thirds of the Mer-

cedes’ price at £1300-1400pcm.

What else should I consider?Obviously its main competitors are the

BMW 7-series, Mercedes S-Class and Audi

A8. The Maserati Quattroporte offers a differ-

ent flavour of glamour, while the recently an-

nounced Jaguar XJ and Porsche Panamera

may also be worth considering.

Any toys and gadgets?The LS600h L is a toy-lover’s nirvana. As

well as flip down screens to watch DVDs,

massage seats and thigh and feet supports, it

also has a 19 speaker sound system, four

zone climate control, rear parking camera,

park assist and a pre-crash safety system. For

hardcore gadget-lovers there’s even a Smart

Card instead of an ignition key.

What does it say about me?The stretched Lexus is too restrained and

understated to be fashionable. Like a finely-

tailored suit, it isn’t glamorous. It suggests

the owner doesn’t need a badge to bolster

their ego and is more interested in sophisti-

cation and comfort than appearing ‘flash’.

T

MotoringWe focus our attention on the Lexus L6000h L but will it be the cream of our fleet?


We focus our attention on the Lexus L6000h L but will it be the cream of our fleet?


Dining out

Hix Oyster & Chop House is decked out

with plain quality: wooden surfaces, clean

tiling, copper pans and starched whites.

Mark Hix's first eponymous restaurant is

straight-talking, reflecting his passion for

quality English fare treated with care but not

fuss. Menu entries list dishes with a maxi-

mum of three ingredients, and there is no

need for decoding. When it says the broad

beans are "crushed", that's what they are -

just smacked on the head, not puréed or de-

livered in a pipette. Nine of the 16 main

courses are beef, with seven different cuts,

spread between Dexter and Aberdeen Angus.

Enjoying

There are some foods I am just not pre-

pared to dislike. Parsnip slips past my guard

now and then, but olives gave way relatively

easily after a force-feeding regime, and I was

relieved, about five years ago, and after de-

tailed research into the workings of my gag

reflex, to start properly enjoying oysters. Any

food that can automatically change sex dur-

ing its lifetime has to be eaten.

I like oysters creamy, and decide on a

couple as a pre-starter starter. Our waiter ac-

curately predicts that I will like the Cumbrae

and Maldon. Like all the bits of advice and

knowledge he has, such as how Hix cures his

salmon in his back garden, it is delivered

with the perfect level of smarminess and cer-

emony, ie none.

A hot miniature sourdough loaf arrives,

then the oysters and a bowl of peas in the

pod - another pre-starter nibble we somehow

thought would be a good idea. Oysters full

and creamy; peas in generous quantities, so

you could abandon the inevitable duds.

We start with Hix's own smoked salmon

cure and the red mullet with crushed broad

beans on toasted sourdough. The salmon,

blood orange-deep in colour, is boldly

smoked, but that fire doesn't hang around in

your face. It just melts away with the flesh.

There's a dryness to the crushed broad beans,

which make a slightly claggy combination

with the sourdough and mullet, but it's tasty.

As soon as the beef flank and oyster pie

comes, I realise I am heading for metabolic

disaster. I have never had this dish, but what

with my recent bivalve excitement, it just

seems the right thing to do and the right

place to do it. To my horror, I learn that I

don't really like cooked oysters, despite the

dark, grainy loveliness of the beef in its

gelatinous gravy and shortcrust pastry, which

is suety but not leaden.

Amazing

I can just remember two things before

slipping into a food coma: 1) the chips were

a really good size (not pencils, not bricks)

and 2) the whole John Dory with rosemary

was good enough to make my girlfriend

loosen her evangelical grip on Anthony Bour-

dain's "no fish on Monday" rule.

Bursts of sharpness and perfume bring me

round like smelling salts. The jelly in the

perry jelly and elderflower ice-cream is so

flawless, it resembles a lens. You could use it

as a kind of wobbly magnifying glass.

The other thing that wakes us is the crash

of glass at the top of the stairs leading from

the kitchen. They've got a new Olympic sport

here: climbing with a massive tray of hot pies

and then having to navigate a tricky right-

hand bend with a pillar threatening to take

you out. It's entertaining, but go soon or the

excellent staff will have it sussed.

Three weeks later, having digested that

meal, I go back. This strategy has risks: you

can't fault further research, but which side to

come down on if the experience is totally dif-

ferent from the first visit?

A tough job!

Never mind - I have to test a main course I

would ordinarily love. In this case it is the

hanger steak (not a common cut, but it has

great livery flavour) with baked bone marrow,

chips and salad. From the charring to the

bleeding heart, it is superb, and the marrow -

a bone halved lengthwise and topped with

breadcrumbs, parsley and garlic - is a royal

treat. Only a main course this time, with

chips and salad, but I still can't quite finish it.

