Doug Richard and the word union – Entrepreneurs get a voice?

Depsite knowing all the good that has been done by them the word “Union”, or more correctly “Trade Union”, is one that causes me some anxiety. And to my surprise I find myself having to deal with that anxiety when I hear Doug Richard (School for Start Ups and late of the dreadful Dragons Den) using the word – a union for entrepreneurs, surely not.

I would have been 12 when the 3 day week was in place – I can remember reading the newspaper to find out when our electricity would be switched off that evening. All in an attempt by the government to conserve/manage coal stocks while the miners were on strike in 1974. It was a pretty ugly period – my dad was on short time – things were tough. The UK was on it’s knees and it’s population seriously fragmented. I think that is where I started to get a bit jumpy about the word union (rights and wrongs of the industrial action set aside).

And then there was the the time as a software developer on contract that I was obliged to join the Union but not allowed to attend the regular union meetings. I chose not to make a fuss. And for what is was worth – at that time it was clear the employees needed some decent union support due to impending redundanices. Fair play.

So Doug Richard and the word union – whats all that about? I once met Doug at a University of Glasgow meeting to discuss the option of adding a Scottish dimension to Venture Navigator. He was interested/kind enough to ask about our software development business and at no point sounded like a Unionist. He didn’t once suggest that I was expoliting the proletariat or that all property was theft, - so union – whats all that about? 

The Entrepreneurs Union is all about lobbying support for that part of the economy that does a helluva lot to create jobs and to deliver innovation. It’s an attempt by Doug and some other influential folks to get the entrepreneur thing further up the UK government agenda.

Fair enough – I kinda get that, see my ramble on getting in the game from the other day.

You can register interest on the Entrepreneur Union site at present – I think it goes properly live tomorrow - a social network (what another one) to help young businesses and entrepreneurs get the voice they need. I’ve registered my interest – quite a step for someone who didn’t have a good word to say in London a week or so back when the Tube was on strike. But it seems we all need a union, even business folk – could the last one out switch off the lights!

Wine, Women and $9 million USD at The Edinburgh Entrepreneurship Club

Three, maybe four, years back I started hanging around the Entrepreneurship Club at The University of Edinburgh. Over the period of 4 or 5 months it shifted my views on business. The e-club guys (Michael, Sarah and Aidan) brought in entrepreneurial guest speaker after guest speaker – normally from the West Coast (USA not Largs). It reset my expectations, it forced fresh thinking, it gave me a wake up call.

Tonight was my first trip along to the e-club for a while. Hosted in the rather fetching new Business School building it was mobbed and also attracted more business folks than I had seen previously – so the secret is out – the e-club is rather good. Or was it co-host The Edinburgh Wine Meet Up folks that made it a bit busier than normal – http://www.meetup.com/The-Edinburgh-Wine-Meetup-Group/  (Cheers Alan).

Tonights speaker Ann Winblad is one of those people I always find compelling – a successful USA West Coast entrepreneur and VC who talks with calm, relaxed tones on the identification of opportunties, the building of businesses,  and the perfectly natural activity of investing millions. Ann described a different planet to the one that most Scottish entrepreneurs find themselves in … but I found it all rather encouraging despite that.

Michael Clouser did the interview thing and allowed Ann the time to touch upon leaving her federal reserve job, her $500 software start up when she was 22, the use of food tokens to supplement her staffs income, the first year loss of 85 bucks on a $150k contract, her exit and then the subsequent formation of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. Sounded like a walk in the park.

Ann was shrewd enough to dodge a couple of questions – most notably the question “whats currently hot in software” – her reply involving this weeks Oracle conference attracting 40,000 to San Fran (I didn’t take notes but I think that was the reply). A new Comdex.

It may seem strange but, for a moment (just a moment), the thing that I found encouraging was that Scotland (and the UK) is so far removed from the world that Ann inhabits that I didn’t feel the need to be a Silicon Valley start up, here among the heather. For instance Ann described investing $9mn over 5 years in software start ups who came to them with only 2 to 5 of a team. That world described by Ann has more in common with the planet that Avatar is set on than the central belt of Scotland. No point whinging about that – we don’t have the successful software guys that the USA can boast , so if we don’t have them why would anyone here invest 9 million Scotch pounds in a software company – it doesn’t make any sense, it’s outside all reasonable expectations, it will never happen, we are a country of (one time) prudent bankers not software millionaires.

Driving home, without having tasted the fine wines that Alan from the Wine Meetup had kindly brought, I decided that whether it was a school night or not I was due a Chianti Classico. On finishing my “tea” I poured myself and Mrs O a glass who quickly abandoned her knitting (I’m not sure what it is, but it is very pink and has now been in production for 4 months) .

“What was the event like?” asked Mrs O.

“If I was 22 again, you’d have to seriously think about heading to Silicon Valley.”

“So why don’t you do it now” came the reply.

Silence.  

Why don’t I? It must be the Chianti Classico that is letting me dream harder all of a sudden. I’ll be fine in the morning, but if I’m not and you are a West Coast VC please make all cheques payable to cash, we’d invest it very carefully in our pension advice site that we are marketing.

One final note from tonight – almost all the questions from the audience were in American accents. It would be great if  they could hang around when they complete their Post Grad studies…  but maybe we need a few successful software millionaires to make that a realistic possibility. So if anybody fancies creating a few software multi millionaires in Scotland please let me know – how hard can it be? It’s only markitechture.

CEO Chance for Adventi

Changes at Adventi sees Eddy Chance (Oracle) replace CEO John McAleenan who said he would step down a while ago. Mr McAleenan was the MD of Scotsys when they were acquired by Adventi the brainchild of Graham Bucknall.

The refreshing thing about Adventi is that they have went for a growth strategy through acquisition. Scotland has too few acquisitive software or IT companies – so the best of luck to Graham B, Mr Chance and the team.

Peter Jones invests in young entrepreneurs

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?

Being a dragon

With a role in the commercialisation team at the University of Edinburgh you can sometimes have rather unusual days. Last week was one of them – though a fun one.

The School of Informatics had an open day and as part of that ran a Dragons Den workshop for youngsters in their 4th year. Despite a tight timetable and a challenging task it was impressive seeing our next wave of entrepreneurs doing so well. Software in Scotland needs young folk with bottle and ambition and there was plenty of that in evidence. I nice idea and one to be repeated and developed. As for me …. a more benign dragon you couldn’t meet.

“I’m out” as Duncan is inclined to say. 

Sir Tom and Me

Sir Tom Hunter and I have shared some ups and downs together……..well…….I shared a lift with him once in the Glasgow Hilton.  To be fair he probably doesn’t remember. Last night he was beating the drum encouraging Scottish business leaders to think bigger. His encouragement seems to be a continuing Scottish theme, last years Global Scot Conference in Edinburgh also rallied the troops to think bigger. Good. The recent growth stats show we are below the UK average. So lets get on with it – what are we waiting on….an invitation? Anybody needing a software development partner to think bigger with should drop us a line or give us a call. www.objectiveassociates.co.uk .