Steve Parks - on Entrepreneurship

The Word On The Street...

Steve Parks — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:27:11 +0000

As you'll have seen from my liveblog of the event earlier today I've been in London at the launch event of Enterprise Week.

I'm now on the train on the way home and have noticed a trend to the information reaching my eyes and ears...

1. The freesheet newspaper headlines are on the lines of '1 in 12 Londoners face axe' and similar.

2. I'm in the restaurant car having dinner on the way home, and you always overhear business conversations. This is the first time I've overheard:
a) discussion of reading through the longlist for redundancies.
b) how critical it is to get someone senior onto [Company X] to pressure them to pay because 'we've got our creditors too and its proving quite difficult and embarrassing'

3. Next I browse the BBC News website to catch up on the day and I end up reading about even more redundancies, at Citigroup in particular.

Something really serious and very worrying is emerging here. This is going to be a long, hard recession.

If you're not yet prepared for this in your business, with a plan for surviving a big drop in sales that will last 2 years, then believe me - you must get a plan together right now.

The Prime Minister on the need for entrepreneurs now

Steve Parks — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:49:05 +0000

Gordon Brown has taken to the stage now. He says now is the time we need entrepreneurs more than ever, as 'the only people who can create value in the current economy'. He says... The opportunities for enteprise are now endless because the market is now global. While this is a difficult time, we can work with the international community for common ends..... This is the first financial crisis of the global age, and it's highlighted that we are a global economy now and need to collaborate with our international partners. But if we can solve them together we can build a better society and the opportunities for entrepreneurs will be greater than ever before.... "My father always said that everyone has a talent, and everyone should be challenged to use that talent." He's also just told a story to try to engage the younger part of the audience. Apparantly he was sat next to Nelson Mandela at his birthday concert in London, and had to keep explaining who each of the acts were (who had explained it to him?). He says he had difficulty when it came to Amy Winehouse to explain all the elements of why she was famous - especially as Amy apparantly said backstage that her husband and Mandela had a lot in common. And during the rendition of 'free nelson mandela' she sang 'free blakey-my-husband'! There's not a lot of substance in this speech - no policy - but it's interesting, and he has the attention of the audience. He's certainly become a much better speaker than he used to be. No script, just some scribbled notes. A few jokes, a few inspiring stories. He seemed relaxed, and the speech went down well.

Social Enterprise

Steve Parks — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:49:04 +0000

Next up on stage are 3 entrepreneurs: Sophie - founder of Divine Chocolate. Tim Smit - founder of Eden Project. James Caan - from Dragon's Den. They were talking about the value of social enterprise.

Debate: Can entrepreneurs change the world?

Steve Parks — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:49:04 +0000

I've just facilitated a debate in this afternoon's event to launch Enterprise Week. Following the opening speech from Business Minister Lord Mandelson, and the dcomment from Richard Lambert and Peter Jones, we then debated some of the ideas. What came out is that entrepreneurship frees up people's creativity, gives teams of people purpose, brings value to local communities as well as the national economy - and that entrepreneurs now earn the respect of others. In conclusion entrepreneurship is pretty much all that will change the world.

Can entrepreneurs change the world?

Steve Parks — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:49:04 +0000

Peter Jones of Dragon's Den fame, and Richard Lambert of the CBI are now on stage at the launch event of Enterprise Week. Peter is talking a little about his enterprise acadamies. Both are saying that the current economic situation is going to give a long difficult period for entrepreneurs, but that like every previous recession it will also present great opportunities for entrepreneurs if approached with the right attitude. Peter says he believes the important things to do are to focus on cash, and on 'cash' sales - ie selling to individuals. In the last recession he said it was people who got into direct selling via phone or mail order that succeeded. This time he says the way to go is to use the power of the internet - keeping costs low, and getting direct to a global market. Unfortunately I didn't get the opportunity to put it to Richard that it's the CBI members that are making the situation so bad.. Massive redundancies, extensions of already long payment terms to small suppliers, withdrawal of finance, bad corporate governance and so on.

Enterprise Week Debate

Steve Parks — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:30:30 +0000

I'm heading to London in the morning to take part in a debate at the start of Enterprise Week.

The theme of the debate is "In the current economic climate, can entrepreneurs change the world?"

Details can be found at:
http://www.enterpriseweek.org.uk/get_involved_in/the_debate

The Lean Startup

Steve Parks — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 11:21:39 +0000

Without doubt the challenges for entrepreneurs are intense at the moment - but the opportunities are still there, and those that get their business quickly in the right shape and doing the right (focused) things will come out the other end stronger and more successful.

I've been doing a series of posts on what it takes to achieve this, and in this one I'm looking at the concept of Lean Startups.

'Lean' was developed by Toyota as a way of massively improving their business, and its since been successfully applied in many industries.

So how can you apply the ideas in startups?

Here's a collection of articles you need to read!
http://startuplessonslearned.blogspot.com/2008/09/lean-startup.html
http://venturehacks.com/articles/lean-startups

Here's a slideshow of a presentation on the subject:

Lean Startup presentation for Maples Investments by Steve Blank and Eric Ries

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: steve blank)

And here's an audio podcast of a speech on the subject:

A lot of food for thought here. What are the key ideas you pick up from it all?

Having a Laugh

Steve Parks — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:36:29 +0000

In these trying times I've decided the best thing to do is to try and laugh about it - so my latest venture is a satirical news website for the UK.

Take a browse at www.news42.co.uk, and (although its only in live testing yet, so there aren't many articles) please do tell your friends and colleagues about it.

It's designed to poke fun and bring a wry smile rather than to make money. Some things you just have to do because you want to!

Book Title of the Year?

Steve Parks — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:47:25 +0000

I'm browsing the business book section in Borders - and look what I found! That's one way of approaching the subject I suppose - but I guess it's best not to leave it lying around on your desk.

Don't Let a Crisis Go To Waste

Steve Parks — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:28:48 +0000

Since writing my last post about the Obama campaign, I've just come across a great quote from his new chief-of-staff, Rahm Emanuel:

"You don't ever want a crisis to go to waste; it's an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid. In 1974 and 1978 we never dealt with it, and our dependence on foreign oil never changed."

I love this quote.

In a crisis, like the current economic problems that are probably impacting your company in some way, the first priority is survival - but it is then a real opportunity to make changes that you would never get round to making, or couldn't get away with making, in the good times.

Everyone knows times are tight, so maybe now is the time to really cut back on waste of time, money and resources. Maybe it's time to implement a tougher credit application and credit control procedure and attitude. Maybe it's time to become a firmer manager (but still fair). Maybe it's time to demand more from your suppliers (in return for being a great customer) - or shop around for new suppliers.

Maybe it's even time to change what you do or how you do it?

Or what's the equivalent for your business of the foreign oil that the USA is so reliant on? Who outside the business is able to put a squeeze on you? Make a change, and make it now.

What would you really like to change about your business but have never got round to?

Use the current impetus you have to solve problems to make these changes too.

Don't let a crisis go to waste.