That hanger steak costs £13.75; the porter-

house for two costs £54.50; starters from

£5.50 to £12; nibbles around £3. An oyster:

£1.95. Working-class food at middle-class

prices, you could jibe. But it's the ingredients

that count, and times change - disease, rarity

and desirability all turned the oyster into a

fine food in the 19th century, rather than

something to bulk up a pie when you ran out

of beef. As for the cooking, Hix's food is defi-

nitely working, and it's class.

Score 8/10

Telephone 020-7017 1930

Address 35-37 Greenhill Rents, Cowcross

Street, London EC1

Open All week, lunch noon-3pm (except

Saturday, when it's closed for lunch); dinner,

6.11pm

We visit the Hix Oyster & Chop House in the heart of London’s banking district for some fine dining


What do you currently do? I am a partner at Pembridge Partners LLP. We

work with small and medium sized businesses

in the marketing and media and technology

sector, which includes advertising, DM, film

and television, PR and digital media, to name a

few. We work with shareholders on building

and growing their business. Our ultimate goal

and validation of our success for all the busi-

nesses we work with is to help them to realise

the value that they have built by attracting a

buyer or investor.

We have worked with about 2,500 businesses

since we set up in 2001 helping dozens of

companies achieve their objectives, making

many of them millionaires in the process!

Our philosophy is based around making sure

that the businesses our clients work in can help

them to achieve their personal objectives. That

way they remain focused on what is personally

really important to them, rather than being tied

to a business and just going through the day-to-

day machinations. To give you an example, one

investment we made was through our Extreme

Services Fund, which we set up in 2008.

Omobono is a marketing services consultancy

based in Cambridge and it fitted all the criteria

we were looking for in a potential investment -

cutting-edge services with a motivated, ener-

getic and clear management team. We have a

seat on the Board to advise their team through

a 3-5 year growth plan. In a nutshell, we aim to

add value to this company over and above their

core business plan.

I am also lucky enough to work with very early

stage businesses which I am passionate about

helping. Through a scheme with G2i

(www.g2i.org), I work with entrepreneurs to

build an investment case for their business

ideas which they can take to potential in-

vestors. This scheme has helped many en-

trepreneurs attract funding from angels and

private equity firms. It is a great scheme - cur-

rently only running in London - but we are

keen to see the government back more

schemes like it. It’s the new entrepreneurs

which will help to get the UK out of recession.

Who is your inspiration in business? The guys from Google. They thought big, but

they bought in the experts to help build the

business. My impression is that they focused on

what they were really good at and had fun

whilst doing it. So for anyone who is a serial

entrepreneur - focus on building something to

sell, sell it, and then start again!

Whom do you admire? These change all the time! My current heroes

are the two British cyclists in this year's Tour

De France. Bradley Wiggins - 4th overall is an

amazing achievement for a British cyclist - you

have to admire his sheer determination to keep

up with the three guys ahead of him, which in-

cluded Lance Armstrong, winner of seven pre-

vious Tours. The other, is the sprinter who won

on the Champs Elysee. Both were so humble

about their achievements. They didn’t just talk

about what they achieved, but what they

wanted to achieve in the future. The world is

full of too many people who just talk about

what they have done, rather what they are

going to do.

Looking back, are there things youwould do differently? Network, network, network right from the

beginning of your career! I have met and

worked with some real heroes over the years –

luckily, some I am still in touch with, others I

am not. Do think about the long-term, rather

than whether they can help you now.

LinkedIn, Facebook and the like, have made it

all so easy, but you can’t underestimate the

power of real, face to face networks – the peo-

ple you have met, done business with and are

connected to, rather than people you are

linked to via a computer network. So get out

there and actually talk to people!

What defines your way of doingbusiness? An honest, direct approach – telling people

how it is. Our premise at Pembridge is that we

have "been there and done it before", and we

back our words with our own cash by investing

alongside some of the shareholders we work

with. We don't talk ‘business gobbledygook’

and we mostly talk about getting the funda-

mentals right in a business. So many people

overlook that. Most of the time it works, but

sometimes people just don't want to hear it - I

can’t always help those people. Quite simply,

our perspective comes from being investors

and real-life entrepreneurs.

What would you say to businesseswho are worried about tough timesahead?Focus on the fundamentals in your business

(see, that again!) Most companies who are

growing forget about the fundamentals so when

times get tough they just don't have they cush-

ion they need to weather the storm. And focus

on the big picture - growing a business isn't

easy and it won’t be plain sailing all the way -

but if you remain focused on a specific objec-

tive and end game, you will get through the

tough times. The time that takes and the route it

takes to get there might change, but the objec-

tive won’t.

www.pembridges.net

Getting toknow you:Rose Lewis


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Angels - November 2009 Edition