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Start up guys

Friday, April 25, 2008

I was in the IOD at 123 Pall Mall this week. There's two IOD buildings close together - 117 Pall Mall, which is quite formal and occupied by the captains of industry and 123 Pall Mall which is informal and occupied by start up guys (and gals). It's a useful and lively place to drop in for a coffee, a quick meeting or to do a bit of email.

I was meeting Startup Guy (also a member of the IOD) and a couple of members of his team. I got there early and started a tab with a bottle of water and four glasses (classy!).

Startup Guy had a quick and contemptous look at the water and went off in search of the waitress. Hot chocolates, lattes, capuccinos and teas soon began arriving with monotonous regularity.

When the meeting finished Startup Guy was leaving and I reminded him - "don't forget your tab." It's a pain if you do forget because of course they are holding your card and you have to go back to collect it - I was being helpful.

Startup Guy looked at me contemptuously again - "I'm a start up guy , I used your tab".

Startup Guy is actually a good friend and I was very happy for him to use my tab but it reminded me of a story he had told me a couple of years ago. He jumped in a cab in Palo Alto in the heart of Silicon Valley and gave the name of a hotel- not one of the smart ones:

The taxi driver laughed and said "A start up guy!"

The insight here is that start up guys make every penny count ; they stay in cheap hotels, they travel second class , they only use taxis when there is no alternative, they stretch the company's precious cash as far as it can be stretched.

This can be a shock for someone coming to work in a start up from the corporate world. It's more fun, more exciting and ultimately it can be a lot more lucrative - but don't expect life's little luxuries, or even necessities, on the company's account!

There was a happy ending for me at the IOD this week I ended up bumping into Commercial Guy and laying the tab off to him.

Every Prime Minister needs a Willie

Monday, April 7, 2008


I used Margaret Thatcher to illustrate a point about leadership in the book . I was reminded of her famous quote (about cabinet colleague Willie Whitelaw) and with the book about to be published it made me wonder what every author needs?


Well evidently these days every author needs a web site and mine's ready to roll now thanks to :

  • Mark Garwell at Webplacing who did the web site design and construction and

  • Lisa Murray who did the copywriting for the web site and was my book editor

In putting the book together Lisa and I between us:


- Documented the particularly insightful conversations I could remember with entrepreneurs/innovators/leaders who I had met and/or worked with in the last 20 years (I ended up recalling conversations with 56 people covering 48 companies)


- Did 35 in depth interviews (1-2 hours each) with successful entrepreneurs/innovators/leaders specifically for the book


- Supplemented the conversations and the interviews by researching what was available in the public domain about the entrepreneurs I was using as examples . I was interested in what they had to say for themselves in print or in media interviews rather than what other people had written about them


- Wrote about 120000 words which was ultimately edited down to 65000 (that's a lot of writing and a lot of editing) .


We got each chapter reviewed as soon as a draft was written by a group of family, friends and experts, including my wife: whose encouragement I really valued and whose judgment was impeccable when it came to deciding which of my numerous anecdotes and stories actually added value to the book as opposed to being : self indulgent and only funny after several glasses of wine and then only the first time you hear it .

My editor's overriding concern on the other hand was to make sure the book contained a set of principles that were well supported by examples and were easy to use in a practical way by budding entrepreneurs . I think she succeeded fantastically well in making that happen and I hope if you read the book you agree.


Actually having never written a book before I would have floundered without the professional support of an experienced writer. So that's what every author needs...if you want to write a business book get yourself an editor!
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