Duncan offers 4 fantiastic tips on how you can win £50000 at The Pitch 2010. And also suggests you should buy a Boxster and a nice new suit with the winnings. The best elevator pitch advice ever…
Archive for the 'Business Angel' Category
Duncan has been pulled in by Nick and Dave to get entrepreneurism in the UK sorted out - the first ever entrepreneur in residence for Number 10. Find out how he explains hos role to Angus.
Duncan wants to build the value of the brand by exhibiting at a conference. He has enrolled Janice The Tea Lady and her hot pants to help out.
Getting your first customer as a new start company can be hard work. See how Duncan, our entrepid entrepreneur, handles his frst customer and how he manages to confuse his angel investor, Angus.
Handling your first TV appearance can be daunting, but Duncan our entrepreneur takes it in his stride when he appears on Dragons Den. All this despite the rumours that Mr Bannatyne and Mr Caan aren’t talking (non dom argument). See how Angus copes with the news that Duncan has been on Dragons Den.
As a new start company you may be wondering why or when you should engage a PR company. Are Public Relations companies good value, can they deliver results, can I do it myself, what are they for? In this third lesson from the Entrepreneur Guide Duncan finds out why PR gurus are essential – though sadly for Duncan the lesson relates to burying bad news rather than promoting the good. And even sadder for his angel backer it’s Angus that has to pick up the tab.
As a young new high growth company you will no doubt be wondering how best to handle investor communications. Well why not have a look at how our intrepidly stupid (sorry that should just have read intrepid) entrepreneur handles his first shareholder meeting.
In this second episode of our Entrepreneur Guide (which builds over 60 months into a valuable pile of dusty magazines under your bed that your mother will eventually throw out) Duncan breaks the news that he has spent all the money raised on a URL and a Launch Party. (ps I continue to love xtranormal… brilliant technology)
30
Mar
10
Duncan and Angus, Entrepreneur guide #1: How to raise money from a VC or angel for your business
If you are looking for advice on raising money then it can be a rather distracting experience, chasing VCs, pitches in elevators to angels, business plan variations by the bucket load.
It always puzzles me why it seems to be the daftest of ideas that get funded (or am I simply jealous… probably). Anyway as some light relief for those in search of an equity investment – here is how this young man did it: (ps love xtranormal… brilliant technology)
Last week I did my Dragon’s Den thing for the School of Informatics at The University of Edinburgh. Immensely enjoyable and the young entrepreneurs enjoyed it too. It seemed like an idea worth repeating and one worth taking into the schools…. well looks like Peter Jones (the Dragon who likes folk to present in suits) has got there first.
“Top entrepreneur and Dragons’ Den judge Peter Jones today announced he will be donating £100,000 of his own money to ‘Make Your Mark With a Tenner’, a government-backed campaign which aims to give young people the opportunity to become entrepreneurs. ” (Source BERR)
Well done Mr Jones – money well spent.
Apparently Peter Jones has been working with the Government on a National Enterprise Academy in the South East of England.
If the reaction is as strong down south as it was in Edinburgh the project will go well. And maye there is scope for the same in Scotland?
17
May
08
Putting more skin in the game
Good to see a Scottish technology company going on the acquisition trail and particularly exciting that’s it a North American business that they have acquired. Touch Bionics have acquired North American Inc Livingskin. A case of Livingstone company getting Livingskin. Touch Bionics are in the artificial limb business and the skin aspect is clearly an essential aspect of what they do – and so of course is the USA market.
Growth through acquisition is a tricky business but if you can pull it off then it obviously can work wonders. There aren’t a lot of businesses in Scotland in the technology sector who take this approach due in large part to a lack of funds and to some extent “bottle”.
Consuming another company is a challenging and time consuming business and the personalities of the acquired board and indeed staff can make proper integration slow and at times impossible.
Good for Touch Bionics – good to see them putting some skin in the game.
