Steve Parks

Well it's been a month since my last post here - but what a month! - and for that I apologise. Here's some of what I've been up to:

1. My companies in the Red Group have been very busy, and I've been recruiting a business manager to run them day to day.  read more »

This is the fifth and final of the Enablers of Enterprise detailed in the report, and I believe it's the most important in unlocking the latent potential of the existing entrepreneurial businesses in the UK, let alone encouraging the growth of future firms.  read more »

For me this is the least important of the five Enablers of Enterprise identified in the white paper.  read more »

This is the fourth 'Enabler of Enterprise' identified in the UK government report on enterprise - and I think they've got this section bang on the mark. Here are the key points with my views:  read more »

• The main problem with access to finance is not any kind of lack of available finance - its a lack of 'investment readiness' in companies seeking funding.

In the white paper the government focuses on five 'enablers of enterprise' and in this post I'll summarise and analyse the section of the report on one of these: Knowledge and Skills.  read more »

This weekend I'm continuing my summary of the Government's publication "Enterprise - Unlocking the UK's Talent", which sets out it's research into enterprise in the UK, and it's plans for encouraging and supporting enterprise in the future.  read more »

Continuing my series summarising and analysing the UK government's Enterprise white paper, let's look at some of the statistics they present that give an insight into the current picture of enterprise in Britain...  read more »

Today I'm reading through the UK government's document "Enterprise - Unlocking the UK's Talent", known as the Enterprise White Paper.

Yes, maybe I need to get out more.

Anyway, I'm going to be blogging about interesting findings as I come across them.

Firstly, they are aiming to achieve:
• a greater proportion of people with the ambition to start and grow a business;  read more »

On this week's edition of the RedPod I talk to entrepreneur Gary Dutton about the gathering gloom in the economy, and what it means for business owners.

He's already seeing a marked effect on his business, and is worried that things will take 10 months or so to get better. He thinks 2008 will be a tough year.  read more »

I'm recruiting for a Business Manager for The Red Group - my business media companies.

This person will become my right-hand man/woman, and a key part in the next stage of development of the group.

You can find out more at: http://www.redgroup.co.uk/joinus

Please pass the details on to anyone you think might be suitable and interested. Thanks

Marc Andreesson, one of the first big internet entrepreneurs (he founded Netscape), has written an insightful blog post: The Psychology of Entrepreneurial Misjudgment, part 1: Biases 1-6.  read more »

Every year, Stanford University in the USA holds an Entrepreneurship Week, and they set a challenge for students to create value from some everyday object.  read more »

One of the things people often comment on about my first book Start Your Business Week by Week, is that every chapter ends with a thought for the week - and every week it says the same thing, Who will be your first customer.  read more »

Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing author: Drayton Bird asin: 0749447605

There's been some interesting debate across a number of blogs today about some tips for startups. Some of them are rubbish - but some are gems.  read more »

It seems that British companies are great at coming up with innovations - but not at commercialising them.

TechcrunchUK is reporting that a key piece of technology in the Apple iPhone was invented by a researcher at BT - but BT have never really used the innovation themselves.  read more »

The latest edition of the RedPod has just been published and my guest was Matt Hanson, the creative mind behind A Swarm of Angels.  read more »

I had lunch on Tuesday with an entrepreneur who sold her business to a major plc last year.

On finding herself with more money than she'd ever imagined she started thinking how to invest it and rushed into making an angel investment she now regrets. She feels a bit daft for having done it, as with hindsight she didn't know anything about the market, the product or the founders.  read more »

I run a website for readers of my books at www.flyingstartups.com.

It's a free site, and members keep online diaries (Pilot's Logs) of the development of their businesses, and help each other out in the forums.

We've now upgraded the site and re-designed it to make it faster and easier to use - so do take a look at www.flyingstartups.com.

I'm writing this blog post sitting in first class on a National Express train between York and London.

Now, when I say first class, what I actually mean is that I'm sat on the floor, in a corridor between two first class carriages.  read more »

The Undercover Economist author: Tim Harford asin: 0349119856

We've just published a new episode of The FlyingStartups Podcast.

This episode features an interview with a community member about their business, and a roundup of the new Pilot's Logs from the site.

FlyingStartups is the online community based around my books for startups.  read more »